Erik Walker Wikstrom

Erik Walker Wikstrom is the Lead Minister at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the author of several books and curricula, including Serving With Grace: Lay Leadership as a Spiritual Practice.

From Erik Walker Wikstrom

Displaying 11 - 20 of 22

If the “opening words” called people to worship and opened the time and space for this purpose, the closing words bring the service to an end and prepare people to return home. If the service has been thematically tied together, the words can be a summation, a parting thought, a final nugget for...

Closing | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

If you are who you were, and if the person next to you is who he or she was, if none of us has changed since the day we came in here— we have failed. The purpose of this community— of any church, temple, zendo, mosque— is to help its people grow. We do this through encounters with the...

Closing | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Change, Character, Growth, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Transformation
Offering bakset

It is said, “The Lord loves a cheerful giver,” yet we’ll accept from a grouch as well. As the ushers prepare to take this morning’s offering, may each of us look into not just our wallets or our checkbooks to see how much we have with us. Let us also look into our hearts and see what is...

Offering | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: Christianity, Direct Experience, Faith, Generosity, Gratitude, Stewardship

Spirit of Life, known by many names yet by no name fully known—we gather today with hopes and dreams and also with fears and wounds... [briefly name some of the things lifted up during the candles of joy and sorrow]. May we be reminded that all things come and go; that today’s joys and today’s...

Prayer | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: Change, Community, Compassion, Growth, Joy, Sorrow, Unitarian Universalism

To “invoke” is to “call forth” and is traditionally associated with calling upon God. You can also think of it as invoking the spirit of your community—its vision of justice, its playful energy, or its familial feeling. Invocations can also serve to introduce the theme that you’ll be...

Opening | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
A close-up photo of a snowflake

One snowflake is a marvel, a miracle; Four snowflakes, five, and the kids begin to run around in the yard One hundred and the cars start slowing down; One thousand, two...you can see where this is going....

Closing | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: Power, Purpose, Strength, Unity
A flame rises from the flaming chalice, a symbol of Unitarian Universalist faith.

We light this chalice for all who are here, and all who are not; For all who have ever walked through our doors, for those who may yet find this spiritual home, and for those we can't even yet imagine. For each of us and for us all, may this flame burn warm and bright.

Chalice Lighting | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Acceptance, Caring, Community, Generosity, Hospitality, Inclusion, Journey, Unity

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a commissioning is "the act of granting certain powers or authority to carry out a particular task or duty." In many churches there is a common misconception that the leaders of the church run things—that the Board or the Council of Chairs has all...

Ritual | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: 5th Principle (Conscience & Democracy), Governance, History, Stewardship, Unitarian Universalism

We come together this morning because within us there is something that knows we need more than we can find in our aloneness. We know—instinctively, in the depths of ourselves—that we need others for this journey of life even though we also guard our independence and individuality quite...

Opening | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb
Tagged as: Community, Connections, Relationships

For if they are evil and we are not, if that's how we see things, then we are committing the same kind of error which led to this tragedy. That's the problem of evil. Not so much that it exists — in that it's really just a fact of life, or a force of nature. The problem of evil, as I see it, is...

Sermon | By Erik Walker Wikstrom | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWeb

For more information contact .