“[W]e inevitably interpret the Sermon on the Mount for our own time and place. We are neither ancient Jews nor ancient Christians. We do not live within the first-century world of Jesus or Matthew or share in their culture or participate in their forms of government. We live rather in the age of capitalism, democracy, secularization, and technology—modern realities that…
[On May 4, 2018, I was honored to give the charge on behalf of the faculty to graduating students of ministry at Harding University’s blessing ceremony. Due to time constraints, I offered a condensed presentation. The following is the longer, written version of that charge.] Repeat after me: Communion. Community. Character. Calling. Tonight, I draw my charge from the latter…
Christian claim #8: “I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church, and the communion of saints.” When the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer decided to write a book describing the community of God’s people known as “the church,” he chose to title it Life Together. What a beautiful choice! Many people tend to think of the church as the place…