Christian Carnival XXXV

This weeks entries are interspersed with lines from appropriate poetry by George Herbert, a priest of the Church of England who lived from 1593-1633.

...Give to all something; to a good poore man,
Till thou change names, and be where he began.
(From The Church-porch.)

From CowPi Journal, a reflection on Conditions of Love, examining why we put conditions on our love, and how it interferes with Jesus' call to unconditional love.

From Siris, a post on Spiritual Almsdeeds: a look at the list of traditional spiritual acts of mercy, and why and how to cultivate them in our own lives.

Pawigoview tells us why she believes President Bush has acted as a Good
Samaritan in Kerry's Spin on the Good Samaritan.

Faith makes me any thing, or all
That I beleeve is in the sacred storie:
(From Faith.)

The Crusty Curmudgeon reviews Yann Martel's critically acclaimed novel _Life of Pi_ and examines the theme that faith means believing the "better story" in a post titled A life on the ocean waves.

Who knows not Love, let him assay
And taste that juice, which on the crosse a pike
Did set again abroach; then let him say
If ever he did taste the like.
Love is that liquor sweet and most divine,
Which my God feels as bloud; but I, as wine.
(From The Agonie.)

From the Anchor Hold gives us The seraph serpents and the Cross, a meditation on September 14th's assigned Scripture readings from the Lectionary (Numbers 21:4b-9; Psalm 78; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17) about what we must do if we are to be healed and live.

From The Bible Archive we have Gleanings from John--God's Work and Man's Response, a comparison of John 5 and 9 which kicks off a 2-part series on healing, grace and work.

OF what an easie quick accesse,
My blessed Lord, art thou! how suddenly
May our requests thine eare invade!
(From PRAYER. (II))

Two wonderfully complementary posts on the mystery and power of prayer:

Notes From the Front Lines gives us Prayer, Calvinism and the House Church in Acts 12. (This is a fairly new blog, and a first time entrant in the carnival.)

We also have We Should Do This More Often from Ray Pritchard--Crosswalk Weblog.

Shine like the sunne in every corner: see
Whether thy stock of credit swell, or fall.
(From The Church-porch.)

On learning spiritual lessons:

Thinking about the spiritual lessons one can learn from that heaping generous slice of Americana, Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota is what's behind Even A Drugstore In The Middle Of Nowhere Can Be A Teacher from Belief Seeking Understanding.

A Quaker meeting attender looks at what Jesus means by John 3, living in God-light, and how that plays out in her marriage covenant with her husband and her God in fulcrum of Light from living on both ends - an exploration of best and worst.

WHY do I languish thus, drooping and dull,
As if I were all earth?
O give me quicknesse, that I may with mirth
Praise thee brim-full!
(From DULNESSE.)

Crossroads learns that more and more scientists are finding big problems with antidepressants, and asks if christian psychologists and the church are listening in More on Antidepressants.

Twice on the day his due is understood;
For all the week thy food so oft he gave thee.
(From The Church-porch.)

ChristWeb asks the question: How should Christians approach shopping on Sundays? (Can you figure out, from the two lines given above, what George Herbert's opinion might be on this subject?)

He that loves Gods abode, and to combine
With saints on earth, shall one day with them shine.
(From The Church-porch.)

Messy Christian answers questions from one of her readers on what the church and Christianity are like in Asia in Questions about the East from the West. And she's looking for more questions, so now's your chance. What do you want to know?

Mark D. Roberts describes his post titled Christian Inclusiveness this way:

Many people argue that the church should be inclusive of all people, even practicing gay and lesbians, because Jesus included everyone. Is this true? This is the first post in a series on Christian Inclusiveness.

But are there cares and businesse with the pleasure?
Echo. Leisure.
Light, joy, and leisure; but shall they persever?
Echo. Ever.
(From Heaven.)

A reflection on the question of "what will truly last for eternity?" with some discussion of the continuities between this earth and the new heavens and new earth in an article called What will last for eternity? by Jollyblogger.

