Weekly Links: ISIS, Austen, and more

SOME GOOD READING FOR YOUR SUNDAY AFTERNOON, SET OUT IN MY USUAL CATEGORIES OF FAITH, AND FAMILY, AND FICTION...

Faith

-"No Matter How Many  Priests ISIS Kills, They Can't Win":

When a faithful pastor baptizes, he is telling those clothed in the waters of regeneration, “You are no longer under the power of the devil, his murderers, or his terrorists. You are now under the protection of Christ, and no one can take you away from him.” When a pastor faithfully administers Holy Communion, he says to those who gather at the altar, “Here with his body and blood, Christ covers you in his righteousness, and no knife or bullet can pierce through that armor.”

-"A Good Man Justifies a Wicked Deed: Grudem on Trump":

We must vote for flawed men, but not for men who glory in their flaws.

-"Bats in the Attic":

The thing is, the Devil and all his evil cohorts really don’t want us, or anybody else, to go to church. If there is any reason at all, however small, to persuade you not to go, that reason will be gathered up and hurled at you, along with your own natural inclinations to take it easy and stay home. If you arrive on a Sunday morning, exhausted, totally unable to conceive of hauling yourself out of bed and going to sit in a hard pew with a lot of annoying people, well, you are not alone.

Family

-"Uncannily Youthful At 67, He Embodies Antidote To Bummer 'Biggest Loser' Study": apparently, it's all about building muscle mass.

Fiction

-"Austen Upside Down": Can you be an Austen fan without really understanding her? This article makes me think the answer is "yes".

-"Ten Thoughts About the Business Side of Writing": so very many good thoughts here.

May your week be a gracious rhythm of meaningful work and peaceful rest.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

Weekly Links: Writing, the Drought, Word Nerdery, and more!

"Things I Can Say About MFA Writing Programs Now That I No Longer Teach in One":

After eight years of teaching at the graduate level, I grew increasingly intolerant of writing designed to make the writer look smart, clever, or edgy. I know this work when I see it; I've written a fair amount of it myself. But writing that's motivated by the desire to give the reader a pleasurable experience really is best.

"The Scorching of California": So, this is properly terrifying . . .

"9 Things You Should Really Know About Anglicanism":  Useful info here.

"10 Words We've Forgotten How to Pronounce":  fellow word nerds, click here!

"That Way We're All Writing Now": Oh, and here, too.

"A Brief Defense of Infant Baptism": as someone who is still coming to grips with the practice, I found this helpful.

"Not Angry: At Least Not for Long": on a hard virtue.

"Introverts and Extroverts Brains Really Are Different, According to Science": more personality fun!


Finally, on the very important practice of nosing and tasting whisky ("and this tells you . . . absolutely nothing").  Enjoy the accent!

A Definition of "Lent", from the St. James Devotional Guide

As Lent approaches, it's good to know what exactly it is we're observing. In my reading this week, I ran across this definition of Lent in the excellent St. James Devotional Guide:

Originally the word Lent, now associated exclusively with the observance of the liturgical year, was simply the Anglo-Saxon for "spring" and had no directly religious significance . . .

. . . . In most other languages of Western Christianity the word for Lent is some variant of "forty," derived from the Latin quadragesimale. Traditionally, this was a period of 40 days of fasting in imitation of the Lord himself, who observed exactly that length of time in fasting prior to the beginning of his earthly ministry. It was also associated with the 40-day fast of Moses on Mount Sinai and of Elijah on the same mountain . . .

. . . . As early as the second century we already find Easter being the preferred time for the baptism of new Christians. The reasons are rather obvious . . . For the early believers, it was important that some period of prayer and fasting, by way of preparation, should precede the ritual of baptism. Even the Apostle Paul prayed and fasted for three days prior to being baptized . . . 

. . . . the Council of Nicaea . . . also determined that the forty days preceding Easter should be a special time of prayer and fasting in preparation for the baptisms to be done on that day. that determination has remained to the present time.

The Devotional also points out that it was traditional for the other members of the church to fast along with the people preparing for baptism, the point being that the fasting was "a community effort".

I'm sure I've said so before, but it's worth repeating: when I wanted to establish a regular habit of reading through the Bible, and was looking for some guidance in doing so, I found no better aid than the St. James Devotional. It walks you through the New Testament every year, the Old every two years, and the Psalms lots.  And it also pays attention to having the Scripture selections match the season of the church year, as much as possible, and provides excellent commentary, and a short form for daily prayer. (I'm not paid by them or anything for this endorsement; I'm simply a very happy subscriber.) So, if you're looking for something like that: be of good cheer! it exists! :)

And may you have a good and fruitful Lent.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Gamgee's baptism

Lest you think I asked my son to turn his face away from the camera so that I could have a blog-worthy picture, let me assure you that all of them look like this:
The ceremony itself was wonderful, and Gamgee did a beautiful job - he even walked up and down the aisle with the bishop so that everyone could see him - and my favorite part was when he came back and said excitedly, "I get to take communion now!"

But though we talked to him about everything that went along with the baptism himself, and he obediently did everything he'd been told to do, we forgot to mention there would be pictures afterwards, and after a three-hour ceremony that started before dawn, well, it was just too much:

It was a wonderful morning though. And he perked up again at the post-church-service brunch. :D

Adam and I are on the left in these pictures, btw, and the handsome couple on the right is my brother and his wife, the proud godparents. I'll leave you to figure out who the guy in the funny hat is.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Links: Christchurch, baptism, gluttony & more

I'm sure you've heard about the Christchurch earthquake. Here is an amazing (not in a good way) collection of pictures that give an idea of the aftermath. Please keep the people there in your prayers.

This was very timely for me; perhaps it might be for some of you too. Not sure I agree with every point, but a very thoughtful article on baptizing young children.

Unsurprisingly, over at bearing blog, the author continues to post excellent essays like this one about gluttony.

. . . also, she writes really funny ones like this on Decluttering . . . alcohol. :)

Author Patricia Wrede on "Sax and Violins". Informative as always.

Peace of Christ to you,

Jessica Snell

buy Touchstone

Commercial enough? I have had a link to this magazine on my sidebar for a long time, and have been a reader of it even longer, but I have a special reason for recommending it this month: I have the honor to have a short article in this month's edition. So even though our twins' arrival is keeping me from posting very often these days, you can still read a bit about homemaking through the church year. The article is actually the sum of what I've learned since I began trying to practice the church year as a wife and mother.

But buy the magazine for more than that; check it out because it is a consistantly excellent monthly collection of essays and more. And it has writers from all three of the great divisions of Christianity, and they never pretend that our differences don't exist but instead acknowledge them while at the same time working to think well about how what we all believe (summarized in the Nicene creed) influences - no, rather, dictates - how we ought to live.


Speaking of the church year, Easter is coming up, and our oldest daughter is scheduled to be baptized at the Easter vigil service. Does anyone have any tips on how to prepare a toddler for baptism? I mean prepare in a practical sense; obviously you want to have been teaching her to love the Lord and explaining to her what baptism means, etc. But did anyone practice the service with her child or do any of you have a "learned it the hard way" story about your young baptismal candidate getting stage fright (so to speak) during the service or freaking out about getting wet? Our girl is excited about getting baptised, and I think she understands it as well as a three year old can, but I'd like to do what I can to help it all to go well. I'd be grateful for any tips from moms who've done this before.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell