Bullet-points or numbers for my lists of links? The numbers aren’t any sort of priority, they just (a) tell me how long my list is, and (b) hopefully make it easier to refer to in comments, if anyone wishes.

Congrats to Julie Clawson and Emerging Grace on their new digs… both places are looking great, both making the leap to WordPress. Update your links and readers for the same great content from each. Grace’s blog is now “Kingdom Grace” — I like the change.

1. Now even God has a blog.
2. Newspaper cuts… range from the disturbing to the outright funny. Do people not proofread or just not know how things look or sound sometimes? (HT: Execupundit)
3. Michael iMonk Spencer: Who’s On “The Next Billy Graham” This Season? He’s got a good point here, too… a felt need to crown a “new Billy Graham” despite the fact that nobody’s up to the task. Me, I’d rather have 50 nameless unknowns who show even half the character that Billy Graham has.
4. Mafia’s ‘Ten Commandments’ found (list included). It seems to me that matching them against the original Ten Commandments was a bit of a stretch… but interesting otherwise.
5. Vintage Stewardess Photos — check out the food service!
6. Simply explained by Jessica Hagy:
   
   (HT: Bob Carlton)
7. And then there’s that Hugh MacLeod guy…
   

   

8. Norman Mailer, Towering Writer With Matching Ego, Dies at 84 — also featured at Slate.
9. 25 Skills Every Man Should Know (HT: Dan Edelen) — interesting list… I scored fairly well on it, though there are a few I’ve never done. I wonder… is this a good list, or are there items missing? Notice there are only two items that require the presence of a second person, and they’re rescue-oriented. What would a similar list for women look like? Sew on a button, bake a cake, change a diaper? Good skills all, but… well, rather than focus on sexism, it just struck me that a woman’s list would probably be a lot more relational than at least this list for men, which suggests to me that this list must be missing a few things. Throw your ideas in the comments below.
10. translating scubalon, pointing out A Brief Word Study on Skuvbalon and an article Toward An Evangelical Theology Of Cussing: “…we must conclude with the NT that the utterance of a cuss word in and of itself is neutral…” Whew, that’s a relief… you know, for those of you who thought we might be in deep sh*t.
11. Around my neck of the woods, Habitat for Humanity of Winnipeg (the largest Habitat branch in Canada) wanted to have a volunteer appreciation evening, but at the last minute they were told by a local church that the native dancers that were to perform would not be allowed to do so under their roof because “Native spiritual dancing has its roots in a different spiritual belief system that is incongruent with traditional Christian worship.” Some reactions are uncertain but most are negative. This is a church that evidently loves Winnipeg but I’m struggling to see how this is not a case of demanding people clean up to come to church — and in this case, not even a church meeting, but just using it as a rented facility for other purposes. And “cleaning up” seems to mean leaving your culture at the door. I’m with Habitat on this one, it’s rather unfortunate to say the least.
12. If you appreciated my post on the Daily Office this week (go back if you missed it), you may be interested in the follow-up on the “How Do You Pray” synchroblog from a few months back: Free(d) to Pray is the summary of the contributions, and even quotes a line from my contribution to the synchroblog, on silence. My post included links to past posts on prayer and the observation that God hears us waiting, which is profound to me and is fresh again as I give thought to the approach of the Advent season.
13. Speaking of Advent — Christine Sine, Advent – The Beginning of the Church Year… for those less familiar with the church calendar.
14. Doc pointed this out (video on the right, perhaps not in RSS readers)… looks like a seriously cool rush.

15. Chris Marshall on disciplines as “creating space for God” — quoting Henri Nouwen
16. Ted Gossard on Growing Older.
17. Lainie Petersen on laundromats as third places
18. The “Millennials” Are Coming: Morley Safer On The New Generation Of American Workers. Technically, I think they’re talking about the Echo Generation (and by a zillion other “special” names), but hooo-boy. The workplace will never be the same… which isn’t always a good thing.
19. I read Seamus Heaney’s excellent Beowulf: A New Verse Translation a few years back (I suppose he wrote it in in this room) so I’m looking forward to seeing the Beowulf movie eventually, probably as a rental… it’s just how these things go. In any event, Slate reviewed it — in verse. One of twelve stanzas:
    

    Despite the second hour’s bogging down
    In royal squabbling and dull self-reproach,
    This final battle thrills and charms at once.
    The airborne chase is monumental fun,
    The hero’s prowess whopping. None alive

20. A Compendium of 150 Monty Python Sketches — links to the YouTube video for each one. I think he missed The Four Yorkshiremen. “A cardboard box? You were lucky!”

That’s another week in random linkage. Tune in next week when I’ll have — well, I don’t know what next week is going to look like yet. But it’ll be something, it always is. ;^)