John 17:1-11 Acts 1:6-14 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t often try to preach on more than one passage at a time. I like diving a little deeper into a single story and worry about forcing associations between texts. But from time to time, the passages or context entice me to pull together themes from a couple of the readings, and this is one of those weeks. This time, it’s both the passages (John 17 and Acts 1) and the context (Memorial Day weekend). Here’s what I’ve been thinking: Both passages describe an interlude – a period of waiting and transition. In John, it’s the waiting between all Jesus has done up to now (across...

I started this blog six months ago as something of an experiment to see if I (and by extension others) can discover how to write on matters of faith and daily life in a way that would be helpful and even (on a good day!) interesting to everyday Christians. Five years earlier I had led the team that developed WorkingPreacher.org, a site devoted to preaching resources. Since it’s launch it’s been a huge success, garnering well over a quarter million hits a month. But as I always tell folks, Working Preacher is the “low hanging fruit.” Preachers have to preach sermons each and so they know they can use good resources that are readily...