Articles of the Week - November 3

Well, this is it, folks. 'Twas the Month Before Christmas, and All Through the World of Professional Musicians, Every Creature is Becoming Frantic. But seriously, this is my favorite two-month stretch of the year.

I want to do something unheard of, and begin my highlights this week with a focus on music (I realized with a shock how infrequently I do that, given my profession). But anyway...

• Tony Woodcock, President of the New England Conservatory of Music, writes a piece for the Huffington Post arguing that professional orchestra can reclaim their significance by focusing on music education (that idea has my vote!)
• J.S. Marcus, in The Wall Street Journal, traces the lengthy process of organ making by focusing on one of organ builder Wendelin Eberle's recent projects

On politics and public policy...

• Two editorial pieces in the Chicago Tribune about unions: Bruce Rauner's argument that government employee labor unions are choking Illinois taxpayers, and Henry Bayer's argument that public employee unions are vital to protecting the middle class
• The Tribune also reports on "two triumphs for Chicago"
• Similar to the Tribune last week, The Economist offers a guarded endorsement of Barack Obama

On faith and theology...

• Perry Noble, writing for the Christian Post, offers eleven ways to live a boring life
• David T. Koyzis, writing for The Gospel Coalition, traces the "logic of liberalism" (readers who consider themselves politically conservative will likely find this a very interesting piece)
• Jared C. Wilson, also writing for TGC, debunks the idea of the gospel being anything like a bare minimum
• Jon Acuff of Stuff Christians Like suggests that perhaps we Christians subconsciously expect instant and total sanctification at the moment of salvation
• Some trivia about Reformation Day and Halloween from Joe Carter of TGC
• Continuing his excellent series of devotionals on Ecclesiastes, Ray Pritchard considers the well-known idea of a "God-shaped vacuum"
• Lane Palmer, in the Christian Post, notes that our freedom to vote for our president was purchased with the blood of the American revolutionaries, but our true freedom was purchased with the blood of the Lord Jesus
• Josh Moody reminds Christians that in the midst of trials of this life, we must live in light of eternity
• Petra Bosna, for Christianity Today's This Is Our City, suggests having a conversation
• Chuck King considers the value of prayers from previous generations of Christians

And finally, a piece from the Chicago Tribune in the wake of Hurricane Sandy about who's really in control - though unfortunately the paper's answer misses the mark.

What articles or blogs caught your attention this week? Share them in the comments section below!