pastor || writer || speaker
This past weekend at Eastbrook, we concluded our preaching series during Lent entitled "The Tree and the Vine," with Pastor Ruth Carver offering a message for Palm Sunday. You can find the message outline and video below. You can access the entire series here. Join us for weekend worship in-person or remotely via Eastbrook at …
Continue reading "“Palm Sunday” – a message by Pastor Ruth Carver"
Enrique Simonet, Flevit super illam; oil on canvas; 1892. "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it" (Luke 19:41) There are several places in the Scripture where we encounter Jesus weeping. Probably the most memorable is when Jesus approaches the tomb of His friend, Lazarus, where John the Gospel writer records a …
Continue reading "The Tears of Jesus :: Enrique Simonet, “He Wept Over It”"
"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." (John 15:13) Your presence breaks over the hills like a rising sun.Zechariah's words echo through the atmosphere,mingled with the rustle of feet and whisperof palm branches laid down before You. Thenthe first voice rings out, "Hosanna!", and thenanother replies, "Blessed …
Continue reading "The Chaos of Joy: Remembering Jesus’ Triumphal Entry"
If you want to write a good story, one of the golden rules is “Show, don’t tell.” “Show, don’t tell” means that you don’t tell your read a situation is scary. Instead, you help the reader enter into the terror by describing it. "The darkness descended at night and an eerie stillness surrounded the trailer …
Continue reading "The Living Parables of Jesus: Jesus’ non-verbal teaching in Matthew 21"
This past weekend at Eastbrook, we began a new preaching series entitled "Scandalous Jesus," that parallels our journey of Lent. This week, I turned our attention to two episodes that set up the entire series and Jesus' time in Jerusalem. The first was Jesus' third prediction of His coming suffering in Jerusalem (Matthew 20:17-19) and …
Matthew Erickson 