Whatever your view on the war in Iraq (I confess I’ve been skeptical), you have to salute the courage of the Iraqi people who went to the polls this weekend. The turnout of eligible voters apparently was greater than it typically is for Presidential elections in the U.S. It shows how freedom is valued when it not simply assumed.
Reminder: If you’re blogging this weekend, don’t forget the First Emerging Bloggers’ Carnival.
Have I been climbing the Himalayas again, or just messing with a digital picture of snow drifts in New Jersey? You decide.
This will introduce a new feature here at Through a Glass Darkly, titled “Through the Looking Glass.” Through the Looking Glass is a semi-sort-of-regular round-up of recent blog posts I’ve found interesting. Enjoy.
Making room for mystery: Today I discovered a delightful site called Tabletalk. It’s the blog of Presbyterian pastor Craig S. Williams, whom I envy greatly because he has more, and nicer, guitars than I do. As Craig describes it, the site’s title comes from Martin Luther’s conversations around the eating (and drinking) table. Craig’s most recent entry, Making Room for Mystery, is about how our faith is a relationship, not a simple prepackaged plan. I’m finding I like these Presbyterian-pastor-Fuller-Seminary-graduate-interested-in-missional-and-postmodern-church sites. Maybe I’m finding out through them who I am.
Why we need church (small “c”): Alan Creech writes “[t]here has never really been a time in the history of The Church (as a whole) that being connected to Christ has been separated from being connected to a community of others who are connected to Christ. ” He makes some good observations about why individual Christians still need to remain connected to such a community.
Faded and Stressed Out Video: Aaron at The Voiz is feeling Faded, Spent, and Stressed Out, and he has the videoblog entry to prove it. Check it out.
Blogging Walls?: Dr. Michael Russell at Eternal Perspectives raises some important questions about the balkanization of the faith-based blogsphere.
Aaron at The Voiz has piqued my interest in “video blogging.” Another geeky thing to fill up my time. Nooooooo! Aaron’s got some great stuff. Check out, for example, An Autophbe in Me.
I invite you to listen to my newest Ambient composition, River of Life. The title reference is to Rev. 22:17: “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
Technical information: sequenced in Sonar 4. Drum loop is from Sonic Fondry’s Downtempo Beats. Synths are Absynth 3, Psyn, and Cheese Factory.”
This is to announce the first “Emerging Bloggers’ Carnival.” The concept of a “Blog Carnival” is to offer a theme for folks to blog about and then to collect and summarize the entries of those who participate. It’s a fun way for bloggers with similar interests to get to know each other. It’s not a competition — all the entries will be cataloged and none will be judged.
So, I’ll try to give it a shot and propose a theme for the first carnival: Emergent and the Intelligent Design Debate. I’ve you’ve been following the news on the ID debate, there have been some recent, well-publicized examples of ID proponents attempting to incorporate ID into school science curricula, with the expected outcry and backlash from the media and the scientific establishment. So, what do you think of ID, the effort to have ID taught in public schools, the distinctions drawn between “science” and “faith” in the popular media, etc.?
Send me links to your posts, either by email or, preferably, by a trackback to this post. Next Tuesday (Feb. 1), I’ll post a summary of and links to everyone’s posts.
Isaiah 37 records a showdown between the army of Sennacherib, King of Assyria, and Hezekiah, King of Judah. Previously Hezekiah had buckled under to Assyria by paying tribute that included “all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace” and “the gold with which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord.” (2 Kings 18:14-16.) Sennacherib wasn’t satisfied and came back for more, with an army arrayed before the walls of Jerusalem.
This time, Hezekiah did the right thing. After he received a demand letter from Sennacherib’s representative, “he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. . .” (Isaiah 37:14.) The Lord heard Hezekiah’s prayer and wiped out the Assyrian threat. (Isaiah 37:36-38.)
When we are threatened by the troubles of life, how do we respond? Do we simply give in and pay tribute? Do we fight back? Or do we spread them out before the Lord and pray?
Once again, Globe Trekker demonstrates why it’s the best show on TV. Justine Shapiro’s ramble through Southern Italy is as funny as it is enlightening about the local culture. Her impromptu visit with a family in a “trulli,” a conical home in the little town of Arberobello, is side-splitting. If I could just dig out my old rucksack, grab a railpass, and tromp around Europe for a month or so!