In this message Pastor Eric explores the "reminder for new seasons" that "the road is not straight."

In this Christmas Eve message, Pastor Eric reflects on the meaning of Christmas and the proclamation that God is Emmanuel--"the God who is with us."

In this Advent message, Pastor Eric explores how the story of Mary and Joseph speaks to this week's reminder: "Hope is worth the risk."

In this Advent message, Pastor Eric continues exploring the reminders we need to hear again and again throughout life, especially as we navigate new seasons.

In this message, Pastor Eric continues our Advent series exploring "reminders for new seasons;" those truths we need to hear again and again throughout life as we navigate endings in order to move toward new beginnings.

Advent, like Lent, is a season that is meant to prepare our hearts to hear and receive the good news of God's incarnate love anew. Advent marks a beginning, a new year, in the "church calendar." As we begin our journey toward the manger, we also consider the beginnings--and endings--in our own lives. As we do, we open ourselves to hearing ancient promises anew, beginning with "YOU are a blessing."

In this message, Pastor Eric shares a few stories from his own life and faith journeys to help us reflect on small things in life that are actually the big things; the easy-to-overlook moments that are actually the moments that matter the most. The great Medieval German theologian, Meister Echkart, said: "If the only prayer you say in your life is 'thank you,' it would be enough."

What if we learned to pay attention to these small things, to pause for a moment and say "thank you" when notice them? What if we sincerely practiced expressing gratitude to one another instead of keeping it to ourselves--or waiting until a funeral to say what someone means to us?

How might this small thing be a big thing; how might this simple practice transform us in big ways? Will we let ourselves find out?

In this message, Pastor Eric concludes our Stewardship series on being a Community of Hope. It also being the first Sunday after the 2024 election, he reflects on how Jesus himself lived in a difficult, chaotic, and uncertain social-political time. In the midst of that, he built a community of disciples--students--who were themselves being formed by the gospel of peace and compassion and justice, and then he sent them out to proclaim and embody that message with others. In doing so, he offers a model for us as we seek to be a community of hope in our own turbulent times. 

In this All Saints Day stewardship message, Pastor Eric reflects on remembering our ancestors as a way of looking toward a future with hope. In doing so, he invites us to think of ourselves as "ancestors in the making" and reconsider what it is that God is calling us to be stewards of. 

In this Stewardship message, Pastor Eric invites us to reflect on one of Jesus' most famous parables--often dubbed the "Parable of the Prodigal Son"--and ask ourselves how God has sought us out, lavished love on us, and invited us into a future where there was hope--just when we were at our lowest and most despairing? How has this church been a space and community that has loved you back to life, offered you hope during a difficult season? Drawn forward by these experiences, how might God be calling us to more boldly embody God's prodigal--God's wastefully extravagant--love?

In a world where so many of us carry around wounds--visible and invisible--how might we be like a "field hospital" for the spirit? And how might doing this as a community create "a future with hope"?