Most liturgical churches have been living into the bread imagery of the Gospel of John for the past several weeks. One of the worship planning resources I use has nicknamed this portion of the Lectionary “high-carb season,” which I thought…
Devouring beasts: Advent and the 2024 election
In the Christian calendar, the new year begins with the first Sunday of Advent. That is the Sunday just past. Happy Christian New Year, everyone! If one is thinking in terms of the Christian calendar, then, the new year began…
Christians often give something up for Lent. Why not white supremacy?
LaTonya McIver Penny wasn’t satisfied with surrendering chocolate or coffee or Facebook for Lent. Instead, the African-American pastor of a Baptist church in North Carolina decided to give up white supremacy this year.
Believing what we’ve preached, post-election
For the past two weeks, I’ve crafted my sermons in light of the election that was coming. I engaged the themes raised by the lectionary texts of the day to deal with the difficulty of an election season that put…
What would happen if we set fear down?
You would think that after preaching almost four cycles of the Revised Common Lectionary a preacher would have at least one sermon on all the interesting texts that come around regularly. For some reason unknown to me, however, it turns…
Springsteen and Lent, Part 2: The First Sunday in Lent
When I think of this week’s lectionary text from the book of Romans, I am always reminded of the now infamous comments of former Southern Baptist Convention president Bailey Smith. The year was 1987, and Smith was at a conference…
Reflections on the confluence of Jewish and Islamic holy days
My lectionary imagination jumped the rails, enamored by this month’s confluence of Jewish and Islamic holy days. For Jews the ten “Days of Awe” began with Rosh Hashanah this past Sunday at dusk, stretching through next Wednesday’s Yom Kippur observance.
4 reasons why preaching the lectionary might be right for your church
By Amy Butler I recently returned from a week at Preacher Camp. There are many things to recommend about the experience of retreating with excellent colleagues to plan preaching, and I’ve often written about the gift of this kind of…
The tyranny of Sunday
The Sunday sermon is a beast that is difficult to handle. It comes every week and it comes fast. Each week we are expected to be our best and to preach a sermon that will leave folks moved and challenged. …