Rev. Douglas Bratt is a Minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After serving Christian Reformed churches in Iowa, Michigan and Maryland, he retired in July, 2024. He enjoys spending time with his grandchildren, reading good literature, and watching televised sports in his free time.
Doug began writing sermon commentaries for the CEP website in 2006 and started writing weekly in 2012.
Colossians 1:15-28
Commentary
Proper 11C
My maternal grandfather had to drop out of school after completing the sixth grade in order to help his widowed mother provide for his ten siblings. Yet while his formal education was limited, my Grandpa Steenbergen remained a lifelong learner. His almost insatiable appetite for learning made him a voracious reader. One of the books…
Colossians 1:1-14
Commentary
Proper 10C
This is a fruitful season of the year in the world’s northern hemisphere. So my wife and I thoroughly enjoy watching freshly picked fruit and vegetables appear at our local farmstand. While most of our local strawberry plants have finished bearing fruit for the season, we’re now enjoying delicious peaches that have been harvested from…
Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16
Commentary
Proper 9C
This Sunday brings us to the end of the Revised Common Lectionary’s very brief tour of Paul’s letter to the Christians in Galatia. The epistle’s tone is among the strictest if not harshest of all the Pauline letters. Yet the apostle ends it with verse 18’s “The grace [charis*] of our Lord Jesus Christ be…
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Commentary
Proper 8C
Our three sons are taller than my relatively tall wife and me. They range in height from about 6’2 to 6’6. So it can be challenging for us to walk with them. When our sons are walking with purpose, they walk far faster than my wife and I do. They, in fact, must often slow…
Galatians 3:23-29
Commentary
Proper 7C
Some advertisements thrive on presenting various “before-and-after” scenarios. Diet pills and plans like to place side by side pictures of people who were overweight before they went on their regimen but looked healthier after they completed it. Remodelers and others also employ pictures of kitchens before and after they did their work in order to…
Romans 5:1-5
Commentary
Trinity Sunday C
Hope is not just the name of my alma mater’s most heated rival. It’s also that without which no image bearer of God can truly live. While their hearts may beat and brains may still function, people who have no hope are, as Lewis Smedes once noted, basically walking dead people. Conversely even if their…
Romans 8:14-17
Commentary
Pentecost
No one should be surprised that the Revised Common Lectionary’s editors included Romans 8:14-17 in their “rotation” of Pentecost Sunday Epistolary Lessons. After all, on this Sunday on which the Church celebrates God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to all of God’s people, it speaks of the Spirit four times. In The Heidelberg Catechism Answer…
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
Commentary
Easter 7C
The Bible’s closing verses that make up this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson offer a virtual embarrassment of theological riches. Preachers who wish to explore some of those themes might refer to earlier commentaries on the CEP website from 2o22 and 2016. But among the most prominent themes of these select verses from Revelation 22 is that…
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Commentary
Easter 6C
At this time of the year in the northern hemisphere light plays an increasingly significant role in creation. The length of our days is expanding, and the length of our nights is shrinking. With that expansion and shrinkage comes a lift in the spirits of the many people for whom darkness can be emotionally difficult….
Revelation 21:1-6
Commentary
Easter 5C
When I was in seminary, we studied the appropriate “ologies,” including the theology of the last things. We discussed theories of the when’s and how’s of Christ’s return, as well as the Last Judgment. Yet my professors, fellow students and I spent almost no time talking about the new earth and heaven. Such neglect is,…
About Doug Bratt