the fortieth 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.

A quote:

No one answers the altar call, which doesn't surprise me but is nonetheless a little sad, an unanswered altar call being kind of like an uneaten piece of pie.

-- Lauren F. Winner, Girl Meets God

A list, in which I describe what I am thankful for:

sitting in Common Grounds with Antonia for two hours on Sunday, avoiding assignments and talking about grace
Jerry and Monday nights, salad dressing and laughter
St. Paul's and midweek Eucharist, all linen cloth and springtide light
Grant, Samuel, and I, woven music and marveling at what it would be to walk on water
my Father calling me about my potter's hands post to say he loved me
raw, honest, beautiful, ridiculous, true Thursday night dinners
beginning the last chapter of my thesis

Posts, websites, trinkets, and the Internet week in review revue: (after the jump)

because I never thought about what it would be like to be recovering from an eating disorder while having to feed your family, Emily with in which i struggle with being good enough

because she sat on the floor and cried for the wounded Church, but she chose to stay, Alise with Memories of Faith

because men need to be careful in conversations about the rights of women, especially when they think they're being an advocate, Dianna with Speaking With, or Speaking For?, via Mason

because it's not the Church's fault, but ours, Suzannah with the youth exodus & consumer christianity

because she writes like joy can be touched, Hilary with because i forgot to cherish, letter nineteen, hilary to preston

because this makes me want to dance happily, ridiculously, for Micha now has representation for her book! Lots of changes, all of them good…

because she talks about grace like it's something done, Antonia with Prayer is not a cell phone.

because she reads Scripture with unapologetic hope beyond diagrams and fragmented scholarship, Joy with Confession: I Can’t Read The Bible That Way ~ #LifeUnmasked
because he sees people as they are and loves them, Jerry guest posting for gotbridges with Beauty He Beholds, Beauty He Gives (Jerry normally blogs here)

because I broke down and wept by the end of the post, because I am privileged to call this woman friend, Tamara with Mama for a Moment via Shawn Smucker

And, as always, an old post from me:

with all due reverence for the speed bumps of the Portofino parking lot

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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!

Meet Preston

Preston is a twenty-something once-upon-a-time conservative Southern Baptist from Texas who learned to read saints, cross himself, and move across the world to China, England, and Scotland. Since, he's been theologically conservative, oft politically liberal, but radically pro-life, a believer in sacraments and sacramentality, a sort-of Christian feminist, an idealist pacifist who also understands the need for civil defense ... and a handful of everything else in-between. He thinks of himself now as a haphazard and patchwork Bapto-Anglican, though he is becoming confirmed in the Anglican tradition. This blog is his repository of working this whole faith thing out day by day, bird by bird. His first book, Tables in the Wilderness, a memoir of God found, lost, and found again, is due out autumn 2014 with Zondervan.