Advent 3B: John 1:6-8, 19-28 Dear Partner in Preaching, A few years ago, while speaking with some pastors in Canada about ministry in an increasingly post-Christian world, a young pastor shared a story that has stayed with me. A year or so earlier, his mother had asked him why he was the only one of her children who still went to church. In response, he asked her what she would tell her children – his siblings – if they asked her why she went to church. Why, in short, was her faith important to her? He reported that what followed was the most uncomfortable twenty minutes of conversation he’d ever had with his mother. Because, like many...