God says we are to treat our bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit and to not defile our bodies. Part 1 of 2

God says we are to treat our bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit and to not defile our bodies. Part 2 of 2

The book of Revelation is about Jesus. He is the central figure and hero. Part 2 of 2

Who do the women and the beasts in Daniel and Revelation represent? Part 1 of 2

How much trouble do we bring into our lives when we compromise how we know we should live? Part 1 of 3

Who do the women and the beasts in Daniel and Revelation represent? Part 2 of 2

Who are the 144,000 spoken of in Revelation 7 and 14? Is the number literal or symbolic? This group is called to bring a revival to the church. But they are not the only ones saved.

The story of Samson is a good reminder to be courageous and trust God. Part 2 of 3

Who are the 144,000 spoken of in Revelation 7 and 14? What is the "Seal of God"? Part 2 of 2

The new documentary, “Hesburgh,” explores the life of Father Theodore Hesburgh, who served as a long-time president of the University of Notre Dame and is recognized now as one of the most important civic and educational leaders of the 20th … More →

The post PBS NewsHour: Following Father Theodore Hesburgh through Civil Rights era appeared first on Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

The Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been under the authority of Moscow since 1686. Until the 2014 war with Russia, that situation bothered few. Now a growing number of congregations, approximately 500 so far, have joined a new independent Ukrainian … More →

The post PBS NewsHour: Russia’s war in Ukraine leads to historic split in the Orthodox Church appeared first on Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

What I learned about sex, my body, and the rhythms of life.

As this series on contraception comes to a close, Emily Heady offers a Protestant perspective on Natural Family Planning.

When my husband and I married in 2001, we were graduate students with tiny salaries, tiny living quarters, and gargantuan workloads. It was not a good time for a baby. So a few months before our wedding, I showed up at Indiana University’s student health center and said I needed birth control. The nurse practitioner asked me if it was an emergency or if I needed a police referral. “No,” I said. “I’m getting married in a few months, and I want to be used to it by then.”

Although born and raised in church, I had a very anemic theology of conception. We just didn’t talk about it. I had been taught that sex before marriage was bad, but that was about it. Marital sexuality simply wasn’t discussed; neither was birth control or any other blush-worthy subject. As a pro-life evangelical, I hadn’t expected the student health center at the Big Secular School to serve as a complete and reliable guide to human sexuality, but I needed answers, and that was my best hope.

To her credit, the nurse practitioner heard my questions about the mechanisms various drugs used in controlling for birth, then recommended Depo-Provera. If it shut down my cycles altogether, she explained, that would mean that there was no egg to fertilize; if it didn’t, well, we could talk further. It turned out we didn’t have to: Depo did just what she had predicted.

The first time I engaged theologically with questions about married sexuality was as part of the requisite premarital counseling my Catholic spouse and I completed. The eminently practical priest explained that, ...

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A compilation of the past three weeks of posts about contraception.

I've been interested in the topic of contraception and faith for quite some time, both in light of my own unwillingness to think about contraception in theological terms in the early years of my marriage (an unwillingness I have observed in others as well), and also in the way decisions about contraception spill into the public square. As the series comes to a close, I wanted to recap the series of posts that provide personal stories and comprehensive views on contraception

Are Christians Afraid to Talk about Contraception?

As I wrote in this introdution to this series, "I hope that this range of voices and perspectives will aid us in thinking through these decisions in a way that brings God into the conversation. I hope they will provoke civil disagreement and growth. I hope they will expose our fears and open us up to life-giving possibilities."

Contraception Saves Lives, Rachel Marie Stone

Here, Rachel's experiences as a doula in Malawi prompted her to take a second look at Margaret Sanger, and, more importantly, to consider the social good of providing contraception for women who want to be able to limit the number of children they conceive.

Questioning Margaret Sanger, Amy Julia Becker

Rachel's post set off a storm of internet disagreement. I responded to the storm with both an apology for the confusion the post provoked as well as a plea to consider the central claim that contraception can save lives.

A Doctor's View on Hormonal Contraception, Dr. Emily Gibson

Many Christians worry that hormonal contraceptive methods work as abortifacients. Dr. Emily Gibson considers the ethical and personal questions that arise with the advent of hormonal contraceptive methods.

Why I Have Seven Children, ...

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This theological abstract reality needs support all year round for any of us to believe it.

When it comes to explaining Easter to our children, we bump up against the same problems every year. First of all, our culture doesn’t point to Easter. There are no Easter songs playing on the radio. There are no parties in the lead up or the aftermath. Compared to Christmas, Easter just happens, with little cultural recognition other than a few minutes of interest in egg dying techniques. In contrast, even for nominal Christians, most of December in America directs itself toward what has more or less become a national celebration on December 25th. Sure, many people celebrate without direct reference to Jesus, but as I’ve written before, without his birth there would be no reason for the tinsel and the mistletoe.

We might bemoan the materialism of Christmas, but as parents we can also use it to our advantage. Everyone is paying attention. Schools take a break. Gift giving all around. It’s on the radio, in the mall, in our homes and in our churches. With Easter, not so much. One of my children has Good Friday off, but the others keep apace with their schoolwork. Ballet rehearsal is on for this Saturday. It’s easy to forget that we are preparing to mourn the death of Jesus and celebrate his resurrection in a few short days.

Secondly, my kids don’t retain the Easter story very easily. They remember eggs and bunnies from last year. They remember the sugar rush, and they are ready for more. But the theological narrative of Easter—that doesn’t linger in quite the same way. At Christmas, presents and special treats abound, but we also have the nativity scene and a birthday party for Jesus. Throughout the month of December, our children move the physical characters around and enact ...

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Prayer and a ministry of presence can make an eternal difference.

