Welcome from
Eric O. Ledermann
Hey! Thanks for stopping by. Pour yourself a cup o' jo, take a load off your feet, and check out what's here. You are looking at my ramblings about issues of faith, life and culture—they are my own and are not necessarily shared by those with whom I work, live or otherwise engage.
Heck, a week from now I may not even agree with what I write here! The Spirit of God is always moving; always shaping and reshaping, transforming and re-forming, each of us according to God's hope and vision for humanity. I hope we may be able to listen, pay attention, and respond faithfully. To steal a phrase from our UCC sisters and brothers: "God is still speaking."
Feel free to share your comments and engage in any conversation that may be happening here, but just know that I do reserve the right to delete any spam or anything I deem inappropriate or offensive. I look forward to dialoguing with anyone who cares to dialogue!
Peace and blessings,
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Thank you to everyone who helped me shape my business card design. It is so much better than I could have imagined. The “winning” design, by a rather large margin, was Option B:
The scores were, out of 5:
Option A - 2.56 Option B - 4.29 Option C - 3.83 Option D - 2.61
There were a lot of suggestions and comments as well, so the final design may get tweaked a bit, but for the most part it will be what you see here.
It may seem silly to spend so much time on a simple thing like a business card—and honestly, I was just having some fun with this. But I think people do underestimate the power of tone, esthetics, and atmosphere. So much of language in any culture is expressed non-verbally. How a room is organized or decorated, how someone is dressed, [...]
I just finished the final book of The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I am shaken by this story—it’s honesty about the realities of the human race, the circle of violence that seems to plague every generation, evidence of our fears and insecurities taken out on our neighbors.
I don’t know how intentional Ms. Collins was about her portrayal of our tendencies toward violence, but it is scary how true her story rings against the daily news. I highly recommend this trilogy, available in print and Kindle. It’s geared toward young adults, so a it’s a pretty face-paced read.
Though the trilogy is set an a futuristic vision of the what becomes of the United States after a final collapse and major rebellion, I could not help but perceive the Capitol in The Hunger Games as a continuation [...]
This week is my last week serving as associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church. The past few weeks have been surreal as I have attempted to remain mentally, emotionally, and spiritually present to this congregation, while at the same time reflecting on my time with and being in conversation with the people of University Presbyterian Church of Tempe, Arizona.
It feels weird to leave, but it feels right to go.
I am excited about lays ahead, but feeling some regret about what I am leaving behind and has been left unfinished. This past Sunday was my last here, and we included a Service of Dissolution of Pastoral Call that is in the [...]
I am in my final weeks as associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church of San Bernardino. In the PC(USA), it is required in most presbyteries (our regional governance) that a minister cut ties with a congregation completely upon leaving (unless, of course, one is bestowed with the honor of being “emeritus”, which usually only happens upon retirement). That means the responsibility is on the departing pastor to refrain from initiating any sort of contact with members of the former congregation or continuing to serve in any pastoral capacity to any of them. There are a number of reasons for this policy, and I tend to agree with it. There have been too many instances when a pastor or associate pastor leaves and continues to be in pastoral relationships with parishioners at the former church, causing significant conflicts and issues for the new, remaining, or [...]
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