Three-in-One Plus One   Dear Partner in Preaching, Imagine with me for a moment, the delight you would experience in discovering that you had a long lost uncle or aunt who had made you the heir to their estate. Can you see it? You’d wake up one morning and discover that they had left you riches beyond count, that your major financial worries were over, and that you really didn’t have to worry all that much about the future. If that scenario happened, how would you feel? What would you do? Or, more to the point, what would you do differently? And here I don’t mean what would you run out and buy – though I suspect that most of us...

Dear Partner in Preaching, I’ve written three or four introductions to this letter now, and none seems quite adequate, so I’ll just come out and say it: I think we’ve misnamed the Holy Spirit. The word Jesus uses in John’s Gospel, as you know, is Paraclete, which we sometimes translate as “Advocate” and often translate as “Comforter.” It’s this second name in particular I’m calling into question, as I just don’t think it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to make us feel better. Yes, I know, it’s not that simple. The Holy Spirit as Comforter eases our distress, encourages us, and comes to us in times of trouble to remind us...

Dear Partner in Preaching, As if often the case, context is everything in biblical interpretation. And the context of this passage – Thursday evening, the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion and departure from his disciples – matters because it helps set the scene for Jesus’ words of promise to his disciples tucked into a prayer he offers to his heavenly Father. There are three parts to this prayer and promise, each of which holds, I believe, import for our hearers today. 1) The world can be a difficult place. This perhaps doesn’t seem like much of a promise, or at least good news. But it’s the truth, and given how many voices in our...

I found the following thoughts by Seth Godin provocative: At the congregation down the street, they’re doing things the way they’ve done them for the last few hundred years. Every week, people come, attracted by familiarity, by the family and friends around them, part of a tribe.   And just past that building is another one, a different tribe, where the tradition is more than a thousand years old.   This is not so different from that big company that used to be an internet startup, but all the original team members have long left the building. Work tomorrow has a lot in common with work yesterday, and the safety of it...

Dear Partner in Preaching, Serious question: Did Jefferson miss the boat? Thomas Jefferson, that is. And I should admit right up front that I am a huge Jefferson fan. But as much as I like the poetic cadence of the Declaration of Independence’s inalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” I’ve always wondered if Jefferson unintentionally set us on the wrong direction from the start. (And – just to be clear – this isn’t the usual Christian comparison between happiness and joy, with the inevitable triumph of lasting joy over fleeting happiness. Maybe there’s something to that comparison, but I think...

It’s been that kind of week…or two…or three, actually, where I have had so many meetings and trips and other valuable experiences and obligations that it’s been tough to find time to write…or even to rest. 🙂 And then there’s the world outside my little world, the world of earthquakes and protests and riots and more. It’s enough to wear you out and wear you down. Or at least to tempt you to give up on some of your dreams. Which is why I found this 6-minute TED Talk by Brazilian entrepreneur and innovator Bel Pesce a helpful reminder not only that we need dreamers more than ever, but that there are some sure-fire ways to...