My grandmother died ten days ago. She was 88 years old. By all accounts she had lived a colorful life, with three husbands, three children, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. She routinely stated her intention to live another decade. Even though her body was failing her through arthritis and muscle loss, she hadn’t lost her desire to live, to see those great-grandchildren grow up, to enjoy the daffodils in April. But when she was diagnosed with colon cancer in early January and decided not to put herself through surgery, she knew her days were numbered, and she started to prepare to die.

Much has been written of late about the problems with end-of-life care in America. In an earlier post (Have Christians Made an Idol of Life?) I wrote about Ezekiel Emanuel’s argument that Americans should aspire to die around age 75. For many Americans, the final years are a series of financially debilitating medical decisions that—more importantly—result in suffering for patient and family members alike. Many studies have shown that doctors aren’t well-equipped to talk about death with patients, and often physicians suggest further treatments even when they know it will not serve the patient well. For the alleviation of physical suffering and financial burden, a national conversation about health care and end-of-life care has begun. (See, for instance Dying Shouldn’t Be So Brutal in the New York Times, The Ultimate End-of-Life Plan in the Wall Street Journal, and More on Faith and Life Care here in Christianity Today.)

In my grandmother’s case, good health insurance, financial plenty, devoted family members, and a daughter who had worked for years as an oncology nurse secured ...

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What spring break taught me about God.

In March, we went on vacation as a family. It was a beautiful trip—clear skies, blue water, white sandy beaches. The resort where we stayed offered a “kids club” in the morning, so I had time for walks by myself and with Peter, for naps in the shade of a palm tree, for times of prayer, for reading lots of books. It was extravagant and luxurious and strangely challenging all at the same time.

Every day after camp, our kids wanted to go to the pool. They wanted to jump into the safe, contained, semi-toxic water. They wanted to dive for rings on the pool’s concrete floor. They wanted to get a drink at the poolside bar. Every day, we tried to cajole them toward the ocean instead. The ocean, filled with rocks and coral, teeming with life. This vast expanse of water required our respect and our attention with its powerful waves, its constant motion. They liked it once we were there—the feeling of their toes in the sand, the sight of hermit crabs scuttling across the beach, the pulsing rhythm of the water. But even then, every day, they wanted to go back to the pool.

I want to teach our children, and I want to challenge myself, to swim in the ocean. I mean this literally, but I also mean it in every other aspect of our lives.

The easiest area to see this tension in our lives is with food. Recently, our kids have been offered candy at every turn—Easter eggs in the backyard from the church youth group, Easter candy from aunts and uncles, Easter candy in Sunday school, and more from a family egg hunt. Jellybeans, Starburst, Twix, Peeps. Tastes great. Rots their teeth. Gives a burst of energy. And then a crash. They would always choose candy over, say, the lentil soup I offered last night. ...

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Fair treatment for Christians by secular journalists

I read and listen to a lot of news. NPR plays in the background as I’m making breakfast and dinner. We subscribe to Time, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker (as well as to Christianity Today, Books and Culture, and Critique). I scroll through The New York Times’ headlines and most-emailed list on my phone every day, and most days I check TheWall Street Journal and TheAtlantic as well. And that’s not to mention the podcasts and books. Both explicitly Christian content and content from avowedly secular sources inform my take on our world every day.

Many Christians worry that the mainstream media demonstrates a persistent bias against Christianity, and certainly examples of this type of bias exist. But recently I have been struck by the number of mainstream outlets in which an evangelical Christian perspective (not to mention mainline Protestant and Catholic positions) is given fair treatment and earnest engagement. Some of this writing comes from Christians writing for those publications—Ross Douthat for The New York Times, for example, or Rod Dreher in Time this week. But just as often, it comes from writers who aren’t Christians and who are simply doing their jobs with integrity.

In the past week alone, I’ve noted Time's cover article—with equal space given to “The Attack on Gay Rights” and “The Attack on Believers.” Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic, has once again defended the religious freedom of Christians who feel morally obligated not to participate in gay weddings (although he personally supports gay marriage). Not only that, he has argued that such Christians are not bigots but that they are often loving and lovely people who are following ...

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Everyone can experience God’s presence through worship

In honor of autism awareness month, Jared Kennedy reflects on his daughter Lucy's experience as a part of a church community:

Kelly couldn’t wait to talk after the service. She met Megan and me in the stairwell on our way to the children’s wing. “I have to tell you about Lucy’s morning!” At that moment, anxious questions filled my head. “Did she bolt from the classroom? Did she have a meltdown? Did anyone get hurt?”

Lucy was diagnosed with Autism at age 3. Over the past five years, we’ve pressed into daily therapy and training with love, and we’ve seen our little redhead grow and progress. Lucy’s verbal and language skills were essentially non-existent at the time of her diagnosis. Now she can clearly ask us to play “Let It Be” or “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” on the car stereo. But Lucy still struggles profoundly. She has some obsessive tendencies. For example, (in addition to the Beatles) she’s a fan of Martina McBride’s Christmas album, and we’re still playing it in the car a week after Easter. Though she’s grown in social awareness and language skill, we’ve seen the gap between Lucy’s actual age and her developmental age steadily increase. At age 8, we’re still working on potty training. And some of Lucy’s more persistently negative behaviors—such as frequent tantrums and bolting away from tutors and care givers—are more like those you’d expect from a toddler.

That’s why, when Kelly greeted us in the stairwell, I didn’t immediately expect the best. But this was good news. It was a baptism Sunday. At the service, one of our youth who recently graduated ...

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A new study demonstrates the role of culture in welcoming children with Down syndrome.

