The imagination, so one definition says, is “the faculty or action of forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses.” With imagination, we see what is not visible to our physical eyes, hear what is audible but not in the moment, and consider what is not tangibly before …
Exile Faith at Prayer [Daniel 9]
We continued our series on the book of Daniel this past weekend at Eastbrook Church by turning to Daniel's famous prayer in chapter 9. Daniel's prayer takes place in the first year of Cyrus' reign, around 539 BC, and references Jeremiah 25:10-11 in recognizing that the time of the exile is reaching its conclusion. Daniel has been in …
A Hymn Prayer to Christ from the 6th Century
Jesu, the Father's only Son, whose death for all redemption won, before the worlds, of God most high, begotten all ineffably. The Father's Light and Splendor Thou their endless Hope to Thee that bow: accept the prayers and praise today that through the world Thy servants pay. Salvation's author, call to mind how, taking the …
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Finding Hope: Elizabeth
[This is the devotional I wrote for the second week of Eastbrook Church's Advent 2018 devotional. Join in with the daily journey through Advent here.] “But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old…Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ‘The Lord has done this …
The Pastor as Guide on the Spiritual Quest [Working the Angles with Eugene Peterson, part 8]
This post continues my reflections on Eugene Peterson’s book Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, which began as an attempt to honor Peterson's influence upon me while also reconsidering the essential aspects of pastoral ministry that Peterson affirms. The book explores what he calls the holy trigonometry of pastoral ministry, built around three angles of ministry: …
Matthew Erickson 