Studying Acts with my students, it’s freshly clear to me that the immediate struggle of the early Christians was not only, or even particularly, theological, but practical.

How do we live out, in the church, family, community and world, the significance of Jesus NOW?
What kind of behavior, actions and community appear in “”the Kingdom of God” as Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit create it on earth (and as the church is a “demonstration plot” of the Kingdom?) That is what we’re praying for…right?
What are the relevant issues where the application of the way of Jesus will make an immediate difference?

I heard Mike Goheen say something like this: faithfulness to the gospel and the relevance of the gospel to culture are the same thing. This is deeply true, and pulling them apart damages everything that the church is left on the earth to do. The assumption that “culturally relevat” means skateboard services is ridiculously shallow. [Continue reading]

UPDATE: 4:37 p.m. As good as promised….even with the out.

Tomorrow is opening day in Cincinnati, in case you didn’t know. So here’s a baseball post.

Sometime tomorrow afternoon, I’m going to tear up at a baseball game. It’s a certainty.

I’m going to tear up because of a moment that is going to happen in Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, in the opening game between the Reds and the Cubs. (Boooo. Hisss.) [Continue reading]

The Unseen by Craig Wright, March 16, 2007, Actor’s Theater of Louisville, Humana Festival of New American Plays.

It will probably be a long time before you have the opportunity to see Craig Wright’s stunning short play, “The Unseen.” If you get the chance, it will probably be at a university theater performance where some student director wants to try something that leaves you thinking deeply about philosophical issues- and life- in a way few “entertaining” plays ever will. [Continue reading]

I am continuing some of my pastoral reflections on forgiveness.

One of the most useful insights I ever received into the subject of forgiveness came from meditating on the commands, “Love, pray and do good for your enemies,” and “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Jesus forgave perfectly. Like his miracles, Jesus’ forgiveness was immediate, total and perfect. Even on the cross, he prays that those who are crucifying him will be forgiven. I, on the other hand, will never forgive or love perfectly, in any relationship. That includes those I am called upon, as a follower of Jesus, to forgive. [Continue reading]

A friend called me the other day for some pastoral advice. A co-worker was making the case that, as a Christian, he was not obligated to forgive a person who doesn’t repent. In other words, repentance is the condition on which we forgive those who have wronged us. And, of course, she had a verse.

Luke 17:3 Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

So, let’s talk about the subject of forgiveness. [Continue reading]

That’s not Clay. Sorry.
I have a son who is showing signs of being a poet. He may be a teacher or a writer, but as of today, his most evident gifts are poetic. Everyone who has read or heard his work has been impressed. I’m not exactly unbiased, but I’ve found some of his poetic efforts to be stunning in their insight for a beginning poet.

I remember the day in English III he encountered T.S. Eliot. Remember those days when someone you read opened up something that you knew was part of you, but now there is another kind of light, another kind of energy? I watched it happen, and it was exciting.

It’s Dad speaking, but I think he has the gift. It’s possible that he will decide to pursue a vocation and calling of a poet or a teacher of poetry. That probably means we should keep his room available.

My son is also a Christian; a Don Miller, Thomas Merton, Shane Claiborne, G.K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis type. A Bob Dylan beat looking for a pub crawl with the rest of the word-writing princes of cool. He’s been growing steadily in his faith since the end of his senior year, and he sees his art in relationship to his faith in Jesus and his desire to live as a Christ-follower in the world. [Continue reading]

UPDATE: Michael Medved regularly reminds me of the difference Jesus makes in how I look at a cultural issue and how a Jewish conservative looks at the same issue. Law by Moses. Grace and Truth by Jesus.

“You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don’t like gay people and I don’t like to be around gay people,” he said. “I’m homophobic. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.” -Former NBA player Tim Hardaway.

As soon as I read the comments of former NBA player Tim Hardaway, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I heard a Christian come as close as possible to saying the exact same sentiment.

True to my intuition, it happened within a week. “Let’s not join the secular media in condemning Hardaway for not being politically correct, because as Christians, we hate that sin, too…..” [Continue reading]

UPDATE: If “inerrancy,” a term that doesn’t appear in any major confession or creed, equals “being a Christian” to you, then let me encourage you to stop worrying about the effect of this blog. I’m happy to have you here, but if a non-Biblical word is the essence of defining my relationship to God through Jesus and the center of your ability to accept me, then don’t wait around for me to change my mind. Move on.

Ten Questions About the Bible + one rant

1. State briefly what you believe about the Bible. [Continue reading]

I love my Shakespeare, and I love relating what I teach to my students to the Gospel. Those of you who haven’t read Shakespeare will have to excuse me for indulging my passion for The Bard.

