CCBlogs thinking critically, living faithfully

It’s Ash Wednesday, and the CCblogs network is filled with thought-provoking posts.

Ashes are dirty, says Debra Dean Murphy, like coal dust. They get under Pamela Fickenscher's fingernails, and they get Roger Lovette thinking of other smudges. They take to some foreheads more readily than others, as Darren Cushman Wood details, and we bring them out on what Maria Evans points out is the one service of the year in which we go to the altar twice. James Schaap explores the ashes’ effect on a fictional fifth-grade classroom, while Adam Thomas's story focuses on a fourth grader at church on a weekday.

What are you giving up or taking on for Lent? asks Nancy Fitz. Paul Stroble reminds us to keep it Christ-centered, and Frank Showers talks about what constitutes true treasure. Lent has the potential, says David Henson, to be a time of self-importance; Chris Brundage warns against the perils of public piety. Shawn Wamsley notes that Lent disciplines are rightly personal, though Michael Marsh reminds us that each individual journey takes place within community. Although Lent disciplines are complicated, Martha Hoverson assures us that they are “not intended to ruin your life.”

Bob Cornwall draws from Joan Chittister on the urgency of repentance, while Mark Powell points out that we already know how. Will Willimon talks about preaching on the cross; Ed Sunday-Winters pushes for a less safe Jesus. Warren Hicks asks: what has your attention?

Milton Brasher-Cunningham prays for disquiet; Amy Julia Becker longs for grace that disrupts routine. Lent is about transformation, says Julie Clawson, not denial; Ernesto Tinajero points out that self-control is itself about being transformed. How will Lent change Ryan Dueck?

James Lumsden describes his eucharistic angle on Lent this year and offers a short reading list. As for Weston Williams, he comes from a church “non-tradition” in which it’s a stretch to observe Ash Wednesday at all. Joshua Hearne offers that the reason we prepare for Lent’s journey is that we can’t see Easter yet. One way to prepare, according to Ellen Haroutunian, is—well, was—to party.

Angela Shier-Jones talks to God about being dust, while Dianna Woolley and Rachel Hackenberg offer poems. Janet Edwards, Jan Richardson and Elmer Ewing reflect on the lectionary readings. We are creatures, says Steve Woolley. Still, Allan Bevere doesn’t want to die.

There are a number of new bloggers in the network. Drop by and check them out:

Amy Julia Becker of Thin Places is a writer and seminarian and the mother of a child with a disability. L’Arche alum Melissa Florer-Bixler does part-time children’s ministry and blogs at Sign on the Window.

Draughting Theology is written by Steve Pankey, a young Episcopal priest. Kirkepiscatoid features the “random and not so random musings” of first-generation Episcopalian Maria L. Evans.

Lutheran pastor Dan Bohlman blogs about small-town ministry at RuralMinister. Paul E. Stroble—a teacher, writer and Methodist elder—blogs at Journeys Home.

Heady Ir(Reverence) blogger Matthew J. Gallion is a grad student doing sociological research on the emerging church. Graphic designer Jesse Turri writes about art and design along with faith at Turri Design.

Church of England priest Kath Williamson blogs at Reflections. Angela Shier-Jones, a Methodist presbyter in the U.K., blogs at The Kneeler. Khanya’s Steve Hayes is a deacon in the Orthodox Church of South Africa.

Don Scrooby writes on spirituality at Seeing More Clearly. A Time to Embrace, by Presbyterian minister Janet Edwards, focuses on LGBT inclusion in the church.

Seven Whole Days is the blog of Episcopal priest and “certified technophile” Scott Gunn. “Pastor, musician, and goofball” Tripp Hudgins blogs at Conjectural Navel Gazing; Jesus in Lint Form.

Methodist minister Eric Scott blogs the weekly lectionary at The Dogeared Preacher. Elmer E. Ewing, a Presbyterian lay preacher, writes on the daily readings at My Meditations on the Daily Lectionary.

There are several new bloggers in the network. Drop by and check them out:

Debra Dean Murphy, an Ekklesia Project board member and lectionary blogger, is on the religion faculty at West Virginia Wesleyan College. She blogs at Intersections.

Ryan Dueck is a Mennonite Brethren pastor in British Columbia. He calls himself a "hopeful skeptic" and blogs at Rumblings.

Virginia Episcopal priest Peter Carey is a contributor to Episcopal Cafe. He blogs at Santos Woodcarving Popsicles.

Thomas Bowen, a minister at Washington D.C.'s Shiloh Baptist Church, writes about religion and politics at Blogging to the Choir.

Baptist pastor Joshua Hearne blogs at Telling the Stories That Matter, which consists of lively retellings of saints' lives.

Eponymous blogger Beth A. Richardson is a United Methodist deacon, a writer/musician/photographer and the editor of upperroom.org.

Robert Minto, a philosophy major at Dordt College, is on his way to both seminary and law school. He blogs at The Veil Away.

Lutheran lawyer Obie Holmen lives in Northfield, Minnesota. He blogs at Spirit of a Liberal.

There are several new bloggers in the CCblogs network. Drop by and check them out:

Michael K. Marsh, an Episcopal priest in Texas, takes the name Interrupting the Silence from Thomas Keating. Michael seeks “to stand at the intersection of Episcopal breadth and Orthodox depth.”

Along with reflections on spirituality and prayer, Washington State’s Dianna Woolley posts original poetry and collage work. She blogs at Mind Sieve under the name Sunrise Sister.

Virginia's Jeff Harlow is a United Methodist pastor, university instructor and nonprofit consultant. Unpacking Ideas offers “a self-indulgent conversation about incarnation, grace, and transformational leadership.”

Rachel Hackenberg is a United Church of Christ minister in Pennsylvania. Her blog, Faith and Water, includes a lot of biblical reflections and poetry.

A Minister's Life is by David Lewicki, a Presbyterian pastor in New York. He includes a wide variety of personal reflections, photographs and interesting links and commentary.

Writer and retired pastor Roger Lovette blogs at Head and Heart. His major concern is "how to do my little part to make the human family what God intended."

Liberal Christian Commentary is a lectionary blog by West Virginia’s Sea Raven. A consultant for worship, music and the arts, Sea’s primary interest is in creation spirituality.

Josiah Norton is a writer and photographer based in Minneapolis. His blog is called The Phoenix Renovatio, after the early Christian use of the phoenix as a symbol of resurrection.

Page Shelton is a retired Presbyterian pastor. His blog, Salt and Light, focuses on the contrast between "cultural religion" and the biblical witness.

CCbloggers have had a wide variety of things to say about the July 4 holiday.

James Lumsden gives thanks "for the blessings and challenges of this era." Andrew Thompson celebrates freedom for good things, rather than from bad things. Chris Brundage highlights the wisdom of Ben Franklin, while Bruce Prescott recites James Madison's definitive document on church and state. Keith Herron points to King David and the "messy work" of building and sustaining a nation, and Ellen Haroutunian observes that "America isn't easy."

Michael Ruffin picks apart the America-as-Christian-nation myth, and Peter J. Walker confesses that he isn't exactly proud to be an American. Julie Clawson highlights freedom-fighting heroes of the non-white-male variety; Matt Shafer commemorates revolutions that, unlike our own, were nonviolent. Milton Brasher-Cunningham reminds us that Woody Guthrie's patriotic song was written in response to Irving Berlin's, while Chad Holtz celebrates Interdependence Day. My fiancee and I reluctantly agree to exchange vows in a flag-adorned chancel.

"God help me," says Wayne Stacy. "I love the Fourth of July!"