pastor || writer || speaker
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 "C. S. Lewis, “Evensong” [Poetry for Ordinary Time]"
Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;Lord, hear my voice.Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. (Psalm 130:1-2) The word translated in Psalm 130:1 as ‘depths’ refers literally to the deep places of the sea. In Isaiah 51:10, for example, the prophet asks the Lord: “Was it not you who dried up the …
Continue reading "Crying to God from the Depths: learning to pray with Psalm 130"
One of Jesus' most unique teachings on prayer is found in Luke 11:5-8. 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food …
Continue reading "Praying with Shameless Audacity: Jesus’ shocking prayer parable in Luke 11"
This past weekend at Eastbrook, as we continued our series "Becoming Real" on the Sermon on the Mount, Pastor Ruth Carver took us into Matthew 7:7-11. This passage is so well known, but Ruth helped open it up for us in new and meaningful ways. You can find the message video and outline below. You …
As I continue my journey of re-learning and recovering what it means to be a pastor, I am blogging my way through Eugene Peterson's Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work. In this book, Peterson seeks to recover a sense of pastoral practice and integrity based on the Megilloth, the five scrolls connected with five key …
Matthew Erickson 