Matt Erickson

Here’s the latest edition of “The Weekend Wanderer” with Vince Bacote @vbacote on facing truth on the path to unity, David Brooks on the Jewishness of Jesus, John Wilson on urbanism, the power of reading aloud, and much more.

Lac ‘Assal, one of the most striking places I have ever visited.

Today in the life of a pastor: pastoral counseling, working on messages from Amos and Obadiah (I’ve never preached from the latter), preparing a seminar on the theology of work for a men’s conference this weekend, and Holy Week planning with other staff members.

One of my favorite photos of nature from a trip to the Horn of Africa a few weeks ago.

Here’s the latest edition of “The Weekend Wanderer” with a testimony amidst Christian persecution in Nigeria, spirituality without God?, recovering from workaholism, songs that prepare us for death, Christopher Tolkien’s passing, and so much more.

Working my way through the minor prophets for a preaching series right now, and I am so amazed by the richness of each one. Poring over uses of the Hebrew word hesed in Hosea is amazingly rewarding and challenging today.

One of my great joys as a pastor is preaching the word of God. One of the greatest joys of my life is my wife, Kelly. This past weekend at @EastbrookChurch I was able to bring them together and this was the result.

Here is the latest edition of “The Weekend Wanderer” with Christians in Iran, in-depth answers to spiritual formation questions with Dallas Willard, a split in the UMC, RIP Lois Evans, and much more.

Here’s the latest edition of “The Weekend Wanderer” with Esau McCaulley on Herod’s slaughter of the innocents, 180 evangelical leaders respond to CT on Trump, a review of Richard Dawkins’ recent book, Kate Bowler on limitations in prayer, and more.

“Sprouting Glory”: a Christmas reflection

Here is the latest edition of “The Weekend Wanderer” with Christianity Today calling for Trump’s removal and fallout, the citizenship amendment in India, the average sermon length, Pope Francis lifts ‘pontifical secret’ in abuse cases, and much more.

A prayer for today: “My Altar to You.”

One of the greateset challenges for me is practicing God’s presence when I feel busy or stressed. I can’t help but remember Dallas Willard’s words to John Ortberg: “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” Lord, help me.

Here’s the latest edition of “The Weekend Wanderer with Tish Harrison Warren on Advent, church archaeology in Ethiopia, Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life, WEA’s efforts on clean energy, a compilation of lists of best books of 2019, and much more.

“An Angel at the Altar” - I wrote this after reflecting on Luke 1:5-25 as part of my Advent readings. Zechariah has always struck me as a figure we all could relate to from Scripture…and there’s so much about speaking and not speaking in this passage.

Here’s the latest edition of “The Weekend Wanderer” with Fleming Rutledge on Advent, Christian persecution in Burkina Faso, NT Wright on the crisis of American Christianity, kinship engineering, a review of Wesley Hill’s The Lord’s Prayer, and more.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about what it means to wait upon the Lord. It’s not an easy or straightforwad topic. I took some time recently to reflect on waiting on the Lord as seen in the psalms here.

Some thoughts on “Singing Our Faith in Advent”: “I realize we have been singing our faith into our lives for years now….The symphony of God’s story is rising up and we are joining in with it one note at a time.”

Visiting a family from church at the hospital this morning, and then running into another family while there, reminded me that many people experience out of the ordinary holidays. Being the body of Christ means being there with one another to make it a truly happy Thanksgiving.

One of my secrets to preaching well in our “Love-Sex-Body” series at @EastbrookChurch is that my wife, Kelly, has let me deliver each of these messages to her on Saturday. I finished the last run-through with her moments ago. Her insights are always so wise and valuable.

Here is the latest “Weekend Wanderer” with “A Tale of Two Churches,” Thomas Kidd on evangelicalism, rethinking vocation with garbage collectors, Scott Nichols on pastors and burnout, Richard Mouw on a “middle way” in politics, and much more.

Over the past several weeks, as part of a preaching series on love, sexuality and the body, I continually return to the importance of Jesus’ physical body in redemption, and the implications for our life with God and others. It’s captivating to me.

“The main task of ethics is to enable us to ask better questions about the issues of our day. An ethics of character is especially helpful because it gives us tools to ask new questions.” - Marva Dawn in Sexual Character on “Asking Better Questions.”

So @ayjay not sure if you’re still on here, but I was fascinated by your blog post about your reference in Malick’s A Hidden Life. Clearly, there’s a backstory and connection here. Will you every shed any light on that?

Here is this weekend’s edition of “The Weekend Wanderer” with Tish Harrison Warren on charity & truth, Philip Jenkins’ religion highlights from 2010s, Orwell vs Huxley in cartoon form, the AND Campaign, Sandra McCracken on worship music, and more.