Being Crucified with Christ has never been so Sweet!
Yes, this is “Something Christians Like” in Jon Acuff style… you can’t make stuff like this up.
Besides the Lamb cake, (Lamb of God or maybe spring lamb… the jury is still out. See previous post.) my sis also brought over a Crucifix Pastry. She said a local Catholic-owned bakery in Mt. Lebanon (PA) makes super, delicious products, including religious themed items.
(To be honest, I found it a bit dry. This was remedied by dunking it in good coffee, and soothing myself with chocolate.)
I can’t help but wonder, if Jesus Christ had died by stoning, would it have looked like a pile of stones? Or, if the electric chair had been around…. oh never mind.
What do you think about religious baked goods?
1. No way-Not for me!
2. Not sure.
3. Delicious!
4. Other ___________ (explain)
Each separate life of worship, whatever its outward expression, in so far as it is truly cleansed of egoism and bent upon God, is part of this one eternal Eucharistic action of the Logos incarnate in the world: and this fact strips the Christian life of prayer of all petty subjectivism, all tendency to mere religious self-culture, and confers upon it the dignity of the Real.
(PLEASE note: Not shown in the picture, but also part of the prize -chocolate-)
Shown here is a fantastic book by Becky Garrison-Oh, and it’s autographed! (See how to get this awesome prize below!)
A fitting prize combo!
Here’s a book synopsis from Powell Books:
A challenge has been issued on matters of faith and Becky Garrison meets it head on in this witty yet poignant answer to the Anti-God gurus Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett.
Becky Garrison, religious satirist and senior contributing editor for “The Wittenberg Door,” is taking a stand. Where most Christians assume the character of the Cowardly Lion chanting, “I do believe, I do believe, I do believe,” Garrison refuses to simply thrust tracts at these self-proclaimed infidels.
Instead, Garrison steels her pen and takes on the ungodly program of the New Atheists, skewering each argument with her sharp satiric wit. Garrison turns aside the atheists’ assault without ignoring its real criticisms, namely, the church’s inadequate response to war, evolution, medical ethics, social justice, and other important issues in the post-9/11 world.
This from Becky:
I penned The New Atheist Crusaders and Their Unholy Grail at the request of Thomas Nelson, who wanted a satirical response to a select group of best selling authors, who in my view seemed to be behaving as badly as their fundamentalist counterparts. Both sides presented a black and white view of the world that reduced centuries of Christian and scientific thinking into easily digestible and often inaccurate soundbites. Such exchanges may make for entertaining cable news programming but they fail to present an faithful depiction of the Christian faith.
Since the publication of this book I’ve have the privilege of dialoguing with thoughtful freethinkers in my discussions with people like Greg Epstein, author of Good without God (http://www.harvardhumanist.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=30) and the Purple State of Mind (http://www.purplestateofmind.com) guys, as well as contributing regularly to Religion Dispatches (http://www.religiondispatches.org) and Killing the Buddha (http://killingthebuddha.com). I’ve found a group of folks, who decry the excesses of religious empires that threaten to demolish the wall separating church from state by siding with my ancestor Roger Williams, who coined the term “soul liberty” to denote the freedom of all to believe according to their own conscience. In addition, we acknowledge that religion and science can live in harmony without producing some faith based pseudo-science or a scientific world consists of cold hard facts that’s totally devoid of meaning. Also, we tend to roll our eyes at the latest biblical brands du jour albeit evangelical, prosperity gospel, power progressive, emergent, or New Monasticism that end up marketing certain missional mavericks as though they were the Messiah instead of following the living Christ.
What we share in common is a quest to explore what we share in common with our shared humanity in the hopes of addressing many of the concerns facing our world. My hope is that we can turn down the white noise of the New Atheists and then tune in to each other.
How can you get this great prize?
Becky thought this one up herself. This is her photo. Give it a caption. One winner will be picked.
Also-if you have questions about the book, or for Becky, leave them here, and she’ll reply. Fun, huh?
Awkward sign from Becky's trip to Canterbury Cathedral
My church’s youth drama club did this performance on Sunday. What a special youth group we have. . .Such a blessing. I watched it with a big lump in my throat. The journey may be hard, but Jesus and his love prevail.
This morning on FACEBOOK, I issued a challenge to my friends who happened to be on their computers at the time. The challenge was simple: Sing Praise.
Quickly, a friend replied by posting a Psalm of her own. Inspired, I rejoined with more praise, and then so did another.
After you read what happened, maybe you can type in a few words of praise.
Jodi Shockey Plum
I sing praises to Your name oh Lord, praises to Your name oh Lord. For Your name is great and greatly to be praised. i sing praises to Your name oh Lord…
about an hour ago ·
(me) Praise you God, the Highest One. You glory extends from the heavens to the depths of the earth. The stars shout for joy, the tree sway to your music, the birds sing your refrains, the creatures acknowledge you.
Sharon Herbster
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. . .Praise Him ye creatures here below. . .Praise Him above ye heavenly host. . .Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
(Once my granddaughter was talking to me on the phone from NC and sang me her “Jesus song”. She asked if I knew any Jesus’ songs and I enthusiastically said “YES!”. “Sing one for me, Mimi” she asked. So, I did. When I finished she said, “Sing me another one!” This repeated and went on for close to a half hour. . .)
