Rev. Don Erickson

We come to the story of Isaac. Isaac has been promised for sometime to Abraham and Isaac. But it took awhile. A lot of sojourning. A lot of doubts. A lot of hardship and suffering. A lot of conflict and division. But finally some hope.  The name Isaac literally means "laughter." An interesting name for one who will give way to a nation's birth. But a 100 year-old and 90 year-old having a baby is really funny!  On a side note, the link between laughter and the nation of Israel brought to mind this reel featuring Jerry Seinfeld, maybe the most famous Jewish comedians.  So, the birth of Isaac is a big deal! In keeping with creativity helping with this week's blog, here's a wonderful and joyful song that tells the story of Isaac's birth in a creative and meaningful way. Please note the lyrics as you listen. Isaac being born to adoring and proud parents, we turn to the horrifying story that comes in Genesis 22. As the story goes, God, as a test of Abraham's fai...

The Jerusalem temple was segmented into three spaces. There was the:  Porch:  Also known as the vestibule. This is where sacrifices and the preparation of those sacrifices took place. There, people would give their sacrifices to the priests who prepared them as burnt offerings to present to God inside the temple. We might imagine the porch as our narthex, but one where sacred BBQ’s took place! Holy Place/Sanctuary: This is the main room for religious ritual where priests, and only priest, presented to God their own prayers and sacrifices and the people’s prayers and sacrifices given to them in the narthex. Priests, and only priests, interceded for the people here with prayers, burnt offerings and did so twice a day. Holy of Holies: This is the most sacred space. This space is where God abides. Only the high priest can enter this holiest of spaces and only on one day. The high priest on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, enters the holy holies and presents burnt offer...

     1. I Walk the Line (Johnny Cash) Mr. Maurer was my music teacher in the first grade at John L. Edwards Elementary School in Hudson, New York. Being a really great teacher, he regularly introduced us to different genres of music by playing popular examples of those genres on vinyl. Though just 6 years-old, I remember some of the musical pieces he played. "How Much Is That Doggie In the Window" by Patti Page; "This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie; "Danse Macabre" by Saints-Saens; "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford; and this one, "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash. Most of the songs Mr. Maurer played made an impression. Johnny Cash's iconic tune, well, that tune mesmerized. Cash's classic represents the earliest formation of my musical tastes. Country music runs deep in my musical soul. I have my parents to thank for this. I grew up listening to Country radio as well as watching Hee-Haw and The Barbara Mandrell Song. The...

Why do we sing hymns? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Do we sing them just because that’s what we’ve always done? Is it just habit that makes us sing? Well, I’d like to suggest we sing hymns for deeper reasons than just because. Hymns matter more than we realize.  First, we sing hymns together. And I think we unconsciously know that its beneficial to our souls. It’s also beneficial to our physical and emotional well-being. Last year in the Washington Post, there was a story titled, “Singing is good for you. Singing with others may be even better.” That story begins with a choir created by the UK’s National Health System and the London Cancer Alliance. Why? For the purpose of research. The choir was made up of patients recently diagnosed with cancer. The project’s aim was to study the benefits of group singing on overall health. Here were the results: “A single choir session reduced stress hormones and increased levels of immune proteins in people affected by cancer. ​ T...

The Bible is not a 21 st century American novel. It is an ancient text dating back some 2,000 years. For it’s time, it was sometimes progressive. But often it merely reflected the human culture from which it was created. That said, the literariness of the text is rather remarkable. Genesis 20 is a great example. Up to now, we’ve been assuming the newly named Sarah and Abraham are a childless married couple that God chose to birth a nation. In Genesis 11, we’re given Abraham’s genealogy. Sarah is mentioned (as Sarai), but simply as the wife of Abraham who happens to be childless. She’s also mentioned as the daughter-in-law of Terah, Abraham’s father (11:31). In the next chapter, Genesis 12, we read the story of Abraham and Sarah entering Egypt where Abraham states Sarah is his sister, not his wife, to save his hide. He fears that because Sarah is so beautiful, desirous Egyptian men will get rid of him to take Sarah for themselves. Sarah declared as merely sister, a desirous Egypt...