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1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Epiphany 4A
If I were to preach on this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson, I might entitle my message, “Good News For Ordinary People.” In this text, after all, Paul doesn’t primarily address the “100 Most Influential Christians.” He doesn’t even speak to that roster of preachers that seem to get invited to present at nearly every preaching conference….
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Epiphany 3A
This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s opening plea almost sounds like it might have been clipped out of a 2026 church newsletter, denominational communication or Christian magazine. In verse 10, after all, Paul writes: “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another…
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Epiphany 2A
It can be tempting for some Christians to assume that ministers of the Word and sacrament, as well as missionaries are the only people God ever calls. When pastors share that assumption, it can easily get us into some binds. Among them is the question, “Where exactly is God calling me to do ministry?” At…
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Lent 3B
Paul brackets this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson with a paradox. In verse 18 he speaks of God’s “power [dynamis]*.” However, in verse 25 the apostle also refers to God’s “weakness” [asthenes].” Between those apparently contradictory brackets, God’s people find not only the beating heart of our Lenten observance. We also find the heart of the gospel….
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Advent 1B
Many Westerners have now entered the season of waiting. But the primary object of most of our contemporaries’ wait is Christmas’ arrival. Citizens of the 21st century don’t think much about the Advent that is also a season of waiting. Even many Christians who celebrate Advent focus more on waiting for our celebration of Christ’s…
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Epiphany 4A
A number of years ago The Christian Century invited theologians, pastors and other Christian leaders to attempt to succinctly summarize the gospel. It asked them to proclaim its good news in just seven words, and then expand on their summary in a few sentences. The November 29, 2011 edition of the Century published some of…
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Epiphany 3A
This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson brings to mind the novelist William Faulkner’s lament about the post-Civil War American South: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” It also in some ways resonates with the historian and philosopher George Santayana’s “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” If Christians didn’t know…
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
Epiphany 2A
Gospel proclaimers who think of preaching as largely the sharing of helpful hints for being a better Christian may find that this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson offers rather thin subject material. It is, after all, far longer on theology than on ethics. Many English translations of 1 Corinthians 1:1-9’s Greek have six sentences. People, however, are…
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
Lent 3B
In a wonderful sermon commentary on this text (from which I drew numerous ideas for this one), Scott Hoezee suggests that there’s a danger in spending as much time in church and around Christians as some gospel proclaimers do. That’s when Christianity becomes commonsensical to us. And we also wonder why Christianity doesn’t make sense…
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Advent 1B
This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s “twin themes” of Paul’s thanksgiving and the return of Jesus Christ may seem particularly appropriate this week. After all, this first Sunday in Advent falls just three days after (U.S.) Americans’ celebration of Thanksgiving and at the beginning of the season of heightened anticipation of Jesus’ second coming. However, 1 Corinthians…
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