Author: Administrador

Patricia Tull Clothing and food — celebrated necessities — describe God’s abundant gifts to creation in an Isaiah passage that shows up twice in December’s lectionary: once on Advent’s third Sunday (December 14), where it concludes the reading, and once the Sunday after Christmas (December 28), where it leads off: I will greatly rejoice in … Continue reading “Rejoicing in Active Hope”

Karoline Lewis I am writing this column from San Diego where I am attending the annual meetings of the Academy of Homiletics, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the American Academy of Religion. How’s that for a mouthful? And why am I telling you this? And it’s not because when I left Minneapolis it was … Continue reading “Advent on the Mind”

C. Clifton Black Regarding the Gospels, many lectionary preachers may approach Year B in the Revised Common Lectionary with less than uplifted hearts. Gone are Matthew’s barbed directions and Luke’s breathtaking parables. At best Mark is deceptively simple; at worst, lean, odd, and hard. The church has long regarded it so. Yet, as one who … Continue reading “Preaching from Mark’s Gospel: Fasten Your Seat Belts”

Karoline Lewis John the Baptist. He’s the Gospel focus for the second and third Sundays of Advent. In Mark, he’s clearly Elijah (2 Kings 1:8). In John, he is decidedly not Elijah (John 1:21) and is never called “the Baptist” but is John the Witness. More on John’s John next week. For this week, John … Continue reading “A Truth-Telling Advent”

Kae Evensen We are in Advent, and a new church year is beginning. We have scoured and scraped ourselves through the book of Matthew with all its blessings and gnashings over the past year. Year A can be a tough haul for a lot of us: no one likes to preach on divorce (when half … Continue reading “Matthew and Mark and Mysteries”

Rachel Wrenn It’s never great for a preacher’s ego when someone snores during your sermon. For me, it happens at least a once a month. Once a month I preside at a communion service at our local nursing home. And when I preach, there’s usually a gentle snore, softly but consistently providing a rhythmic soundtrack … Continue reading “How to Preach to Mildred”

Karoline Lewis Well, if last week was Advent as truth-telling, this week John’s John suggests Advent as testimony, as witness. Somewhat related, don’t you think? John the Baptist in the Gospel of John is not the Baptist but the Witness. He’s never called the Baptizer. And John in John is not Elijah. To have these … Continue reading “Advent as Testimony”

Nathan Aaseng I’m not saying Jesus was a bad preacher. I am saying that one of the traditional styles of 1st century, Middle Eastern preaching that he used would not be particularly effective today. I’ve seen people try that style and it doesn’t work. The style to which I refer is the “string of pearls,” … Continue reading “Where’s the Arc?”

Karoline Lewis I wonder if the annunciation to Mary might function as a summary of the Advent season; a “hindsight is 20/20” kind of experience, kind of theology, kind of Sunday. Here we are. The last Sunday of Advent. Looking back on the last three Sundays, the last four weeks, what has this season actually … Continue reading “Advent as a Way of Life”

Patricia Tull In the cold of earliest morning at Pendle Hill Quaker Center, I venture from my room to the Main House, where kitchen lights already shine welcome. The coffee tastes even better than it smells. Slipping back outside a few moments later, I see the trees more clearly, every winter twig outlined by the … Continue reading “Deep Winter Light”