An epiphany is a revelation or awakening and comes from a Greek word that is translated most literally as a “revealing,” a manifestation of the divine. We use the word in everyday language to talk about a moment of deep insight or awareness when all the pieces fall together. In Christian use, Epiphany names the day, January 6th, when we celebrate that revelation that Jesus Christ is the light of the world. Of the whole world, actually, and that’s where the connection between Epiphany and the story of the three magi in Matthew comes. For while Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, Christians confess that through him God seeks to save the whole...

Dear Partner in Preaching, I want to start with a question: how often do you think about your baptism? Perhaps your family reminded you of its importance by celebrating the anniversary of your baptism each year and so baptism has always been important to you. Or maybe you learned to appreciate it later, at confirmation or sometime as an adult. Or maybe your appreciation of baptism was deepened during your study at seminary and now you think of it every time you wash. Or maybe you know the theological significance of baptism but, truth be told, don’t think of it all that often. (Don’t worry, I’m not judging, just asking.) Now I want you...

Dear Partner in Preaching, There are so many themes worth exploring in the Prologue to the Gospel of John that it can be difficult to decide just where to land for a sermon. Do we make the connection between the first verse of John and that of Genesis, calling attention to John’s audacious claim to be writing a new Genesis? Do we let our gaze settle instead on the fourteenth verse, John’s Christmas story and the heart of the doctrine of the Incarnation? Either of these elements of John’s magnificent “hymn to the Word” would make for a fine sermon on this second Sunday of Christmas. But I’m going to suggest two other verses, not...

Fifty years ago Charles Schulz somehow managed to convince TV execs to break all the rules – no laugh track, the use of children’s voices only, a sober message critical of commercialization, a long and unaccompanied reading of the Bible at the climax of the show – to produce “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Given what has transpired since, Schulz’s concern about he commercialization of Christmas seems almost quaint. In truth, it turns out he was simply prescient…and perhaps prophetic, never more so than in the seven minutes of that television spectacle captured below. Amid the hustle and bustle of the...

Ever since a friend first emailed me a link to St. Paul Arts & Media group’s incredibly cute re-telling of the Christmas story a few years ago, it feels like it almost wouldn’t be Christmas without something front the creative folks at St. Paul’s Church in Auckland, New Zealand. Totally unfair, of course, to keep assuming these folks will come up with more creative videos every year, let alone to have them make or break my Christmas. 🙂 And yet so far they have never disappointed. This year’s effort is from St. Paul’s Arts ‘n Kids team (SPANK) and is a take on what media coverage might have been in...

Quick Note: This a letter relating to the First Sunday in Christmas, Dec. 28. I’ve posted on the Christmas Eve and Day readings here. Dear Partner in Preaching, Sometimes, all we can do is sing. This past fall we observed the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. And so there were the requisite reviews in the news media of the events leading up to, surrounding, and following that remarkable and largely unforeseen event. One of the items that was routinely left out of those reviews, however, was the weeks of peaceful protests by the citizens of Leipzig that led up to the fall. Gathering on Monday evenings by candlelight...