Mark 1:29-39 Dear Partner in Preaching, True confessions: I have no idea whether this will help with your Sunday sermon this week, but… this is what I found most interesting, and I do think it bears on our common calling as pastors and preachers. First off… who knew Peter was married? Well, maybe you and I did, but I’m guessing that just about nobody in the congregation you’ll preach for this Sunday knew that Peter has a mother-in-law which, by implication, means he was married. J  Why does this matter? I kind of think most of our folks – and, truth be told, most of us – tend to think of the disciples as,...

Mark 1:29-39 Isaiah 40:21-31 Dear Partner in Preaching, Most of the time, I tend to focus on one passage when I preach because I enjoy exploring a passage on its own in greater depth rather than worry about connecting two or three passages and risk treating them more superficially. This isn’t a “right or wrong” kind of thing, of course, just my own preference. Most of the time. But not this week. Because the first reading from Isaiah and the Gospel passage from Mark work together to help me make sense of a question I’ve been mulling over of late: how do we mark God’s activity in our lives? The passage from Isaiah offers something...