John 17:1-11 Dear Partner in Preaching, You won’t often hear a Lutheran preacher or theologian talk about glory. At least not positively. Luther frequently railed against theologians of glory, those who trusted and elevated the role of human reason and ability with regard to our salvation. He argued instead for a theology of the cross, one that trusted completely in God’s mercy and grace as revealed in the cross of Christ. No, you won’t often hear a Luther preacher talk positively about glory. Except today. Or, at the very least, I can’t help but acknowledge how important “glory” is in this passage and, it would...

Luke 9:28-36 Dear Partner in Preaching, Just a few exegetical thoughts about this familiar, and somewhat confounding, story. But first, why confounding? I think because it’s just odd enough (with the appearance of OT heroes), just strange enough (with Jesus all shimmery and shiny), and named with a word we rarely use, to leave us as confused as Peter, James, and John were. Further, it’s an odd placeholder and bridge between Jesus’ baptism (noting how similar are the words from the voice from heaven here and to Jesus at the River Jordan [3:22]) and Jesus’ resurrection (noting this time the similarity between the description...

Dear Partner in Preaching, Yes, I have the Academy Awards on my mind. Actually, I only watched a bit of the program this past Sunday evening and have not seen all the contenders for best film yet. But of the various moments of the show I did catch, one helped me articulate what I think is the heart of not just this week’s passage but the whole of the Gospel. It was the song “Glory” from Ava DuVernay’s film Selma, and what struck me was how the song writers John Legend and Common described the march to Selma in the terms of glory. Think about that for a moment. That march, along with the larger struggle for civil rights, was...