From the CCblogs Network Posts for October, 2010

From the CCblogs Network

Reformation—conclusion

Oct 29, 2010 by Phil Heinze

I suppose I should have said something about being Lutheran this week, after all Reformation is the Lutheran 4th of July and you wouldn't celebrate independence without some flag waving and fireworks.

From the CCblogs Network

Spiritual hiccups: Cast into hell

Oct 28, 2010 by James Sledge

I readily admit that readings such as today's gospel make me a bit uncomfortable.  When Jesus starts talking about being "cast into hell" or how "whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven," I struggle to fit this in with other images of Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, with his call to love and pray for your enemies.  Perhaps, as a modern "liber

From the CCblogs Network

Seven reasons why Christians should celebrate Halloween

Oct 28, 2010 by Alan R. Rudnick

Is celebrating a holiday that honors ghouls, demons, ghosts, and everything that goes bump in the night dangerous or even evil?

From the CCblogs Network

Commending the Faith

Oct 26, 2010 by Ryan Dueck

This past Saturday, I attended John Stackhouse’s lectures on faith, reason, and the new atheism down at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre.  Evidently, there is still some interest in this topic as the event sold out—even in hyper-secular Nanaimo!

From the CCblogs Network

Stuck in the middle with you

Oct 25, 2010 by Tripp Hudgins

My friend, Larry Kamphausen, posted an interesting essay on his blog recently. You can read it here. He's struggling publicly with what it means to be stuck, caught between two (or more) ecclesial realities. He says:

From the CCblogs Network

The right cane

Oct 20, 2010 by Chris Brundage

My job often has me walking down hospital hallways.  Today it was at St Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti where a parishioner is recovering from pneumonia.  Last week he slept as I sat in the room and worried about him, but today he met me with a smile.  He explained a procedure I didn’t understand.  Medical information seldom sticks in my brain.  Enough to

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Cross-cultural prayer

Oct 18, 2010 by James Lumsden

I prayed with a young man today for healing - specifically healing from the bondage of evil spirits - which doesn't happen a lot in my ministry. He is from Congo - more fluent in French than English - which also took some careful listening. As he told his story, it became clear that his concerns are real and deep and have wounded him for a long time.

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"As any had need"

Oct 14, 2010 by Carol Howard Merritt

A friend of mine realized that she only had one friend who went to church. As someone who cares deeply about the church, she wondered why it was. And so she began to ask them, “Why don’t you go to church?”

The answers startled her. It wasn’t what she was expecting at all. The number one answer that she received was, “I can’t afford it.”

From the CCblogs Network

Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Oct 11, 2010 by David Henson

I have no enemies.

How am I to love them?

No enemy curses me. No enemy raises fists at me. No enemy persecutes me. No enemy hates me. I doubt anyone in the enemies of my state - Taliban or Al-Qaeda - care much about a stay-at-home dad living in a suburb of nothing in Texas. Frankly, I'm not important enough to have enemies in this world, and I'm not doing anything important enough that might make me any, either.

From the CCblogs Network

Crying in church

Oct 06, 2010 by Melissa Florer-Bixler

I just spent the last three hours trying not to cry my eyes out in pastoral care class. The topic this week was funerals. I rightfully anticipated a swell of emotions and prepared my heart accordingly. But in class the conversation the stories drifted towards the death of children, the most precarious moment of pastoral engagement.