Easter Break started today. Most of the students have left campus, but I will be here till about 5:30. I am going to my girlfriend's house tonight to watch movies and meet her family, and then in the morning we are going to eat lunch with her grandma and hang out for a while. Dad will pick me up tomorrow evening, and I'll spend the weekend at home. I may or may not be teaching this Sunday; it depends on whether Larry wants to the kids to go to their classes or to stay in the main service to hear the Easter sermon.

Here are a few of Jamie Smith's words from his last few lessons on Christian unity:

"We love others because God has loved us and because God sacrificed His Son for others; thus we love others because God loves them so much that He was willing to sacrifice Himself for their well-being."

"Loving your neighbor is the highest ethic because it expresses love for God."

"Our relationships with others are metaphysically integral to our relationship with God."

"Love and unity is the modus operandi and operating system of the church."

"Paul advocates a Christian ecumenicism: everyone within the Christian faith is united, and thus unity is to be promoted across denominational lines."

"Just as unity among Christians is of primary importance to Christ, so it was of primary importance to Paul."

"What is the purpose of unity within the church? One of its purposes is to serve an evangelistic function."

"How do you identify a Christian from a non-Christian? It is their understanding of Jesus' identity and whether or not they have the Holy Spirit. Erroneous doctrine is not a prerequisite for salvation."

"Unity among the church is not a matter of ethics, but a matter of 'living-out' the current status. Unity reflects what is already the case: we are the collective people of God, brothers and sisters in Christ."

"Despite differing opinions on some matters with some Christians, we have unity in our purpose and in our status with God. We need to work together for the kingdom--not compete for it."

"There are countless expressions of Christianity as people--just like you and me--are trying to understand God. Unity should not exist despite these expressions, but it should exist in an embrace of these many expressions."

"Sometimes we elevate our ideas and theologies above an actual renewed friendship with God."

"We often talk as if Christianity is a set of behaviors; in reality, Christianity is a status of being: being in a metaphysically good relationship with our Creator. What we do does not constitute our status as Christians, it is what God has done through Christ on the cross."

Jamie--or, as some of my friends like to call him, THE ESTEEMED DR. SMITH, is a brilliant man with many practical insights into Christianity and its life in the world today. It is amazing how he takes popular passages (such as 1 Corinthians 13) and explores the theology and practicality in ways most people would miss. I really enjoy his class and those things that I learn. While he jumps around a lot in his thinking (oftentimes he gets on these crazy tangents in theology and doctrine and biblical studies that last for most of the class), so much of what he says invigorates even more thinking. Looking at his statements above, we are not left sitting cozy in our chairs thinking, Well, that explains everything I ever wanted to know about unity within the church; rather, we are left scratching our heads, trying to answer the wealth of new questions Jamie's words have construed. Anyways, there is a taste of Professor Jamie Smith.