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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.
Exodus 17:1-7
Commentary
Proper 21A
As my colleague Scott Hoezee noted in an earlier Sermon Commentary on this text, a piece to which I’m deeply indebted for several of this piece’s ideas, at first glance this may seem like just another story of Israelite bellyaching to Moses about dragging them out of Egypt. It seems to reveal nothing new about…
Exodus 16:2-15
Commentary
Proper 20A
Human memory can be remarkably pliable. It isn’t just illness or advancing age that can bend and twist it. Trauma too can do remarkable things to memory. Exodus 15 describes how God responds to God’s Israelite children’s grumbling about their lack of something to drink. At Marah and Elim God gives them refreshing water to…
Exodus 14:19-31
Commentary
Proper 19A
Its narrator so packs Exodus 14 with pyrotechnics that it almost begs for an update to Cecil B. DeMille’s classic, The Ten Commandments. Yet it’s easy to focus so much on all of its light, sound and fury that even its preachers and teachers may lose sight of its ultimate author. The text the Lectionary…
Exodus 3:1-15
Commentary
Proper 17A
“Does Jesus Care?” is a hymn grieving family members sometimes ask soloists to sing at funerals. They ask, “Does Jesus care when my heart is pained/ too deeply for mirth or song,/ as the burdens press, and the cares distress,/ and the way grows weary and long?” While the lyrics may seem a bit outdated…
Exodus 1:8-2:10
Commentary
Proper 16A
Exodus 1 and 2 are full of both oppression and kindness, of resilience and intrigue. Yet their central figure seems to stay largely behind the scenes, much like the director of a play. However, that apparent absence makes this story a kind of metaphor for much of our own daily lives. Exodus 1 basically picks…
Genesis 45:1-15
Commentary
Proper 15A
God always makes the dreams God gives God’s adopted sons and daughters come true. Sometimes, however, it takes so long for that to happen that it seems that the dream, if not the dreamers, dies. As Genesis 45 opens, God has partially fulfilled Joseph’s dreams by putting him in charge of both Egypt and his…
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Commentary
Proper 14A
Almost all people walk the wide roads that are dreams for their children, work, future, and themselves. And while some of those dreams don’t come true, as long as they don’t disrupt current arrangements, they’re pretty harmless. However, where dreams about the future conflict with current realities, they can be very disruptive. In fact, they…
Genesis 32:22-31
Commentary
Proper 13A
God graciously meets and accepts God’s adopted sons and daughters wherever and whoever we are. But God never just leaves us where we are. That’s no less true of God’s 21st century adopted daughters and sons than it is of Jacob. The first time God meets Jacob, he’s fleeing both his homeland and his twin’s…
Genesis 29:15-28
Commentary
Proper 12A
Genesis 29 features one of the oddest, often slimiest groups of characters ever assembled outside a North American reality television show studio. Thankfully, then, it’s not oily enough to escape the grasp of God’s strong, gracious hand. In fact, God somehow graciously transforms all of their cheating and resentment into a vehicle for God’s amazing…
Genesis 28:10-19a
Commentary
Proper 11A
While Christians profess that God is graciously present to everything everywhere, we also have to admit that it’s sometimes hard to recognize that presence. Especially when God’s adopted sons and daughters are busy running from some kind of pursuer. Genesis 28’s Jacob is at least figuratively on the dead run. He has, after all, swindled…
About Doug Bratt