Pastor Craig's ConSpiritu Blog

September Sermon and Discussion Series Sundays in September: 8:30 and 11:00 Worship Services in the morning, and 7:00  Lecture/Discussion in the evening SpiritQuest is a meeting place between the scientific endeavor, intellectual inquiry, spiritual wonderment, and intentional living. SpiritQuest consists of two parts: A sermon in the morning during the regular worship service at Pocatello First United Methodist Church and an evening Lecture and Discussion that explores the issues introduced in the morning sermon. During the evening’s discussion, there will be time for conversation and exploration of further questions. Topics include: ·    September 5 th : “Longing for Something Extraordinary: The Pas de Deux of Faith and Intellect ” How might the dance of heart and mind, faith and intellect be cultivated in our lives? How does faith seek understanding and intellect ground itself in ultimate concerns? ·    September 12 th : “God of Change and God of Glor...

In my last blog, I talked about the trajectories our lives take. Just as there is a law of momentum well-known in Newtonian mechanics (“an object in motion tends to remain in motion until acted upon by an outside force”), a similar principle applies in life. The choices we make and things we do in life produce certain results (often predictably) that arise as a logical consequence of what we have done. Many times, of course, actions have unintended consequences, but those consequences still arise as a result of the action we have taken. In Hinduism, this is reflected in the notion of karma. In the Bible, this notion is reflected in passages such as the following: “those who plough iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same” (Job 4:8); “Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,” (Proverbs 22:8) “they sow the wind,
and they shall reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:7); “Sow for yourselves righteousness;
reap steadfast love” (Hosea 10:12). Jesus specifically referred to the direct relationship ...

I continue in this week’s blog with reflections on the August Sermon Series, “So What’s So Hot About Christianity?” The first week I talked about the hopeful vision that Christianity has for a better world. The second week I looked at the Biblical formula to achieve that better world: “To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” The third week I looked at how Christianity helps us heal those things in our past, our upbringing and our acculturation that block us from living according to the vision of a better world. Last week I focused upon how to change our present. This week I want to turn our sights towards the future. Today I’d like to begin this discussion by talking about archery and baseball. While archery and baseball may seem to be completely different sports, they share one key element in common: ballistics. In archery, for example, one aims an arrow at a target and tries to hit the center, or “bull’s eye.” The chances of the arrow hitting the bull’...

One of the most heavily-watched athletic events is the Olympics. Whether it is the precision and grace of figure-skating, the power and physical mastery of gymnastics or the endurance and strength of the marathon, every event highlights the hard work and dedication necessary for humans to achieve their full potentials. Each athlete may begin with certain innate abilities but these remain merely a latent possibility until that athlete submits himself or herself to a systematic and rigorous training program. In the same way that most human beings are born with the capacity to walk but require specialized training and development in order to become dancers or professional athletes, so also the spiritual capacities latent in every person need to be developed and disciplined. They need to be practiced . Just as baseball or football players in their spring training engage in a series of drills, agility exercises and weight training, so those who want to follow in the way of Jesus must engag...

Last week my weekly blog remained empty. Empty is an important concept, because it suggests something in need of filling, like a cavity. Which is suggestive of dental work. Which is precisely what happened to me last week. I had two abscesses around one tooth collide with a dead tooth next door, creating a dental perfect storm. One root canal and extraction later, I was out of commission for a while. I’m back at it, although my mouth is still sore and my jaw still swollen. Just don’t talk with me about drills, digging or dentists for a while, please. (Seriously, I’m grateful for the skill of my dentist and the dental profession. "Bad teeth happen" -> my new bumper sticker.) So today I’m going to catch up on what I talked about this last Sunday in order to launch into next Sunday’s sermon in the series: “So What’s So Hot About Christianity?” The first Sunday (August 1) I talked about the vision that God has for the world. It is a vision of hope, that the world can b...

When I was in college, I was part of a campus Christian fellowship that would gather each week for worship, discussion and singing. One of my favorite songs from that time is a song that went, “Thy loving kindness, is better than life. Thy loving kindness is better than life. My lips shall praise Thee; thus will I bless Thee, I will lift up my hands unto thy name.” It is taken from Psalm 63:3-4. The wording for the song is taken from the King James Version. The RSV translates it as “Because thy steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise thee.” “Loving kindness” and “steadfast love” are two ways to translate the Hebrew word, chesed , the same word found in Micah 6:8: “God has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,
 and to walk humbly with your God?” This week we are looking at this formula for faithful living that has the capacity for transforming the world for the better. Today, we ...

Sermon Series: "So What's So Hot About Christianity?" This Sunday: "  We Know How to Make the World Better!" Today we look at the first part of yesterday’s trio of actions that Christianity offers to the world as a way to make it better by restoring it to the state of blessedness that is its birthright. To recap, that trio found in the book of the prophet Micah is: ·    To do justice ·    To love kindness ·    To walk humbly with God “To do justice.” What does it mean to do justice? Some translations read “to do justly,” making what is a noun in the Hebrew into an adverb. “Mishpat” is variously translated as “judgment” and “justice.” It is derived from the Hebrew word, shaphat , which refers to the judgment rendered by a shophet , or judge. Implied in this definition of mishpat is the idea that one has the opportunity and right to take one’s case to a person outside of a conflict or controversy for arbitration and a fair hearing. AS in most...

In last week’s Blogspot, I introduced the sermon series for August: “So What’s So Hot About Christianity?” Yesterday’s sermon was about the vision of life that Christianity provides to the world: “We’ve Got Vision!” You can find that sermon online at my sermon archive . In that sermon I spoke about the vision of Christianity as providing a realistic yet hopeful appraisal of the world and the human situation. It is realistic in that it looks at the world as it is and says, “things aren’t right. The world isn’t the way it should be.” This sense of things being out-of-joint reflects a latent sense that things have been or could be better. Based upon powerful stories found in the bible, Christianity affirms that, in fact, humanity, along with all the rest of creation, was created “good.” That is, it was created to be good, and was pronounced “good” by God. The state of goodness is both the original state of being of the world as well as god’s rather subjective appraisal. But it is also...