Scandal at the Heart of the Gospel
Dear Working Preacher, Thank you for all you do to preach the good news of Jesus Christ in this beautiful but broken world. May the Holy Spirit bless your proclamation. And may that same Spirit...
View ArticleListen for God’s Prophetic Word
This week’s thematic lectionary reading from the book of Amos provides an extraordinary window into prophetic vocation. Amos has gone up from his homeland of Judah to the northern kingdom of Israel to...
View ArticleBread of Heaven
The 2020 film Kiss the Ground, narrated by Woody Harrelson, portrays “regenerative farming,” a relatively new practice in the U.S. and around the world, restoring spent land and sequestering carbon in...
View ArticleLeadership that Liberates
Have you wondered why the Bible keeps returning to criticize bad leaders and warn about the perils of living in leaderless circumstances? Consider just a few glaring examples: The idolatrous pretense...
View ArticleBuild Up the Body of Christ
Many years ago, when I was finishing up my seminary studies, I wanted to do more graduate work in Old Testament. So, I made appointments with my professors, in order to ask them which doctoral programs...
View ArticleGod Draws Us In
The Bible is full of stories in which God provides bread and provisions to people afflicted by food scarcity. Shortly after Abram and Sarai arrive in Canaan, a famine befalls the land, forcing the...
View ArticleEarth Sunday: Preaching Season of Creation (1B)
Editor’s Note: Each week in August Working Preacher will publish commentaries that correspond with the readings for Season of Creation 2021: Series B (The Word Series). A full listing of worship...
View ArticleProclaim the Poetry
Dear Working Preacher, Thanks for all that you do to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. The proclaimed Word of God bears God’s very self to a world that is dead in sin and needs the new life that...
View ArticleYou Gotta Serve Somebody
On texts for Aug. 22, 2021 | Ordinary 21 | RCL Year B No other verse dominates the biblical home décor market quite like Joshua 24:15: “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” You can find...
View ArticlePublic Health
On texts for Aug. 29, 2021 | Ordinary 22 | RCL Year B We’ve talked so much over the last eighteen months about our bodies: how they work, the pathogens they carry, and how they might become infected or...
View ArticleBlessed Assurance
If you are reading this column, chances are, you are already involved in earth care. Maybe you call your listeners’ attention during worship to the majesty of God’s creation, the natural world’s...
View ArticleWomen Preach!
I want churches to spend one year preaching about women in the Bible and feminine images of God. That’s why I wrote The Women’s Lectionary: Preaching the Women of the Bible throughout the Year. Do you...
View ArticleA Theology of Suffering
On texts for Sept. 12, 2021 | Ordinary 24 | RCL Year B It is common to hear preachers claim that the notion of a suffering messiah is unique in Jesus’ time and that such ideas were foreign to Judaism....
View ArticleHumanity Sunday: Preaching Season of Creation (2B)
Editor’s Note: Working Preacher published commentaries that correspond with the readings for Season of Creation 2021: Series B (The Word Series). A full listing of worship resources (including...
View ArticleOur Enemies
On texts for Sept. 19, 2021 | Ordinary 25 | RCL Year B “Love your enemies,” says Jesus, “And pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). The prophets and psalmists for this week’s lectionary...
View ArticleSky Sunday: Preaching Season of Creation (3B)
Editor’s Note: Working Preacher published commentaries that correspond with the readings for Season of Creation 2021: Series B (The Word Series). A full listing of worship resources (including...
View ArticleMountain Sunday: Preaching Season of Creation (4B)
Editor’s Note: Working Preacher published commentaries that correspond with the readings for Season of Creation 2021: Series B (The Word Series). A full listing of worship resources (including...
View ArticleSaltiness
On texts for Sept. 26, 2021 | Ordinary 26 | RCL Year B Dear Working Preacher, Thank you for what you do, as you preach the gospel, lead worship, and bring hope to a world that desperately needs it. I...
View ArticlePersisting in Integrity
On texts for Oct. 3, 2021 | Ordinary 27 | RCL Year B I have been married to a pastor—or pastor-in-training, at first—for nearly 20 years. In that role, I feel a lot of sympathy for Job’s wife and her...
View ArticleThe Story of the Rich Man Is … A Gift to Preachers?
On texts for Oct. 10, 2021 | Ordinary 28 | RCL Year B Can anyone think of a gospel passage that better exemplifies the disconnect between Jesus’ teachings and the norms of our contemporary Christianity...
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