Author: Administrador

Nathan Aaseng We do a Blue Christmas service every year for those coping with loss. Preaching for it is one of the profound experiences of ministry. Blue Christmas deals with darkness. When you experience loss, the world becomes a darker place, and Christmas is not very joyful celebrated in the dark. Which is why the … Continue reading “The Night Sky At Christmas”

Jon Gathje Have you ever seen a mustard plant? It is, after all, a plant of some biblical note. Namely, that it is the “greatest of shrubs,” and so large, in fact, that birds may plant their nests within its branches. Moreover, this glorious plant is preceded by its former glory of being the smallest … Continue reading “Mustard Seed Parable: A Gardener’s Take”

David Lose Dear Working Preacher, This is a heavy, even difficult story to read just four days after Christmas. If I were the senior editor on this project, I would probably have wanted to close with the scene of the exotic and adoring magi presenting the baby Jesus with gifts on bended knee. But not … Continue reading “Matthew’s Version of the Incarnation, Part 2”

David Lose Dear Working Preacher, We’re at one of those junctures where the church calendar that we who lead congregations pay attention to collides with the “secular” calendar by which the rest of our people (and, most of the time, we also) lead their lives. According to the church calendar, Jan. 5 is the twelfth … Continue reading “An Unsentimental Christmas Sermon”

Kae Evensen This January, we rush from Christmas into Epiphany, the time between too brief. We do that every year and it’s hard on me. I’m a Revised Common Lectionary preacher, but I do wish we could sit and soak in the revelation of Christ a little bit longer. If you happen to be busy … Continue reading “Unbind Us, Please”

Amy L. Hartman Human Trafficking Awareness Day is coming January 11, 2014. Perhaps you have noticed: The sex trafficking of children is in the news — a lot — or at least much more than it used to be. The public movement to end this injustice perpetrated against children is gaining momentum. When I was … Continue reading “Preaching to End Child Sexual Exploitation”

David Lose Dear Working Preacher, Apparently, baptism was always a problem. The first time it was a problem was when Jesus came to be baptized by John. After all, if Jesus was the Messiah, why in the world would he need to be baptized by John? While you can sense that each evangelist struggled with … Continue reading “Baptismal Problems and Promises”

Nathan Aaseng I recently attended a funeral service for a young person whose parents I know. The service was performed at a church of another Christian denomination, of which this young person had become a member. Yet because of her family’s active participation in their own denomination, including the entire young woman’s growing years, more … Continue reading “First, Do No Harm”

David Lose Dear Working Preacher, If you really want to understand why the church is declining in North America, you need to recognize how frightened most of our people are by the word “evangelism.” For some, it comes from being on the receiving end of someone else’s evangelism. Whether asked “Have you accepted Jesus?” by … Continue reading “Notice, Share, Invite”

Patricia Tull For the first million years of human existence climate change was no threat, not because our ancestors knew more than we do now, but because, unaware of the immense energy potential in fossil fuels, they hadn’t started burning them. The natural world doesn’t much care what humans think or know. But it responds … Continue reading “Stories and Norm”