Doctrine and life, colours and light, in one
When they combine and mingle, bring
A strong regard and aw:...
(From THE WINDOWS.)

In Never Forgotten, Beyond The Rim... contemplates the internet and how no piece of information is beyond reach of memory, and how God is like that, but even more so.

Parableman makes a biblical argument for the Trinity based on the three sharing one name in The Name of the Trinity.

For us the windes do blow;
The earth doth rest, heav'n move, and fountains flow.
Nothing we see, but means our good,
As our delight, or as our treasure:
The whole is either our cupboard of food,
Or cabinet of pleasure.
(From MAN.)

Minas Tirith gives us a scriptural defense of the old earth creationism stance in Creationism Part II.

Mark what another sayes: for many are
Full of themselves, and answer their own notion.
Take all into thee; then with equall care
Ballance each dramme of reason, like a potion.
(From The Church-porch.)

All of these have entries have something to do with the media:

Weapon of Mass Distraction hopes to capture your attention with an image of Dan Rather's Nightmare.

On the same subject--bloggers versus the mainstream media--we have David v. Goliath from Neophyte Pundit. (I wonder how long until he can no longer call himself a neophyte?)

View from the Pew highlights an article from the Palm Peach Post that takes a rather cheap shot at conservative Christians in Cheap Shot to the Right.

...thou searchest round
To finde out death, but missest life at hand.
(From VANITIE.)

Nykola.com gives us Termination for Love, a rebuke against the modern-day, self-centered concept of aborting babies with potential birth defects. No arguments against this one from me!

For my hearts desire
Unto thine is bent:
I aspire
To a full consent.
(From DISCIPLINE.)

...in the outer...decribes his entry like this:

A reflection of a pastor's sermon on radical transformation of a wholly devoted follower of Christ and what it means on the day after I heard it at church when I am stuck in my little cubicle, bombarded by the stresses, trials and challenges of a "normal" office day at work...

Yet, Lord, restore thine image, heare my call:
And though my hard heart scarce to thee can grone,
Remember that thou once didst write in stone.
(From THE SINNER.)

Two entries on original sin:

DeoOmnisGloria give us Does Original Sin Really Exist?: an examination of Scripture to determine if original sin exists and what "original sin" is.

Next up, Happy Catholic responds to Digitus, Finger & Co.'s post positing that man is basically evil. She feels the premise was wrong and gives us her reasons for rethinking the idea in Is Man Good or Evil?.

And one entry on sin of another sort:

StarkTruth Stark Raving Mad--with a name like Stark in it twice, the blog's got to be good!--tells us that "Gay" does not describe the "gay lifestyle" due to disease, suicide, unhappyness in What's so gay about it?

My joy, my Life, my Crown!
My heart was meaning all the day,
Somewhat it fain would say,
And still it runneth muttering up and down
With only this, My Joy, my Life, my Crown!
(From A TRUE HYMN.)

From Viewpoint we have a discussion based on James Sire's book, Universe Next Door, of how Christian existentialism differs from non-existential Christianity.

WHO will give me tears? Come, all ye springs,
Dwell in my head and eyes; come, clouds
and rain;
My grief hath need of all the watery things
That nature hath produced:....
(From GRIEF).

Four September 11th remembrances:

The Great Separation is running a Macromedia Flash movie which Hal created weeks after the event--I Carry This.

Reasons Why shares some thoughts on 9/11, suffering, and the
goodness of God - on the occasion of his daughter's third birthday. You guessed it, the little girl was born on September 11th, 2001, and so he gives us Reflections on 9/11.

My entry this week belongs in this section, too--September 11, 2001: Another Recounting.

Digitus, Finger & Co. shares a homily called What Would The Dead Say?, that he gave at his church one year after the 9/11 attacks.

And finally, remembrance of another sort of grief--the pain a mother of a stillborn child:

Withdraws from Painful Stimuli at My Domestic Church.