For years, I have read news headlines in Christian and secular outlets, from conservatives and liberals alike, stating that “90% of babies with Down syndrome are aborted.” As I have argued before, and as a new study demonstrates, it’s just not true. Correcting this common misconception matters both in providing accurate information to pregnant women and in normalizing the experience of receiving a child with Down syndrome.

Last week, the American Journal of Medical Geneticspublished a study about the birth rates of babies with Down syndrome in the United States. The study estimates live births of babies with Down syndrome from 1900-2010, with a focus upon the effect of prenatal screening programs within the United States on the population of babies with Down syndrome. After factoring in the expected number of live births, miscarriages, and stillbirths, it then posits a “reduction rate.” This reduction rate demonstrates the number of babies with Down syndrome that are not born as a result of selective abortion.

To be specific, in 2006-2010 theses researchers estimate around 5,300 babies were born with Down syndrome annually. During this same time period, approximately 3,100 babies with Down syndrome were selectively aborted each year. Around 800 of those aborted babies would have died before birth, so without selective abortion, the researchers estimate there would be around 7,600 live births with Down syndrome. The reduction rate of babies with Down syndrome in the United States in 2010 was around 30 percent. In other words, without selective abortion, the number of babies born with Down syndrome in recent years would have been about 30 percent higher than it actually has been.

So why ...

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Love always requires sacrifice.

“Mindfulness” is a buzzword these days. As a recent article in the Sunday New York Times points out:

. . . mindfulness has come to comprise a dizzying range of meanings for popular audiences. It’s an intimately attentive frame of mind. It’s a relaxed-alert frame of mind. It’s equanimity. It’s a form of the rigorous Buddhist meditation called vipassana(“insight”), or a form of another kind of Buddhist meditation known asanapanasmrti (“awareness of the breath”). It’s M.B.S.R. therapy (mindfulness-based stress reduction). It’s just kind of stopping to smell the roses. And last, it’s a lifestyle trend, a social movement and — as a Time magazine cover had it last year — a revolution.

Many Christians will be skeptical of mindfulness simply due to its Buddhist roots, and yet at first glance, there’s something attractive about it. In the midst of an overworked, consumerist culture or production and competition, couldn’t mindfulness offer us all something true and good? Awareness of the present moment—my own emotions, the states of being of those around me, the possibilities inherent in right now—aren’t those all good?

At a glance, sure. And yet, as the author (Virginia Heffernan) of the Times’ piece goes on to note, our current fad of mindfulness is often employed in service of the same work-fueled consumerist values. It will make us, and our children, more productive and less anxious, right?

I think back to my own attempt at greater mindfulness during an exercise “challenge” I committed to with a few friends last year. I pledged to write down everything I was eating and drinking, ...

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Giving thanks for God’s work throughout the church universal.

I hope that if I counted myself as a member of a “liberal” denomination, I would be writing a post about my gratitude for the contributions of evangelicals to proclaiming God’s glory in the church and in the world. Instead, as an evangelical, I am here to say thank you to the Catholics and Episcopalians, to the feminist theologians and the pastors focused on social justice, to the whole host of people past and present who witness to the breadth and depth of God’s character and glory.

Here’s a bit of the backstory: I sometimes say that I am “denominationally confused.” I was baptized Episcopalian, confirmed Presbyterian, and married in the Congregational church I attended through college. Over the fifteen years of our marriage (which has included moving to four different towns), my husband and I have worshiped in an Episcopal church, a non-denominational church, a Vineyard church, and a Covenant church. Each of these churches has offered distinct gifts to us—the lofty liturgy of an Episcopal cathedral, the emphasis on global missions at the non-denominational church, the healing prayer at the Vineyard, the solid preaching and welcoming community at the Covenant. It would be easy to critique any of these churches, but overall I am grateful for them each in their own way, and I’m grateful for their variety. It has shown me so much more about the diversity of God’s healing work in the world.

Perhaps I’m so willing to move from denomination to denomination because of the role para-church ministries played in my growth as a Christian. I first experienced the power of the Holy Spirit at a Young Life camp, and I grew even more through ministries on my high ...

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What one night at lacrosse practice showed me about who he is becoming.

April is my bittersweet month, when the world turns blue for autism awareness, when it’s more conscious of the thing that is my constant companion. But after April, the world sometimes forgets.

I cannot.

When he was little, our neurologist commended us for being proactive in seeking Noah’s Asperger’s Diagnosis. Strange, I thought. As if we could wait, when Noah was flapping, refusing eye contact, and fixating; as if other parents would have missed it. But they do. Parents miss things. We are so fallible. We are busted and time-weary and inexperienced. Sometimes we don’t see things until later, when a child on the spectrum stands out among his peers like a road flare in the dark.

Tuesday was the first lacrosse practice of the year for Noah. Lacrosse requires a hand-eye coordination that’s so hard for him. He’s also started with a new league, where he knows neither the coaches nor the players. On this night, my husband was traveling and I had neglected to ensure my son had all required equipment. Being only passingly familiar with lacrosse, I eyeballed his gloves, helmet, and stick and thought we were covered.

We were, in fact, not.

We were missing Noah’s pads, his jersey, and a pair of shorts. He was going to have to practice in sweatpants, indoors. This would be unremarkable, save for the fact that he was also wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and Noah sweats like a hog in July. What’s more? We’d forgotten his sports bottle. I had visions of Noah’s heat-stroking, unprotected body being pelted by balls as he begged the coach for water.

The only thing “right” that night was the fact that we were punctual, and had just enough time to approach ...

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The possibilities and limitations of logging life on the Internet.

