Weekly Review

Lots of thought provoking articles and reflections on the web this week! Many of them focused on the upcoming election and our Christian response to it. I have hesitated to share any of them after several strong reactions by people to reflections on the election. I confess that I am getting very weary not of the election itself or even of the normal negative ads, constant news coverage, and ever changing suspect polls of voters. (One would think we didn't need to have an election simply let the pollsters make the selection!) What I am weary of is the ugliness of discourse among people and especially among Christians! And as at least one blogster stated: perhaps what is most important is not who we vote for on November 4th but how we react (whether our candidate wins or loses) on November 5th.
Are you a November 4th Christian or a November 5th Christian?

How about hearing from the voices of the negative ads.

Perhaps we need to focus less on criticizing others and evaluating our lives like the internetmonk: href="http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/confession">Confessions of a Pastor
On Burning Effigies

As CoffeePastor proclaims Oh Come On!

Here is another book for my to read list: Where's Your Jesus Now?

Keep the Christians in India in your prayers.

On the economic front: Is it okay to pray for your 401K? Has the prosperity gospel contributed to the current economic crisis?

Why are Christians bored by the gospel? Perhaps that is related to the fact that most Protestants fall short of Spiritual Maturity!

Haugen points to three contributors to boring christian living: 1. Ignorance of the massive need in the world around us, 2. Despair at the massive need in the world around us, 3. Fear about having to leave the safety of our cul-de-sac lives where we are in control and comfortable.

What's next tickets for driving while on cell phone?

Not too surprisingly, religious people are more apt to help.

The transformative power of listening

The power of healing song.

What should characterize a Christian worship gathering?

The Wilhelm Scream explained. You may think you have no idea what this but you do!

Finally, a few more posts on the election. If you have already made up your mind, you may want to skip these. I offer these for those of you still struggling--not to tell you what to do but to offer a few perspectives (a couple I share and some that I don't)
Bob Robinson shares legitimate and illegitimate reasons why Evangelicals should vote for McCain. This is the first in a series, next he'll do the same for Obama.
Jim Wallis on voting your values.
Tim Keel reflects on why after voting Republican in the last 5 elections, he'll be voting for Obama this time and why it shouldn't matter to you.

And now for something a bit lighter, check out this video by new favorite comedian, Tim Hawkins (props to Kim Scites for introducing me to him!)