the nineteenth formica friday

It's that time again, another Formica Friday, a treasure trove of hodgepodge, random tidbits, and a bit of this and that. In particular, it is the place where I can celebrate the best posts I read this past week and want to share with you. What exactly is Formica Friday, you ask? Check out the tongue-in-cheek, I got away with this?, definition from the first post. A quote:

I’ve been forced to remember that God’s ways are not like ours, and that the world we live in is, in a real way, actively hostile towards Christ. Maybe it’s because I go to Baylor or because most of my friends and family are Christian, or maybe (and I think that this is the most true) it’s because I’m hostile towards Christ in my own slothful way, but I’ve forgotten that true Christianity isn’t any more popular now that it was two thousand years ago.

-- Wylie Wyman, llyc xi

A plee:

Lend me your beautiful words? I need guest posts for August! Please read the guidelines here.

A list:

• The pressure valve that is released in my soul when I talk to my best friend
• St. Bonaventure's feast day
• Coffee shops, late nights, and laughter
• The Kennedys
• Connectedness to hearts over connectedness to principles
• The security of a Christian community willing to call wrong where wrong is done
• Having a person

Posts, websites, trinkets, and the Internet week in review revue:

Do me a favor? When you check these links out, comment on them too. As bloggers, we love comments. It's likely that if you're reading this, you're a blogger too. So you know. We. love. them. And these posts here are the best I've seen this week and I think you'll like them too. Even if it's a simple, "I love this," but you mean it, that can be worth a lot. I'm also trying to simplify these links, pulling a quote or a simple description. So ...

• You see above that quote from Wylie Wyman, a good friend of mine. Her post, it may surprise you, is in defense of good Christian children going to camp in the summer. And if you've ever been cynical about the church, it will wreck you.

• Chris Gibson has blogged more in the past few days than she has in the past months and God be thanked for it. Two posts that will inspire you: "But the deepest part of us, the place where we are most ourselves, this is the real us who wants communion with God." and "God isn’t Danielle Steele, using words like toilet paper."

• Deeper Story brought two beautiful posts this week. The first about doubting Thomas, whom we should love and understand; the second from Alece, who absolutely floored and convicted me with this line: "But if I’m being most honest, I haven’t been as concerned with his repentance as I am with wanting him to feel the weight of what he’s done." I have been right there, Alece. Right there. And it's not pretty, but it's easy to fool ourselves.

• And speaking of the sensation Alece ... Every once in awhile she moves beyond her haunting, short, poetic pieces that leave you spinning with your own thoughts and she grants us the joy of a longer post, which will leave you devastated by hope. This is Alece's story, a story that brushes up against the Divine.

• "Once you understand God’s love for you, you can understand what a man’s love for you should be." God bless the Good Women Project.

• Rachel Held Evans provided a fantastic open discussion for asking questions from a devout Catholic, who provided some of the most erudite answers I've seen to what for Protestants are hard questions. I really love this series that Rachel has put together and the conversations that are springing from it.

• With her usual wit and charm, Margaret Felice has called foul on soccer trophy syndrome, but she starts by listing off all the things she's good at. I love her.

• I really love Elizabeth Esther. Each time we've talked on the phone I have walked away uplifted and confident and almost bursting with a certainty of the goodness of our Creator. One of the reasons I admire her so much is that we have very similar attitudes of snark in us, which can be at times costly. This is a beautiful apology and, frankly, the kind of apology we should have seen from a much more prominent Christian leader this week. Grace and peace, Elizabeth.

• Speaking of apologies that weren't apologies. THIS IS THE SINGLE BEST RESPONSE TO MARK DRISCOLL'S STATEMENT YOU WILL READ.

• Alise has this amazing ability to turn important matters and grave things with deft subtly and vulnerability. This post was a different kind of response to the Driscoll situation, one that breaks and heals my heart at the same time.

• And the last of Driscoll: Anna Blanch had the single best response to the principle of Christian figures in general, something that wasn't just born out of reaction, but out of the fact that Anna has been blogging and writing about these kind of things for years.

• On more practical notes, I love the posts that have just enough interdenominational tinge from Sister Lisa. Feel like you hit a brick wall when you try and share your faith? She has a few ideas for you.

• There's a lot I love Joy's writing for, but I will do no justice explaining this post. It's about losing a child. It will wound your heart with hope. You are so amazing, and our God is so good, my friend.

• Max wrote a poem. (Trust me, it's a poem.) With Scripture. And it will wreck you. It will propel you into the day. It will breathe as you breathe, stretch as you stretch.

And, as always, an old post from me:

• what's happened to satan?

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Have a post from the week you'd like to share? What was your best post this week? Or did you read someone else you just have to let us know about? Leave me a note in the comments below!