Entries by Pastor Jim Clarke

A Modest Proposal for Guns

It’s happened again. This time in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, not far from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Our hearts are broken at the thought of innocent people gunned down; children! And as with any tragedy like this we ask why? First of all, there is no single reason for a tragedy […]

The Power of Critical Thinking

I recall once my father commenting on the disconnect between taking antibiotics and not believing in evolution. Without the “theory” of evolution we wouldn’t have antibiotics. Without quantum physics our phones would still be “dumb” too! But the one that really gets me is, why do Christians who rant about the evils of evolution at […]

Twitter Mind

I have always been interested in how technology affects us – our thinking, our feelings, our habits, our selves. I have never lived without television, and I wonder if my thinking would have been differnt if I had been born earlier; before I had the option to slum it in front of the TV. The […]

Gambling America

Since John Wesley Methodists have advocated against gambling. I think we United Methodist clergy are even prohibited from gambling. There are obvious reasons for this position: Gambling can become an addiction; gambling can lead to conflict and suffering in families; gambling distracts from more important matters in life and faith. The UMC has been against […]

What’s so self evident?

“We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men ae created equal…” These words in the Declaration of Independence are familiar to us, but what do they mean? Is this grounded in a belief that God looks upon all of us equally? Or does it mean to imply that we are all equal […]

Open Minds

When I was last at Cokesbury I discovered something disturbing. The number of books in certain categories has changed. I had trouble finding my favorite areas – History and Culture was tucked away in a back corner; Bible Study was on the back side wall and worst of all Theology has shrunk to a mere […]

Elegant Aggression?!

While watching commercials my children and I play a game to overcme the tedium – what is this advertising? Sometimes it is clear from the start, advertisments for detergents tend not to mess around, but often one doesn’t know what is being hawked until the end. It’s a contest of course, and when I have […]

Occupy the Church

I sympathize with the “Occupy” movment, at least about the disparity of wealth in America today. I feel particular concern for young people who graduate from college with tens of thousands of dollars of debt into a job market that is depressed. I recently heard on NPR that older people are now 47 times wealthier […]

New to the Blogosphere

Welcome to the pastor’s blog. Thank you Matt Cruz for all your hard work building our new website. This is a new frontier in technology for me. When I started in ministry over 20 years ago computers had yet to make it into churches. It was in my second church that I learned the wonders […]

The Spirt of Cedar Cross

You first experience The Spirit of Cedar Cross as you come upon the church building sheltered under the tall evergreen trees on the church’s wooded campus that sets it apart from the bustle of the nearby highway. Here the reassuring words “open hearts, open minds and open doors” are etched in the bricks as you […]