Blog Archive
for December, 2009
Christmas Blessings
— Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 —
Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
He has cleared away your enemies.
The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you [...]
Keep Reading...A Word about Family Tensions and the Holidays
— Sunday, December 20th, 2009 —
There’s a reason the “Cousin Eddie” character in the movie National Lampoon Christmas Vacation resonates with so many. We’ve all got a Cousin Eddie, or two, in our extended families. Some of us are Cousin Eddie. Our families weren’t designed for a televised Christmas special.
And despite the idyllic picture in Christmas cards and carol [...]
Keep Reading...Avatar: Rambo in Reverse
— Friday, December 18th, 2009 —
If you can get a theater full of people in Kentucky to stand and applaud the defeat of their country in war, then you’ve got some amazing special effects.
I just left opening night of James Cameron’s gazillion-dollar epic film Avatar. The reviews were right. The plot is laughably cliched. And the special effects are [...]
Keep Reading...Top Ten Books of 2009: The Complete List
— Friday, December 18th, 2009 —
Here are my top ten books of 2009.
1. Wendell Berry, Leavings: Poems
2. Dan Baum, Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans
3. Andrew J. Cherlin, Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today
4. Frederick Barthelme, Waveland
5. Jim Tomlinson, Nothing Like an Ocean: Stories
6. Terry Teachout, [...]
Keep Reading...Top Ten Books of 2009, Number One
— Friday, December 18th, 2009 —
Wendell Berry, Leavings: Poems
For years, I’ve read one of Wendell Berry’s “Sabbath Poems” every Sunday afternoon. I rarely stop thinking about it throughout the week.
I’ve said earlier that this list of ten books is in random order and, for the most part, that’s [...]
Keep Reading...Top Ten Books of 2009, Number Two
— Friday, December 18th, 2009 —
Dan Baum, Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans
“Stop thinking of New Orleans as the worst-organized city in the United States,” author Dan Baum starts off this book. “Start thinking of it as the best-organized city in the Caribbean.”
Baum, a writer for [...]
Keep Reading...Top Ten Books of 2009, Number Three
— Friday, December 18th, 2009 —
Andrew J. Cherlin, The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family in America Today
As you go to your family gatherings this holiday season, you might wonder why so many of the twenty- and thirty-somethings there are on their second or third spouses, while [...]
Keep Reading...Top Ten Books of 2009, Number Four
— Thursday, December 17th, 2009 —
Frederick Barthelme, Waveland
“Waveland was like Baghdad if the Air Force had hit it really hard: gone.” That’s the description this novel gives you of the town in Hancock County, Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina. This book, written by University of Southern Mississippi writer Frederick Barthelme, [...]
Keep Reading...Top Ten Books of 2009, Number Five
— Thursday, December 17th, 2009 —
Jim Tomlinson, Nothing Like an Ocean: Stories
When most of the country thinks about eastern Kentucky, they too often think of “Beverly Hillbillies” type caricatures: toothless moonshine distillers shooting one another across the holler because of a family feud over who stole grandma’s chewing tobacco. [...]
Keep Reading...A Way to the Manger: Why Bethlehem Matters (Micah 5:1-5)
— Thursday, December 17th, 2009 —
A Way to the Manger: Why Bethlehem Matters (Micah 5:1-5) from Russell Moore on Vimeo.
This sermon, “A Way to the Manger: Why Bethlehem Matters” (Micah 5:1-5), was originally preached on Sunday, December 13, 2009 [...]
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