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…)
Reflections on the Song of Solomon
“The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (Song of Solomon 2:8-13, NRSV).
It seems strange to some people that words like these are found in the Bible. It goes against what we think we know of the Bible.
These words are from a book of the Bible few people know about. This little book of the Hebrew Bible is variously called ” Song of Solomon” or “Song of Songs.” It is a long poem about erotic love. Really, it seems to be a collection of poems that have been brought together into one. A church group would not want to do a verse-by-verse study of this book because of the frankly erotic imagery in the book.
It’s about sex. It has at least an R rating. (more…)
Building Bridges About [Homo]sexuality – Videos
Since I’m posting lengthy videos lately, I will now add these. The presentations below are very similar to the ones I posted previously here: Transforming the Christian Conversation on Homosexuality. These are also videos that feature Justin Lee and Ron Belgau. The previously posted videos record their presentations at Pepperdine University in 2012. The ones I am posting today are the record of their more recent presentations at Seattle Pacific University and at Pepperdine in April of this year. The content is similar but it is presented a little differently.
The presentations are different enough that many people may want to watch them all.
Again, the goal is not necessarily to convince anyone of anything — it is not propaganda presented to change anyone’s mind. The goal of these presentations is to deepen our understanding of one another and to deepen our understanding of the issue. Or, to put it another way: the goal of these presentations is to build bridges between people who disagree on the morality of same-gender sex. (more…)
Transforming the Christian Conversation on Homosexuality
This is an item that was posted on my old blog that I am now giving a new home in the new blog.
It consists of two rather long (over an hour) videos. These come by way of Wendy VanderWall Gritter of New Directions Ministries of Canada.
So, you will need to find some time to watch these — if you didn’t watch them back when I originally posted them in April of 2012.
I say this as a person who does not often watch videos of this length on the Internet myself. Nevertheless, they are well worth your time.
The videos are about homosexuality. The speakers are both sincere, same-gender attracted Christians who have come to opposite conclusions about whether or not same-gender sex is a sin. They have also managed to maintain a long standing friendship, in spite of this disagreement. They are: Justin Lee and Ron Belgau. (more…)
Teddy Ray: Absent from Flesh — the casualties of bodiless theology (sex, the Church, the Eucharist, and Christian fiction, for starters)
Teddy Ray
Guest blog by Teddy Ray. Teddy is a pastor and preacher for the Offerings Community, and the executive pastor of First United Methodist Church in Lexington, KY. He blogs at Teddy Ray: Theology, Ministry & Life with God.
He says about his writing: “My goal is to provide a pastoral voice on issues related to the church, its ministry, and Christian living. I do this as someone with much hope for the church and for Christianity in the West, but also as someone concerned that the North American Church has lost its way on a number of points. With that, I hope some of these thoughts will point to a different way of being church, doing ministry, and living as Christians than what seems most prevalent today.”
He has been doing some very good writing at his blog. He is also doing some updating of the sermons of John Wesley: John Wesley’s Sermons for Today. (more…)
A Wesleyan Perspective on Human Sexuality
First, let me say a word about what I mean by using the word “Wesleyan” in this title.
There is some latitude (in my view) in what it means to have a “Wesleyan” perspective. No one is likely to follow Wesley in everything he said. I’m quite willing to settle for a rather open & relaxed characterization of Wesleyan theology: it is a theology that takes its cues from the teaching and ministry of John Wesley.
In light of this, I ask the following question.
Is there something distinctive about Wesleyan teaching that can give Christians guidance as we think about human sexuality? I think there is. (more…)