This post might as well begin with a true confession: I’ve had a conflict-laden relationship with gospel according to John, and the long passage known as the “Farewell Discourse” of Jesus (chapters 14 through 17) hasn’t helped much. I made an uneasy peace years back, and my affection for the outlier of the four gospels… Read More
Revised Common Lectionary: Come to the Water
I love this passage (John 4:5-42) so much, it is hard to approach it with anything resembling even-handedness. The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well was the appointed gospel lesson for my first-ever preaching experience (Lent 3A, 1990). And thanks to the chaplain who craftily invited me to give a homily… Read More
Narrative Lectionary—The Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)
Have you noticed that Jesus never performed weddings? And yet, for us, weddings are one of the big ways we do our religious work. Not once does Jesus ever perform a wedding or officiate a funeral. And he didn’t officiate this wedding in Cana. But nearly every week, a young minister asks a question on… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Two Interrogations
Scripture can be found here… Working Preacher commentary by Bishop Craig Satterlee can be found here… We Narrative Lectionary preachers find ourselves in the extraordinary position of preaching on Holy Week events for a full six weeks in this year of John. Another unique feature of the Fourth Gospel is the fact that fully half… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Nic at Night Edition
Scripture can be found here… True confession time: Of every jot and tittle to be found in the Fourth Gospel, this is the passage that causes this pastor the greatest anxiety. John 3:16 exists, at this moment in Christian cultural history, as a kind of behemoth. It’s not a line from a conversation between Jesus… Read More
Narrative Lectionary: Light and Darkness, Grace Upon Grace
“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this, too, was a gift.” ~Mary Oliver Scripture passage can be found here… I have a wild, irrational love of the Advent season. The world seems palpably different to me… the evenings especially. I love the growing… Read More
RevGalBlogPals 