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Kenosis: Divinely Found, Lost, & Losing

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A Homily Poem by Don Erickson “I once was lost but now, I’m found” The woods near my home lost me. I went searching for some solace there, For some peace then amiss amid teenage angst and anguish, For comfort from the pine floor softening my steps and heart. Maybe I found the solace, comfort, and peace I sought. But the woods, like the Lord, some say, gave and then took these gifts away, Losing me, hiding a path to find home, Taking solace, peace, comfort, leaving their antonyms. Not solace, but fear, Not peace, but anxiety, Not comfort, but close to tears, For the dark was not far off. The low sun no longer streamed down through trees, my unrestrained shouts for help unheard. Lost. Have you ever been lost? Really lost? I once was. Then found the way back home somehow, before twilight faded out. But the distress of the sun going down with me alone in that cavern of trees, that memory remains. The woods hiding me, my yells, the scents and sounds of panic, that stays and is easi...
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That's What Christmas is All About

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Growing up, every year my family and I would gather around the TV this time of year to watch the Peanuts Christmas special, Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown. It was an annual event in our household to watch that classic animated TV special. In the climax of that film, an exasperated Charlie Brown, responsible for directing the Christmas pageant but not having a clear vision about what it all means, desperately cries out, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” Charlie Brown’s best friend Linus is ready with an answer. He takes center stage, says “lights please,” and recites Luke 2:8-14 which you’ll later hear again: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For ...
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The Poor & Poor in Spirit

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  I'd like to share with you this morning what brought me to this call and what I've learned along the way as a pastor. At 23 in 1994, I walked away from the Christianity handed to me. You could call me a deconstructionist OG. A crucial reason why I left was that I felt the Christianity given to me was too silent on issues like racism and poverty. In fact, when it wasn’t quiet on these matters, it came down on the side of the wealthy and the powerful. I didn’t see Jesus. And how I wanted to see Jesus!.   Dr. Martin Luther King’s work and words were my first glimmer of a more liberative approach to the Jesus way.  And then as a 27 year-old undergraduate – yes, I was on the 10-year college plan – I took an upper-level class simply called “Christian Theology.” Dr. Mary Cunningham introduced us to Dr. James Cone and liberation theology. Some two years later, I’d be in Dr. Cone’s Systematic Theology class at Union Seminary! Liberation theology spoke loudly, and I heard it...
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"Every Grain of Sand" (Bob Dylan): A Meditation

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  I’ve recently read Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life by Scott M. Marshall. As the title suggests, it tells the story of Dylan’s spiritual life. What a terrific read! Folks know about Dylan’s music and his rags to riches story. Born in Minnesota, his pilgrimage to New York City to meet Woody Guthrie, his involvement in the burgeoning Folk music scene in Greenwich Village, and his eventual Columbia Records deal, and the stardom that followed.  Many of his early songs were seen as protest songs. “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Times They Are-a-Changin’”, and “Masters of War” are a few examples. But Dylan didn’t accept the mantle of protest singer. In April 1962, just hours after he wrote it, a 21 years-old Dylan introduced his new song “Blowin’ in the Wind” by saying, “This here ain’t no protest song or anything like that, ’cause I don’t write no protest songs.”  Dylan refused the title of a protest songwriter, instead favoring the simpler mantle, poet with a guitar. Despite his resist...
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"That's What God Looks Like" (F. Sinatra): A Meditation

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  Okay, today, for the 3 rd installment of what I’m dubbing “finding the spirit in pop songs,” we turn to 1978 and the Frank Sinatra album, Trilogy: Past, Present, and Future . The big hit from this album was the “Theme from New York, New York.” You know the song… “start spreading the news. I’m leaving today…” The B-side of this iconic tune was our song for today, “That’s What God Looks Like to Me.”  If you don’t know what a B-side is, ask me later… The song was composed by Lan O’Kun, known mostly as a screenwriter. He wrote episodes for popular shows like The Love Boat, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Highway to Heaven , and The Twilight Zone . The lyrics were written by Stan Irwin, who was known mostly as a talent manager and TV producer. Irwin wrote the poem as a gift to Sinatra after Ol Blue Eye’s mother died.  So, two people in the business, known for other things, got together and wrote this beautiful song, rich in its spirituality.  What I’d like to do is go ...
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