Rev. Erik Karas is the Pastor and Rector of Christ Trinity Church in Sheffield. Christ Trinity is a combined
Episcopal and Lutheran congregation. This combined congregation is an excellent fit for Erik as he has
spent many of his 20 years in ministry involved in both ecumenical and interfaith partnerships. Prior to
serving in Sheffield, Erik served a combined church in Augusta, Maine where he worked closely with the
neighboring synagogue particularly in the area of refugee welcoming, care and advocacy as more and more
Iraqi and Syrian refugees moved to Augusta.
Prior to the ministry, Pastor Erik was a food scientist and worked for The Coca-Cola Company where he was
known as “Dr. Slurpee” for his product development work in frozen beverages. Pastor Erik lives in Sheffield
with his wife Kelly who is a JetBlue flight attendant. Their oldest daughter is currently teaching English in
South Korea and their younger daughter is a junior at the University of Maine, majoring in Social Work.
The sermon is entitled Sing It! It uses Hannah’s Song from 1 Samuel 2: 1-10 as the text and it explores
the idea that the world around us has a “soundtrack” which is all too often a dark, disempowering and
disheartening song. That song plays in our heads and hearts almost unconsciously, but it affects how we
live in the world. Hannah, coming out of the Temple, chose to sing a different song! She sang it right out
loud into the face of that darkness. And it turns out that her song of life and light is more powerful than the
world’s song of darkness for one key reason.
Sponsor: Hevreh of Southern Berkshire