Rev. Don Erickson

A Sermon by Don Erickson delivered at St. Paul's Universalist Church, Little Falls, NY  Easter Day, March 31, 2013 (transcript below) A couple months ago, my son joined me in listening to Elvis Presley -- his Sun Sessions recording to be exact. Corey took to liking it. Excited about this, I sort of gave a history lesson on Elvis in a way a 5 year-old could understand. I showed him pictures of Elvis on the web and even showed the young Elvis performing Jailhouse Rock. He asks me a question that he asks whenever talking about someone from the past. It is a question that arose after his grandfather died when he was just 4. Is he in heaven? It’s Corey’s way of asking if someone is dead. At first, I chuckled a bit, thinking about the cultural joke that Elvis is alive and living on earth somewhere.  Then I got serious. I answered truthfully. Yes, Elvis is in heaven. Corey became upset at this, having taken a liking to Elvis rather quickly. “No, he is not in...

Preached at St. Paul Unitarian-Universalist Church in Palmer, Mass. on 12/28/14 It might surprise you that this is not the first St. Paul’s Unitarian-Universalist church I’ve spoken at. If you got on the Mass Turnpike, aka Interstate 90 and took into New York State where it turns into the Thruway and went some 170 miles in total, you would come to a town called Little Falls, New York. There in that town of about 5,000 people, there is a church called St. Paul’s Universalist. It too is a UU church with its beginnings in Univeralism that when merged maintained the St. Paul’s name. And a quick FYI, Chicago's first UU church was St. Paul's Universalist which is now part of the University of Chicago. Now, for some UU’s, the notion of a UU church with St. Paul in its title sounds paradoxical, an oxymoron. For UU, a liberal denomination which renowned UU minister and author Forrest Church deemed “more than Christian” – keeping the namesake of the man deemed responsible for...

A Sermon by Don Erickson Delivered at First Congregational Church, Bennington, VT August 12, 2009 Patsy Cline’s song, Through the Eyes of a Child, comes to mind: “If [we] could see the world Through the eyes of a child What a wonderful world this would be There'd be no trouble and no strife Just a big happy life With a bluebird in every tree.” It seems sometimes that in our hectic, frenzied world, a child’s essential simplicity, a child’s continual creations of a brand new world, could make all the difference. Mark 10 says, “unless you receive the kingdom of God like a child you will not enter it.” It’s safe to say that the 11 year old me would not have had to think about this verse so hard. But it seems ever since arriving at adulthood, I’ve been contemplating this scripture. It’s been only in the past couple years that I’ve made real headway. With the help from Corey and my life as a father, I am beginning to understand more clearly what Jesus was saying. What does it mean to re...

My work constantly shows me what is essential to the spiritual life. As people face their own frailty, the essence of the good news they most need and want to internalize is that they are not alone, that even when humanly alone, God, in whatever language you put "it," is with them and will not let them go. My role as a minister is to remind them of God’s presence in their midst and of the peace and comfort that comes with that presence. I do this by being present myself with them. In being present together, Jesus’ presence is made manifest. “Whenever two or three are gathered…” Can a church replicate the transformative intimacy of pastoral care? Absolutely. How? By being going back to a more relational, intimate level, replicating the beloved community-building of the earliest church. I am like many of my and the coming generations that find in traditional God-language an innate distance and disconnect when it is imminence and connection we most need and desire. What if we t...

Please click on sheets to enlarge.  P is myself; a-h is anonymous references. Provided by UCC

I was born and raised in Upstate New York, growing up in a working-class household whose parents were evangelical Christians. My first mentor was our church's minister, Rev. Dr. Morgan Jones. He encouraged my love of the Bible, my asking of big questions, and my interest in ministry from a young age From 1990 to 1993, I attended Cedarville University, a Christian college with a focus on biblical studies. I met my wife while at Cedarville and we were married in September 1994. In 2000, I graduated from North Carolina State University where I received my Bachelors of Art in Religious Studies.  In 2004, I graduated from  Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York . I am clinically certified in pastoral care (ACPE), receiving my residency training in 2006-2007 at  Tampa General Hospital . For eight years, I ministered full-time as a hospice chaplain, years essential to my growth as a pastor. In July 2013, I was blessed to be called to serve as the minister of ...

A Sermon by Don Erickson I’ve been thinking about Walking on Water. Not doing it myself, really. I can’t even swim. But I’ve been thinking about Jesus and Peter’s aqua stroll around 30 A.D. You know the story. It goes like this: Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking towards them on the lake. But when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’ Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.’ He said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking o...