“Blog” is a word that was coined nearly two decades ago as a shortened version of “web log.” As the word suggests, blogs originated as online spaces in which individuals or groups log their experiences in something approaching real time, much as a sailor would record the daily weather conditions onboard hundreds of years ago. “Blog” can be used as a noun or a verb, but in either case this compact word almost describes itself. Not poetic or thought-provoking or nuanced. Rather— short, efficient, straightforward.

So the word “blog” itself pretty much sums up the promise and perils of the genre. On the one hand, blogging offers a wealth of opportunity, especially for writers like me who are trying to figure out topics of interest to readers, or work through new ideas, or build an audience of people interested in those topics and ideas. Over the past few years, I have been blogging about faith, family, and disability here at Thin Places (and elsewhere), and I’m grateful for what that opportunity has afforded me. I’ve been able to provide a space for conversation by curating guest posts around topics like racial reconciliation or rest or contraception. I’ve been able to offer my own thoughts about a whole host of topics, from advances in prenatal testing to reflections on quiet times and church attendance, from sexuality to the Oscars. I’ve been able to highlight some of the good work happening within the church, especially when it comes to disability, and I’ve been able to participate in some online conversations about events within the news.

Blogging offers a terrific forum for pushing ideas out into the world for immediate consumption ...

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The best of faith, family, disability, and culture as I say goodbye to blogging.

One of the wonderful aspects of blogging is that I get to write about pretty much anything that is on my mind and might connect with readers. Over the past 15 months of blogging for Christianity Today, I've written or edited nearly 200 posts. As I wrote last week, many posts soar to the top of the charts for predictable reasons (i.e., the word sex is in the title or it relates to pop culture). In highlighting the "best" posts of this blog, I didn't only pay attention to the number of pageviews they garnered, but also to the ideas contained within. Here are my nine favorites posts:

The Problem with Quiet Times

As a mother of three small children, when I stopped having disciplined set apart time with God, my faith grew.

Why We Still Go To Church

It's inconvenient and inefficient and sometimes doesn't even feel spiritual. But I'm glad we keep showing up.

Want a Better Devotional Life? Buy a Bird Feeder

What my grandfather and my son taught me about patience, love, and a gentle spirit.

The Serious Pleasure of Summer Reading

An argument for why reading matters, and a list of ten books—for kids and adults—to challenge and entertain.

How Christians Should Talk About Sex

"Although I want to hold out a biblical ideal of sex, I want to do so in very unbiblical terms." What Rolling Stone and Paul have taught me.

John Perkins: The Sin of Racism Made Ferguson Escalate So Quickly

In the wake of the events in Ferguson last summer, I had a chance to interview Christian civil rights leader John Perkins.

What Slowing Down Teaches You That Rushing Never Will

Although there have been a number of wonderful guest posts here, this is my very favorite: Elisa Fryling Stanford,mother of a ...

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A conversation with CT editor Katelyn Beaty about blogging, books, and what's next.

Fifteen months ago, this blog began with a conversation with Katelyn Beaty about my hopes and dreams for Thin Places. As I conclude this blog, we thought it fitting to have a concluding conversation as well. Katelyn and I had a chance to talk about the most exciting and most challenging aspects of writing in this space and genre, and we also had a chance to talk about the future:

If you’d like to stay current with what I’m thinking about, where I’m speaking, and what I’m reading, you can continue to follow me on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to my monthly newsletter.

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Final thoughts on family, faith, and what matters most.

When I first met my husband I was 16 years old. I would have said I fell in love with him immediately. We stood in the darkness of an October night and talked and talked. Two months later we exchanged those words—I love you—also whispered in the dark of night. But it took five more years before we were married, and in that time, that intense emotion that had carried us through the early months became more measured. I still felt giddy when I saw him. I still wanted to spend my life with him. I still counted him as my best friend. But true love, I learned, is slower than that initial emotional and physical connection led me to believe.

Loving our kids was similar. I felt a surge of affection (hormones?) after they were born. I felt fierce protective instincts. I was willing to sacrifice sleep and energy. But building that base of love with them took years. it went slowly. It felt as though the feeling of love was interrupted by the reality of changing diapers and spraying avocado off clothing and willing myself out of bed for one more trip to the potty in the middle of the night. But over time I learned that those moments I saw as interruptions were in fact the seeds of love. Over time, they grew.

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable about the word of God. He says it is like a farmer sowing seed. He says that it falls on all different types of soil, and that when it falls on good soil it grows. I’ve always wanted to have good soil, to be the one whose faith grows firm and strong forever. Truth be told, there have been plenty of seasons where my life resembles the hard soil or the soil that produces quick growth and quick demise. But I’ve only recently noticed that the seed in the good soil, even ...

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In order to protect marriage, we should be careful not to denigrate singleness.

*** I wrote this last year on the occasion of my wife's and my 10-year anniversary. It's now our 11-year anniversary, and I thought I would repost it as it's an important topic to revisit. ***

Tomorrow is my 10 year wedding anniversary. 10 years is an important anniversary for any couple, but doubly so for us as just a few years ago, I was terrified that we would not make it this far. But lo and behold, we have arrived at this important milestone, and my wife is still healthy and cancer-free. I love Carol to bits, and am so thankful for every year, really every day, that we spend together.

At this point, you would probably expect me to gush about my wife and our marriage for another thousand words, but I actually want to do something quite different, even the opposite: I want to talk about the value of singleness in the Christian faith. I know it is a strange subject for a happily married man to talk about on the occasion of his anniversary, but perhaps that makes what I have to say all the more relevant, that a happily married man might feel it is vital to make this point.

It seems to me that the evangelical church places marriage on something of a pedestal, describing it in elevated terms, and investing enormous amounts of time and resources into strengthening that institution. I wasn't born in the evangelical movement and so don't know if it was always this way, but I would guess that this was a response to cultural developments of the past few decades, both the rising prevalence of divorce as well as co-habitating couples. These dynamics did legitimately threaten a biblical understanding of marriage, and still do. And so it was only natural that the church would shift its attention to marriage, ...

