Mark 10:2-16 Dear Partner in Preaching, Sometimes the issue isn’t really the issue. Do you know what I mean? Someone comes to you with an issue – perhaps a criticism of something going on in the parish or, more personally, of something you’ve done – but the real issue isn’t that at all, but rather that that person wasn’t invited to join the committee working on that project… or wasn’t visited in the hospital (even though they didn’t let anyone know they were in the hospital!)… or is experiencing a rupture in an important relationship… or just received a terrifying diagnosis and can hardly make sense of it. And sometimes...

Mark 3:20-35 Dear Partner in Preaching, How do you define “crazy”? Not what makes you crazy, mind you :), but what you think of as absolutely crazy. I ask because I think it’s really interesting that, just a few chapters into Mark’s story about Jesus, those around him are saying he’s crazy. Saying people are “Crazy” or, in this case the parallel, “out of his mind” is strong language. It’s a way of discrediting people, of dismissing their views and actions, of trying to limit, if not destroy, their credibility and influence. It’s the kind of thing that you either say in jest to a good friend (“Don’t be crazy, we...

Matthew 5:21-37 Dear Partner, What do you think of when you think of God? What picture comes to mind when you imagine what God is like? It’s a tricky question, I realize, as Scripture regularly describes the impossibility of seeing, let alone fully understanding, God. When Moses wants to see God, for instance, the most God offers is facing Moses toward the cleft of a rock so he can see the “trail of God’s glory” as God passes by for, as God says, “no one can see me and live” (Ex. 33:20-23). Similarly, St. John, in the prologue to his Gospel, says that “no one has seen God” (Jn. 1:18a). Despite these biblical affirmations,...

Luke 13:10-17 Dear Partner in Preaching, Because I am an avid fan of the Olympics, I have been regularly staying up way too late to watch the struggles and victories of the athletes gathered in Rio. And while doing so I have been hearing a lot of “dream” talk. Michael Phelps described his recovery, comeback, and remarkable set of accomplishments in the pool this past week as a dream come true. Simon Biles, perhaps the greatest gymnast of all time, also talked about living out a dream, as did Simone Manuel, the first US African American to win a gold medal in swimming. Katie Ladecky, Kristin Armstrong, Ryan Murphy, Usain Bolt and so many...

Mark 12:38-44 Dear Partner in Preaching, Sometimes our interpretation of a biblical passage turns on the questions we ask of it. In this case, I want to begin with one central question, not simply for the text, but also for you: How do you hear Jesus’ description of the poor widow’s offering – is it praise or lament? To put it another way: Is Jesus holding up the widow and her offering as an example of great faith and profound stewardship, or is he expressing his remorse that she has given – perhaps feels compelled – to give away the little she has left? I’ll be honest, for most of my life, I’ve assumed it was the former. But...