Mark 6:1-13 Dear Partner in Preaching, I don’t know about you, but I think it was rather gutsy of Mark to share this story. I mean, he didn’t have to tell his readers about a time when Jesus seems nearly powerless. Some writers might have omitted this story for fear it undermined their larger portrait of Jesus. Not only that, but it stands in such sharp contrast to the previous chapters where Jesus’ power – over illness and evil spirits and even over death itself – seems nearly limitless. No, he didn’t have to tell this story. Or did he? This week we have, on the one hand, two rather discreet stories from Jesus’ ministry that...

Dear Partner in Preaching, Anyone interested in talking about prejudice and racism this Sunday? What about gay marriage? My guess is that a few – probably a very few – of us can’t wait to talk about just these things because they are passions of ours. My other guess is that most of us would rather not. And that we’ve got lots of very good reasons not to. These issues are too controversial, too painful, too divisive. And, perhaps above and beyond these reasons, we know that people don’t come to church to talk about these things. But here’s the thing: People are talking about them. With friends, with family members, with...