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,...

Whether you call it Veterans Day, Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day, November 11th has long been a day on which to remember and give thanks for those who have served their country. This year it falls on a Sunday. I received little training in seminary about how to, even whether to, mark such days in the church; nor, I am afraid, did I offer my students much counsel. (Perhaps that silence was itself counsel.) While I understand some of the typical church/state concerns of highlighting such days in our congregations, it seems to me that on days like this — or, for that matter, on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or Thanksgiving...

John 17:6-22 Dear Partner in Preaching, In this passage from the “farewell discourses,” Jesus prays for his disciples and…. Wait. Let’s not rush to all the other things Jesus does for or says to his disciples. Let’s just stop there for a moment. The evening before his crucifixion, and while anticipating an immediate future that will include betrayal, trial, condemnation, beating, and execution, Jesus. Stops. Everything. And. Prays. For. Those. He. Loves. Incredible. To think about…, but also to experience. And perhaps it’s this experience that may form much of this week’s sermon. Because here’s the thing: prayer isn’t...

Luke 11:1-13 Dear Partner in Preaching, I think I would find this passage easier to preach on if there weren’t so many people dying right now. I know, I know, people die every day. More than that, people die in really difficult, preventable, tragic ways every day that I know nothing about. But in recent weeks, the violence in our cities and around the world has been nearly overwhelming. Orlando, Baton Rouge, St. Paul, Dallas, Nice, Baton Rouge again… there are too many people dying for me to read this passage and wonder, not how to pray, but why we pray at all. And here’s the thing: the overwhelming majority of the people we preach to...

This past summer I ended up taking an unanticipated partial sabbatical from blogging. While I had taken part or all of the summer off in previous years, this summer I had hoped actually to catch up on writing in this space and a few others after a full, hectic, and blessed first year at LTSP. Alas, that wasn’t to happen. The summer was busier, and I was more tired, than I’d anticipated and apart from the weekly “Dear Partner” posts for preachers, I ended up writing exactly nothing. Once I realized that was the way things were going to roll, I intended to start up again after Labor Day. But then classes...