John 1:6-8, 19-28 Dear Partner in Preaching No complaints this week about the RCL Advent readings. Yes, it’s week two of an adult John the Baptist (meant to orient us to John’s role as the forerunner of Jesus and fulfillment of messianic expectation). Yes, this will make almost no sense to our folks absent our explanations. Yes, they could have chosen a story from Luke 1 about Elizabeth’s conception of the child John and made the same point. Yes, this jumping around in timelines for theological purposes was probably helpful when folks really knew their Bible but today probably only makes it harder for folks to learn the biblical...

Luke 3:7-18 Dear Partner in Preaching, To scold or not to scold, that is the question. At least that often seems to be the question many preachers ask themselves in Advent. Facing a Christmas celebration that is shaped at least as much by a consumption-driven culture as it is the nativity story, noting the painful disparity present in our communities between the “haves” and “have-nots,” and given just 10-15 minutes on Sunday morning to counter a 24/7barrage of ads that promote self-indulgence over sacrifice, we preachers feel a perhaps understandable tug toward not simply calling our people to resistance but also scolding...

Dear Partner in Preaching, Upon sitting down to write this letter to you, I quickly reviewed the three earlier times I’ve written on this passage (once on these pages, once in a Dear Working Preacher column, and once by way of commentary for Working Preacher) and realized… that they same more or less the same thing! (Less you miss this, take it as a warning about reviewing old sermons, too! 🙂 ) I suppose that’s not terrible and, for what it’s worth, I’ll still stand by my sense of Luke’s audacious testimony that moves from history to confession. But it does remind me that there’s only so much one can say about any given...

John 1:6-8, 19-28 Dear Partner in Preaching, Oh, for a few more folks like John the Baptist these days! That was my overriding reaction when I read of John’s unusual, even odd, and certainly negative “confession.” John the Baptist’s role in the Fourth Gospel is a little different than it is in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Starting with the fact that he’s not actually identified as John the Baptist. Yes, he baptizes. But while in the Synoptics he baptizes Jesus, he does not do so in this account. Instead, his primary role is to witness. As it says, in what can feel like a misplaced verse in the prologue – although I think it clarifies...

Matthew 11:2-11 Dear Partner in Preaching, It’s quite a change, isn’t it? I mean, last Sunday’s gospel reading all but brimmed over with John the Baptist’s confidence and his clear and compelling call for repentance. Yet John’s tune changes markedly in the reading we will be preaching this Sunday. Now, sitting alone in a dark and dank cell, John questions his earlier confidence and perhaps his very mission and identity, and so sends a disciple to go and ask Jesus a poignant, even heartbreaking question: are you really the one who is to come, or should we look for another? The movement from last week’s reading to this one is both...