Matt Erickson

Doing some work on ministry and metaphor, specifically on how our conception of what it means to be a pastor is shaped predominantly by metaphors of shepherding that may unintentionally exclude other metaphors for ministry. Any recommendations of works to consult on this?

Early April in Wisconsin

Currently reading: The Inner Voice of Love by Henri J. M. Nouwen 📚

Friends, I’m exploring doing a sermon series on the Apostles Creed in the future. I’m looking for recommendations on how to approach such a sermon series, examples of such sermon series, as well as your recommondations on “best books” about the Apostles Creed. Any suggestions?

Just finished reading: The Sunset Limited by Cormac McCarthy 📚

Currently re-reading: Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene H. Peterson 📚

I just finished reading The Love That Is God by Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt 📚

Just finished reading: The Chosen by Chaim Potok 📚

Just finished reading Letters to a Young Pastor by Eric E. Peterson and Eugene H. Peterson 📚 - this is a wonderful read for anyone in ministry

Nature re-invading.

Currently reading: The Dwelling of the Light by Rowan Williams 📚

So glad to see my article on Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and ministry see the light of day in Preaching Today. Here it is: “Metaphors for Ministry: Hitting ‘The Road’ with Cormac McCarthy”

Just finished reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch by George Eliot 📚

Just finished James Rebanks’ Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey, which struck me as beautiful, haunting, and filled with longing for a different way, not only for farming, but for so much else in life. 📚

The Fells reservation and reservoir in Medford and Winchester, MA.

Point Beach State Forest from three weeks ago.

What do we see or not see? What is above or below us? To what do we give our attention?

Just finished reading: T Bone Burnett by Lloyd Sachs. 📚

I love this beautifully haunting photo from a hike in the Maquoketa Caves State Park during last week’s vacation.

This pic from the Ice Age Trail near Monches, Wisconsin, at dusk continues to captivate me.

Enjoy “The Weekend Wanderer” for July 10 with Scot McKnight on the difference between platform and person, Dawn Araujo-Hawkins on green burials, Alan Jacobs on re-reading Acts, Christian Wiman on the poetry of faith and doubt, and so much more.

Schiltz Audubon Nature Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from a couple weeks ago.

The Middlesex Fells Reservation and reservoir in Medford and Winchester, MA.

Here is “The Weekend Wanderer” for 12 June 2021 with an Algerian pastor fined and his church ordered to close, NT Wright on the church & antiracism, L. M. Sacasas and Amy Crouch with two articles on technology, and two cinematic approaches to life after death.

Here is a prayer resource for self-reflection during these divided times. I developed this as part of a sermon I preached on unity this past weekend at @EastbrookChurch but wanted to share it more broadly.