Thinking Blogs

Having been tagged by MWW for a "Thinking Blogger Award" (thanks!), I am now meant to nominate five others and pass the link-love back up the chain in this pyramid-scheme meme based on flattery and self-interest. Sure.

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

Five blogs that make me think:

a. Faith and Theology - already nominated, I know, but if we're really going to make this movement feel elitist, we've got to keep it small...
b. The Blogging Parson
c. Alastair.adversaria - currently on a month long hiatus.
d. On Journeying with those in Exile
e. Chrisendom

If you didn't make the top five, guess it must mean that your blog is thoughtless and shallow - did I mention that this meme also works on fear of exclusion and relief when someone finally nominates you?

Dan on making a difference

There was a time when I thought [...] that we could truly contribute and leave a mark on the world. But [...] I have only found that the world has marked me. Instead of bringing wholeness to others, I have found that the brokenness of others has become a part of me. Instead of bringing help, I have received helplessness. Instead of bringing comfort, I have received sorrow. Instead of being a light and a guide, I have found myself plunged into darkness. Instead of being an agent of salvation, I have found myself a member of the damned.

This is the hopelessness that I want my Christian brothers and sisters to be confronted with. Indeed, it is only after we have been confronted with the reality of this hopelessness that we can begin to understand the true nature of Christian hope. This hope speaks of a peasant who died abandoned and hopeless, marked by the world's whips, and thorns, and nails. And this hope continues to lead me into places where the world will, inevitably, mark me.

Dan (On Jounreying with those in Exile): always provocative, insightful, well-read and earnest. Check it out.

Dan on separation and reconciliation

Dan of On Journeying with those in Exile has an honest and insightful post on separation and the imperfectibility of reconciliation. He also gives regular brief reviews of the many books he reads each month, and frequent reflections on his ministry amongst the poor in Canada.