Pentecost 12 A: Not By Flesh and Blood

Matthew 16:13-20 Dear Partner in Preaching, How do we keep faith in the time of COVID? And struggle for racial equity? And weather economic crisis? And stay hopeful (or even just sane) amid such a toxic political culture? (And all this during an election year!) Just now it feels like so much threatens to tear us apart. As those in positions of leadership sometime feel the pressures of the day more keenly, I know you wrestle with these questions – and bear the mental strain of trying to answer them – regularly. These questions have pushed me to read this passage a little differently this year. The larger story and scene that...

Matthew 16:13-20

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that...