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Generalize not, lest ye be generalized

I have been unemployed for nearly a third of the past three years, which means that I have been a part of more than a few pastoral searches, and know what’s involved. And I’m fairly certain they weren’t supposed to involve two people slinging subtle insults at one another.

This particular one happened over Skype. The church was in California, and for that reason alone was high on my list of preferences. If you are wondering why that was the case, it’s not the weather - it’s the food, specifically, the fish tacos. The man who was conducting the interview was in his mid-fifties, wearing the harried expression of a man who has conducted entirely too many pastoral interviews. Perhaps this in itself should have been a sign that things were not going to go well, the fact that this church had gone through so many candidates and had not managed to find anyone perfect enough for their forty-person congregation.

After our initial exchange, he looked down at my resume, and then looked back up. “Four children?” he said with emphasis. “Am I reading that correctly? FOUR?”

This was back when I had four children.

I smiled and nodded. “Yes, that’s right. I have an eight year old, all the way to a one year old.”

I expected him to smile back and remark how children were such a blessing, or something to that effect. His response was rather different. With a chilly voice he replied, “Wow. Got yourself quite a quiverfull, don’t you.”

Wow. First time I had heard that joke...that day. But as this was an interview for a job that I was quite keen on getting, I simply smiled and shrugged off his snide comment. “Yup, yup, that I do. Quiverfull.” ...

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For minorities, there is a big difference between having an anger problem and having a problem that makes you angry.

There was an effort recently to ban the word "bossy", spearheaded by Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg. The reasoning behind this is that when “bossy” is used to describe women (as it almost always is), it discourages them from speaking up for fear of being saddled with that derisive term. I had never considered that before, and wondered if there are other words that can have the same effect - adjectives that have specific connotations when employed towards specific people. And I came up with at least one more example, a term which I have heard on a few occasions: angry. People of color and other minorities who are vocal about issues of race and justice are often called angry - “angry asian man”, “angry black guy", “angry feminist lady”, etc.

This might not seem like a big deal because some of these people are indeed angry in a purely objective sense. But the use of this word in this context often carries an additional connotation, that this person's anger is not appropriate or justified. That is what people really mean when they talk about an “angry _____ person” - they are saying, “unnecessarily and excessively angry _____ person.” Intentionally or not, the use of that word implies abnormality, an anger that is pathological in nature, as if a product of genetics, rather than context.

You can see this dynamic at work in nearly every racially charged controversy in American culture, from the riots in Ferguson to debates on football mascots, where people are quick to dismiss the concerns of minorities as nothing more than political correctness run amok. In this way, minorities are often portrayed as having an anger problem, rather ...

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Faith...from the hyphenated point of view

One might ask what I am doing here, a young Korean-American pastor blogging alongside such well-respected figures as Ed Stetzer and Amy Julia Becker. I’m not sure, but I suspect it’s some kind of mistake. It has something to do with an article I wrote last year for Christianity Today, which was one of the twenty most read articles for that year – number 12 to be exact, ahead of an interview with Billy Graham, but behind an article about Tim Tebow, which is in itself a sad commentary on the state of things. CT editor Mark Galli must have read my piece and assumed that I could write like that all the time, and I didn’t have the heart to tell the poor guy the truth.

Oh well, he’ll realize his mistake soon enough.

All joking aside, I am deeply honored and humbled by this opportunity, and want to use this inaugural post to describe what you might find in this blog. You will often find posts on fatherhood and my life as a pastor, as well as discussions on race and diversity, and the incredibly messy intersection between all of these issues.

But what is more central to this blog is not so much what I write about as the perspective from which I do so. This blog is named “Third Culture”, a term used by sociologists to describe individuals who don’t fit neatly into one cultural category or another, be it ethnically, racially, or culturally. For those kinds of people, they forge for themselves a third culture, a kind of fluid identity which is a fusion of diverse influences and perspectives.

“Third culture” describes my own upbringing and point of view quite well. I am a child of Korean immigrants, and yet cannot speak Korean myself, and last visited that country ...

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Pastors often loathe to weigh in on controversial topics. There are reasons.

I have never considered myself a very political person. As a proudly evangelical pastor, for a long time I possessed a somewhat bemused and distant attitude towards politics, focusing my attention instead on my calling to teach and preach the Word, which was above all worldly concerns. But that changed a few years ago. After my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, and our insurance company tried to terminate her coverage using the dreaded “pre-existing condition” clause, I became a vocal advocate for health care reform. Shortly after that, as a resident of a city wracked with racial tensions, I timidly called for greater understanding between Korean and African-American communities.

These brief forays into the public sphere have taught me a lot, and have given me a lot more compassion on the plight of pastors. Evangelical pastors are often lambasted for their lack of engagement with society and politics. We accuse evangelical leaders of being too passive and silent on the most pressing issues of the day, and wonder if this is due to a lack of conviction, or a lack of courage. We call them cowards, dinosaurs, unbiblical, irrelevant. And I hate to admit that I have often joined that chorus of criticism. But the truth is not nearly so simple. Although I don't seek to totally exonerate myself from wrongdoing, here are five reasons why I personally hesitate to speak out on controversial issues:

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The Separation of Church and State

This might seem like something of a cop-out explanation, but you should remember that one of the foundational principles of American culture and government is the separation between church and state. It's an idea that ...

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Passion is a wonderful thing. But it should not be the sole means by which we discern calling.

