John 11:32-44 Dear Partner in Preaching, Why this story of the raising of Lazarus for All Saints Sunday? While that was my question a week ago when I first looked at this text and began to think about preaching on this day, that question has taken on greater urgency in light of the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg over the weekend. And it’s given launch to other questions as well. Why does this passage matter? Does it matter? What does it say not just to this festival but to our life in this chaotic and violent world? Why this quaint festival at all, for that matter? How does what we do speak into, let alone help, in a...

As I’ve said before, I am fascinated with the process of making things. Perhaps it’s because on the rare occasion I can do just that – making a mosaic as a gift, a toy for one of my kids, or dinner for friends – it seems so utterly satisfying. (More so, actually, than most of what I do.) I have a hunch that making things – bringing things into being – not only connects us with things of the earth like wood or food but also perhaps aligns us with the creating and creative God we know in and through Jesus. Whatever the reason, I’m intensely curious about the process of how we make things and so fan a well-made films about just...