- Phyllis Tickle, author of The Divine Hours, is blogging through Lent at Beliefnet. The posts are on the longer side, but her way with words is so lovely and her insight so poignant that its definitely worth taking some time to read along during these Lenten weeks. Wednesday’s post is about cats, sort of. I deplore people–writers and preachers, especially–who will tell a long, fancy story just to make some kind of minor religious or moral point of it all. It’s a kind of verbal seduction that almost always seems to me both to be cheap as a ploy and to cheapen the art of storytelling as well; but I am about to do it. I am about to do it, because I have thought a long, long time about these cats and because I’m not at all sure the point is minor. The more I have thought about our cats, in fact, the more they persuade me of something that is more Lenten than most sermons.
- Christian author and activist Shane Claiborne was recently dis-invited from a speaking engagement at Ceaderville University because of the “the need to protect Cedarville’s reputation as a conservative, Christ-centered university.” Scott McKnight has- in my opinion- a helpful critique of Cedarville’s actions. In one word: it’s about education. Colleges do not endorse everything anyone says when they invite someone to speak. I cannot comprehend why so many don’t get this: invitations of speakers to schools or even churches do not mean blanket endorsement. Invitation does not mean endorsement. In fact, if we think about this a bit it becomes clear: no one agrees with anyone completely.
- This is different. Relevant Church in Florida is inviting its (married) members to participate in the 30 Day Sex Challenge. According to CNN, A southwest Florida church issued a challenge for its married members: Hanky panky every day. Relevant Church head pastor Paul Wirth issued the 30-day sex challenge to take on high divorce rates. “And that’s no different for people who attend church,” Wirth said Sunday. “Sometimes life gets in the way. Our jobs get in the way.” The challenge doesn’t extend to unwed congregants, however.
- And finally, here is what Homer Simpson may have looked like if Rembrandt had been one of the illustrators. (ht kottke)
links: lent, claiborne, 30 days, homer simpson
4 responses to “links: lent, claiborne, 30 days, homer simpson”
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What Relevant Church needs (as well as Parkview if they’d consider this) is 30 days of babysitting. 🙂
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Nice Larry. Nice.
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I can’t tell if you’re disappointed in my humor, or in agreement. Love the internet as a communications medium. 🙂
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It’s sad to see how some Christian institutions have chosen the path of telling people/students exactly what to think verses helping them learn to think for themselves. Now wonder we’ve lost our ability to dialogue with those who believe differently.
The Homer Simpson portrait is freaky.
David W. Swanson 
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