Rev. Don Erickson

The prophetic critique is a recurring theme in the Old Testament that is taken up by Jesus and the early church. The prophets, messengers of God, critiqued their religious institution. Writing God’s words, they said God doesn’t want fancy worship replete with expensive offerings and sacrifices. God doesn’t want performative stuff only the rich can afford. God doesn’t want displays of wealth and power. God wants compassion, mercy, justice. God wants care for the poor, the orphaned, the widowed. God wants the liberation of the oppressed. The religious niceties, God can do without. We see this critique throughout the Prophetic books in the Old Testament. Here’s a passage from Isaiah (1:11-17) that epitomizes the prophetic critique: What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who asked this from yo...

The scripture reading this morning from Luke 16 is a rather nuanced one. Some have called it questionable, questioning if Jesus really said it. I’d call it pragmatic and realistic for the world we live in. So, let’s review the story, known as the parable of the shrewd manager and the applications of the story that Jesus lays out. The first thing to recognize is who Jesus is talking to. He’s talking to his disciples. Jesus and his disciples are living in a communitarian - communitarian not communist - way. They live as a single, insular community and share all things in common. They live like traveling monks and together share everything. They are living in the secular world, but are not of that secular world. They are building the foundation of God's kingdom! So what’s the story Jesus tells his disciples? Well, there’s a landlord and a property manager of that land. The landlord is dissatisfied with his property manager's work and decides to fire the manager. The property ma...

I grew up for the majority of my childhood in the small city of Hudson, New York. But when I was 14 years-old and about to enter high school, my parents moved from our urban neighborhood in Hudson to the boondock town of Earlton, New York. Earlton sounds like a town in the boonies. I mean, the difference between Hudson and Earlton was night and day. Eventually, I grew to love the rural landscape and the woods. My love of poetry began there in Earlton, walking in the woods and sitting in front of the pond down the hill. However, one of the most harrowing experiences of my adolescence happened there in the Catskill foothill town. I was 15 years old. The summer of 1986. One late summer’s day I took a walk in the woods, further than I ever had. I went so far that, you guessed it, I got lost. I mean really lost. A “I have no compass and its getting dark” kind of lost. I began to panic, I’ll be honest. I kept walking, not knowing where to. The feeling of being lost, there’s little else tha...

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.  People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16) Our two readings seem contradictory. Jesus in the gospel of John says, I am the light of the world. Jesus in the gospel of Matthew speaking to his followers says, you are the light of the world.  Well, what is it? Is Jesus the light of the world or are his followers the light? First and foremost, Jesus is the light of the world. Now, not everyone sees this light yet. But my faith says, in the end, all will see that Light and as Philippians 2 tells us, every knee...