Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t know about you, but I think that, more often than not, I’m with the crowds. You know, the people who say Jesus is like John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Oh, that’s not what I confess, of course. When it comes time to answer the question in public, I’m quick to join myself to Peter’s insight, claiming it as my own, or at least assenting to it. And each time to I do, I swear I mean it. But if actions speak louder than words – and you and I both know they do – then I have to admit that most of my actions don’t confess that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living...

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is one of those hymns I regularly have a hard time getting through without choking up. Once referred to as the “Negro National Anthen,” it became, along with “We Shall Overcome,” a signature song of protest and hope during the Civil Rights Movement. And while the challenges faced by African-Americans are not my direct experience as a white male who has enjoyed significant privilege, I find the mixture of pain and hope, adversity and courage described so incredibly moving and always feel drawn closer to the causes of justice and civil rights when I sing it. It was written originally as a poem by...

Do you feel called? Two things prompt this question: 1) As I’ve talked with both clergy and everyday Christians (my preferred term to lay people), I’ve been struck by a deep divide over the issue of vocation. Not about whether vocation is a great idea – who could argue that all Christians are called by God in Baptism to participate with God in caring for the world. Rather, the divide is two-fold. First, most pastors feel called by God to what they do, while most everyday Christians do not. Second, most pastors assume their people feel called, in part because they preach and teach about vocation, while most everyday Christians...