Luke 3:7-18 Dear Partner in Preaching, To scold or not to scold, that is the question. At least that often seems to be the question many preachers ask themselves in Advent. Facing a Christmas celebration that is shaped at least as much by a consumption-driven culture as it is the nativity story, noting the painful disparity present in our communities between the “haves” and “have-nots,” and given just 10-15 minutes on Sunday morning to counter a 24/7barrage of ads that promote self-indulgence over sacrifice, we preachers feel a perhaps understandable tug toward not simply calling our people to resistance but also scolding...

Dear Partner in Preaching, I was interested to see a brief segment on the Today Show about what values we want to teach our kids. Honesty topped the charts (43%), followed by kindness (29%), a strong work ethic (11%) and a variety of others. What struck me as interesting about this survey was that it lines up pretty closely with John the Baptist’s preaching in this Sunday’s passage from Luke. This is, as you’ll recall, the second Sunday in which we are spending time with John. Last week, Luke introduced us to the adult John the Baptist, taking pains to anchor John’s preaching in the historical context of the day. We noticed that Luke...