Just a Little Portion Christian Carnival (#133)

Today is one of those minor Christian holidays where the name says it all --- the memorial of the dedication of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels of the Little Portion. "Of the Angels" because some local herdsmen heard the angels sing there back in the 900s. "Of the Little Portion" because this tiny humble chapel, originally not much more than a wayside shrine, was on a tiny piece of land that had been gifted to God and the region's monastery. But the monastery didn't have much interest in the place, being tiny and far from the rest of the land they were responsible for. Eventually, in the 1300s, the monks rented it out to a upstart group of poor wandering preachers who still to this day call it home sweet home: annual rent, two buckets of fish. One little chapel on a tiny plot not really good for much of anything, that became a place for the grace of God to shine forth. The dozen upstarts who rented the place are now thousands of poor wandering preachers and servants of the poor; the chapel on the Little Portion, a place of pilgrimage.

So maybe this little Christian Carnival offering can become a place for the grace of God to shine forth, just as that little piece of land in the Italian mountains that is remembered today.

Ganheim at Ponderings on the Workings of the Universe ponders on why bad things happen to good people.

Chris Alexion at Welcome to the Fallout reviews C.S.Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in Learning from Lewis.

David Ker's Lingamish reminds us of some not-very-comfortable realities in Sleep Well. [and to be aware that here in the USA the rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air and the roar of the jet fighters overhead is all just good clean fun....whereas in a dozen lands any of us could name.....]

Professor Steve Bainbridge presents a review of some principles of justly fighting ("jus in bello") in The Aburdity of Proportionality.

At Li'l Duck Duck, Mama Duck ponders the ways of her toddler, Li'l Duck, in Cheerful, friendly, sweet and mostly innocent.

The Bible Archivecontinues its tradition of Bible exposition with A Literary View of John 3:14-16.

Lawyers and Good Books for the Middle Kingdom chronicles some adventures of Charmaine ay the National Religious Broadcasters' trade show, at Jack Yoest.

You know those nasty sins detraction, calumny, rash judgment, gossip? A Man of Understanding Holds His Tongue, insists the author of the Proverbs, and also Dave Lorenzo of the Career Intensity Blog.

Laurie Bluedorn of Trivium Pursuit presentsan essay by Dave Kidd on the dress and comportment of Christian teenagers in Ashes for Beauty.

Here's another fine post about nasty sin; simony, which is the attempt to buy and sell the grace of God by trading in real or fake "holy things". Jesus junk comes in for special attention in Cracking the Whip at Rodney Olsen's Journey.

Tyler Williams of Codex continues his series on the textual criticism of the Hebrew Scriptures with The Practice of Textual Criticism. Please think kindly of and pray for those hard-working professional Scripture scholars who make it possible for us to have all the study bibles with the wonderful footnotes and cross-references.

This week at Light Along the Journey, John takes a look at Psalm 47 and the unexpected reason the Psalmist gave for his shouting for joy.

Monica Brand of Books Are Our Friends has submitted a post called Undressing the Church about the dress of women at church. Unfortunately your hostess hasn't been able to read it due to technical glitches, but I've been told it is there, if you don't use Internet Explorer.....

At Fallible.com, Katy McKenna Raymond insists that the inspiration and influence of a caring teacher can last a lifetime as she reminiscences about her days in Christian elementary school in Teach Your Children Well.

The Renaissance Blogger asks --- do my beloved Desert Christians, and the other people who have strived after holiness in the past, have anything to offer to 21st century Christianity (of course, I believe they do!) in Does the Modern Church Have a Use for the Past.

Veracity of The Way writes in Forced Detention of a current child protection case and what it might bode for the future of the country.

The Golden Hour of the day inspires Karen of Scottsdale as she is reminded of God's presence while taking her evening stroll, she writes at The View from My Chair.

The Thinking Christian expounds on Ecclesiastes and Joy. Yes, joy!

Inmani Peterson at AmericanInventorSpot writes of the hazards and dark side of the internet and presents a new free version of Parental Control Software.

In Time and Omnipotent Designers, the Parableman probes the various arguments for the creation of the world and the length of time for the creation to be complete.

Rev Bill relates how he is discovering that the times in his life that are not so easy are making him more Christlike!, in Becoming Like Christ.

Humilis Penitens knows that no matter what, our faith and our worship must be Real, in a meditation upon the assigned Scripture of the day, at A Penitent Blogger.

At Attention Span, Reverend Ed realizes that no matter how well he covers up his Farmer Tan, Someone knows what lies beneath.

Leslie Carbone lambastes rash judgment toward a Christian radical-adoptionist couple who feared that too many trees on their house-lot would be hazardous to their four blind adoptive children, in Enviro-Judges.

Mark Olson at Pseudo-Polymath offers us On Emergent Life: Considered Yet Again, part three of a series in which he attempts to present (at a request) some arguments why we might want to place a high value on the unborn life. In this part, he does not restrict himself to the secular arguments.

The blogger at Brain Cramps for God has posted a three part series starting with "SHEEP! WE ARE ALL SHEEP!", which all center around our need, as humans, to find a source of Truth and Authority in our lives, and, of course, what he thinks that source is.

The Alabama Brands encourage us with Scripture with God Thinks about Me.

Michele from Life Under the Sun completes her ongoing study of Samson and Delilah.

Nehring presents 30 Movies That Matter, that inform and support the Christian worldview, along with some thoughts on how Christians can approach watching film, at Nehring The Edge.

The Evangelical Ecologist is live-blogging "Let's Tend the Garden", a Christian environmental conference in Boise, Idaho, this week.

And, it was really hard to decide. but your humble hostess offers the story of a very recent martyr for Christ and His people in A Shepherd Cannot Run.

Sorry about those of you who requested "trackbacks" and "pings", but I do not know how to do either of those. Thanks to Dory for letting my host the Carnival again (I hosted it twice in 2004), and I pray you all enjoy and are enlightened by it.

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