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.
Ephesians 1:3-14
Commentary
Proper 10B
It’s ironic and sad that predestination is such a contentious issue among some of Jesus’ friends. We sense, after all, that God graciously intends it to be a source of comfort for rather than division among Christians. Thankfully, then, this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson offers preachers a chance to let the Spirit help us unpack this…
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Commentary
Proper 9B
Given the choice between “power” [dynamis]* (9) and “weakness” [astheneia], people naturally choose power. It’s a tendency that’s not easy for even Christians to shake. In fact, I wonder if some of Christ’s Body’s deepest divisions aren’t at least partly rooted in the members of that Body’s desire to cling to the power we have….
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Commentary
Proper 8B
It’s probably a good thing that the Revised Common Lectionary offers preachers the opportunity to preach on this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson once every three years. Otherwise some of us might never feel emboldened to preach on what the apostles call “the grace of giving” (7). Yet this is another text about which preaching on it…
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Commentary
Proper 7B
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote one of the most formative and influential books of the 20th century. He entitled it, The Cost of Discipleship. In his book that he wrote under the dark cloud of Nazi tyranny, he explored how costly it can be to take God’s grace not “in vain” (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:1) but, instead,…
2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13) 14-17
Commentary
Proper 6B
Students decorated the back bumpers of cars on the campus of the dispensationalist Christian college near which I grew up with a number of eye-catching bumper stickers. Among the most memorable was “Read the Bible. It will scare the hell out of you.” I’m not sure reading the Bible ever scared anyone away from eternal…
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Commentary
Proper 5B
This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson brings to mind two relatively famous quotes about the dangers of thinking too much about our “eternal house in heaven” (5:1) that is our resurrected bodies in the new creation. Oliver Wendell Holmes once reportedly said, “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.” Johnny Cash…
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Commentary
Proper 4B
God graced my father with a long and fruitful career as a professor of Germanic Languages. He was widely respected and appreciated by his students and colleagues. However, his teaching style was quite understated. My dad seldom raised his voice or made demonstrative gestures while he was lecturing. I sometimes wonder if that was the…
Romans 8:12-17
Commentary
Trinity Sunday B
This is not an easy text for preachers who regularly follow the Revised Common Lectionary to preach on. After all, each year the Lectionary cycle includes at least part of it. What’s more, on what we call Trinity Sunday, Romans 8:12-17 doesn’t mention the word “Trinity.” In fact, its readers are left to deduce that…
Romans 8:22-27
Commentary
Pentecost
It is a grace that patience is one of the Holy Spirit’s fruits. Otherwise patience would be in far shorter supply, if not non-existent in 21st century society. After all, in an age of things like high speed internet and microwave ovens, we just don’t get much practice at being patient. Is that a reason…
1 John 5:9-13
Commentary
Easter 7B
North American culture struggles to define “life.” That shows up in some ways most visibly in our struggles to determine human life’s boundaries. Some of our most contentious debates about ethics, including abortion and euthanasia, revolve around just when human life begins and ends. So preachers might follow the Spirit’s guidance to explore with our…
About Doug Bratt