John 17:6-19 Dear Partner in Preaching, Just two observations on this complex portion of what we often call “the High Priestly Prayer” when Jesus’ intercedes on behalf of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. Both are prompted by the repetition of key words. The first is “world” (kosmos). According to John’s Jesus, the world is not a friendly place. It has rejected Jesus, it poses threats to Jesus’ disciples, and it is something that occasions Jesus’ request that God protect the disciples from it. Although some of John’s theology feels a bit gnostic in its portrayal of a remarkably dispassionate Jesus, I...

One of the first questions I ask when I think about donating to a particular charity is what their overhead is – that is, how much money the spend on personnel and marketing and everything else it takes to administer their relief efforts. This kind of information is readily available and I use it to determine a sense of the charity’s efficiency – the lower the overhead, the more money goes directly to the recipients of the aid I and others give. Of course I assume the reverse is true as well: the higher the overhead the more wasteful the charity is and less deserving of my support. In this provocative TED Talk based on his book...