My AP English IV students just finished reading Shakespeare’s, “The Tempest.” The last few years, this play has risen in my personal Shakespeare canon to a favorite place. I’ve come to love it as wonderful prelude to the Gospel, and a longing look at the goals for the second half of life. [Continue reading]

For one last post on the issue of Christians and Antidepressants, I’ve asked former BHT fellow Mike Benoit to share his perspective from within the discipline of psychology.

Mike Benoit is finishing a Ph.D. dissertation in Counseling Psychology and looking for an academic position somewhere. His new venture is a podcast called Giving Psychology Away found at http://givingpsychologyaway.podomatic.com/ or at iTunes. He and his wife have two children (one unborn) and live in Ohio.

All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects.” – Aldous Huxley, Brave New World on the effects of soma.

I want to publicly applaud Michael and Denise for their honesty and willingness to disclose their personal struggles to the benefit of the Body of Christ. The stigma of depression has been steadily declining in our culture, yet in the Church there remains a strong reticence to discuss any mental health issue. We need to avoid the extremes of theological discussion devoid of compassion and entirely anecdotal accounts that claim to be the last word on the issue. What follows is a reaction to my experience with many Christians struggling with depression, not just to what Michael and Denise have written. [Continue reading]

I’ve been involved in some good discussions recently on the role of subjective, personal spiritual experiences. How should we deal with personal experiences of God “speaking” or otherwise relating to Christians on the subjective levels of feeling and sensing? Because there is such abuse and misuse in this area, it’s very easy to create a kind of “classroom” Christianity, where everyone is a theologian and a note-taker, but those who have experiences with God are viewed as off the rails and abandoning the Bible.

Jonathan Edwards can write about overwhelming sensations of God’s presence, but such talk today will get you looked at as one of those “touchy-feely” contemplative types.

Is subjective Christian experience one of those areas we have to throw away in order to hold on to Biblical authority and reasonable, non-fanatical balance in the Christian life? Or is there a way to look at subjective experiences that is positive, balanced and healthy enough to honor the Biblical material, the reality of the Spirit and our own humanness?

Here are some of the main points in these recent discussions, followed by a case study. Your comments are welcome. [Continue reading]

He became the reconciling place where opposites met. He was the meeting place of God and man. Man the aspiring and God the inspiring meet in Him. Heaven and earth came together and are forever reconciled. The material and the spiritual after their long divorce have in Him found their reconciliation. The natural and the supernatural blend into one in His life- you cannot tell where one ends and the other begins. The passive and the militant are so one in Him that He is militantly passive and passively militant. The gentle qualities of womanhood and the sterner qualities of manhood so mingle that both men and women see in Him their ideal- and the revelation of the Fatherhood and the Motherhood of God. The activism of the West and the meditative passivism of the East come together in Him and are forever reconciled. The new individual, born from above, and the new society- the Kingdom of God on earth- are both offered to us in Him.
- E. Stanley Jones, “The Sign is a Baby.”

Jesus often calls his followers to make choices- decisive choices. There are two ways, and only one can be chosen. In the present, we must choose to be citizens of the Kingdom of heaven or citizens in the city of Man. Today, the choice may be between Christ and family, or even between Christ and my right hand or my right eye. [Continue reading]

UPDATE: Here’s an excellent essay from Lawrence Perrine on the nature of “proof” in poetry. You should read it if you are interested in literary interpretation.

I’m sure some of you want me to blog on nothing but TRs, post-evangelicalism and the latest attempt to say that Mark Driscoll is Sam Kinison (I’m not making that one up.) But I am a teacher, and I am wanting more and more to spend my life teaching. Meditating on the issues that teaching raises within my faith and with my students is a big part of my “Christian Humanism.” So here we go.

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

-William Carlos Williams, “The Red Wheelbarrow” [Continue reading]

I don’t know what to feel as I read the story of the execution style shootings/murders of Amish girls in Pennsylvania. As part of a Christian school in a county where guns are everywhere, I’m frightened and I want to protect my students. As a Christian, I’m outraged that such things happen, and I’m concerned for the families who have lost loved ones in this rampage. (As well as for the families throughout the country who have been victims of school violence the past two weeks.) [Continue reading]

Sometimes when I am interacting with other Christians, I’m overwhelmed with the feeling that I’m exchanging ideas with someone very, very different from myself in significant ways. I don’t insist that people be like me, and I don’t want to hold myself hostage for being different from other people. There is one difference, however, that’s becoming increasingly more obvious: a lot of Christians in my circles don’t see the virtues of education. [Continue reading]