Dear Partner in Preaching, The story of Thomas has always been one of my favorites. Of course, it’s not just a story about Thomas. It’s also a story about frightened disciples. So scared, in fact, that, they hid behind locked doors. And who can blame them? They had just witnessed the one they confessed to be the Messiah betrayed by one of his own, tried and convicted by both religious and civil authorities, and then brutally executed. Little wonder they were afraid, assuming that the next step would be to round up Jesus’ followers. But when Jesus comes on the scene, their fear falls away and is replaced by joy. This, I think, is the...

John 20:1-18 Kkkkatie, beautiful Katie, You’re the only gggirl that I adore. When the mmmoon shines, over the cccowshed, I’ll be waiting for you by the kkkitchen door. Dear Partner in Preaching, Not my typical beginning to this letter, I know. But then again, this isn’t your typical Sunday. So allow me to explain…. Because the song I referenced above never failed to bring a smile to the face of my daughter when she was a toddler, it always came in pretty handy when she was upset. Whether recovering from a bruised knee or a lost contest with her older brother for some toy, my daughter Katie invariably responded to my singing, first...

Luke 22:14-23:46 Dear Partner in Preaching, The biblical passage assigned for this week can be overwhelming, I know, as it covers so much narrative and emotional terrain. Indeed, this whole week of services and readings and prayers and more can be overwhelming. Known as “Holy Week,” the days leading to Easter might also be called, particularly by preachers, “hectic week”! In the midst of the both the holy atmosphere and hectic pace, I have one piece of advice: say just one thing. Part of that counsel relates directly to the reading before us. Rather than try to preach the broad sweep of Luke’s passion narrative, choose one element...

John 12:1-8 Dear Partner in Preaching, For many years I have very much enjoyed reading this passage because of it’s vivid imagery and dramatic introduction of the passion story that is about to commence. But I have also struggled to preach it. Not only is there the scene of Mary washing Jesus’ feet with her hair, so reminiscent of the scene of an unnamed woman in Luke 7, but also the undercurrent of suspicion about Judas, the significance of the perfume in relation to burial customs, and Jesus’ widely misinterpreted line about always having the poor with us. Lots to talk about, most of which needs first to be unpacked and...

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Dear Partner in Preaching, I found our exchange in the comments last week kind of fascinating. You probably don’t read the comments, so I’ll recap briefly. The exchange centered on how we understand the cross and was prompted by a statement I made that “the cross is not about punishment for sin.” Several folks questioned that, referencing Anselm’s substitutionary theory of atonement and the attendant Scriptural passages associated with it. I’ll say up front that I appreciated the conversation and the spirit in which we engaged. And I want also to say that Anselm’s view – echoed later by Thomas Aquinas,...

Luke 13:1-9 Dear Working Preacher, This passage is rife with both promise and peril. The promise is to address one of the persistent questions many of our people have: why is there so much suffering in the world? Or, put more theologically, is suffering connected to our behavior? Does God cause suffering? Is suffering or calamity a form on punishment? These are questions usually asked in moments of extreme suffering and loss and they are as poignant as they are important. And this week we have a chance to address them more reflectively than we can when asked in the emergency room or hospice center – that’s the promise of this week’s...

Dear Partner in Preaching, I’ve often thought that there are at least two kinds of courage. One is the immediate and situational courage of the person who, in a moment of extreme need, summons the courage to face an imminent danger. This is the courage of the by-stander who pushes someone out of the way of oncoming traffic or jumps into a raging river to save someone struggling to swim at great risk to him or herself. Of course, such courage is not actually just a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing but ultimately is a display of character, an accumulation of traits and beliefs, training and patterns of behavior that have been developed and...

Dear Partner in Preaching, You may be tempted to read just the primary verses of this Sunday’s appointed passage – Luke 9:28-36 – and save the remainder (37-43) for another time. That’s understandable, as the two discreet scenes appear to have little to do with each other. The first, after all, is about the transfiguration, Luke’s take on the dramatic mountaintop encounter between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah while the second is a more ordinary scene of Jesus responding to human need back in the valley. Little wonder you may be thinking of focusing on the former and saving the latter for another Sunday. If this is how you’re leaning,...

Dear Partner in Preaching, While reading this passage, I kept thinking of Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” and, in particular, it’s most famous line: “Good walls make good neighbors.” While that line is perhaps well known to many of us, it’s easy to forget that the whole of Frost’s poem is written to challenge that assertion. Two farmers are out for their spring ritual of replacing stones that have fallen from the wall separating their two properties. One, the voice of the poet, keeps wondering why they need walls at all: “My apple trees will never get across / And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.” To which...

Luke 4:14-21 Dear Partner in Preaching, When you hear the word “power,” what comes to mind? Significant influence or wealth, as in one who strides down the “corridors of power”? Or perhaps great physical strength, the powerful front line of the Carolina Panthers, for instance? I was struck by the line introducing the passage we’re reading this week: “Then Jesus, filled by the power of the Holy Spirit,….” According to Luke, Jesus does what he does and says what he says precisely because he is filled with power, great power, the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the first scene Luke offers to describe Jesus’ public ministry...