The Preachers’ Table
Preaching is a communal, multi-layered act; listening, reading, writing, proclaiming, absorbing. This is a place for us to share our preparations for our sermons. Share your first impressions, new discoveries, old favourites, burning questions. This is a place for preachers and listeners alike, to prepare our hearts and minds for the Word.
You will respect my authoritah!
By what right do we come? By the right of our education and training? the authority of our ordination? By the strength of the 2am rewrite because the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let us sleep? By the power of God whose presence in our own lives permits nothing less? Continue reading
Pentecost 15: The Gollum gap
Preach the gap between our aspirations and our reality: the Gollum Gap. Gollum, the character from The Lord of the Rings who obsesses over the precious magical ring like all of us–seduced by our dreams of what we want. It doesn’t matter whether that desire is for a sailboat, a watch, a peace park, or an end to cancer. The truth is that our covetousness distorts our view of reality. Continue reading
Holy Cross Day: “snake on a stick”
Perhaps only the boldest Sunday School teachers will want to highlight the image in Sunday’s readings. “Now children, did you know Jesus is like a snake on a stick?” Continue reading
Now you just listen to me!…Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Sept. 7, 2014
For Jesus there is no room for vengeance, revenge or seeing anyone, not even the offender, “knocked down a few pegs.” Continue reading
Pentecost 12: a short, sharp, smack
The satanic temptation is to forget that following Jesus means leaving other things behind. Part of the price of costly grace is abandoning false ideologies no matter how satisfying or comfortable they might feel. Instead of jumping to the defense of his ideas about the what of Jesus, Peter should have just shut the hell up (literally) and listened. Continue reading
Pentecost 11: rise of the living dead
I wonder how many are going to preach on the epistle (Romans 12:1-8) this week? I suppose even fewer might reference zombies in the process. Continue reading
Pentecost 10: a direct conversation
We can use the skills of art appreciation to help open up a text for preaching. Continue reading
On preaching without a manuscript
On the urging of parishioners, I have started to preach without a manuscript. I’m learning, and I learned a good lesson this past Sunday. Continue reading
Pentecost 9: rowing in the storm
Where this Gospel story goes sideways for me is when Jesus shows up. This is even more terrifying to the disciples than the storm! The truth is that for many of us the hard labor in the storm is actually a more comfortable reality than encountering the awesome power of Jesus to master those forces. Continue reading
Pentecost 8: wrestling over a bad rap ?
To preach Jacob’s saga with integrety and relevance perhaps we need to ask: “What would you do if your mother asked you to lie to your father ?
A major clue to a more sympathetic reading of Jacob is hidden in most English Bible translations. Continue reading
