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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I find myself increasingly saddened by this seemingly obsessive focus on “like mindedness” in the Church on what seems to be all sides of most of the debates that have split the Church throughout the ages. In our age we are more aware of different ways of seeing and believing than in any other age in history, which seems to exacerbate and exaggerate the situation. I am writing mostly in response to the Fellowship Gathering that occurred last week in Minneapolis, which you can read more about here. There have also been some interesting responses and analyses of the gathering from those who attended and those who did not (I encourage you to look at this one, this one, this one, and this one-the last one is probably the best attempt at being impartial).
I guess it is [...]
By the Rev. Eric O. Ledermann February 20, 2011 First Presbyterian Church - San Bernardino, CA Leviticus 19.1-2, 9-18 Matthew 5.38-48
Growing up my family was not particularly “religious.” We went to church every Sunday, but beyond that the rest of the week we didn’t necessarily engage the Christian faith we proclaimed. We could be counted among the multitudes that have emerged since the 1960s who have claimed the title of “spiritual but not religious.” The only meal we prayed before was Thanksgiving. I don’t think it was because my parents didn’t want to talk about religion, I think it was because they really didn’t know how. They taught my brother and I the basics: be a good person, but not too good because then people might think you’re weird; help people, but don’t put yourself out there too much or you’ll get hurt; do your best, but don’t show [...]
I can’t seem to maintain any sense of consistency on this thing. It’s been some 8 months since I last posted anything. I love reading other people’s blogs, but can’t seem to maintain my own. So, I thought I’d post about not being able to post-makes sense, right!?
The idea of posting things for other people see (assuming someone besides me reads this) can be rather narcissistic. I mean, really, do people want to hear about what I’m thinking? And, more importantly, do I want people reading what I’m thinking!? Yes, there needs to be a certain amount of censoring. Some things are just not for public consumption (again, assuming anyone is reading this). But, I do have ideas. I do have thoughts that I’d like to throw out into the ongoing conversations of life-offer my contribution, as it were. But, do people really want to know?
I get [...]
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