Dear Friends, It’s been a while since I’ve posted, I know. It’s been hard to be away from you all, but my current call at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church (Mpls) — which has been the absolute delight and privilege of my career — has made it hard to find the time to keep up the weekly discipline of writing on the upcoming RCL selections (particularly as we’ve moved to a narrative lectionary pattern — more on that, perhaps, in a later post). But… given what we’re all facing together, and because I am not spending quite as much time commuting(!), I thought I would try to resume that...

Luke 18:9-14 Dear Partner in Preaching, I’ll start first with an assertion and then with a question. The assertion: Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is a far better passage for Reformation Sunday, IMHO of course, than the Gospel normally appointed for the day. So whether you are preaching the passages for Pentecost 20 or Reformation Day, I hope this is helpful. And now the question: Do you know the name Essena O’Neil? By the time Essena, a native of Australia, was eighteen, she had more than 200,000 followers on YouTube and a half million on Instagram. And then she quit. She vacated the social...

Luke 18:1-8 Dear Partner in Preaching, Where has the persistent widow showed up in your life? Or, maybe better, who has been the persistent widow in your life? Perhaps it was an advocate for LGBT inclusion, motivated by the love of a gay son or daughter who is always pushing you to move your congregation to a more inclusive welcome sooner than you – charged with keeping the congregation together and therefore leery of divisive issues – were ready. Or maybe it’s the parent of a special-needs kid, asking – and, honestly, it probably feels more like demanding – more accommodation for his or her child than your congregation...

Luke 17:11-19 Dear Partner in Preaching, What do you think? Is it too much to suggest to our hearers that the secret to a good life and the heart of our faith is contained in this brief passage? The key to both is tucked away in a deceptively simple observation: They’re all made well. All the men in this story, that is. They are all made well. Did you notice that? Alright, so let’s back up just a bit, slow down just a little, and see what we might notice together. At the outset of this relatively short story from Luke’s Gospel, there are ten men who are suffering from some form of skin disease. (It’s named as leprosy,...

Luke 16:19-31 A brief note: Pardon sharing this one again, Dear Partner. Time is/has been/will be short, and I’ve heard from a few of you that it’s hard to find earlier pieces, so I’ll repost the column of three years ago. For what it’s worth, I find this angle even more compelling three years later and back in the parish. I hope it’s helpful, and thank you for your good and faithful work! Dear Partner in Preaching, Do you ever wonder if Luke had ever heard about justification by grace? I mean, tradition tells us that he was a traveling companion of the Apostle Paul’s but, if so, it’s hard to know just how...