Christian Carnival CCLXVIII

Sorry, I’m late on posting this. The 248th Christian Carnival was posted yesterday at Fish and Cans.

There are only 11 posts this week, which is a little lean. As ever, I encourage you to check it out, because there are some great posts in there.

I also know that a lot of my readers are Christians and bloggers. Please, go ahead and participate. It’s fun, it’s easy, and there are readers out there who would like to see what you’ve written.

There is no cost or obligation to participate; here is the information that Parableman posts weekly to plug the Carnival:

The Christian Carnival is a weekly collection of some of the best posts of the Christian blogosphere. It’s open to Christians of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic convictions. One of the goals of this carnival is to offer our readers to a broad range of Christian thought. This is a great way to make your writing more well known and perhaps pick up some regular readers. For examples of past carnivals, see the complete list at christiancarnival.com.

To enter is simple. First, your post should be of a Christian nature, but this does not exclude posts that are about home life, politics, or current events from a Christian point of view. Select only one post dated since the last Christian Carnival (i.e. from the last Wednesday through the coming Tuesday). Then do the following:

You can use the Blog Carnival submission form, or you can send your submission to christiancarnivalsubmissions shift-2 gmail dotte com.

Please submit only one post (per blog, per author) dated since the last Christian Carnival deadline, i.e. something posted since midnight EST Tuesday night, Oct 21 (5am GMT Wednesday, Oct 22). [If you are emailing your submission: if you are able to do so, please submit your information in Times New Roman 12pt font, preferably in plain text. The uniformity will save time for the host.]

Include the following information in your submission:

1. The name of your blog and a link to your main site. (Adding the name with a hyperlink would be a nice courtesy to the host.)
2. The title of your post and the URL of the post. (Again, adding the title with a hyperlink would be helpful.)
3. If you want a trackback, include a trackback link. (Tracking back is optional. Some hosts may oblige you; others may not have the time or ability.)
4. Include a short (one- or two-sentence) description of the post. Your description may be edited by the host, but many hosts often use just what you give them. (So don’t say anything you wouldn’t want published.)

The deadline for submissions is midnight EST Tuesday night, Oct 28 (4am GMT Wed Oct  29). Be aware that hosts have the option of limiting the Christian Carnival to the first 40 (or 50) acceptable entries. (Most hosts do not do this, and most weeks do not have that many posts, but this is a good reason to enter early just in case. Hosts that limit the number of entries do not have the option of selecting their favorites, so you can’t rely on your post being good.)

You can see the more extended instructions on post submissions here, and you can join the weekly reminder list for the Christian Carnival here. (Note: there was a previous announcement list for the Christian Carnival. That list is no longer usable. This one came into existence around the beginning of May 2007. If you have not joined such a list since then, you are not on the current announcement list.)

Disclaimer: As the goal of this Carnival is to highlight Christian thought in the blogosphere, entries will be limited to blogs that share that goal. Posts strictly focused on matters unrelated to Christianity or from blogs with potentially offensive material that Christians may not want to link to may end up being rejected, but there are other carnivals that would be a more appropriate for such posts. Though this will be a judgment call on the part of the week’s host or the carnival’s organizers, and being human they may make mistakes, this is necessary given that the Christian Carnival is sometimes quite large, and it is sometimes questionable whether the entrants are seeking to promote Christian thought.

Please, enjoy reading the carnival. And, please, take part.

Touching Jesus

This past Sunday, my pastor talked about the woman from Mark 5, who touched Jesus’ robe and was healed of a bleeding disorder she’d had for many years.

Thankfully, I was there for two services, because as I read the passage, my mind took off in another direction and I thought about it in a way that I hadn’t noticed before. I also felt a little dense about not noticing it.

Here’s the passage (Mark 5:24-34, NIV, courtesy of BibleGateway.com):

24So Jesus went with him.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.

30At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

31“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ “

32But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Take another look at verses 30 and 31. In a crowd of people, Jesus noticed that one specific person touched Him, and asked about it. It wasn’t really a matter of touching Him in the simple sense of coming into contact with Him. Jesus was calling attention to the fact that someone had touched Him and meant it. Someone had needed healing that only Jesus could give, reached out for Him, and really touched Him.

