Author: ericfolkerth

Eric Folkerth is a minister, musician, author and blogger. He is Senior Pastor of Kessler Park UMC United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. Previously, he was pastor at Northaven UMC in Dallas for seventeen years. Eric loves to write on topics of spirituality, social justice, music/art and politics. The entries on this blog reflect that diversity of interests. His passion for social justice goes beyond mere words. Eric was arrested at the White House, defending immigrants and “The Dreamers;” and he’s officiated at same sex weddings. Eric was the 2017 recipient of the prestigeous Kuchling Humanitarian Award from Dallas’ Black Tie Dinner. (Human Rights Campaign) Eric has led or co-led hundreds of persons on mission trips to build houses and bring medical care around the globe, to places such as Mexico, Haiti, Russia, Guatemala, and Nepal. He is proud of have shephereded Highland Park UMC's construction of ten Habitat for Humanity homes, (and one Community Center) and helped forge an alliance with Habitat that led to the construction of 100 homes in Dallas, housing thousands of people. His wife, Justice Dennise Garcia, has 20 years experience as a state district judge and appelate justice in North Texas. First elected in 2004, she was the first Latina ever elected to a Dallas County state district bench, and she she left that position whe was the longest currently serving district judge. In 2020 Dennise Garcia was a elected as a Justice of the 5th District Court of Appeals for Texas. She is currently running to be Chief of the 5th District Court of Appeals in the 2024 cycle. They have the world’s best daughter, Maria, who is a practicing professional counselor in Dallas. Find links to Eric’s music-related websites, at the top of this site’s navigation menu.

Flight Into Egypt

January 8, 2024.Reading time 25 minutes.

The Final Section of WH Auden’s “For the Time Being” (FTTB)(For the Previous Section: Click Here.) So finally, today, I offer a our final mediation on this great Christmas Play. Those who celebrate the Commercialist Christmas —who believe Christmas ends on December 26th— you no doubt see it as ridiculous that I’m still writing on […]

The Slaughter of the Innocents

January 6, 2024.Reading time 32 minutes.

Section Eight of WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB) And so, after the theological/philosophical ramblings of the last section, WH Auden returns us to the characters again.Let’s get to it. First, as I’ve done with other sections, a few words of what we know of the actual King Herod…. Herod was a puppet king, […]

The Meditation of Simeon

January 5, 2024.Reading time 15 minutes.

Section Seven of WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB)(For the previous section: Click Here) I should say from the outset that in my many readings of FTTB, I often skip over this entire section. It’s always felt like a weird little interruption to the narrative, and a section of incredibly deep philosophy/theology that even […]

Vision of the Shepherds/At the Manger

January 4, 2024.Reading time 18 minutes.

Sections Five and Six of WH Auden’s “For The Time Being.” (FTTB)(For section four: click here) Well, I’ve gotten a bit behind schedule, and so we’ll cover two sections today. But this isn’t bad, really, because it will allow us to continue the compare/contrast of two groups of characters. As you might recall from last […]

The Summons

January 2, 2024.Reading time 28 minutes.

SECTION FOUR OF WH AUDEN’S “FOR THE TIME BEING” (FTTB) (For Section Three, click here)After a break for New Year’s weekend, let’s continue with our conversation about WH Auden’s “For the Time Being,” (FTTB) and section four, in which we meet the “Wise Men.” I should note that this is all a bit out of […]

The Temptation of St. Joseph

January 2, 2024.Reading time 21 minutes.

SECTION TWO OF WH AUDEN’S “FOR THE TIME BEING” (FTTB) (For Second Two, click here)As I’ve already said previously, this is my favorite section of the entire poem, and a bit of writing/theology that’s been deeply influential to me for thirty years. Auden’s depiction of Joseph here, to me, is spot on for what he […]

The Annunciation

January 2, 2024.Reading time 9 minutes.

SECTION TWO OF WH AUDEN’S “FOR THE TIME BEING” (FTTB) (for section one, click here)Auden locates the Annunciation in “The Garden,” which we seem led to believe is Garden of Eden. In that Garden, each of the four Jungian “Faculties” — Sensation, Feeling, Intuition, and Thought— get a chance to speak. As a licensed administrator […]

Advent

December 26, 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

SECTION ONE OF WH AUDEN’S “FOR THE TIME BEING” (FTTB) Advent is the season we have just finished —the season the Consumerist Cultural Christmas calls “The Christmas Season.” But, the Christmas season starts on Christmas Day and, like that earworm torture of a song, it does indeed run for twelve days. But to counter that […]

Calm is a Form of Resistance

December 22, 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

“Silent night, Holy night…all is calm, all is bright.” Just days from now —and like Christians all around the globe— we’ll sing these words on Christmas Eve. We’ll light our candles, hold them high, and experience a brief, blissful moment of “calm.” There is something in this ending to Christmas Eve worship that always calms […]

Incarnational Seeing:

December 13, 2023.Reading time 10 minutes.

The Sunday before Advent starts, we actually get a pretty good reminder of the power of Incarnational Seeing. Incarnational seeing is my language for what others call the spiritual practice of “paying attention.” There is a lot of buzz in the culture right now around the concept of “mindfulness” as a tool for reducing stress […]