When I think about this peculiar preaching profession, I always consider my time in the pulpit as pastoral care. I know there are other models, other types of preaching, but pastoral care is my go-to. There’s hardly a better passage to think about pastoral care than this week’s Narrative Lectionary text, Isaiah 40:1-11. Check out… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: God’s Hope (Jeremiah 33:14-18)
The text for this week is so short I figured I would just put it here: Jeremiah 33:14-18 14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Change of Plans [2 Kings 22:1-10, [14-20]; 23:1-3]
God’s reward system is curious. The reward for faithfulness is never a shiny new Mercedes, or even a Prius, just the gift of deeper work to do. The gift exchange for following God turns out to be…more of God. Answering Josiah’s remorse over Israel’s faithlessness, God promises him a peaceful death, and to be spared… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Many Verses to God’s Love Song
This week’s Narrative Lectionary passage gives us two passages from Isaiah. The first is the love song of the vineyard yielding bad fruit in chapter five. The second is from chapter eleven, a passage we often hear during Advent, where a shoot grows from the stump of Jesse. Commentary at Working Preacher is here. A… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: God’s Love Edition (Hosea 11:1-9)
When I work with interns for their first times preaching, I always make them read The Four Pages of the Sermon. It gives a great outline for a sermon (the four pages). The first page is the problem in the text, the second, the problem in the congregation. The third page is the hope in… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Stuck in the Middle with You (1 Kings 18:[17-19] 20-39)
Oh Elijah. What have we done? What have you done? And how are we supposed to preach about it? For a reading of this week’s text check out Working Preacher’s Commentary. And if you’re not listening to NL;DR with Dr. Amy Robertson and Dr. Robert Williamson then GET THEE TO THE PODCAST NOW! So where… Read More
Narrative Lectionary:Saints and Servants
This week we have a reading from 1 Kings 12:1-17, 25-29. Commentary at Working Preacher is here. Last week, we had an idyllic glimpse of King David, a united kingdom, and a moment where David danced before the Lord, as the ark was brought back and God was centered in the life of Israel. That… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: The Other Side of History (2 Samuel 5:1-5, 6:1-5)
Reading through the stories about David is like flipping through a photo album and watching a family member age over time. Here, we meet a mature David, a man of accomplishment but not yet the callous king who wreaks so much havoc to satisfy his own whims. This is no longer the impulsive boy who… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: The Law and the Shema (Deut 5:1-21 and 6:4-9)
This Sunday’s text is the second telling of the Ten Commandments, the telling of the commandments just before the Israelites enter the land of milk and honey. So this is not the generation that left Egypt, most of them are dead, but the next generation, the ones who will inherit the land. You can find… Read More
Narrative Lectionary:God’s People Let Go
This week, we leave behind the matriarchs and patriarchs of Genesis and have one week in the Exodus story. The passage is Exodus 1:8-14 [15-2:10]; 3:1-15. Commentary at Working Preacher is here. As I read through the text, I was heartbroken to recognize the strategy of Pharaoh in my own governmental leaders as they speak… Read More
