Federated Church Sycamore Sermon Podcast

"So, you say you love the poor? Name them." These words from the great Latin American Liberation theologian, Gustavo Gutierrez, remind us that love cannot be lived out at a distance. It is not merely about "being on the right side of history," believing the "right" things, or voting a certain way. It is a call to build authentic and deep community with one another; to...

In this message, Pastor Eric reflects on the story of Elias Chacour, a Palestinian Christian who, as a child, experienced the trauma of his family and entire village being rounded up and violently forced to flee their homes in the founding of the State of Israel--and who yet would go on to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize two times, while receiving several other international peace awards. H...

In this message, Pastor Eric explores how the Gospels portray Jesus' relationship with his family, and in doing so invites us to reflect on our own--especially with regards to how we learned to give and receive love as children. By inviting us to see our families as our first "school of love"--where we are taught through words and actions what love is--Pastor Eric invites us to consider how these...

In this message, Pastor Eric invites us to consider the ways that we use spiritual beliefs and practices to avoid certain parts of the human experience. Sometimes, we can believe that being "spiritual" means rising above emotions (namely the ones we don't like, such as fear, anger, grief, pain or shame). Rather than seeking a spirituality that calls us to move through these "wil...

In this message, Pastor Eric invites us into a playful practice of imagining possible futures; of imagining what’s possible without getting bogged down in whether or not it’s realistic or how to do it, etc. Too often in our own lives and in the church, we can get stuck, and we lose the ability to imagine anything else to be possible other than what is or has been—or perhaps that, but slightly bett...

In this message, Pastor Eric reflects on the famous passage from Ecclesiastes—“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, a time to die…”—and the central struggle on the author’s heart and mind: that life is filled with absurdities; the cause and effect “order” that we often want, simply doesn’t exist: bad things happen to good people. How does...

In this message, Pastor Eric reflects on how Moses encounters God in the strangeness of a "bush that is burning, but is not consumed" in order to connect how the ways we imagine God especially shape the way we respond/react to "strange" situations or "foreign" ideas or people. Does our theology open us to such moments and encounters or close us off from them? Do we allow such things, ideas, or peo...

In this message, Pastor Eric follows up his two previous messages reflecting on "where is God?" in order to reflect on what our answers to that question mean for the kind of community we can imagine--and therefore the kind of world we can work to create. Through the story of Philip's encounter with an Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8, he explores what it meant to be a eunuch in the biblica...

In this message, Pastor Eric takes us on a journey through the story of creation’s beginnings in Genesis 1, inviting us to allow its familiar words to surprise and even challenge us toward a deeper encounter with the Divine Creator who is always drawing forth goodness and new life from the chaos of the world. Beyond the binaries of light and dark, land and sea, earth and sky, and so on, is God not...

In this message, Pastor Eric invites us to encounter the Divine Mystery we name "God" in new ways. Many of us have grown up with an image of God as a distant, angry, judging, old white-haired man whose approval we need to seek. The consequences of this image of God--even when we stop intentionally believing in it--not only negatively shapes our individual lives, but also the world that we imagine...

In this Pentecost message, Pastor Eric reflects on the strange, confusing, seemingly absurd ways that God shows up in our world and in our lives. But all too often, we try to domesticate God, we try to control how and where “god” shows up and what happens as a result. In short, we get stuck in our own patterns and ways. Pentecost is an invitation to open oneself to God’s Spirit, trusting that even...

In this message, Pastor Eric reflects on the Apostle Paul’s radical transformation from a person of privilege to someone who chose a path that didn’t shy away from suffering when it resulted from boldly living out God’s love in a world of injustice. What came over him? What prompted this profound change of mind and heart and empowered him to live in this way? During the Guatemalan civil war and ge...

Continuing our Easter theme of celebrating a “season of Resurrection,” in this message Pastor Eric reflects on Jesus’ words to his disciples—and to us—when he says: “I tell you, the one who trusts in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.” Can Jesus really be serious here? We’ll do greater things than him, if we trust i...

