Acts 2:1-211 Corinthians 12:3b-13 Dear Partner in Preaching, This will be a very different Pentecost. On one level, that’s pretty obvious, as it’s been a very different everything – Lent, Easter, spring, Memorial Day, and more – this year. On another level, however, this particular Sunday will be even more different in light of the now national debate on opening up church buildings. It seems that nothing these days – wearing masks, the death toll of the virus, congregational worship – can escape the taint of partisan politics. As a result, many of us are now making decisions that we hope are informed by the best...

Luke 24:13-35 Dear Partner in Preaching, How are you doing? It’s been six or seven weeks now of doing ministry we didn’t expect and weren’t trained for, and that’s hard. In the few spare minutes between overseeing things in my own shop, I occasionally visit other congregations via the web and have been so encouraged by all that you are doing and trying. What I see regularly is creativity and resiliency and faithfulness that swells my heart with gratitude. Thank you. As we look at this week’s passage, I’m struck that there is also a fair amount of creativity, resiliency, and faithfulness on display as well. Luke,...

Like most congregations around the country, we at Mount Olivet are trying to capture and share our worship online. We’re also trying to connect with our folks in a variety of ways, including via written and musical devotions, recording mid-week Lenten messages, and more. But in addition to trying to take what we normally do and put it online, this current crisis and challenge is also inviting us to try out some new things; in particular, to not simply adapt our usual content to the mediums available to us, but to also allow those various media and channels suggest different patterns of connecting (at least different for us)....

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...