Pastor Craig's ConSpiritu Blog

I began this blog last Monday, and the busy events of this last week intervened before I completed it. Maybe the slight passage of time will assist in the reception of these thoughts… I have been shocked and speared through the heart these past few days by the horror of the recent shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. I am well-assured that I am not alone in these feelings. As I have struggled as a person whose call is to put into words that which is ultimately beyond description – the immensity and power of  God’s love, mercy, justice and grace – I have been at a loss for an adequate way to articulate a response that is helpful, truthful, and insightful, and which does not simply regurgitate the many canards and nostrums circulating on Facebook and the Internet.  Last Sunday, as we prepared to have our hearts lifted by the magnificent tones of our choir’s cantata, I paused before we lit the three candles of Advent to remind the congregation that it was because of just such ...

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. ( Exodus 20: 8-11) Someone has said that in our high-pressure, consumerist, business-driven culture, the most radical thing to do is to pause and do nothing. In fact, it’s not just radical, it is revolutionary. But radical is a good word to use, because it means getting to the root of things. And when considering spiritual things, returning to the Bible is a good way to get back to the root. So it is that when we return to the Bible we find that the idea of pausing, taking a rest, and not being a slave to “produc...

In yesterday’s blog, I juxtaposed two sets of scriptures that in their essence talk about the gift of the Holy Spirit in different ways. In the Gospel of John, the Holy Spirit is promised by Jesus to come and lead the disciples into all truth, and who will serve as the presence of the Divine within their midst and within their individual lives. But as we read further in John, this doesn’t happen at Pentecost, as it does in the story in Acts. In John, it happens after the resurrection of Jesus. When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the...

Last Sunday in church, I preached about the Ascension of Christ. That story is found in Acts 1:1-11.  In that sermon I stated that the Ascension of Christ was the upbeat to the downbeat of Pentecost. This coming Sunday is a celebration of that downbeat, which remembers the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus: When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are ...

(Note: I owe my reflections today in part to an Easter blog posted by Crystal St. Marie Lewis: " Resurrrection: A Scandalous Reading of a Scandalous Gospel."  ) Luke 24:13-35 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles  from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad.  Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth,  who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief...