Pastor Craig's ConSpiritu Blog

Several months ago, arch-conservative Fox News Commentator Glenn Beck urged his listeners to try and “out” their pastors to see if they were what Beck derided as being “Social Justice Christians.” Many pastors rose to the occasion, publically proclaiming that they were proud to identify themselves as being “Social Justice Christians.” This is my public proclamation of the same. I am proud to proclaim I am a Social Justice Christian. I am a Social Justice Christian because the Bible tells me to be one. I am a Social Justice Christian because Jesus tells me to be one. I am a Social Justice Christian because being one reflects the life and teaching and personal example of Jesus Christ. I am a Social Justice Christian because the vast witness of the Biblical prophets call me to be one. I am a Social Justice Christian even though the term is, in reality, redundant. The following Biblical passages, assembled in no particular order, all reflect the Social Justice teachings of the Bi...

In one of the most famous soliloquies ever written, Shakespeare’s Hamlet struggles to come to terms with his life that is starting to spin out of control: To be, or not to be--that is the question:   Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep-- No more--and by a sleep to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to. “The thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.” Not only does Shakespeare famously dangle a preposition, but he puts his finger directly upon the central issue of how we handle all that life throws at us. As someone has put it, “No one escapes this world unscathed.” The “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” pierce and wound all of us at one point in time or another. Some have said that the song “I never Promised You a Rose Garden,” is one that could easily be sung about God. Others point out that eve...

When I was in Seminary, I attended a worship service in which a woman who was both a liturgical dancer and local potter performed a dance for us. In this dance she balanced in her hand a beautiful clay globe. As she danced, we marveled at its shape, color and beauty. She moved among us, and held the ball out to each of us as if in offering. Then at one point she turned, twisted down and let the globe roll out of her hand onto the floor. Immediately as it rolled forward it shattered into several pieces of unfired clay. We all gasped. What had seemed so solid and firmly formed was revealed to be a fragile, breakable ball of earth. I was struck in how in her dance, she exhibited such grace and strength, and when the globe shattered I realized how amazingly fragile our lives are as well. Paul says in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Our bodies are fragile and subject to all the...