What’s Going on Here
This blog has been inactive for quite a while, so it might be good to give you an idea what I’m doing with it right now.
I am re-activating this and we will see how it goes. I seem to have an interest in writing again but I am not going to push myself. At one time I was trying to post every day, and I am not going to hold myself to that — or anything like it. I will post from time to time. Once a week would be fine, but we will just have to see how it goes.
I’ve for a long time believed that people have to blog for themselves and not for others. I will pursue topics that are of interest to me — as I always have.
The Internet’s change from “http” to “https” has affected the posts in this blog, and many of them need fixing. The videos are not displaying, the links are not working and some of the images are not displaying. So, one of the main things I am doing here is fixing the old posts. For many of these, when they are fixed, I will post a link on this blog’s Facebook page and on Twitter.
In addition to this, the old posts from the pre-WordPress blog are also at this site and they still get a fair amount of traffic. Of course, these have also been hit by the “https” transition and are in particularity bad shape. Apparently people are finding these through Internet searches and old links. At some point I would like to fix those as well — at least the most important ones. But, that will have to wait until after I fix the posts at the current WordPress blog.
So, as you click around here you will discover that many of the blog posts need fixing. Some of the links don’t work. I am slowly getting around to fixing them.
Things Are Looking Better Today.
Thanks to Jason Wiser of WiserSites.com things are looking better at the main part of this site today.
Several pages, including this one, were broken due to an “http” vs. “https” issue. The only broken pages I have found have been on the main part of the site — the (numerous!) Holiness Books pages appear to be okay.
Frankly, I had fallen into such a funk, I not only had no desire to write, I also didn’t have much desire to fix things.
I’ve been thinking about doing some writing again — or updating some of the older posts on this blog — and fixing the broken pages therefore became necessary.
Now I’m not embarrassed to link to my old posts on this blog.
If, in clicking around, you find any broken pages (pages not displaying properly) let me know and I’ll fix them.
Why I Haven’t Had Anything to Say Lately
Last month a Facebook acquaintance, who posts on the web as the Not So Hostile Pentecostal, had some nice things to say about this blog and web site in a post entitled Top Ten Blogs that You (Probably) Haven’t Checked Out Yet. The words of appreciation were a great encouragement to me. But it also caused me to reflect again on how silent I have become on this blog.
Here is what he said:
Commonplace Holiness is the blog of Craig L. Adams. Adams was a longtime United Methodist minister and now is a lay minister and servant at his current church, Mars Hill Bible Church. Adams is regularly a guest speaker at different United Methodist Churches and his blog still reflects the richness of the Methodistic-Wesleyan tradition. Although Adams blogs on a number of topics, I have been most interested in his thoughts on Entire Sanctification and holiness. Adams’ understanding of entire sanctification is refreshing to anyone who has only been exposed to the prideful and legalistic side of Wesleyanism. In fact, Adams is anything but legalistic or prideful. It was both Adams’ demeanor and his theological insights during our Facebook conversations that were influential in my conversion to a Wesleyan approach to sanctification. Additionally, Adams also takes old Methodist/Holiness books by authors such as Thomas C. Upham and Daniel Steele, and that are no longer in print (and are now in public domain), and types them out into an electronic format so that they are available for free to anyone. If you want to check out some great posts from a progressive Wesleyan and the people who have fed his soul, check out Commonplace Holiness here: https://craigladams.com/blog/
Lately I’ve mostly gone silent on this blog. It’s nice to know that those old posts have been helpful to him — and I suppose they may also have been to others. However, for a long time now I have been overcome by a sense that I just don’t have anything to say right now. I especially to do not have any strong desire to convince anyone of anything. And, that (I’m afraid) really does drive a lot of blogging — at least in the Christian world.
There are reasons that I feel I have nothing to say: some unresolved issues in my own mind. And, some of them are things I can identify and talk about a bit. So, here goes. (more…)
The End of My Blog Break? Maybe
I don’t apologize for taking blog breaks — and I’m not now — but, I must admit, this has been a rather extended one. My last post here was in May. So, I’ve been away a lot longer than usual. I am often too busy in the summer to spend much time on the Internet — though I find it intellectually stimulating at other times. I like to work outside at various gardening projects when the weather permits. I spend more time outside, just generally. I often fill pulpits in the summer. I just don’t have time for Internet activities.
But, this time, there was something more. I just got to feeling like I didn’t have anything to say. (more…)
About This Site
I intend this as a site that is focused on the Wesleyan teachings about holy living. I know I pursue other topics, but I know what I am about, and I mean to emphasize the call to live a life wholly devoted to God. I believe that this the great animating theme of the Wesleyan tradition — and it is a theme I greatly appreciate.
To this end, I continue to scan and edit old holiness books, and maintain two sister blogs on Blogger: Steele’s Answers and The Hidden Life. I don’t personally agree with everything that is said on those pages — or maybe I should say, I don’t always agree with the way it is said. But, I believe those writers were intending to call us to the living of a life wholly devoted to God and to the genuine well-being of others — and I need to hear that challenge and that call — I’m sure I’m not the only one. (more…)
I’ve Been Busy Lately
I haven’t had much time to blog lately — as you may have noticed. This fall was unusually busy. I served on the teams for 2 Emmaus Walks and a Keryx Prison weekend. In addition to that I served on a Vital Church Initiative consultation team — with another consultation coming up next week. When all of this was added to my other involvements, it simply became too much to try to continue with my usual Internet activities. The Steele’s Answers and Hidden Life blogs have not been well tended either — even though they don’t demand as much time from me. (I find writing much more time consuming than editing.)
I like to post every day when I can. But, there are times when I can’t, and I don’t think blog breaks are bad thing. (more…)
The Summer Slump
Well, my summer blogging slump has arrived. I didn’t think it would — but it clearly has. Taking a break from blogging is often a good thing — but I hadn’t thought it would happen this year. We will have to see how it goes.
In other years I’ve had to take a hiatus from updating this blog during the summer. This is because I am busy with other things during the summer — and last year it was because of my struggle with Menier’s Disease. I am much better now, and expect to be able to be more active at this site — but, (as I said) we’ll see how that goes.
I worked outside ar0und the house on Friday last week — which was great, but I think I overdid it. I felt a little dizziness coming on Saturday, and was slightly dizzy on Sunday when I got up. Dizziness is a serious issue with me and I don’t take it casually. Because staring at the computer screen makes me extrememly dizzy when I am in that state, I’ve stayed away from it. So, nothing is “in the pipeline” to be automatically posted this week.
While I expect to post some at the beginning of this week, I will be attending the 2014 Session of West Michigan Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in the later part of the week. I always look forward to seeing old and new friends there — but I no longer care about the “issues.” The United Methodist Church is, generally speaking, in a very bad place — aging, declining, and fractured over sexuality issues. It may not be possible to pull it out of self-destruct mode. I know I can’t help much. Nonetheless, I love the Wesleyan tradition and appreciate the many people who are faithfully serving within the denomination. (more…)
New Blog
This is the new Word Press blog that has now been incorporated into this site.
Basically, I pushed the RapidWeaver blog to its capacity, and now things need to change. I will be playing around with this for a while to see what it can do, how I want it to appear, and so forth.
The old blog is still here, but it will be slowly disappearing. You can find the old blog by typing “/archive” in the URL bar. As time goes by, I will republish the posts I want to keep on this site from the old blog (now the “Archive’) to the new blog. So, you will be seeing a lot of the old stuff showing up again over the year.
But, for now, I’ll probably be experimenting with this for a while.