Having been unemployed for months at a time over the past few years, I have taken part in more than a few interviews for pastoral positions. In these interviews, there is always one question that flummoxes me more than any other, and that is when a search committee asks me what I'm passionate about, or what I feel called to, or have a heart for, or any Christian-ese variant of the question. And I totally understand what they are asking when they pose such a query, and I know what response I should give, that I am passionate about this aspect of faith or the other, that I feel called to serve a particular community. It's a standard question to ask any pastoral candidate.

My answer? "..." Confounded silence.

The easy answer would be to say that I have a heart for two things: to help the church reclaim a biblical theology of suffering, and encourage us also to embrace our calling to racial reconciliation. That is what I have found myself doing for the last four years, and is probably the kind of answer that the search committee is looking for. But there's a reason why I don't simply blurt such an answer.

You see, I never really had a passion for those who are suffering, nor for multi-ethnic ministry. That's not to say that I'm against either in any way, because they are incredibly important movements of faith. It's just that I didn't have any natural or personal inclination towards those ministries. I had no internships at inner city churches, never attended a multi-ethnic church conference, never scoured academic texts in search of the answer to the problem of pain. I always thought my passion and heart were in music and leading worship, more than anything else.

The reason ...

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Black history month is not just for black people. It's for all people.

Note: I use the term “Black History Month” rather than “African-American History Month” because a friend informed me that there are individuals who would not be considered African-American, but still very much are considered part of Black history, like Marcus Garvey and others. In general, I tend to use the terms "black" and "African-American" interchangeably, and I apologize in advance if anyone finds this offensive.

Every February is Black History Month. I have to admit that before a few years ago, I didn’t really celebrate it in any real way, besides some cursory acknowledgement. But now, I actively celebrate Black History Month, both in my personal life as well as in the life of the church. I don’t do so because it’s the right thing for an educated person to do, or in an attempt to pander to political correctness. Nor do I do this because I consider myself anything close to an expert on black history and culture. The reason I unapologetically celebrate Black History Month is because the past couple of years of my life have made me realize that, even as a Korean-American, it was only appropriate that I do so.

The first event that brought me to this realization was that whole “Make Me Asian” and "Make Me Indian" thing. Two years ago, there was an app on the Android market called “Make Me Asian”, which took photos from your phone or mobile device and digitally altered them. This seems benign enough, but the manner in which they altered them was that they made your skin tone yellow, your eyes slanted, slapped a fu-manchu mustache on your face, as well as a rice paddy hat on your head. Of if you wanted to pretend to be a Native ...

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It's easy to hate on Christian music, but Christian musicians often find themselves in impossible terrain.

I have a confession to make. I really dislike Christian music.

Now, Christian music is a very broad term, so I think some defining is in order. I don't mean music that is written expressly for use in the church for praise and worship. I'm talking about Christian music that does not exactly fit in church, but has an unmistakable Christian theme in its lyrics and content, what I think is commonly referred to as CCM, or Christian Contemporary Music. It tries to cleave to some of the lyrical and theological orthodoxy of worship music, but with the musical sensibilities of pop and rock (and sometimes even hip hop), and somehow manages to mangle both. I don't like this kind of Christian music, and I know I'm not alone.

I listen to it everyday on the radio, partially because I find the lyrical content that's broadcast on other stations repugnant ("Cuz your sex takes me to paradise, yeah your sex takes me to paradise..."), and partially because as a pastor, I feel somewhat guilty if I don't. But I regularly grit my teeth while listening to the local Christian radio station. My beef is that even though the music has such high production values and is performed by such high caliber musicians, it often lacks realness and authenticity. Amazingly, it manages to sound shallow even when talking about ideas of incredible depth. The lyrics are prosaic and affected, and the themes that it covers are shockingly narrow. There are the "I'm a bad person but you love me anyway" songs, the "Teach me to love like you songs", and the "Don't give up" songs. Aaaand, that's about it. Of course, I'm being facetious and stupid, which comes as no surprise to those of ...

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A letter to my son, who is a testament to God's wild goodness

Oh Jonathan, you turned four years old this month! Amazing how time flies so fast. You are my little guy, and I love you, although there are times when you drive me up the wall. Like yesterday. And the day before that. And the entire month of July, for that matter.

I still remember the day I first heard that you were coming into our lives. Your mother was going into surgery for her mastectomy, and her doctor called me in to the surgical ward because she had to tell me something important. When I heard that, my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. In fact, I almost vomited. You see, the prior year had taught me to expect the very worst from life, and from God: miscarriage, burglary, cancer, health insurance cancellation. And so that morning I braced myself for another kick to the teeth, perhaps news that the cancer had spread, or that the surgery couldn’t be performed.

But the last thing I ever expected to hear was that mommy was pregnant, and that you were in her belly. I was at an absolute loss for words, something that doesn’t happen to your father often. It was in that moment that my understanding of God completely collapsed. I realized that I didn’t understand God in the least, a God who could allow your mother to suffer so terribly, but also would bring such an unexpected gift into our lives. I felt like Job standing before the whirlwind, my haughty theology eroding and folding in upon itself in light of the sublime mystery of God and His ways.

So thanks, Jonathan, for completely destroying your dad’s theology.

Fast forward a few months, and I was with your mother at the Sculpture Garden of the National Mall. I got another call from a doctor, this time from a wonderful cancer ...

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Although sometimes frowned upon, experience with other Christian traditions may be just what we need right now.

Sometimes, I’m a little embarrassed to be identified as an American Christian because it feels like we fall into one of two camps: either we hate everything that we are not familiar with, or hate everything that we used to like.

A good example of the former is a controversy that recently sprang up at Gordon College, where undergraduates were scandalized at the introduction of a strange and foreign type of worship experience during their chapel services: gospel music. Yes, GOSPEL MUSIC, one of the oldest and richest liturgical traditions in American faith.

