Rev. Scott E. Hoezee (Hoe-zay) is an ordained pastor in the Christian Reformed Church in North America and has served two congregations. He was the pastor of Second Christian Reformed Church in Fremont, Michigan, from 1990-1993. From 1993-2005 he was the Minister of Preaching and Administration at Calvin CRC in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In the spring of 2005 Scott accepted the Seminary’s offer to become the first Director of the Center for Excellence in Preaching. He has also been a member of the Pastor-Theologian Program sponsored by the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, where he was pastor-in-residence in the fall of 2000. From 2001-2011 Scott served on the editorial board of Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought and was co-editor of that journal from 2005-2011. He blogs regularly for The Reformed Journal and along with Darrell Delaney is the co-host of the Groundwork radio and podcast program.
Rev. Hoezee is married to Rosemary Apol and they have two children. He enjoys birdwatching, snorkeling, and exploring the beauties and wonders of God’s great creation.
Rev. Hoezee is the author of several books including The Riddle of Grace (1996), Flourishing in the Land (1996), Remember Creation (1998), Speaking as One: A Look at the Ecumenical Creeds (1997), Speaking of Comfort: A Look at the Heidelberg Catechism (1998), and Proclaim the Wonder: Preaching Science on Sunday (2003), Grace Through Every Generation (2007), Actuality: Real Life Stories for Sermons That Matter (2014), and Why We Listen To Sermons (2018).
Scott Hoezee has been writing sermon commentaries for the CEP website since its inception in July 2005.
Psalm 69:7-10, (11-15), 16-18
Commentary
Proper 7A
The Year A Lectionary has carved out the precise center of Psalm 69, joining the psalm’s action after the first 6 verses that set the stage for a beleaguered psalmist crying for help and then stopping short of a string of verses that call down harsh judgment on the poet’s enemies before the song concludes…
Psalm 100
Commentary
Proper 6A
Recently when the Lectionary featured Psalm 23 as the Year A lection, I took note of the fact that for all its fame as a psalm, the 23rd psalm is actually very short, quite compact. This week we are led to Psalm 100 and it also is among the better-known songs in the Hebrew Psalter. …
Psalm 50:7-15
Commentary
Proper 5A
The Lectionary has carved out the exact middle section of Psalm 50 for this Ordinary Time Sunday in Year A. It would have us skip the first half-dozen verses that summon Israel to gather before God and then the final verses that are all about a scolding of the wicked. Instead we focus on God’s…
Psalm 8
Commentary
Trinity Sunday A
Probably we don’t know enough about angels to know exactly what it means for the psalmist to suggest that we human being have been made “a little lower” than the angels. We have the sense in Scripture that angels are powerful in their own way. They do the will of God. They are messengers for…
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Commentary
Pentecost A
Would it ruin anyone’s Pentecost if the Revised Common Lectionary had allowed Psalm 104:35a to be a part of this lection rather than coyly skipping over its line about wishing that evil and wicked people would vanish from the earth? And by itself, is that desire so terrible? Maybe it’s a luxury for people in…
Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
Commentary
Easter 7A
Regular readers of my commentaries here on the CEP website know that I generally frown upon the Lectionary’s tendency to delete certain portions of passages. Usually the stuff the RCL skips over pertains to judgment and the like but since we cannot get a fully rounded picture of God’s views toward sin and evil without…
Psalm 66:8-20
Commentary
Easter 6A
Psalm 66 requires a bit of a theological balancing act. On the one hand most of this song is a pretty straightforward expression of thanksgiving to God for delivering the psalmist from plights of various kinds. The songwriter had passed through a season of suffering. And so he cried out to God to save him. …
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
Commentary
Easter 5A
For the most part Psalm 31 sounds just one primary note across its 24 verses. So although the Lectionary has chopped it up to carve out the opening 5 verses and then 2 verses closer to the middle of the song, the main theme and imagery of the psalm are still visible. In the verses…
Psalm 23
Commentary
Easter 4A
In an article he wrote some years ago, theologian Neal Plantinga told the story of a choir that was rehearsing for a performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. But the choir was not giving the conductor what he was looking for. As it turned out, the choir was almost too good, too professional. So the…
Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
Commentary
Easter 3A
Since I can detect no logical reason for skipping verses 5-11 as the Lectionary would have us to do, it makes sense to preach on the entire psalm as these 19 verses form a seamless whole. But I leave that up to you! In general, as a psalm in Eastertide, one could map this song…
About Scott Hoezee