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A La Carte (January 27)

Today’s Kindle deals include The Faith of Christopher Hitchens, an interesting and excellent book. There are also a number of titles related to abortion.

Logos has put together a list of their most popular products for 2016. Quite a lot of them are for sale, so it’s worth giving the list a look.

The Awkward 17th-Century Dating Practice

If you’ve ever read about Jonathan Edwards, you’ve read about the bizarre practice of bundling. Atlas Obscura has just written a great article on a dumb practice.

A Plea for Pastoral Prayer

“Pastoral prayer—the part of the worship service where a pastor stands before the congregation and leads them in prayer as part of the worship service—seems to have fallen on hard times.” Indeed. It’s increasingly rare to find any substantial prayer in a church service.

2016: The Year in Language

Google has done a neat job in putting together a display of 2016’s top rising words. “These 10 words led the pack: Triggered, Shook, Juju, Broccoli, Woke, Holosexual, Shill, Gaslighting, Bigly, and SJW.”

Make America Unified Again

Bruce Ashford highlights 3 social divisions that America will need to overcome to become a unified nation.

Only 1 in 7 Senior Pastors Is Under 40

Here’s an interesting and important report from Christianity Today. “As clergy live longer and stay in ministry longer, the average age of Protestant senior pastors has risen to 54—a decade older than 25 years before, when the average age was 44.” There’s lots more to chew on in the report.

This Day in 1839. 178 years ago today famed English authority on hymns, John Julian, was born. His undoubted masterpiece is the monumental “Dictionary of Hymnology” which was published in 1892. *

The Surprising Ingenuity Behind “Goodnight Moon”

Here’s the sad, surprisingly story behind that book you probably memorized when your children were tiny. I think I can still recite most of it.

The Early Symptoms of Spiritual Danger

This is an important pastoral word from Sinclair Ferguson. Is it possible that you are showing some of the early symptoms of spiritual danger?

Pray With Your Spouse 31 Day Challenge

Couples may be interested in participating in Mike Leake’s 31-day challenge to pray with your spouse.

Flashback: 13 Ways You Waste Your Money

Money has many ways of disappearing. Here are a few of them.

Sin is not superficial to us, a mere flesh wound. It is a deep distortion, a twisted hostility toward God and his reign over us.

—Sinclair Ferguson

  • Remember

    It Doesn’t Matter What You Remember

    I have a memory like a … what do you call it? That thing in the kitchen you use to sift the stuff you want from the stuff you don’t. A sieve! That’s it. I have a memory like a sieve. I joke about it at times, and about how I have to outsource remembering…

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    A La Carte (January 14)

    A La Carte: Always being right / Sex advice for newlyweds / Making Christianity look good / Soul care / Stop straining for shortcuts / When writing feels like a chair / Rare Kindle deals / and more.

  • Post Woke

    Are We Post Woke?

    It is too early to tell, I think, whether the “wokeness” craze has already peaked and even begun to slip into decline, or whether it’s just pausing to gather energy for another surge. What seems clear for the moment, though, is that it has lost at least some of its initial momentum, probably because it…

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    A La Carte (January 13)

    A La Carte: A cautionary tale / Raising hands in worship / Freshen your prayer life / Exposing adultery to the light / Reject the religion of efficiency / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Petty Fight

    Petty Annoyances and Minor Insults

    I wonder if you are like me in that, as you look back on your life, you realize that most of the circumstances that have troubled you, most of the annoyances and disgruntlements, were produced by circumstances that were hardly worth noticing.

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    A La Carte (January 12)

    A La Carte: Happy 80th, John Piper / Practical principles for marriage / Benefits for daily Bible reading / Philip Yancey / Stingy-generous / From sermon to article / Kindle and Bible study deals / and more.