Most of us are familiar with the rhythm of Holy Week. Starting with the triumphal entry of Palm Sunday, continuing to the intimacy of the Lord’s Supper and the agony of Good Friday, and concluding with the triumph of Easter morning, we know the pattern of this week well. But amid all our services and reflections, we often forget Saturday, the day in between Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. Indeed, in my experience, we give it next to no thought whatsoever, and yet I think it is an important day in its own right. Yes, we can imagine, even if insufficiently, the horror Jesus’ disciples experienced as they witnessed the torture...

Dear Partner in Preaching, There is no question that this Easter will be different. Very different. As in, unlike any Easter Sunday in the memory of any of our members. Our churches will be empty, not filled by the crowds we’d hoped for. Not even gatherings of any meaningful size. Our people will be feeling isolated, unsure even of when they might go out again. And many of them will be afraid – for their safety, for their lives, for their futures. And we may wonder what, if any, value our words will have, what comfort they may bring, whether it is worth bringing them at all. Yes, this Easter will be different. Very different, unlike...

Dear Partner in Preaching, So what do you think: is it possible to preach a sermon on the Trinity without mentioning the Trinity? I ask because I have this hunch that we’ve gotten a little off track with our thinking about the Trinity. That is, I think the Trinity was the early church’s way of trying to grapple with a monotheistic belief in one God in light of their actual, lived experience of God’s activity powerfully in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and after an encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Trinity provided an answer…of sorts. An answer often couched in the language of fourth-century metaphysics....

Luke 21: 25-36 Dear Partner in Preaching, The persistent temptation in preaching apocalyptic texts like the one before us this week is to try to address the question, “When?” As in the disciples’ question earlier this chapter in response to Jesus’ words about the Temple: “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” It’s an understandable question, given that the whole passage is both future-oriented and foreboding. When we read the passage this way, we often look back, naming the destruction of the Temple or some other historical event that prompted this passage. Or we may instead...