Dear Partner in Preaching, It really doesn’t have to be bread, power, or safety. Temptations, I mean. In today’s reading the devil tries to seduce Jesus with the promise of bread when he’s hungry, the glory and power of all the world’s leaders, and the promise of rescue paired with the suggestion that God is not sufficient to keep Jesus safe. And all Jesus has to do in return is worship Satan. So in this scene, it’s bread, power, and safety. But it could be something else. Which is the key to preaching this story, I think. Because the point isn’t the specific temptations, but rather the underlying nature of temptation itself. In...

Mark 1:9-15 Dear Partner in Preaching, There is a whole lot going on in this Sunday’s Gospel reading from Mark. That may be easy to miss, because we’ve touched on various parts of Mark’s first chapters several times already in Advent and Epiphany. But where Matthew and Luke, by contrast, give distinct and rich descriptions of Jesus’ baptism, his temptation, and the beginning of his ministry, Mark compresses all these events into just a few short verses. And while we may simply assume this is Mark’s Dragnet-like style – “Just the facts, Ma’am, just the facts.” – I think there may be more at work. Perhaps, that is, baptism,...

Lent is a time of self-denial and sacrifice. These aren’t terribly popular words in our culture. They seem to many today part of a dark and dingy past when religious superstition dominated all. But what of the rampant self-indulgence that governs today? Is the ability to eat, drink, spend, or have sex whenever you want to – which seem to be the goals lifted by most television programs I see – really an expression of freedom, let alone dignity or meaning? What is strength is you cannot govern yourself? What is wealth if you go to bed each night fearful that you do not have enough? What is power if you are constantly driven by the need...

Membership in the Christian Church of the first four centuries was not come by lightly. As an underground organization, the church had to scrutinize carefully every prospective member, and a prolonged period of probation was a requirement. This period would normally terminate with reception into the Church by baptism at Easter. The final period preceding baptism, Lent, was naturally the most rigorous. Candidates were required to fast in preparation, and to attend catechetical lectures and periodic examinations or “scrutinies.”    –Edward Horn III Lent. Among many Christian congregations it’s become something of a dirty,...

I have, as you’ve probably noticed, had of late a hard time keeping up with the discipline of posting day – let alone twice daily! – but I am re-committing to that discipline as we enter into Lent. Two years ago about this time, I started this blog largely from a desire to provide Lenten Devotions for folks whose congregations were no longer doing that, and I enjoyed it so much I just kept right on going. And so I’m eager to return to those roots as well as continuing to work at connecting faith to issues of daily life. So…Lenten Devotions start tomorrow! We’ll be working through the Passion According to St. Matthew and I’m...