That “Obama/Osama” thing again …

Today I yelled at my computer again. It’s not really the computer’s fault.

What I had, though, was an e-mail from Newsmax advertising a new wonderful product called the “Obama bin Lyin’ Deck of Deception.” It’s a deck of cards chronicling the lies of Barack Obama. Mostly, I’m fine with that. I have no problem with sides arguing over different points of view and gimmicks for such.

My problem with this one, though, is the flagrant play on the name. “Obama bin Lyin.” Not “been Lying,” “bin Lyin.” Make no mistake, this continues to play on the similarity between his name and that of Osama bin Laden. It’s juvenile, it’s irresponsible, it’s hateful, it smacks of racism, and … it’s been pretty darned ineffective, hasn’t it?

I don’t think that there is any name more hated in the US right now than bin Ladin’s, yet the incessant linking of Sen. Obama and terror-lord Osama hasn’t resulted in much luck, has it?

I said months ago that if the Republicans want to stop Sen. Obama, they were going to have to campaign on ideas, not name-calling. Apparently, though, the Republican campaign is being run by a bunch of middle-schoolers (with apologies to my sons, who are both in middle school and behave better than this) who think that twisting names and name-calling is the same as discussing ideas.

WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance

Christian Carnival CCXLVII

The 247th Christian Carnival is up at RodneyOlsen.net, and I would encourage you to go check it out.

Playing the “Playing the race card” card

This post was going to be called “Rush Limbaugh vs. Colin Powell,” but as I was scripting the post in my head, I came up with that line and promoted it to the status of title. Feel free to heap praise.

Anyway …

Over lunch at my parents’ house yesterday after church, my mother asked if we’d heard the latest endorsement news. Since I hadn’t, she told me that General Colin Powell had come out and endorsed Barack Obama for President. Both of my parents went on to say that he had a number of hesitations about Sen. Obama, and that he said a lot of good things about Sen. McCain. However, ultimately, he went with Sen. Obama because he wasn’t convinced that Sen. McCain had a good grip on the economy, he didn’t think that Gov. Palin was ready to be Vice-President, and he didn’t like the negative tone of the Republican campaign.

You have to respect General Powell. You can disagree with him if you like, but you have to respect Colin Powell … unless you’re Rush Limbaugh.

Some encouragement in song

Following up on the poverty-related posts this week, I’d like to talk about one of my favorite songs — “After the Last Tear Falls” by Andrew Peterson. It’s not a particularly new song, being off of his album “Love and Thunder” from a few years ago. But it’s an amazingly powerful and beautiful song. By the way, if I’d read the lyrics before listening to the song, I’m sure that I would have dismissed it as too mushy … but this is among the most powerful songs I’ve ever heard in Contemporary Christian music. This is part of why Andrew Peterson is my favorite living singer, by the way …

I found this video, but it’s extremely tinny-sounding. If anyone finds a better source, please let me know:

The lyrics read:

After the last tear falls
After the last secret’s told
After the last bullet tears through flesh and bone
After the last child starves
And the last girl walks the boulevard
After the last year that’s just too hard

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

After the last disgrace
After the last lie to save some face
After the last brutal jab from a poison tongue
After the last dirty politician
After the last meal down at the mission
After the last lonely night in prison

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

And in the end, the end is
Oceans and oceans
Of love and love again
We’ll see how the tears that have fallen
Were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we’ll look back on these tears as old tales

‘Cause after the last plan fails
After the last siren wails
After the last young husband sails off to join the war
After the last “this marriage is over”
After the last young girl’s innocence is stolen
After the last years of silence that won’t let a heart open

There is love
Love, love, love
There is love

And in the end, the end is
Oceans and oceans
Of love and love again
We’ll see how the tears that have fallen
Were caught in the palms
Of the Giver of love and the Lover of all
And we’ll look back on these tears as old tales

‘Cause after the last tear falls
There is love

I really have nothing to say after that, I’ll let it stand on its own.

I agreed with Rush Limbaugh today

I have told a friend in real life that if Limbaugh ever said anything particularly profound with which I agreed, I’d give it its own post. It happened today (Thursday … since it’s almost midnight, it might be yesterday by the time this is posted).

