The Path Ministry

  Topic: Caring What Others Think Much like “Never back down,” which we have discussed previously, there is another popular sentiment that bears close examination: That you should always do your own thing and not to care what anyone thinks about it. Now, if what you are doing is truly benevolent, but maybe a little bit weird, like building models of human organs out of toothpicks, that is one thing. But if your “thing” is smothering babies or kicking puppies, maybe you ought to care what people think about it. Caring what others think is how we can distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Humans are social animals, and we establish behavioral guidelines as a group. We have to care about what our society thinks of us, to make sure we are not hurting anyone. Of course, some people just kind of suck and you should not care much about what they think of you. So it is a delicate Balance, and you have to be judicious about whose opinions you value. It is also impo...

  In Which the Pastor Takes Down God No idea is above dissection. While we have touched on a few of the ways in which the god character in monotheistic mythology is deeply flawed, I have yet to do a full-on takedown of the character himself. In this sermon, we will be going back over some ground we have covered before, but this time we are compiling all the most compelling evidence against the entity that monotheistic mythology claims controls the Universe. First, let us enumerate the characteristics of the god character: He is claimed to be all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere, but also lives in big, expensive buildings that only certain people are allowed to enter. He loves everyone, except those he hates, a list that varies from sect to sect. He created the Universe and everything in it, but somehow nobody blames him for mosquitoes. Everything that happens is according to god’s plan, but also bad things happen because of the Devil, a being with his own questiona...

  Topic: Life After Mama I am going to get a little real, here. Kind of raw. This sermon might even make both of us cry. But I want to talk about what happens when your Mom is no longer just a phone call away. Way back in the day, when I was between husbands and spent a whole lot of time with my sister, we did not have Google on a mobile device. What we had was our mother’s phone number. Any question, about anything, and we would call Mom. Need directions to the nearest gas station and is it open? Mom. Wondering what that one book is called about the horse and something about a lightning storm? Mom. Later on, I would call my mother for sewing tips, moral advice, and how long to cook something. She was the first person I shared any kind of good news with, because she was always sincerely excited and proud of me. I liked to call her on her birthday and Mother’s Day, and our phone conversations grew longer with each passing year. Mama passed away August 25, 2023, but I still fin...

 In Christian mythology, there is a story about how god told Abraham to kill his son, so Abe was all cool with it because he was apparently a righteous man. So he takes his son out to totally murder him. (Remember, this is the same god who actually included a commandment in the Big Ten about how you are not supposed to kill people.)  So they are up on the mountain, and Abraham is all geared up to kill his kid because god told him to, and some angel shows up and plays the worst Gotcha! moment in just about any given mythology. The kid is saved. What they do not tell you is that from then on, Abraham and his son had the most awkward relationship ever.  "Would you please pass the murder- I mean, rice?" "Want to go hiking?" "No thanks, Dad, I remember what happened the last time we went hiking." "So what brings you to therapy?" "My dad tried to kill me once. No, really. He had the knife in his hand and everything." Just something to think a...

Topic: The Life of Pi and Facing Adversity Today’s topic is the book and film “The Life of Pi” and the message we get from the story about facing adversity without losing faith and without giving up. In the story, Pi is a humble but deeply spiritual young man who is on a journey across the ocean when the ship he is on sinks beneath the waves. He ends up alone in a lifeboat, lost at sea with a Bengal tiger for 227 days, trying his hardest to survive. (Due to an amusing mixup, the tiger’s name is Richard Parker.) Through it all, Pi is certain that he will make it, that his gods will look after him. He refuses to accept defeat, no matter what the ocean and the tiger throw at him. He also refuses to waste time feeling sorry for himself because of what he has to endure, as he is certain that he will make it. There is an important lesson to be found here. In our lives, sometimes we feel like we are lost at sea, not sure what to do or how to move forward. I felt like that after both of ...

  Topic: Mindfulness, Patience, and Ignorance “Knowledge is wonderful and truth serene. But man in their service bleeds.” Bhartrihari, seventh-century Hindu poet "The greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled." -Aldous Leonard Huxley, English writer and philosopher. Sometimes, we encounter somebody who holds an idea that is so ridiculously backwards that it makes any rational person’s head spin. One obvious example is those who firmly and sincerely believe that the Earth is flat. This idea is so profoundly stupid that anyone who asserts such instantly loses about sixty IQ points in my estimation of them. We have known for a fact that the Earth is a big ball for literally thousands of years. And yet, they persist. Now, as beings with intelligenc...

 So, the release of "Intelligent Conversation" has been pushed  back to July to allow time for certain enhancements. However, I have decided to submit my collection of essays and sermons entitled 40 Years in the Desert for publication on Saturday, April 20, 2024.  Cheers, CJ