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Rev. Douglas Bratt is a Minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After being ordained in 1987, he served Christian Reformed churches in northeastern Iowa and western Michigan. He is in his 25th year of serving the Silver Spring (MD) Christian Reformed Church. 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.
Philippians 1:21-30
Commentary
Proper 20A
John Wooden was the hugely successful coach of America’s UCLA’s men’s basketball team. He also sought to be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ. Wooden once famously said, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s Paul would probably have agreed. After all,…
Romans 14:1-12
Commentary
Proper 19A
Many English translations of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’ agree on the rendering of its first verb. They translate the Greek word proslambanesthe, as “accept.” However, the English Standard Version renders this word as “welcome.” Maybe it’s on to something. In chapter 14, Paul continues to explore the implications of Romans 12:18’s “If it possible, as…
Romans 13:8-14
Commentary
Proper 18A
Once again the RCL’s editors did preachers and our hearers no favors when they omitted some Scripture, in this case, Romans 13:1-7, from an Epistolary Lesson. After all, in severing this Sunday’s Lesson’s verse 8 from verses 1-7, they stripped away its theological and literary context. So preachers might seriously consider including Romans 13:1-7 in…
Romans 12:9-21
Commentary
Proper 17A
It’s important to note that near this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s beginning, Paul says not, “Hate who is evil,” but, instead, “Hate what is evil” (9). That summons’ close proximity to his description of love as “sincere” suggests that sincere love includes a counter-cultural perspective on and reaction to both evil and evildoers. North American culture…
Romans 12:1-8
Commentary
Proper 16A
The Spirit’s work doesn’t just change Jesus’ followers’ view of God. It also transforms the way God’s dearly beloved people think of our neighbor. The Spirit transforms Christians from those who seek only our own interests into people who the Spirit equips to also seek the well-being of the people around us. Quite simply, the…
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Commentary
Proper 15A
God’s “mercy” (eleos) is the shining center and beating heart of this Sunday’s (strangely) divided Epistolary Lesson. After all, while Paul uses the word only in this text’s second part, it’s also actually one of the unstated themes of its first half. In that way, God’s mercy serves as a kind of bridge between Romans…
Romans 10:5-15
Commentary
Proper 14A
Few passages of Scripture hit me harder and closer to home than this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. In fact, its verses 14-15a leave me figuratively squirming as I try to open myself to the Spirit’s prompting toward writing something meaningful about them. Eugene Peterson’s The Message’s paraphrases verse 13 as Paul’s profession that “Everyone who calls,…
Romans 9:1-5
Commentary
Proper 13A
It’s sometimes easy to forget that the Spirit did not inspire the Scriptures’ authors like Paul to insert periods, commas, semi-colons, paragraph breaks or chapter headings into what they wrote. Biblical punctuation is the product of the work of editors, not the Holy Spirit. Just before this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson opens, the apostle makes a…
Romans 8:26-39
Commentary
Proper 12A
Few biblical passages offer a greater wealth of preaching material than Romans 8:26-39. Several earlier commentaries on this site examined some of its most glittering treasures – in 2017, Scott Hoezee’s, and in 2020, mine. However, preachers whom the Spirit leads toward one of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s other glorious themes might focus on verses…
Romans 8:12-25
Commentary
Proper 11A
Those who wish to preach on this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson might benefit from spending some time reading the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. As we do so, we might note, among other things, the role that “seeing” plays in those Christian literary titans’ writings. Lewis, for example, sometimes refers to our world as…
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