Rev. Don Erickson

As low-key as a Congregational church usually is, the practice of Communion can't escape the elements and the words the Lord uses. "This bread is my body." And "this wine [or juice] is my blood." The idea of eating and drinking bread that is Jesus' body and juice that is his blood is still rather radical from the outside looking in.  The church must confront the reality that as younger generations unfamiliar with church life come of age, Communion especially must be explained. Here's my explanation. Jesus was one of the most poetic teachers to ever teach the truth of God and faith. He was an expert at meptahor. He said, for example, "I am the vine." Or "I am the living water." Jesus is not actually a vine, but he produces a good attitude in us like a vine produces grapes. Jesus is not really water, but his teaching and the way of life he taught quenches our spiritual thirst.  Well, as Protestants, we believe that when Jesus says this ...

We return again this year to that renowned story of doubt, Thomas’ doubt.  Every year, on some Sunday after the unbelievable story of Jesus’ resurrection, the church calendar gives space to the story of someone having trouble believing the unbelievable.  Yes, Thomas with Jesus’ help resolves his doubt. But do you think Thomas lived the rest of his life without a single moment of doubt? Do you think this intelligent, probing figure never doubted again? Pardon the pun, but I doubt it. Any faith worth its weight will include moments of doubt. Doubt and faith roll together! If you’re not doubting, you’re not thinking. And if you’re not thinking, your faith is likely not as deep as maybe it could be. I’ll be honest with you this morning. I think I’ve said it before. Doubt comes easily to me.  I ask a lot of questions. I’ve always asked lots of questions. That cliché imperative – question everything – comes easy to me. I’m pretty confident any question you may have now about ou...

I’d like to begin this morning with Genesis. Our genesis, humanity’s beginnings.  In Genesis 2, the 2 nd description of our creation, God is said to have breathed life, ruach, divine spirit, into the lump of divine-like clay we humans once were. That breath of life enlivened us, gave us life, a life infused with God’s own breath. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, there is a tradition known as iconography. The faithful venerate painted icons of Christ, Mary, the saints. This veneration of icons is rooted in the belief that the spirit of the depicted figures, such as Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints, somehow breathes through their icons; these channels of divine grace and living presence enable believers to commune with the holy figures they depict. Well, in Genesis 2, the idea is that we, each human being, is an icon of God. God’s spirit breathes life in us and through us.  Now, don’t get me wrong, that the life of God breathes in us doesn’t make us God. Not at all. No...

  A short word to begin. This meditation is not pinpointed for anyone in particular. I'll be speaking to a universal concern that I'd say we all struggle with, myself included. James, the brother of Jesus, in chapter 3 of his Epistle, offers these words about the power of words, which is what I’d like to reflect on a bit this morning. …the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a such a small fire!  6  And the tongue is a fire…   7  For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,  8  but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  9  With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, made in the likeness of God.  10  From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so… 13  …Show by your good life that your ...

The task of the church in this ugly and brutal machine age is to tell the gospel story as beautifully as possible. Beauty will save the world. – Brian Zahnd One of my favorite words is beauty. God and beauty to me go together. One defines the other. For this reason, I sometimes begin a prayer by calling to “Beautiful God.” In some ways, beauty and God are one and the same thing. Pope John Paul II, in 1962 before he was pope and was Karol Wojtyla, wrote a whole treatise on this truth. He wrote, “we can say God is beautiful. That means, God is beauty. Everything found in the concept of beauty is found in God.” Of course, the beauty being referred to here is not surface level. Gorgeous or pretty are not synonyms for the beauty I’m talking about. The beauty I talk about is spiritual in nature. Beauty begins with the breath of God, the breath that gave way to Creation. Where there is this kind of beauty, there is God. And the opposite holds true. Where the spirit of beauty is lacking, God ...