Examples of the latter are too numerous to count. The Christian blogosphere and publishing industry are filled with memoirs of people ranting about how terrible their church experience was growing up, and how their current place and style of worship is what Jesus had in mind all along. When cast in this adversarial light, what should have been personal stories of finding one’s home in faith instead read like a harrowing escape from a doomsday cult, and serve as yet another salvo in our nation’s already raging cultural wars.

These two tendencies have unfortunately come to define Christians in this country, that we either despise everything with which we are unfamiliar, or the exact opposite. But personally, I have never had much of a problem with either, and it’s not because I’m all that great of a person – just ask my wife. It’s probably because I have spent so much time in diverse kinds of churches.

I grew up in the Roman Catholic church, and can still remember the cathedral in which Sunday mass took place. The entire building was constructed in a cruciform shape, the main entrance located at the foot of the cross, and ...

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Jesus can transform you through the power of his love.

Imagine a world where people are awakened to the beautiful reality of God’s grace, mercy, and love. Imagine that the grace of God has so transformed people like you and me that we love him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. Through this love, we then care for our neighbors and ask how we can display Jesus for them today.

Maybe you are haunted by thoughts of inadequacy, asking if you will ever measure up. The reality is those thoughts are true, but Jesus becomes the answer. He becomes our “good enough.” Jesus becomes our adequacy and our righteousness. He becomes our very life. God sings and dances over you because Christ is in you (see Zephaniah 3:17). You are worthy because he is worthy

Watch the rest of the sermon here.

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The world needs people who love their enemies like Christ.

If you read the news or watch TV, you cannot escape the rise of extremism in the world. There are Islamic extremists, Hindu extremists, and even atheist extremists. Violence and hatred often mark the presence of extremism, but what if it was faced by something even stronger —love?

Maybe we need to see the rise of Christian extremists who use love to change the dark places. The world needs to be overrun with Christians who are driven, shaped, and compelled by Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:43–45: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (NIV).

Christian extremists are those whose hearts are so filled with the love of Jesus that they supernaturally love their enemies. The apostle Paul describes this extreme love in Ephesians 3:16–21, saying:

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (NIV).

America and the world need Christian extremists who love so beautifully ...

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How to cultivate love and root out weeds in your marriage.

Marriage is like a garden. It needs intentional care and cultivation. When weeds grow, they must be pulled up from the root immediately. If we don’t pull up weeds by the root they will continue to grow back, eventually overtaking and killing the garden.

So how do we care for and cultivate our marriages?

1. Let the Gardener (God) care for and cultivate your garden by letting him plant it. (See Eph. 5:25–33).

It is important for husbands and wives to realize that their marriages are a picture of Jesus and his church. The husband represents Jesus and the wife represents the church. The husband loves and sacrifices for his wife, and in response to his love, the wife respects and follow her husband’s leadership.

2. Let the Gardener care for and cultivate your garden through the work of Jesus.

God cares for our garden by applying his grace to our lives through Jesus. In Christ,

• We are forever forgiven (Eph. 1:7)
• We are as righteous as Jesus (Rom. 5:9)
• We are loved (Eph. 1:5)
• We are reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10)
• We are regenerated with the life of Jesus himself (Gal. 2:20)
• We are God’s dwelling place and temple (Eph. 2:19–22)
• We are sealed and filled by the Spirit (Eph. 1:13; 5:18)
• We are the body of Christ (2 Cor. 12:12)

The nutrients of grace, when received and acted upon by faith, keep our gardens green and healthy.

3. Grow your garden by working on it.

A great marriage takes great work.

• Read books on marriage.
• Attend marriage conferences.
• Get marriage counseling.
• Date each other.

4. Pull up weeds immediately!

In 15 years of counseling married couples, I have seen that unforgiveness leads to a pattern of unhealthy behaviors, bitterness, and contempt. ...

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How God used the great church destroyer Saul to become the great multiethnic church planter.

The last words of someone are important, especially if that someone is the eternal Son, the second person of the triune God. Before Jesus ascended to heaven so he could function as his people’s great high priest, he commissioned and commanded his twelve Jewish disciples to be his “witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). These early Jewish believers disobeyed Jesus and his Great Commission by staying in Jerusalem among Jews. They had a bad case of ethnocentrism, believing that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was only for the Jews because God had given them the Law and circumcision as a badge of God’s covenant. They forgot that as Jews they existed to be a light to the Gentiles.

But Jesus would not let them disrupt his mission to reach the Gentiles, fulfilling his promises to Abraham. (See Genesis 12:1–3; Galatians 3:7–9; Romans 15:8; Ephesians 2:1). And, in order to force the homogenous church in Jerusalem to scatter on mission to reach the Gentiles, God allowed persecution to free the early Jewish church from the sin of ethnocentrism.

God used Saul and other enemies of the Church to free it from the sin of not reaching the Gentiles and move it toward becoming multiethnic:

“And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison” (Acts 8:1–3, ESV).

God is calling local ...

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How the church can be a foretaste of heaven.

The purpose of a movie trailer is to give highlights of a forthcoming movie, creating “buzz” about it. And the ”buzz” compels people to see the movie. For example, the trailers for Avengers: Age of Ultron were incredible. They were so enticing that I couldn’t wait for the movie to arrive in theaters.

The church is a movie trailer

Did you know that the local church is to be like a movie trailer for the eternal church? The apostle John describes the eternal church in Revelation 5:6–12:

“And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, reach holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying,

’Worthy are you to take the scroll

and to open its seals,

for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God

from every tribe and language and people and nation,

and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,

and they shall reign on the earth.’