In this message, Pastor Eric continues his Easter series reflecting on resurrection and inviting us to look beyond "can I really believe that happened?" Instead, he invites us look for truth in what happens when the resurrected Jesus appears--namely, this week, when he appears to Peter. Peter, the one who had denied knowing Jesus, who had abandoned him in his greatest hour of need. What...

In this Easter season message, Pastor Eric explores how “believing in the resurrection of the body” doesn’t mean what most of us think it means! It isn't merely about proving that certain facts of history did or did not occur. It is a truth we are called to embody ourselves; it is a pattern, a reality, that we are invited to give ourselves to. What does it mean to believe in resurrection here and...

The resurrection is not merely something to be believed. Like Love, it is a truth that can only truly be known through a lived encounter, through opening ourselves to its transforming flow. Still, most of us have expectations and assumptions about Easter and what the resurrection “means”—or what we think it’s supposed to mean. Building on the Apostle Paul’s emphasis that the same power that raised...

Howard Thurman, the great African American theologian, mystic and mentor to Martin Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights movement, once wrote that the most important question we must ask ourselves is: "Where are you going?" That is: What are you after? What are you really chasing or being drawn toward? Where we are going--what we are really after--will shape the choices and actions we make...

In this message, Pastor Eric weaves together reflections on two seemingly very different passages--one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament--to reflect on God's presence with us and call to Life even when we find ourselves in "the valley of the shadow of death." In our Lenten series: "Seeking: honest questions for a deeper faith and more authentic life," the question posed by this...

In this message, Pastor Eric reflects on the misguided assumptions that often undergird the questions we ask--questions that lead to judgment and isolation. Too often, we focus on theoretical or theological understanding; on being "technically" right, even if that comes at the expense of people's dignity. Through the story of Jesus and the man born blind, this message challenges us to reflect more...

In this message, Pastor Eric explores the profound and challenging invitations present in the simple exchange between Jesus and an “unnamed woman from Samaria”—a life-altering exchange that becomes possible only because both parties choose to enter into the shared vulnerability that marks its beginning: Jesus—a man, a Jew, tired from a long journey, wandering through a place that his religion and...

What is your first reaction when you are thrust into something new; something difficult; something painful? Are you inclined to just keep barreling forward—leave the past in the past? Do you grieve hard? Do you grieve at all? Do you cling to platitudes like “just gotta stay positive” or “everything happens for a reason”? Do you despair? In this message, Pastor Eric invites us to face our wildernes...

In this message, Pastor Eric reflects on two familiar passages: Adam and Eve being tempted by a cunning snake in the Garden of Eden, and Jesus being tempted by a devilish voice in the Wilderness.  Reading these two passages alongside each other helps us to hear the story of Adam and Eve in a new light. Rather than being about “original sin” that now makes all of us inherently “bad” from birth...

In this message, Pastor Eric reflects on the story of Jesus' transfiguration as the mother of all epiphanies--a moment where he dared to "shine forth" as he truly was. In some ways, the transfiguration can be seen as the story of Jesus' "coming out" moment as he shares with his closest disciples and friends his true identity, which he had not revealed up to that moment. It's also a moment where th...

Many people think that the point of "being a Christian" is to be a good person. Pastor Eric says that is not really the case. What?  Most of us spend much of our lives trying to prove to others that we are good. Underneath this lies an almost DNA-deep fear that if we are not seen as "good" then we won't be loved; we'll be excluded. In this message, Pastor Eric reflects on how our struggle to be se...

In this message Pastor Eric explores liminal seasons in life—seasons of transition and change, like: dating or marriage or moving in with someone; moving; going to college or graduating; losing a loved one; retiring; coming out or transitioning (or your child coming out or transitioning). Rather than just “getting through” these seasons or waiting for things to “go back to normal,” the work of mat...