CCBlogs thinking critically, living faithfully

Jan Richardson on the feast of St. Brigid.

Milton Brasher-Cunningham, our resident chef, writes about leadership and other people rising to the level of your belief in them.

John Hamilton gives us a fascinating view of a Baptist veneration of the virgin Mary.

Homebrewed Christianity's interviews with Brian McLaren and John Dominic Crossan.

Theresa Coleman on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and church financial reports.

Greg Garrett reviews Slumdog Millionaire

Mark Powell reflects on a recent funeral he conducted.

Jan Richardson has begun her annual Advent blog. If you're not familiar with her artwork, you should visit if only to see it.

I admit it. When I realized that Mark 13.24-37 was the gospel lection for the first Sunday of Advent this year, I cringed. Sometimes called the “little apocalypse,” this passage contains Jesus’ description of the end of the age. “But in those days,” he says, “after that suffering,... Read More.

Carl Wilton of "A Pastor's Cancer Diary" writes about an astonishingly graceful 11-year-old boy with leukemia.

This morning I have the TV news on while getting dressed, and I catch a CNN news item about the recent death of Brenden Foster, an 11-year-old boy with leukemia. It’s a sad story, to be sure, but there’s something very unusual – and powerful – about the way this young boy faces the reality of his own death. Brenden seems preternaturally calm, and incredibly accepting of the fact that his life is going to be far shorter than that of any of his peers... Read More.

James Lumsden is happy to be beginning the new church year with some new faces at his church.

Today I held a new member orientation gathering after worship... and 8 people attended. That was 10% of today's total - and another 3-4 told me they will be a part of our next gathering including a young woman who wants to be baptized (along with her baby!)

Now here's what I find fascinating: two people are leaving the Roman Catholic tradition, two come from fairly conservative backgrounds that have become too narrow, some are gay, one is recently baptized and another sees connecting with our congregation in community as the next step in embracing the spirituality of Jesus while affirming her Jewish roots... Read More.

Milton Brasher-Cunningham on Japanese food, intinction, tuning forks, and communion.

A group from our church got together tonight for dinner – actually, for a Japanese dinner. Of the eight of us gathered around the table, three had lived in Japan (one of them teaches Japanese at a local high school) and one had Japanese relatives. We had an authentic Japanese meal: sukiyaki and nabe. I’ve cooked a lot of different things, but I know very little about Japanese cooking other than I’m a big fan of the eel roll at our supermarket’s sushi bar.... Read More.

Drew Smith offers thoughts on Thanksgiving.

Perhaps, like many families, you and your loved ones take a few moments at the table, before you partake of the delicious food, to give every person a chance to express for what and for whom he or she is most thankful. These expressions of gratitude continue around the table until everyone has had the chance to share with the rest how thankful they really are. But when this national day of thanks ends, and the turkey, dressing and fixings are put in the fridge for leftovers, the expressions of the day are often put away until it is necessary to bring them out for the next Thanksgiving Day... Read More.

There is some great stuff around the network this week:

Carol Howard Merritt has some thoughts on church endowments and the love-hate relationship we ministers have with them.

Julie Clawson, Bob Cornwall, Gordon Atkinson, Raffi Shahinian, and Thomas Turner all posted about Blog Action Day 2008. If any other CCbloggers posted about Blog Action Day, send us an email and I'll get them listed here.

Greg Garrett wonders if our current financial crisis isn't revealing a big golden calf in our culture.

Jan Richardson has prints available form her gorgeous 2007 Advent blog. I highly recommend you stopping by to visit it.

From The Advent Door by Jan Richardson

Kelvin Wright tells the story of a fascinating cultural exchange between branches of the Anglican Church in New Zealand.

Milton Brasher-Cunningham considers hiking, pilgrims, and what it means to know the landscape.

           Enjoy!

I've found some interesting stuff in our blog network over the past few days. Check it out.

Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed notes that Codex Sinaiticus is now online. Greek geeks will be thrilled. It's got a nice interface too.

Allan Bevere, a new CCblogger, writes about blogging etiquette and anonymous comments.

Gen-X Rising has some interesting questions to ask about mission trips. Are they worth the trouble? Are they the best use of resources? It's the kind of question people wonder but don't want to ask.

Keith Herron's Birdie is back. This time she wonders if her pastor has ever heard the voice of God. (And haven't we all had parishioners like that?)

Christian Century editor David Heim has an interesting and inverted way of thinking about the problem of evil. He calls it "The problem of the nonproblem of suffering."

Jonathan Carroll asks a question that many ministers struggle with. Should we perform weddings for people who really just want to be married and don't care that much for the religious part of the ceremony?