Dear Partner in Preaching, Take it from me, it’s all about forgiveness. Now, I don’t know if I’d start there, but it’s definitely where I want to end up. Where would I start? Probably with how much I don’t like Simon. Come on, be honest – don’t you agree? He’s kind of a punk. Arrogant, judgmental, self-righteous, he looks down on everyone else and is scornful of both this woman because of her reputation and Jesus for not treating her with the disdain Simon believes she deserves. And I wonder if that’s the point. Luke crafts this story with great care, even sharing Simon’s muttering thoughts to himself. And the punch line...

Dear Partner in Preaching, Hey – I know it hardly helps to get these reflections so late in the week. And I apologize. My work at LTSP, and particularly our efforts to unify the Philadelphia and Gettysburg seminaries, has been pretty much all consuming of late and it’s getting harder to find time to write. Again, my apologies. I’ll try to do better. In the meantime, I’ll keep this week’s reflection relatively short. So….what strikes me most about this story is not the miracle itself. This is Jesus we’re talking about after all. But rather the reaction of the crowds. Luke tells us that after Jesus gave life back to the widow’s...

Dear Partner in Preaching, There is so much we don’t know about the story told in this week’s passage: We don’t know how this Roman centurion heard about Jesus. We don’t know anything about his military career, what wars he had perhaps waged, what battles fought. We don’t know why he changed his mind after first asking Jesus to come to him and then sending servants telling Jesus he didn’t need to come but only to speak the word of healing. We don’t know why he cared so deeply about this slave. We don’t know if the slave was Jewish and that perhaps played upon the sympathy of the Jewish elders or Jesus. We don’t know what...

Dear Partner in Preaching, So what do you think: is it possible to preach a sermon on the Trinity without mentioning the Trinity? I ask because I have this hunch that we’ve gotten a little off track with our thinking about the Trinity. That is, I think the Trinity was the early church’s way of trying to grapple with a monotheistic belief in one God in light of their actual, lived experience of God’s activity powerfully in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and after an encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Trinity provided an answer…of sorts. An answer often couched in the language of fourth-century metaphysics....

Dear Partner in Preaching, It’s been another hectic week – probably my new normal! – and another late post, so I’ll keep this relatively short. But goodness, I felt my spirits lift immensely when I read this line from Paul to the faith community in Rome: “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” Not a spirit of fear, but one of adoption. And I understand a “spirit of adoption” to mean the confidence and courage that comes from knowing that you have been chosen, accepted, and loved for who you are. Not fear, but courage. I think part of why this struck me...

Dear Partner in Preaching, The first verse in this week’s passage is one of my favorites in John’s Gospel, and maybe even in all of the Scriptures. I know, I know, there are so many other great verses from John’s remarkable story: “In the beginning was the Word….”, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” “For God so loved the world…,” “In my house are many mansions…,” and more. Why, then, do I love this verse? Simply because in it we hear Jesus praying for us. Yes. Jesus…nearly two thousand years ago…is praying…for us – incredible! Let’s set the scene. It’s Thursday evening, the night on which...

John 14:23-29 Dear Partner in Preaching, You could, I suspect, spend a full year preaching on just this passage and not run out of things to say. “Those who love me will keep my word.” “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things.” “Do not let your heart be troubled.” “If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father.” “I have told you this before it occurs so that when it does occur you may believe.” Goodness, where’s an honest working preacher to begin? Well, as if often the case when a passage is a rich and complex as this one, sometimes it helps to focus on one key verse or phrase that...

Dear Partner in Preaching, I am posting this reflection on this week’s readings incredibly late and for that I’m very sorry. I hadn’t forgotten. It was just one of those weeks, and each day as I thought about writing you I then had a variety of things – some planned, some unplanned – crop up and make it difficult to write. And because this week hasn’t yet ended, I’m going to keep my comments on Jesus’ command to love in this week’s readings quite brief. In fact, I’m going to simply pose a series of related questions, and whether you want to ask them of your parishioners or simply ponder them yourself, I hope they’re...

John 10:22-30 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t usually start this letter, or my sermons, by calling to mind theological controversies, but I will make an exception in this case. Why? Because there is something deeply dissatisfying with this exchange between Jesus and his questioners. Just a quick contextual note to remind us where we are in John’s distinct narrative. After healing the man born blind in chapter 9, Jesus goes on to interpret that sign (John’s intentional naming of what we often call a miracle) across the first two-thirds of chapter 10 in what is often referred to as the “good shepherd discourse.” In these verses,...

Dear Partner in Preaching, This “epilogue” to John’s dramatic and symbolic Gospel, while perhaps not part of the “original” Gospel, nevertheless does not disappoint. Indeed, it provides a clue not only to the questions and fate of this early Christian community but sheds light on key elements of our life as disciples today. Scholars have posited a variety of reasons for this additional chapter: questions about the fate of the “beloved disciple,” the need to rehabilitate Peter as the Johannine community moved closer to other communities more familiar with Peter’s significant role in the early church, the need to “position”...