Pastor Craig's ConSpiritu Blog

British sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein was once visited in his studio by the eminent author and fellow Briton, George Bernard Shaw. The visitor noticed a huge block of stone standing in one corner and asked what it was for. "I don't know yet. I'm still making plans." Shaw was astounded. "You mean you plan your work. Why, I change my mind several times a day!" "That's all very well with a four-ounce manuscript," replied the sculptor, "but not with a four-ton block." ( Today in the Word , April 5, 1993.) This story gives a good illustration of the difference between the way we make plans as individuals and the way we make plans as a church – which is a large body of individuals. Ask anyone in the military: the amount of logistical planning that is necessary for the deployment of troops is amazing. As a single person on the move, you can change directions instantaneously and spot decisions are possible. Not so with a large contingent of ...

Have you ever gone down to one of your favorite stores only to find a “Going out of business” sign posted? It’s a great time to get a bargain, but what happens after that? Someone once encountered the following sign across the window of one establishment that was closing its doors: “Going out of business. Forgot what our business was.” As tragic as that may sound, it was certainly an honest self-appraisal. What about us as a church? What is our business? Where are we going? What is our purpose for being here in Pocatello?   A church without a purpose is a little like Alice in the fairy tale Alice in Wonderland . In a conversation with the Cheshire Cat, Alice asked, "Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the cat. "I don't much care where," said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the cat. It is vitally important to know where we ...

Our local community awoke the weekend following Easter to find a great offense committed against residents of one of its neighborhoods. An individual or small group of individuals distributed white supremacist literature in the neighborhood next to the university. The leaflet was placed in a plastic bag, weighed down with a stone and tossed in the front yard of neighborhood residents. This article describes the reaction of the residents. The mayors of Pocatello and Chubbuck and city councils condemned the incident in an official proclamation.  A coalition of community leaders, activists and local religious leaders has formed under the name of “Too Great for Hate” (Facebook group: “2great4hate”) to coordinate a community-wide response to the incident. The editor of the journal wrote a blog editorial condemning the incident. The Social Principles of the United Methodist Church, as found in the 2004 Discipline, speak directly to this issue. Paragraph 162 states:  The rights ...

When I was growing up in Boise, Idaho, some of my fondest memories involve camping in the outdoors. I first did this in Boy Scouts through Troop 19. I got involved with that troop because several friends from my church, Whitney United Methodist Church , were involved, and their fathers were also involved. There was a nice synergy between Boy Scouts and church as a result. It was a logical thing then to make the transition to attending church camp when I entered High School.  It is impossible to overstate the deeply significant difference our church camp experiences can make in the lives of individuals from age 3 to 103. An article in Portland Family magazine collects some of the memories various persons have of their camping experiences. The article features many stories from our United Methodist camps in Oregon and Idaho. This is the article:  Unforgettable Campfire and Camping Memories .  Susan Delaney provided this interesting link about a study relating per...

One reader of this blog, a parishioner at the church I serve, sent a comment on Monday's blog to me that she was unable to post to this site. She says this: Hebrews 11  starts with:  "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." As you mentioned, no one ever saw the resurrection.  There are things of God that we can never know with our finite minds.  Our eyes may never see those things, but our hearts can "see" with the inspiration of the Spirit.  Isn't Thomas' experience with the resurrected Christ a  question of faith ?  He wanted to see with his own eyes before he believed.  Part of our belief also has to be based on the scripture accounts, since we were not alive at that time.  In my response, I said the following: Precisely. We all base our faith on tangible things. Don't we sing songs about Jesus walking on water, or the Feeding the 5000 as a very tangible event? Nobody would give a hoot about Je...

Greg, a friend from high school sent me a message last week via Facebook with a question that had been bothering him for a long time. Years ago he heard a minister claim in a sermon " “Whether Christ physically rose from the dead or not is really not important.” This comment puzzled and bothered him. Finally after all these years he sought out the opinion of a couple of his friends who had gone into the ministry, Gerry and me.   As part of his answer, Gerry quoted from the Articles of Religion of the United Methodist Church, found in the Book of Discipline: Article III—Of the Resurrection of Christ Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return to judge all men at the last day. In my response I shared the following: Greg, your question prompted me to reflect upon what I understand and believe about the resurrection ...

We continue on our journey through this year's Holy Week with a pause in our reflections on suffering. This pause is to contemplate the sweetness of friendship and loving fellowship together. One of the great privileges I have enjoyed in my years of pastoral ministry is being invited to join the various fellowship groups that exist in churches across the conference. Often these fellowships take the form of a men's or women's breakfast. Here in Pocatello, there is a women's breakfast fellowship that has been in existence for two or three decades. The women of this fellowship have carried each other through divorces, deaths of spouses, deaths of children, cancer treatments, job losses, children gone astray and numerous other times of hardship, struggle and pain. One member told me, "I don't know where I would be today without this group." In chapters 13-17 of the Gospel of John, we have the longest narrative from the early church concerning the last me...