Matt Erickson
Looking out my office window at the rain I’m so thankful (1) for the rain, and (2) that our outdoor church worship service and picnic was yesterday and not today.
I just finished reading Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry. 📚 While I have always enjoyed Berry’s poetry and essays, I’d love to hear from others. What’s your favorite novel by Wendell Berry?
Just finished reading: Kind of blue by Ashley Kahn 📚
So grateful for the chance to share with our summer interns and year-long ministry residents at Eastbrook Church about developing the spiritual life amidst ministry today. I realize how often this has been a fraught and challenging topic for me that is slowly coming to greater clarity.
Talking with some colleagues yesterday about the drive to do more in ministry, I said one of the fundamental challenges is that no one will ever tell you what is enough in ministry other than ourselves. A fundamental consideration, then, is what we will say is faithfully enough.
I am pleased to announce I have signed a book contract with Eerdmans Publishing for my forthcoming book (2025), tentatively entitled The Pastor as Farmer: Renewing Pastoral Imagination. I believe recovering the image of the pastor as farmer provides vital direction for fruitful ministry in this era.
Last Friday, Kelly and I hiked to a spot with a hidden grove of wild blackberries, foraging nearly 7 cups of berries, which we later turned into jam. It was a good sabbath rest in a particularly busy season.
I just finished rewatching Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life and, my goodness, I love this film. It is so beautiful in capturing nature on film, but also so moving in terms of retelling the story of Franz Jägerstätter’s decision to resist Nazism. Plus, the soundtrack!
In a disorienting time for pastoral ministry, Thomas Oden’s comments from the 1980s are still relevant: “The neglected remedy is solid rerooting in classical pastoral wisdom, which has carefully held together Christ’s ministry and ours, God’s gift and the church’s task, grace and responsiveness.”
Just finished a slow and long read through The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Vladimir Lossky. What a wonderful and thought-provoking work of theology and prayer. 📚
Just finished reading Being Disciples by Rowan Williams. I loved this book throughout but the last chapter was worth the price of the book, in my opinion. 📚
Just finished re-reading The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. Now on to Cities of the Plain to complete my summer re-read of the Border Trilogy. 📚
What is some of the best advice you have received on dealing with conflict? I’m crowd-sourcing for an upcoming message as part of our series on Nehemiah.
So sad to hear this news that Cormac McCarthy died. He was one of my favorite living authors.
One thing that I am often reminded of as a Senior Pastor is that while I do, in a sense, “lead” our staff team, perhaps the most important way I “lead” is not with strategy but out of who I am and how I carry myself with them and with others. This has reframed good portions of what I do.
Just finished reading: Gregory the Great by George E. Demacopoulos 📚
So proud and happy to celebrate my son, Josh, as he turns 21. From his smart mind, his creativity (visit his artist page here), and his all-around great personality, I wish him much joy and many more years.
Remembering my trip to Iona a few weeks back, which included a visit to the Isle of Staffa. Staff is one of the most unique places I have ever been, with its bewildering basalt rock formations that energize the imagination.
So proud of our youngest son, David, who graduated this past weekend from Eastbrook Academy and will head to University of Wisconsin in Madison this Fall.
I appreciate your prayer support as I work on messages today for the next two weekends at @EastbrookChurch as we embark on a new preaching series, “Rebuild and Repair: Engaging the World with Nehemiah”