I heard part of the 1 o’clock hour over my lunch break, and Limbaugh made a remark that he hates hearing from the focus groups after debates, he’s convinced that they simply follow the polls. He went on to say that someone should tell the focus group that McCain is leading in the polls and see what happens.

Actually, I think he’s right. First of all, there are few things about which I care less than what professional pundits say about speeches, debates, and such. There are a few such people whose opinions or analysis are worth hearing, but for the most part, I couldn’t care less. On the few occasions that I’ve seen any of these groups of undecided voters talking, I’ve never been impressed.

Moreover, it might be interesting to conduct an experiment exactly as Limbaugh suggests — have at least two groups, one told that each of the major candidates is leading in the polls, and see what happens. I suspect that Limbaugh might actually be right … the focus group will lean toward the leader in the polls.

Everyone agrees that polls are over-reported, and they really have moved from a part of a story to story-makers. If I’m actually agreeing with Rush Limbaugh, then we really need to consider something.

Christian Carnival CCXLVI Is Up

Ronnica has posted the 246th Christian Carnival at Tale of a Kansas Girl.

By the way, if you don’t make a habit of reading Ronnica’s blog, then you’re depriving yourself. You really ought to.

Some Other Blog Action Day Posts (Updated)

I certainly don’t know everyone participating in Blog Action Day, but I read regularly a few of them, and want to make sure that everyone gets to see these …

Ashli at Texas Baptists posted, quite simply, Texas Baptists work together to bring Hope to the Poor

Polycarp at The Church of Jesus Christ has posted Thoughts on Biblical Justice and Poverty. Polycarp calls it a meager contribution to Blog Action Day. We might have to discuss the meaning of the word “meager” some time.

Raffi at Parables of a Prodigal World posted Poverty: How Does the Gospel of Jesus Christ Speak to the Issue?

I might have more, but Google Reader doesn’t seem to be cooperating with me right now, so I’ll have to work on that. I’ll see about updating later.

Thomas at Everyday Liturgy posted Always Loving, Always Caring, Always Hoping

 

Blog Action Day 2008 – Poverty

No one is going to come out and say that they like poverty — whether domestic or worldwide. What we do get, though, is profound apathy. Like Cain, we ask, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Of course, Cain knew that he’d killed said brother with his own hands.

I think that we know, even as we make excuses, that that won’t cut it.

I’m sure that you’ve heard every excuse known to mankind … Liberals just want to use other people’s money to be charitable. In order for the economy to be strong, there have to be winners and losers. Everyone can succeed in this country if they put in the effort. We have problems to solve in this country before we go help others. The real fault is that these countries ruin themselves. That sounds like socialism to me.

Underlying every one of those excuses, frankly, I hear, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” I think that a lot of people know it, too, whether they admit it or not.

According to UNICEF, almost 30,000 children die each day due to poverty in the world. Tell me again, which little philosophical argument outweighs that?

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Can you really look at that picture and think, “We have more-important problems to solve?”

It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may
live as you wish.
Mother Teresa

I’m not going to tell you what to do. There are thousands of participants in Blog Action Day, and I’m sure that many of them are giving you the tips about not buying coffee and donating that money, or whatever other tips there are for how to get money with which to help those in need. Frankly, I don’t think that there is anyone who can’t figure such things out on their own if they try.

My point, simply, is to get far more basic. I want your heart broken. I want to speak to those who don’t think that this is a top priority, and make you take a look at your own heart, and I want you to come to terms with the fact that you have to choose — Are you your brother’s keeper, or do you side with Cain?

You know what’s happening in the world. I cited the statistic about children … the death toll from poverty is about 55,000 people, if we count both adults and children.

Poverty leads to wars as groups fight for whatever resources are left. This, of course, makes the problem worse as resources and infrastructure are destroyed. People who might be able to work fields or do other important work are killed, either as they fight or as they get caught in other people’s fights. The problems snowball. Everybody loses.

Poverty is real, and it kills people. I ask you, therefore, what you choose. You have the power to do something, whatever it is. Are you willing to be your brother’s keeper?

There but for the grace of God go I.