Reading for Preaching
“Nobody Loves You Like Your Mama Does”
A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
Gilead
Home Before Dark
“Here’s a Toast for the World’s Regular Dads”
Rich Man, Poor Man
The Last Lion. Volume 1: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932
Additional content related to Family
Mark 10:17-31
The thing about this rich man is that he seems sincere. Unlike say, the Pharisee praying out loud and comparing himself to others in a pompous way (Luke 18.10-14), this man “kept all the commandments” and sought after the good teacher. I don’t think it’s a stretch to describe the rich man as searching. Having…
Mark 3:20-35
Jesus goes home, but he is not alone. Presumably, along with the disciples, the crowd that has quickly started to gather around Jesus in the first three chapters of Mark have also come. Mark has made multiple references to this crowd. First, Jesus’s fame was spreading and the crowds came looking for healing (1.28-33). Then,…
Psalm 145:1-8
With 150 psalms to choose from, it is something of a mystery why this is the third time in three months that the Lectionary has had us somewhere in Psalm 145. Even so, here we are again. If a given preacher did preach on part or all of the 145th Psalm in July and/or August…
Genesis 32:22-31
If you are searching Hebrew Scripture for parenting advice, healthy examples of marital bliss … well, you probably shouldn’t. The Bible is not a book about functional families. The Bible, chock full of dysfunctional people, is always the story of a functional God. Jacob’s whole life has been clouded by competition with the twin brother…
Genesis 29:15-28
“When morning came, there was Leah!” Hands down that is one of the funniest lines in the Bible. Imagine the fun a good Hollywood director would have setting up the scene and the dramatic flair of music to accompany the moment of the big reveal. Jacob wakes up, wipes the sleep out of his eyes,…
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Easter in the Western Church can come as early as the third Sunday in March and as late as the last Sunday in April. Falling as it does on April 17 this year, Easter’s late date means an extra-long season after Epiphany and that in turns means getting to some RCL texts we don’t see…
Ephesians 1:3-14
Few Scripture passages are theologically weightier than this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. In fact, in an earlier commentary on it, Scott Hoezee remembers once asking the congregation he served about how it would feel if he were from then to on base every sermon on Ephesians 1:3-14. He notes that while most would call it a…
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
Two Temples. Two Boys. One boy is apparently lost. The other boy is apparently given up by his parents. One boy is not at all lost but is at home in the Temple doing his real Father’s work. The other boy is making his home in the Temple and slowly discovering what may well be…
1 Samuel 1:4-20
It’s curious how often the purposes of God move forward not just despite familial dysfunction but sometimes even because of it. We’ve got a load of dysfunction coming up in the Samuel story through the shenanigans of Hophni and Phineas—and Eli’s hand-wringing inability to do a blessed thing about it all. But we’ve got nettlesome…
Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25
The COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to mitigate it have changed the way at least some Christians have met or are currently “meeting together” (25). Restrictions have forced at least some of us to meet together remotely rather than in the same building. Restrictions have also forced some Christians to worship somewhat differently even when they…
Romans 4:1-5,13-17
When I was a teenager, we liked to sing a song that also had motions. With arms and legs flailing, we’d sing something like: “Father Abraham/ Had many sons;/ Many sons had Father Abraham;/ And I am one of them,/ And so are you,/ So let’s all praise the Lord.” Now once you got past…
2 Timothy 1:1-14
The lectionary brings us this week from Paul’s first letter to his second letter to Timothy. Right away, we can feel that the stakes are higher, the emotions more intense. There’s talk of tears and mothers and grandmothers, of emotional longings and deep faith and trust. Why? Because things haven’t gotten better since the first…
Psalm 133
As is so often the case with the RCL, Psalm 133 seems an odd choice for this second Sunday of the Easter season– until we read it in conjunction with the other readings for today. Read in the context of Acts 4:32-35 in particular, it is very clear why we should focus on Psalm 133. …
Genesis 29:15-28
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 21:8-21
If only the narrator of the Old Testament text that the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday had just quit at verse 8. After Isaac is weaned, Abraham throws a big soiree. Period. It would have made for a happy ending that would send everyone home happy. But that’s not the way Genesis 21 ends. Pain…
Luke 14:25-33
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…
Genesis 27
In his book Simply Christian, N.T. Wright says this about the Bible: “It’s a big book, full of big stories with big characters. They have big ideas (not least about themselves) and make big mistakes. It’s about God and greed and grace; about life, lust, laughter and loneliness. It’s about births, beginnings, and betrayal; about…
Matthew 1:1-17
“This is the genealogy of Jesus…” So begins the gospel of Matthew. Frankly, it sounds a bit boring. After all, the genealogies are one of those the parts of the Bible that we skip over (unless someone is watching us and we feel guilty, because “all scripture” is supposed to be profitable, 2 Tim. 3:16)….
Genesis 42
Textual points Outline of some not-to-miss items in the essential story • Jacob sends 10 sons to Egypt to buy grain during a time of famine and protectively keeps Benjamin close to home. • Little did anyone know that the Egyptian in charge of grain to whom the brothers would go was none other than…
Genesis 40:1-23
Comments and Observations The narrative of Pharaoh’s Cupbearer and Baker falls within the broader narrative of the story of Joseph. It’s hard to pull this out and look at it without placing it in the context of Joseph’s trials and tribulations thus far. So, let’s review where Joseph’s been when we get to this chapter…
Exodus 7:1-7
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider As we all know, life is full of hard, impossible questions. And the question “why?” often tops the list – especially when we’re looking at events that simply don’t make sense to our human brains. We hear anguished parents cry it at the graveside of a child. We hear…
2 Samuel 15:1-22
Comments and Observations David’s sudden and dramatic turn from king to fugitive did not come out of the blue. A whole series of consequences from David’s actions – and inactions – now come to a terrible convergence. Perhaps it started with David’s sin against Bathsheba and Uriah. David had known that Bathsheba was married, but…
Psalm 133
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Psalm 133 is a song that at first glance appears to applaud familial unity. After all, it uses familial language when it speaks of the wonder and beauty of “brotherly” unity. In fact, some scholars suggest this lends credence to the idea that families sang Psalm 133 on their…
Preaching Connection: Family