Author: Administrador

Karoline Lewis Be honest. What are you most hoping to hear in this column for the fourth week in the Bread of Life discourse? What seems to be the obvious topic overlooked? Yes, that’s right. The Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, Holy Communion, whatever your tradition’s preferred designation. With the eating of flesh and the drinking … Continue reading “A “Living” Bread”

Karoline Lewis Admit it. You want to go to the party that gets to admit, “This is hard, who can take this?” And when Jesus asks, “Do you wish to go away?” don’t you secretly wish you could say, “Yes. Yes, Jesus, in fact I do, if I am totally honest. It’s been a long … Continue reading “Not Just Bread Anymore”

Karoline Lewis Speaking the truth from your heart. There’s a concept. Welcome back to Mark after five weeks in John 6 and is this ever an appropriate place for reentry into Mark. Mark doesn’t mess around. Short, urgent, immediate, to the point, the reader’s digest condensed version of the Gospel, Mark will not let you … Continue reading “Heart Tellings”

Robert Hoch This is the fifth article in a series. See part 4. So how do you measure your efforts over time? Namely, what tools exist to measure or get a handle on how your sermonic efforts are contributing to the sorts of flourishing named or implied by the purpose your inter-disciplinary team developed? Back … Continue reading “Red Ink and All: Getting in Touch with Your Inner Homiletician Part 5”

Karoline Lewis Something different, Working Preachers. I want to begin the column this week with a reading that I think captures some of the spirit we see and hear in the Syrophonecian woman’s response to Jesus. I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic and she said yes I asked her if it … Continue reading “God Said Yes to Me”

Karoline Lewis Location, location, location. We know how important location is, but when it comes to interpreting the Bible, it matters on many levels. There’s location in time and literary location. There’s location in history and societal locations. There’s location in a character’s life and location of place. You could construct a whole sermon on … Continue reading “Location Matters”

Karoline Lewis What is the nature of faith? That’s kind of what Jesus is asking the disciples with his unassuming question, “soooooo, what were you chatting about back there?” The NRSV translates the verb “argue” but it can also be translated, “discuss, consider, reason, ponder.” In this simple question, Jesus points out to his disciples, … Continue reading “The Nature of Faith”

Karoline Lewis “We saw someone….” That’s how a lot of judgment starts, doesn’t it? “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” As Micah Kiel noted in the Preaching This Week commentary this sounds a lot like tattle-taling. I have two … Continue reading “On Seeing Yourself”

Karoline Lewis This is one of those texts. Call it difficult, challenging, or even a text of terror, there is simply no way you can read aloud Mark 10:2-16, or Genesis 2:18-24 for that matter, without preaching on either. And if you read the Gospel lesson and only preach about children, well, you can’t. Divorce … Continue reading “Dependence Needs”

Nathan Aaseng Last month I expressed frustration that despite all we proclaim and do in our churches to bring the love of Christ to hurting and lost people, the prevailing view of Christians in our land is that we are intolerant, arrogant, irrational, holier-than-thou monitors of others’ behaviors. In short, when it comes to proclaiming … Continue reading “We’re Winning”