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.
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,…
Revelation 7:9-17
Commentary
Easter 4C
I will always remember the first time I preached on Revelation 9:9-17 in Washington DC’s King Emmanuel Baptist Church. Most of the members of that church were Christians who are African American. My dear friend Pastor Harold Hunter invited me to preach the word to a group of Jesus’ followers comprised of, on that Sunday,…
Revelation 5:11-14
Commentary
Easter 3C
I sometimes wonder if the sheer volume of what John heard in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson threatened his hearing. After all, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association reports it isn’t safe to hear the noise created by a jackhammer, jet plane takeoff, siren or pneumatic drill for any period of time. What’s more, the report labels as…
Revelation 1:4-8
Commentary
Easter 2C
It sometimes seems as if 21st century North American culture has largely omitted formal greetings from its communications. At least some of us have replaced, “Dear Joan (or John),” with something like “Hey.” In fact, in the case of emails, we often skip greetings altogether and simply hurry to what we wish to communicate. I…
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Commentary
Easter Day C
It’s a juxtaposition I’ll not forget as long as I have any memory. God graciously but quite suddenly brought my dad from life through death to Life on Easter Sunday, 2021. He died, as we reported in his obituary, “in the sure hope of the resurrection.” My dad’s death was for Jesus’ followers who loved…
About Doug Bratt