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I've enjoyed posting poetry series themed around the Christian year in the past couple of years (see "Poetry for Lent" and "Poetry for Easter"). I will continue that with a series called "Poetry for Ordinary Time." Ordinary time includes two sections of the church year between Christmastide and Lent and Easter and Advent. The word …
Continue reading "Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Spring and Fall” [Poetry for Ordinary Time]"
While the first three verses of Psalm 1 provide us with a description of God's blessing, the last three verses offer an alternative vision that is distressing. 4 Not so the wicked!They are like chaffthat the wind blows away.5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.6 …
Continue reading "When Blessing Atrophies [Psalm 1, part 5]"
Now look with me at Psalm 1, verse 3, we encounter the results of growth toward the full blessing of God. When our choose to walk into the way of God’s blessing, when we take steps with our environment for growth – our relationships and choices, and when we take in the essential food for …
Continue reading "The Full Blessing of God [Psalm 1, part 4]"
Harvard Medical School lists a number of ways people deal with stress, highlighting the tendency we all have to deal with stress in unhealthy ways, such as: Watching endless hours of TVWithdrawing from friends or partners or, conversely jumping into a frenzied social life to avoid facing problemsOvereating or undereatingSleeping too muchDrinking too much alcoholLashing …
This past weekend at Eastbrook, I continued our preaching series, "Who Do You Say I Am?", by looking at the well-known story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 in Matthew 14:13-23. What does this episode tell us about who Jesus is and how can we learn to live in response to Him based on the miraculous …
Matthew Erickson 