Luke 21:25-36 Dear Working Preacher, Let me venture an assertion. It is, unfortunately, not a new assertion, but important to reiterate nonetheless: the greatest challenge we face today is not war, or economic inequity, or community unrest, or prejudice, or division, but fear. Why? Because fear is at the root of all these other things I just mentioned. Think about it. From Pharaoh in the first chapter of Exodus (v. 8-10) to today’s despots, fear is the means by which we turn those who are in some fashion different from us into an enemy, a people against whom we should war. Fear causes us to horde, assuming we will never have enough and...

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...

Mark 4:35-41 Dear Partner in Preaching, What moves us from fear to faith? Hold that question for a moment; we’ll come back to it. For now, though, notice with me how similar what we perceive as very distinct responses actually are. Or at least their roots. Think about it. Both fear and faith make sense only in relation to something that is unknown, challenging, difficult, or threatening. I mean, it’s just those kinds of things that make us afraid. And, when you stop to think about it, it’s just those same kinds of things that summon faith to face them. Indeed, in the face of things that are unknown, challenging, difficult, or...

Matthew 14:22-33 Dear Partner in Preaching, I notice that I’ve fallen into something of a pattern over the last few weeks and months of wanting to emphasize God’s grace and activity lest we receive the Gospel primarily as good advice rather than as good news. I suspect that’s a core part of my own theology – the primacy of God’s grace – and perhaps it’s a result of just finishing up a “Making Sense” book on Martin Luther’s theology where God’s activity is so central (I’ll share a little more info. about that once I know when it will be available). But I suspect it’s partly also a reaction to Matthew’s Gospel...

Matthew 28:1-10 Dear Partner in Preaching, Here we are again: the climax and conclusion of Lent and Holy Week, the pinnacle of the Christian year, the very peak of the Christian story and, we confess, world history itself. And here’s the thing: while I believe that each of those statements is true, I also believe each is insufficient. Too often, I think, we see Easter as a conclusion, when I suspect that in the Gospels and, for that matter, in the early Christian community, the resurrection of Jesus was meant to be only the beginning. The very fact that we have Matthew’s scene of the resurrection supports that assertion. Assuming with...