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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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 [...]
Tomorrow is the day we give thanks—as though we don’t have to give thanks any other day. Tomorrow, our entire nation gathers with family and friends to feast and fellowship—except for those who do not have jobs, who are living on the streets, who have no family, or are otherwise struggling with personal issues they cannot shake so no one really wants to be around them. Tomorrow, we celebrate the amazing voyage of the pious Pilgrims who left the safety of their mother land in order to live in religious and political freedom—that is, until they forced their way of life on others who came, and even claimed some of them witches when these others would not conform to the lifestyle and religious practices of the majority so they drowned them, stretched them, and did all sorts of other horrid things in the name of “religious freedom” and Christ. Yes, [...]
In Matthew 19, a young man approaches Jesus and asks what he must do to have eternal life (see also Mark 10 and Luke 18). Jesus responds with a list of some of Moses’ commandments from Exodus and Deuteronomy. But the young man persists and tells Jesus he has done all that, and then asks what else he must do. Jesus responds with this:
21Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.� (NRSV)
Understandably, in my mind, the man walks away “grieving� according to the NRSV, “for he had many possessions.� Jesus did not say he had to sell everything. Jesus did not even say he had to sell everything in order to “have eternal life.� [...]
I recently read on the Emergent Village’s MINemergent Daily Communiqué that, “Christianity is about the reconfiguration of the human heart, the redirection of human desire.� The author, Kevin Corcoran, goes on to write that “Christianity crucially involves beliefs, but it’s not about the beliefs. Because Christian faith is about lives well lived in community with our created nature, the Christian faith inducts Christians into concrete practices, rituals, and sacraments that had for over fourteen years of Christian history the life-transforming effect of producing Christian disciples.�
There is indeed something transforming about life lived in community steeped in practices, rituals, and sacraments. But more often than not the church has garnered a reputation of being a place of pettiness, discord, and mind numbing debates about issues that are no longer relevant to much of the world’s population. More often than not, as I have spoken with folks outside the [...]
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