Rev. Don Erickson

Where I am going, you cannot come. Where is it that Jesus is going that his disciples cannot go? Union with God in heaven, that’s the traditional understanding.  In this case it would be a “not yet.” His disciples have more to do on earth. Heaven is not for them yet. Their union with Christ happens directly, then and there. And this union is what the disciples are living. They commune with Christ every day. We too can be united with Christ in the here and now. Through our taking in of his spirit into our own, there is communion with Christ right here and right now.  But full union with God in heaven is a future reality that awaits us just as it awaited the disciples who communed with Jesus.  There is another level to what Jesus is talking about, though. Yes, the disciples cannot follow Christ in his eventual ascension to heaven right now. But Jesus is talking about something more earthbound too, here.  Where is Jesus headed more immediately? What awaits Jesus before ...

Let’s move on to two other questions: For Buddhism and Christianity: Are humans fundamentally good? What goes wrong? For Christianity, as we know, humans are created in God’s image, enlivened by the Spirit of God. Life in Eden marks the original plan for human beings. Unity between humanity and God and balance in creation was the reality in the beginning. But with Adam and Eve’s fateful decisions, a shift occurs. Christians have deemed it the Fall. A fall into what? Into the reality of sin. From the bite of the bitter fruit thereafter, sin marks human life. There are differences of opinion on how deep the effect of Adam and Eve’s sin goes. The line of Augustine, which crosses the Catholic-Protestant divide into Luther, and Calvin, the Augustine line says sin runs very deep, arguing that the guilt for the original sin of Adam and Eve is passed on to every human born thereafter. Even infants carry the guilt of original sin and due to the consequence of judgment and punishment...

 As Christians, we presume we have a self, that we are our selves. We presume at the core of who we are, there is an I that is real and identifiable and is separate from the I you are. We might use different terms like soul or self. Or even spirit to name this core identity. Many think the self we are will outlast our bodies, our selves related to God who is eternal. The Buddha taught something completely different. One of his most central teachings, and one of the most unique teachings in all religiosities, is known as the doctrine of no-self. No-self is the common English translation of the Sanskrit term anatman . An translates as no or non. Atman translates as self or soul. Anatman has thus been translated as no-self, non-self, or no-soul, or even no-ego. The Buddha basically taught that the notion of an eternal, permanent, unconditioned “I” does not exist. I want to highlight those adjective qualifying “I.” Eternal, permanent, unconditioned. I might also add the ad...

Dear Mom, I had it all set up and prepared to go. I got as close as putting the big screen TV on top of the altar table, “in remembrance of me” etched into the wood. For my message on Sunday, I was going to honor you on Mother’s Day by using a PowerPoint presentation and the music you loved, music that in turn honors Christ. The hope was to inspire people with the message of Christ found in that music. But as I looked at the TV on the altar, I began doubting that purpose. It didn’t feel right. It was as if you were saying, honor Jesus, not me. Preach Jesus, that would make me happiest.  So that is what I’m going to do. Years ago when you doubted my answer, you asked me, do I still love Jesus? I answered yes, of course. But I didn’t want to get into a long discussion about theology and the Bible so I stopped there.  Here’s my longer answer today.  I still love Jesus. I must admit, for a long time I had trouble admitting this. I looked at those who claimed to love...

 I’d like to approach this topic a unique, hopefully fun way. The iconic Buddhist teacher to the West, Thich Nhat Hanh, wrote a couple books on the relationship between Buddhism and Christianity, the first the classic Living Buddha, Living Christ and the sequel, Going Home: The Buddha and Christ as Brothers. By the way, there’s no mandatory reading for these 3 classes, but those two books are a great suggested reading list, as is Jesus & Buddha, the Parallel Sayings, compiled and introduced by Marcus Borg Anyway, instead of Buddha and Christ as brothers, I’d like to a slightly different approach. Buddhism and Christianity as buddies in a buddy story. Here’s a little snippet from one of the best buddy tales ever that will get us in the right mindset as well as give us a fun way to introduce our two buddies.   I n this buddy tale, we focus today on the Buddha and Buddhism, which we’ll dub Rico Buddhism. The name Richard, by the way, means brave in power. We’ll also meet ...

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 ...