About Scott Hoezee

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Scott-Hoezee

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.

Luke 16:19-31

Commentary

Proper 21C

The author Robert Farrar Capon was a master of parabolic embellishment, being highly adept at bringing these ancient stories up-to-date through vivid contemporary language and imagery.  Sometimes Capon also did what those of us who preach occasionally do as well: he’d name the characters.  And so in the Parable of the Prodigal Son maybe we’ll…

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Psalm 146

Commentary

Proper 21C

When I read Psalm 146 to prepare this article, the thought occurred to me, “Didn’t I just do this psalm recently?”  It took me a minute but then I realized why I thought that: the bottom line and final verses of this poem are nearly identical (in sentiment if not in actual words) to last…

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Luke 16:1-13

Commentary

Proper 20C

This is an odd one!  Indeed, the parable in Luke 16 surely counts as the oddest of all Jesus’ parables.  This is not even a close call!  You can read the whole thing once, twice, three times and the precise meaning of it remains mysteriously elusive.  The shank of the problem is that the “hero”…

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Psalm 113

Commentary

Proper 20C

In Robert Duvall’s film, The Apostle, we see a vignette of what could be described as a very “in your face” style of praise.  The revival worship services of a certain stripe of Deep South fundamentalism are high-decibel, foot-stomping, hand-clapping, gizzard-piercing spectacles that are most decidedly not for the faint of heart!   And yet,…

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Luke 15:1-10

Commentary

Proper 19C

Some parables are meant to be overheard by those who are not (apparently) the primary audience.  As Luke frames these parables in chapter 15, there are two audiences: there are the Pharisees who are out on the fringes, sneering at Jesus for the bad company he was keeping at table.  But then there were the…

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Psalm 51:1-10

Commentary

Proper 19C

Some years ago a psychologist who works in Britain’s penal system described the startlingly loopy ways by which criminals attempt to sneak out from under their own crimes.  He opened his article by reminding readers that in his pseudo-suicide note years ago, O.J. Simpson had the audacity to write, “Sometimes I feel like a battered…

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Luke 14:25-33

Commentary

Proper 18C

Some while ago on TV I saw a news profile of megachurch pastor Joel Osteen.  Peppered throughout the interview with this pastor were brief video clips showing him preaching to his vast congregation that numbers into the tens of thousands.  The people of the congregation stretch out before this pastor like a vast sea of…

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Psalm 1

Commentary

Proper 18C

It’s not by accident.  It wasn’t editorial happenstance.  No one flipped a coin to decide which Hebrew poem to turn into Psalm 1 in this collection.  Rather, the Hebrew Psalter is a carefully edited, thoughtfully and intentionally put together collection of poems.  The design of the larger book is evident in many ways (for instance,…

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Luke 14:1, 7-14

Commentary

Proper 17C

Tell any average child that she is forbidden to look at pages 67-82 of the book sitting on the coffee table in the living room and you can be absolutely certain that the first chance that child gets, she’s going to whisk that book to her room and turn directly to page 67!  (I mean,…

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Psalm 112

Commentary

Proper 17C

Very often the Psalms are actually a form of beatitude.  Psalm 1 sets the tone: “Blessed is the one who does not walk with the wicked.”  Beatitudes—including the most famous ones of them all from Matthew 5—are very often blessings spoken over people whose lives the rest of the world may not deem to be…

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