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

’Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!’” (ESV).

The eternal ...

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How God’s great grace blots out our sin.

In Romans 1:28–32, Paul describes most of human history outside of Jesus. From envy and pride to disobedience and evil, we all struggle with these issues in ways large and small. You might be surprised how much. Take a moment of truth and watch the clip above as we walk through each of the items in Paul’s list and ask where we stand. Like me, you might find that you fit the description, too.

Now let me tell you about the truth that sets us free because Jesus loves us. Because of the atonement, through the shedding of his blood, he covers over our sins. He literally blots out our sins, past, present, and future. Because we are unable to forgive ourselves, God says he is going to forgive us. It is his great grace that transforms lives.

Watch the rest of the sermon here.

Song credit: John Mark McMillan, 2005 Integrity's Hosanna! Music, Integrity Music Inc.

Performed by K.J. Scriven & Gregory Cox

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His case is so convincing, so true, that it is beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are guilty.

Once you surrender your life to Christ, from that point on, when God looks at you, he sees Jesus—not your past failures or even your accomplishments. He sees Jesus in you. God’s grace is just that amazing.

It seems too incredible to believe, doesn’t it? This is why the gospel means “good news.” Because of our union life with Jesus, we are no longer sinners. Instead, we are made free from the penalty and power of sin.

We just need to learn how to walk in the freedom that has already been won by Jesus.

Picture in your mind a courtroom.

You are on trial for treason against God.

You are sitting on the left side of the room, alone. The prosecuting attorney is seated on the right. In front is a Judge whose righteousness is so blinding you can’t see his face; all you can see is his glory.

The well-dressed prosecuting attorney approaches the Judge. He turns on a 20-foot, high-definition television. For hours he assaults you with everything you’ve ever done. His case is so convincing, so true, that it is beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are guilty. You are guilty of being a sinner.

As you stand to receive your well-deserved sentence of eternity in hell from the Judge, the creaking sound of the door opening echoes through the courtroom. It’s your defense attorney. He’s wearing a ripped-up, blood-soaked robe. You notice he has holes in his wrists. As your attorney approaches the bench, a hush descends over the crowded courtroom, and under the silence you hear, “He’s never lost a case.”

The prosecuting attorney objects to your defense attorney representing you. He tells the Judge that he wants you to represent yourself.

The Judge speaks. ...

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Six keys to being more productive in life and ministry.

Pastors have a lot going on. We have to be present mentally, emotionally, and physically in many circumstances throughout each week. We often have families that are, or should be, a priority. We have responsibilities that pull us in many directions daily.

As the lead pastor for a church as well as a speaker, author, and doctoral student, I’m often asked, “Pastor, what is the key to your productivity?” Here are some principles I like to remember in order to be productive and try to maximize my God-given potential.

1. Know your calling

We are all first called to receive, embrace, and live from the life of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In response to the love of God, through the Holy Spirit’s power, we grow in our love for God.

For me, after that, I am called to love my wife and then my children.

I am called to serve and shepherd Transformation Church.

I am called to influence and encourage other pastors.

I am called to be an author.

I am called to complete a doctorate in the New Testament in context.

The specifics of your calling will differ, but by knowing and stewarding our callings, we can be free of the “tyranny of the urgent.” Once we clearly define our priorities, then if it’s not on that list, we really need to consider if it’s the best use of our time and other resources.

2. Simplify and declutter your life

A lack of productivity in people’s lives is often the result of not knowing our calling and having a cluttered life, filled with activities but not production.

In our 21st-century world, choices are everywhere, and we often clutter our lives with too many options because we are afraid we are going to miss out on something. ...

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Joy is not found in our circumstances.

In Biblical times a person showed sorrow and suffering by putting on sackcloth. In Psalm 30:10–12, David describes how God had removed his sackcloth and exchanged it for joy:

“’Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me;
Lord, be my help.’

You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
Lord my God, I will praise you forever” (NIV).

Joy isn’t rooted in our circumstances. It is rooted in God. Our hearts can sing praises to him even if our mouths cannot.

As Psalm 32:1-2 says, we can have joy because our sins are forgiven. We have joy because at the end of the day God says, “I forgive you.” We can’t determine if God loves us based on good or bad circumstances in our lives. We determine God’s love for us based on the cross and the resurrection.

Joy is found in knowing that our record of guilt has been cleared and that he has fully forgiven us.

“Oh, what joy for those
whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sin is put out of sight!
Yes, what joy for those
whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,

whose lives are lived in complete honesty!”

(Ps. 32:1-2, NLT).

Watch the rest of the sermon here.

Marinate on that.

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Every ending is a new beginning.

Last week I wrote a blog about getting the most out of life and maximizing our productivity for God’s specific calling on each of our lives. In the post, I shared my own understanding of what God is calling me to in this season including following him, loving my family well, pastoring the people of Transformation Church, and completing my doctorate.

Unfortunately, I have also come to a point where writing this blog twice a week is no longer the best use of the resources of time and mental energy that God has given me. I will continue to write occasionally and post clips from sermons at my personal website, DerwinLGray.com and invite you to join me there.

I am very thankful to Christianity Today and editor Mark Galli for encouraging an important discussion of multiethnic churches and for their continued commitment to reflect Christ in our world through this website and magazine.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. I hope you were encouraged and challenged by the posts I have written over the past nine months and will continue the conversation by reading my new book, The High-Definition Leader: Building Multiethnic Churches in a Multiethnic World, available September 15.

Marinate on that.

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A 21-year-old Denver man was sentenced on Thursday to eight years in federal prison for a carjacking and burglarizing two gun stores.

A man suspected of pulling a knife on a store employee in Arvada has been arrested, police said