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.

Mark 12:28-34

Commentary

Proper 26B

Comments and Observations: Today Jesus would be seen surrounded by reporters and cameras, with a half-dozen microphones being shoved toward his face.  Today Jesus would be hounded by paparazzi as the center of a small media blitz.  Passersby would be leaning in, camera phones held out in front, to take a selfie with the rebellious…

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Ruth 1:1-18

Commentary

Proper 26B

To my mind stopping the reading of Ruth 1 at verse 18 is the narrative equivalent of ending the movie Field of Dreams just before the moment when Ray encounters his long-dead and estranged father on his magical Iowa baseball diamond.  Why stop short of the scene that brings the whole thing together!? So trust…

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Mark 10:46-52

Commentary

Proper 25B

Comments and Observations Bartimaeus.  Jericho.  Just names, right?  Well, not really.  Sometimes the Bible discloses some of its most vital points in the details we tend to just skip over en route to the “main” story or the “meat” of a given passage. But in the case of Mark 10, the two names mentioned above…

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Job 42:1-6, 10-17

Commentary

Proper 25B

Comments, Observations, and Questions And they lived happily ever after . . .  Really?  Is it really possible that the Bible’s most troubled (and at times most torturous) book has the proverbial “happy ending”?  Did Disney take over this project at some point?! At first glance you might think so.  Job replies to God that…

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Mark 10:35-45

Commentary

Proper 24B

Comments and Observations: They just don’t get it.  Period.  The disciples do not understand. Again. Readers of Mark know the by-now all-too-predictable pattern: Jesus predicts his death and so commends humble and sacrificial living and the disciples respond with an argument over rank, power, and position. Even as readers we are getting a bit weary…

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Job 38

Commentary

Proper 24B

Comments and Observations: Why did this happen?  Why didn’t God prevent this?  Or, very often it’s “Pastor, why did this happen?  Pastor, where is God?” A child dies, a good person is killed, a freak accident takes the life of someone who was unspeakably precious to us, and we are left to wonder why. And…

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Mark 10:17-31

Commentary

Proper 23B

Comments and Observations: Don’t forget, bracket out, or lose sight of verses 10-13!!  This Lectionary text may include only Mark 10:17-31 but trust me: the four verses prior are the kicker. Here’s why: Picture the scene:  Jesus has just lifted his hands off the heads of the little children he had been blessing.  His words…

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Job 23:1-9; 16-17

Commentary

Proper 23B

Comments and Observations: If you read the John Grisham novel The Firm, you may recall the horrifying moment when a young lawyer and his wife discover that the house so “generously” provided to them by the young man’s law firm is bugged to the hilt.  Every conversation they had had, every lovemaking sigh, every TV…

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Mark 10:2-16

Commentary

Proper 22B

Comments and Observations: “Is it OK to smoke while you are praying?” a man once asked a wise old abbot.  “Oh no,” the abbot replied.  “Prayer must be the whole focus of one’s mind.”  Later another person came up to the abbot and asked “Can a person pray while smoking?” to which the abbot immediately…

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Psalm 26

Commentary

Proper 22B

Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Psalm 26 is the poet’s plea for God’s “vindication.”  It pictures a courtroom in which the poet-defendant begs the judge to declare her innocent.  In it she insists she’s innocent because she has led what she calls a “blameless life” (1). Yet such a plea seems to clash with…

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