To the Rest I say with Pastor Eric

09/07/2025

In an extraordinary move, the Bishop of San Bernardino has "dispensed" (freed a person) from the obligation to attend Masses on Sunday and Holy Days of Obligation if the person fears ICE. Bishop Rojas (wisely) says that he is guided by the desire to extend pastoral care to all in his diocese, particularly those who "face fear and hardship."

It is a vivid reminder that not even Catholic churches are considered safe places any longer. Where are the voices for "religious freedom" now?

09/07/2025

Churches have always been able to advocate for policies they viewed as aligned with their mission. A bill designed to fund feeding ministries or clean up rivers might be an example, but until just recently the answer to whether they could endorse a candidate has always been no. So let's talk about the news IRS rules on political speech.

90-95% of churches won't even be effected. The will of the parishioners has always been a far more effective limit on the congregation's "political speech" than IRS laws. While churches, like the rest of the country, are becoming more polarized, they are also often one of the few reliably "purple" spaces left. Earnest pastors care about that.

It's the 5-10% of churches that have already been bad actors in this field that are now free to act with impunity. These churches do not care about the people in their communities and the policies that affect them. Again, advocating for policy has always been legal. These churches only care about aligning themselves with power, and right now really only one flavor of politician views a partnership with corrupt churches as mutually beneficial.

These rules are specifically designed to allow those partnerships. It's citizens united in Bible drag.

09/07/2025

Oooh, them's fight'n words

07/07/2025

We all want to help.

It is so natural to us in times of a disaster. We want to have an impact and do something that makes a difference in the light of so much heartbreak.

* Don't travel to a disaster zone unless you have been specifically invited by a relief organization or locals on the ground.

Places hit hard by a disaster are over-extended. Hotels are used up by direct relief organizations, and there may or may not be "work" for you to do. Your willingness to go is admirable -- but don't add to the stress of locals, unless you have a specific invitation.

* Don't send THINGS unless they are specifically asked for!

I've seen dozens of local posts here of people collecting items for disaster victims. None of them have shared who asked for those items. From hours away, you have no idea what is readily available and what is needed by local disaster victims. More importantly, what is needed will change by the time it gets there.

Every disaster response person I know has wound up with boxes full (warehouses full!) of THINGS that were sent by well-meaning people, but which the response person had no need for. And then they have to spend their time and energy distributing whatever that is, instead of their regular relief work.

* You don't have to BUY something to contribute!

"Buy this special shirt, and we will donate all the profits." "But this gizmo, and all profit will go to relief work."

You can ... just send that money. In fact, by not buying something and donating the funds instead, ALL your funds go to the relief work.

THINGS TO DO INSTEAD

*If you know people on the ground - relief organizations, local churches, local camps - donations directly to those organizations are HUGELY helpful.

Those organizations are stretched thin right now, and every bit of help makes an enormous difference.

*Donate funds directly to relief organizations.

Established relief organizations are already on the ground, and have the infrastructure to use your gift in ways that others sending items or going on their own can not.

Sending monetary donations to established, reputable disaster response organizations is the best way to help following a crisis.

See comments for suggestions.

05/07/2025

I'm growing weary of making the case that certain policies go against Christian ethics.
This new budget put 100 billion dollars in the hands of a secret police force that operates with almost no oversight and under extremely vague mandates that seem to include anything that would terrorize non-white communities, but cuts even the most basic services for people in need.
This is beyond Christian ethics. When we're willing to spend more to terrorize a community than we are to help it, it becomes basic human decency.
Do you want to hurt people or help them. That's the question at hand right now. We'll talk about Jesus later.

02/07/2025

In an attempt to decenter ourselves from this Sunday's Gospel (Luke 10:1-11, 16-20) I have arrived at these initial thoughts in addendum to Erna Kim Hackett's Disney theology as part of this Sunday's sermon:

We miss too much of the gospel is we refuse to admit that we can be the dragon, because the good news is this. God loves the dragon too. God does not desire for us to suffer for the damage we caused breathing fire. (although it is worthwhile for us to repair it). God wants us to rejoice at the beauty of what it is to use that power to warm a hearth for the princess.

God wants us all to know the joy of seeing the power we have as gifts for neighbors we love instead of protection from enemies we fear. Do not rejoice that we have competed against our enemies and been victorious. Rejoice that our names have been written in the list of those who get to collaborate in the coming kingdom.

02/07/2025

Lord have mercy y'all.
For nearly a decade I have been rhetorically asking if we needed to wait for the concentration camps to be built before we react. Turns out, once they're built we'll sell merchandise for them.

This is evil. Like, not even the kind of evil I need to expound upon biblically. This is viewing our neighbor as less than human and taking pride in it.

The same people who spent last month irate about the pride that some of our neighbors take in surviving their abuse are flaunting their pride in this cruelty to humanity.

These are concentration camps, and people are proud enough of them to buy merch. That is evil. It is Satanic, and I want to make one thing clear to the people who buy this merch and want to come to worship on Sunday.

You are welcome. Confession of sins is part of our weekly worship.

27/06/2025

Stolen from unknown scource.

27/06/2025

This has never been about enforcing the laws. This is authoritarian intimidation. At this point, resistance is not political. It's a matter of faith. Heck, it's a matter of being human.

He has no citizenship to any country, despite SCOTUS case

26/06/2025

I'm not an end times Christian, but I am not beyond persuasion.

Multiple reports have come in from across the Carolinas about a possible meteor or fireball falling from the sky.

25/06/2025

I grew up in the belt buckle of the Bible belt. When I would tell classmates that I was Lutheran, they would look at me for a moment and then ask “Is that Christian?” When I became a pastor, I stayed in the South – moving to some of the most conservative areas in Texas.

All that is to say, the Christianity that I have lived around has always been a Christianity of Exclusion. For the people whom I have served as pastor, this has also been the case.

The Bible is a weapon used to exclude.
The Church doesn’t want LGBTQ people, unless they change.
Hate-filled language is casually used in church and called “loving.”

I deeply love Jesus. I am enthralled and inspired by the Bible. God’s presence in my life has been my North Star.

But the God that I know – the Jesus that I encounter – the Bible that love – is not one that excludes and condemns people because of their sexuality.

There seems to exist at this moment two Christianities – and this issue is the dividing line. A Christianity of Exclusion and a Christianity of Affirmation. A Christianity of Judgment and a Christianity of Love.

Take a look around. You will see “conservative” Christians working with other groups who disagree on fundamental theological issues – the Trinity, the person of Jesus Christ – but agree in their condemnation of LGBTQ people. You will see Exclusionary Christians excusing every moral failing – adultery, lying, theft, greed, and more – in order to work with people in limiting the rights of our LGBTQ siblings.

As a pastor my ministry is one of welcome and inclusion, one of affirmation and celebration. Often I have seen the two Christianities pitted against each other in terms of the Bible – the Christianity of Exclusion is “Bible believing” and the Christianity of Affirmation is “cultural Christianity.”

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I affirm my LGBTQ siblings precisely because of what I read the Bible.
It is the words of the Bible and encountering the Risen Lord Jesus that drives me to celebrate the love and lives of my LGBTQ neighbors.

I did not get here by ignoring the Bible.
The Bible has brought me here.