Rev. Don Erickson

Do you treasure Christ? You get his message. You hear the gospel reading and you likely nod along. Yes, as Jesus notes, treasuring material things is a sad predicament. We can only gather so much, and we know deep in our hearts we can’t take it with us. What’s more, material things don’t embrace us or cry with us in our grief. To treasure material wealth means a sad, empty existence. Thankfully most of us treasure simpler things – the togetherness of our families, the enjoyment of a meal with friends, the love and companionship of a life partner. But let me ask you and myself, too – do we treasure Christ? I’ve been thinking a lot lately about this metaphor, the metaphor of a water tank and a fish. For a fish, the water it swims in is all there is. Water for a fish is essential to its existence. The water it swims in is its world. To treasure Christ means to value him so much that he becomes the water, the living water, we swim in. The Evangelical Christian tradition informed my childho...

In Luke 11, we have Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. We’re much more familiar with Matthew’s because it is the one we recite. A few lines are shared between the two, five in total – Our Father Hallowed by thy name Thy kingdom come Give us this day our daily bread Forgive us… as we forgive  "Thy kingdom come" is especially important to focus on for it ’s Jesus's central vision. Repeatedly, Jesus refers to his dream of the coming kingdom, a kingdom that is also right now waiting to happen.  God’s kingdom actualized here on earth - that's the endgame. What marks the kingdom yet to come but at the same time here and now waiting to be cultivated? Well, it’s crucial we start with the preposition “of God.” It’s God’s kingdom we’re talking about.  Are we talking theocracy here? While the answer seems to be yes, we should remember the truest definition of God the Bible gives. God is Love.  The kingdom of God is a kingdom of love.  Instead of theokratia – rule by Go...

Most of us know the story. Busy-bee Martha and low-key Mary. Martha all about being active, doing stuff, getting work done, voicing her displeasure. Mary all about simply being, deeply listening, fully present with Jesus. Jesus commends Mary and cautions Martha. He says, few things cannot wait. He implies one of those things that cannot wait is spending time with a beloved friend visiting you. I want to highlight that included in the action-orientation of Martha is the action of speaking out. Martha actually speaks out in our story from Luke 10. “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.” Mary is not doing enough to help. Jesus, correct her and tell her to get busy! Jesus says, right now, relationship matters more. Love matters most. Jesus is not ruling out Martha’s action-orientation for the sake of love, just that there’s a time and place for everything. Most things can wait. But one thing can’t wait. Love, the work of...

A religious teacher quizzes Jesus. He has just heard the 2nd greatest commandment according to Jesus, Love your neighbor as yourself. The religious teacher responds with a question? Who is my neighbor? Is it just the person living next to me? What about the person on the other side of town? What about those who are rather different from me? Who counts as a neighbor? What identifies a neighbor? The Jewish understanding is that only Israelites or those part of the Israelites are your neighbors. This expands the table to include more than just your neighbor next to you. But what about non Israelites? What does Jesus think? Jesus answers these questions with the famous parable of the Good Samaritan. A guy takes the infamous Jerusalem to Jericho byway alone and is robbed, beaten, and left for dead. It’s safe to presume the man is Jewish. Jerusalem and Jericho – these are Jewish towns. The man is battered and bruised and maybe dying on the side of the road. Two fellow Jews notice him, a temp...

All of our gospels aim to show Jesus as having some kind of spiritual authority. It’s clear that Jesus was not the typical messiah folks envisioned then and there. He wasn’t what came to mind when Jews contemplated what the messiah would be like or look like. He was not a political figure or a military figure, not possessing political or military power or prowess like David. He was a simple carpenter from the Galilee. He was not wealthy, powerful, or from a famous family. In fact, it was just the opposite. He was relatively poor, unknown, and from a family tainted by the context of Mary conceiving a child out of wedlock. And of course, he'd later be executed as a perceived common criminal. The gospel writers, including the writer of Luke, want to show Jesus as possessing special authority. His authority is a spiritual authority. He has a spiritual power that can overcome the evil in the world and the spiritual illness in people. That’s what’s behind our story from Luke 8. It shows ...

I want to focus on a phrase from our reading from Romans 5. It comes in verse 5. God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that a beautiful image?  Think of your heart as a basin. God’s love like water is poured into that basin until it overflows.  My cup runs over. That is a familiar image, right? Psalm 23. God’s love is poured into us till overflowing!  Paul gives us the means by which this pouring into our hearts happens. The Holy Spirit is the spicket God uses to pour the living water of love into our hearts. There’s a phrase that Paul adds. God’s love is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us . The Holy Spirit has been given to us. By whom?  Our gospel reading explains this. Christ promised us his Spirit would remain to guide his followers forward. “The Spirit of Truth,” Jesus entitles this Spirit. The Spirit of truth “will guide them into all truth.”   Let me say something about truth f...