John 4:5-42 Dear Partner in Preaching, How does someone come to faith? Not simply “faith” in the sense of intellectual or cognitive assent to doctrinal formulations like “Jesus is the Son of God.” But “faith” more in its biblical sense of trust, a living and active trust that makes it possible to take significant risks. I ask this question because I think today’s lengthy reading from John offers a vivid portrait of one such person coming to this kind of vibrant, trusting, risking-taking faith. In order to highlight the possibility of not just lifting up but inviting such faith, I’ll make one brief observation about the use of...

You know the stats. The mainline church in North America has lost significant numbers of members over the last several decades. The ELCA alone suffered a 20% loss over the last fifteen years. This isn’t news. What is news – or what should be – is how little we’re doing about it. Oh, don’t get me wrong – we have all kinds of programs and meetings and studies and initiatives. Yet when it comes down to calling into question basic assumptions about worship and preaching and congregational life and leadership, we continue to do what we’ve been doing for much of the last century. Last night, after making a presentation on some of the...

I found this short video on risk very helpful in thinking about the decisions we are called to make everyday both in our individual lives and as leaders. (Okay, first of all, I love that Cambridge has a “Professor of the Public Understanding of Risk” and even more that David Spielgelhalter, the professor in question, has been nicknamed “Professor Risk”!) I think it’s important because we are sometimes tempted to believe that if we are careful enough, or precise enough, or cautious enough, we can avoid risk. Indeed, often we are tempted to believe that our job as leaders is to avoid risk. But as Professor Risk points out, every...

Do you have three minutes? Then watch this video and afterward ask yourself a simple question. The video is about Tommy Carroll. Tommy’s a skateboarder. A good skateboarder. Which means he’s got great balance, and loves a little risk, and falls down from time to time, only to get back up and skate some more. In all these ways, Tommy’s not that unusual from a lot of other kids who love to skateboard. But though Tommy’s been skateboarding since he was ten, he’s been blind since he was two. Yeah. Tommy skateboards by sound. But while that makes him unusual, I’m still not sure that’s what sets him apart. Because I think what makes...