Rev. Don Erickson

Columbia Memorial Hospital faced the Catskills in the distance and stood just a half mile from the first living room I remember. The apartment possessed only two bedrooms, already too small for my father, mother, two older sisters, and newborn me. In a couple years, when my dad got a better job, we’d move. If child-bearing wasn’t what it was (and remains), I imagine my mom might have walked me home that week. But childbirth, rightly called labor, exhausts thoroughly. And with three kids all under five years of age and with a husband often working, parenthood never stopped exhausting my mother. April 10 th  of 1971 brought unseasonably wintry weather, a pointed, probing wind across the river and our city of the same name. And the alley off of Worth Avenue in downtown Hudson, New York included a steep hill up. My mom didn’t walk me home.   1971, historically speaking, isn’t notorious or notable for things like military or terrorist attacks, political assassinations, or the end...

  In whose name are you here? If someone were to ask you that question, what would your answer be? Are you here in the name of your ancestors, representing those family members who once walked this earth and sought to better themselves and their loved ones? Are you here in the name of your kids, wanting to be the caring, supportive, consistent presence they need you to be? Are you here in the name of this church community, doing your part to see this community and faith thrive? Maybe you’re here in the name of Christ, wanting to be the body of Christ here and now. Or maybe you’re here in the name of righteousness itself, knowing it is right to move beyond yourself alone and treat the world around you well. Whatever the case may be, this phrase we see often in the Bible, “in the name of” points to the important truth that we do not live in isolation, as disconnected, little island-like selves. We represent not just ourselves as we show ourselves to the word and live ou...