I’m in Arizona today hanging out with the good people of Tempe United Methodist Church, so I’ve got just a few Sunday Superlatives today...but they’re good ones!
Funniest Photo:
Catalog Living with “Pillow Talk”
Funnies Video:
Americans for a Better Tomorrow Tomorrow with “Mitt the Ripper”
Most Eye-Opening:
MSNBC Photoblog with “Indonesian Children Make Perilous Journey to School...”
Most Insightful:
Kelley Johnson-Nikondeha with “Prophets”
“The prophets of old are similar in this respect; they honor their inspired instruction (which comes from the Torah) and marry that with their unique innovative vision. The prophets understood deeply the words of Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Numbers–and that shaped what they saw and what they spoke.”
Most Likely to Make You At Least a Little Pentecostal:
Jonathan Martin with “Why Mark Driscoll is Wrong About Women in Church Leadership"
“As a third generation Pentecostal preacher who has been and continues to be shaped significantly by women in ministry, this time I had enough. Within my tradition, which is theologically very conservative, we have never had prohibitions about women in leadership. From the beginning, we have believed that the Spirit given on the day of Pentecost causes both 'sons and daughters to prophesy'... We had no connections to liberal social movements, but were demonstrating racial equality in pockets all around the world years before the modern civil rights movement. We weren’t demythologizing the Bible or playing down the blood or the cross of Jesus or the judgment of God (as Mark’s logic would suggest these are interrelated with the ordination of women as pastors). There was a new social order coming in not through politicians or seminarians or professors, but from ordinary people who were taking the Bible and the Spirit seriously.”
[I loved everything about this post.]
Best Analysis:
Mike Morrell with "Jesus and Religion’s Relationship Status: It’s Complicated”
“Lots of people are dissing religion these days, but for very different reasons. When progressives diss religion, they want practices without beliefs. When conservatives diss religion, they want beliefs without practices. I’m sympathetic to both perspectives, but at the end of the day I have to recognize that we humans all believe things, and we all have practices. Which is why I’d say I’m spiritual and religious. Or, that I have a divine relationship and religion. They’re both here.”
Best Point:
Sarah Moon with “What the ‘effeminate Christianity’ crisis says about women“
“So what’s a woman to do? It’s a lose-lose situation for us, according to the CBMW. If we aren’t “manly,” by CBMW’s definition, we’re betraying our faith and can’t “taste that the Lord is gracious.” If we are “manly,” we pervert God’s “perfect design” for the sexes. We already know that evangelicals certainly don’t want us doing the latter, so what we’re left with is the final implication that women are not really Christians.”
Best Imagery:
Pete Enns with “What God Thinks of the Theology Books We Write”
[I started Pete's new book, The Evolution of Adam, on the plane and am LOVING it.]
Best Writing:
Joshilyn Jackson with “An Open Letter to the Fat Girl I Saw at Hot Yoga in New York City”
“Fat Girl, I saw you in New York, and I thought, GOOD FOR YOU. You are trying to find a way to be stronger, to live in yourself, to like your body enough to give it that seventy-five minutes of movement and acceptance. To just take care of the damn thing, even if you ARE mad at it. To treat it like an exasperating, ugly, ill-tempered little child—one you secretly adore.”
Best Conversation-Starter:
Zack Hunt with “The Myth of Sola Fide”
“What I think we learn from Jesus and the writers of the New Testament is that our ‘acceptance’ of salvation is not a one off moment that happens during a prayer at an altar. Instead, ‘acceptance’ is a process. It may start at the altar, but that is just the beginning of the journey of salvation."
Most Practical:
Ann Voskamp with “Seven Ways to Keep Your Home Strong”
So what did I miss? What caught your eye online this week, and what's happening on your blog?
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