Advent and Christmas always plunge me back into music and poetry, mostly, I believe, because the wonder and mystery of the incarnation cannot be expressed merely in the language of explanation and logic. Instead, this mystery stumbles beyond our words into the leaping artistry of words and melodies to help us enter into the deepest …
From Captivity to Freedom
Two friends from Eastbrook Church recently published a wonderful article, "From Captivity to Freedom," in The Living Church on the Yazidi community in Lincoln, Nebraska. I guarantee that you will be moved by the powerful words and photos by Asher Imtiaz and the poem by Mari Reitsma Chevako. This is a great follow-up to some of my …
The Immigrant Apostles’ Creed
A friend shared this creative rewriting of the Apostles' Creed from an immigrant perspective with me this week. Apparently it was originally written by Rev. Jose Luis Casal, the Director of Presbyterian World Mission and an immigrant to the USA from Cuba. It is thought-provoking. I believe in Almighty God, who guided the people in exile …
God of the Displaced Ones. part 2
This past weekend, I concluded both Eastbrook's Missions Fest as well as our series "God in Blank Spaces." Building off of Jenny Yang's message on the global situation of displaced people the previous weekend, I continued the theme of God's mission amongst the displaced people of the world. My approach to this topic, however, was …
A brief reading list on mission
Many times I'll offer some readings lists to correspond with our teaching series at Eastbrook. Alongside of our series "God in Blank Spaces," I wanted to share some resources I believe are worth looking at in brief or reading entirely. Some of these are general, while a few others are specific to our Missions Festival …
Matthew Erickson 