There are a few posts I have been meaning to link to.

Steve Rankin at Rankin File discusses what he learned during this year’s Presidential election. Rankin candidly discusses what he learned from election night about racism and the amazing breakthrough of an African American, Barack Obama, being elected to the office of President of the United States.

Shayne Raynor at the Wesley Report writes about United Methodist Churches that do not label themselves as United Methodist. Raynor explores whether United Methodists should be bothered by churches like Granger Community Church which effectively hide their United Methodist affiliation. (As a cool bonus, I learned that Starbucks owns Seattle’s Best… you learn something new every day.)

Steve Manskar and Steve Rankin both help focus our attention during this season of Advent. Manskar at Accountable Discipleship writes that Advent is not Christmas-lite. Rankin lists a few Christmas pet peeves. The one that has particularly stuck with me is the reminder that Christmas should not just be viewed cyclically – as a yearly celebration of Jesus’ birth. Instead of looking backwards to Jesus’ birth, Advent should be a time of looking forward to the “future and full coming kingdom of God.”