Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: I’m Back!

I’m back!

Because of mailing times, however, I’m writing this before I leave for vacation, so… my head is spinning just a little bit.

Anticipating the future is, as I have said more than once, both a necessary activity and a nearly futile one. Investment analysts, economic forecasters, meteorologists, and those who seek fugitives all engage in it as their livelihood. What will the markets do? Will the storm track north or south? Where might this person go next? Nobody feels much surprise to find themselves mistaken. Part of anticipating the future is anticipating possibilities, not certainties.

Even forecasting possibilities, however, risks error. Just recently a computer glitch grounded airline flights for hours. Something similar could happen the day I plan to fly home. There might be a storm that forces a diversion, or a passenger who abruptly decides they won’t wear a seat belt and delays takeoff. So many possibilities… so.

I think I’m back!

There is one thing that I am confident that the future holds: the love of God. This is the love that shaped the universe. This is the love that guided the ancient people of Israel. This is the love that sent Jesus, led Jesus, and resurrected Jesus. This is the love that formed the Church for service (even if we, like our forebears serve imperfectly). This is the love that carries us through work, travel, rest, play, sorrow, and rejoicing.

I’m back, and I’m glad to be back. God is with us!

In peace,

Pastor Eric

Photo by Paul Bryant-Smith.

Rev. Eric Anderson Pastor's Corner

Pastor’s Corner: Seeing the Future

April 10, 2024

I think it would be very confusing to see the future. The things that will happen depend so much on the things that happen now, and then the additional things that will happen between now and then, that to see the future would not be to see one thing, but a crowded field of possibilities. As things change, we might see the possibilities narrow as some things become less possible and others become more likely, until that moment when one thing and one thing only might happen. We call that moment, “the present.”

We try to see the future anyway. We project a future to make decisions about investments, about jobs, about political candidates, about whether or when to have children. Inevitably, we find that the future we imagined is not the present we receive. Investments do worse (or better; it happens); jobs aren’t what we thought; elected candidates contradict our expectations; children turn out to be far more unpredictable than we’d thought. And we do need to imagine and plan; we’d be irresponsible to make no provision at all for the future.

I recently listened to Preet Bharara interview Vinod Khosla, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur best known for founding Sun Microsystems. Khosla, despite his success, does not give much credence to forecasts. Instead, he looks for places that he can make a difference, where his resources can make achievement more likely. He tries to make a different future happen.

What if we did that with our faith? What if we lived to make a future happen that’s better than the present we have and better than the future we expect, the one we fear? What if we found the places we can influence what’s next for the good of the world?

That seems more likely to work than trying to predict tomorrow.

In peace,

Pastor Eric