Reading for Preaching
Mere Christianity, in The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics
The Chronicles of Narnia: Book 2: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Calvinism: Six Stone Foundation Lectures
Additional content related to Goodness
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Deuteronomy is a beautiful and unique book of the Pentateuch. Whereas the preceding four books can be read as a kind of biography of the people of God, Deuteronomy is fashioned more like the people’s memoir. No biography is complete, of course. Certain elements are left out or glossed over but, by and large, you…
Psalm 90:12-17
The Lectionary has us picking up just the tail end of Psalm 90 this week. It is a curious poem. It opens with a lyric consideration of how God had been his people’s dwelling place—their home—from generation to generation. But then in the middle section there is a shift in tone as a rather fearsome…
Psalm 23
Psalm 23 bears a lot of resemblance to any number of poems in the Hebrew Psalter. This is not the only sunny-side-up psalm that exudes confidence at every turn. It is not the only psalm to use pastoral imagery or to invoke the specter of “enemies” in whose presence God will vindicate the psalmist. Yet…
Romans 5:12-19
Most of Jesus’ friends have a mental list of God’s attributes. We generally think of God as being loving and just, gracious and holy, patient and forgiving. But I’m not sure many Christians naturally include in their list of God’s attributes the quality of generosity. This Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson provides a good antidote to that…
Isaiah 55:1-9
The Year C Revised Common Lectionary would have us stop reading and thinking about Isaiah 55 at the 9th verse. But to me that’s rather like singing just the first two stanzas of “By the Sea of Crystal” but being told you can’t sing stanza 3. But since stanza 2 ends with “Hark the heavenly…
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
An old cliché suggests that the more things change, the more they stay the same. However, Christians might like to think that the Church is immune to such inertia. After all, among the Reformers’ most cherished claims about the Church is that she is “always reforming.” Yet a comparison of Paul’s first letter to Corinth’s…
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
My friend whom I’ll call Wayne is struggling to submit to God (4:7) right now. In fact, that struggle has produced a fairly deep crisis of faith in him. Yet to Wayne’s credit, he’s honest enough to share that struggle with me as well as seek my help in becoming more submissive to God. Wayne…
Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13)
“A scribe to the Lord . . .” At least that is what I heard my minister say when I was a young boy attending a church in Ada, Michigan. Rev. Angus MacLeod began more morning worship services than not with that portion of Psalm 96 that repeats the call to “ascribe” to the Lord…
Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21
The Lectionary presents some mysteries for those of us who follow it closely. In this case we are getting a couple carved-out sections of Psalm 145 a scant four weeks after we had a carved-out section of this exact same poem as the Psalm reading for July 5 (and parts of the August 2 reading…
Ephesians 5:8-14
Few Lectionary texts begin more mysteriously than this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson. “You were once darkness,” Paul reminds Ephesus’s Christians, “but now you are light in the Lord” (8). The apostle seems to assert that God’s adopted sons and daughters don’t just naturally live in spiritual darkness. We naturally are spiritual darkness. God doesn’t just summon…
Psalm 97
A few years ago the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship produced a new hymnal based on the Psalms. Its title is “Psalms for All Seasons.” The title is apt because as most of us know, the Hebrew Psalter is a collection of varied prayers that matches life’s many and varied seasons. As C.S. Lewis and…
Psalm 36:5-10
Once again our friends who put together the Revised Common Lectionary are trying to give us a kinder, gentler version of Scripture. By carving out the middle half-dozen verses of this psalm and by leaving out verses 1-4 and 11-12, the Lectionary would have us only celebrate the goodness of God without having to be…
Ephesians 1:3-14
Years ago when I was a pastor, I once asked my congregation what they would think if I announced one week that from then on, every single one of my sermons would be based on Ephesians 1. Most would chalk that up to a huge mistake! Yet if you look closely at Ephesians 1:1-14, you…
Psalm 100
It is interesting that the Lectionary begins and ends Ordinary Time with Psalm 100. We looked at this beloved Psalm back on June 18, the second Sunday of Ordinary Time. Now we return to it on this last Sunday, when we celebrate the fact that Christ is King of all the earth. If you preached…
Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13
In my last church, we used Psalm 65:9-13 as the Old Testament reading for every Thanksgiving Day worship service. Its description of harvest bounty fit the time of year so well, and its ascription of praise to God for that bounty fit the theme of our national Day of Thanksgiving. But this harvest Psalm is…
Isaiah 55:1-9
“Come and get it!” is a phrase that traditionally resonated with hungry North Americans. After all, we generally link it with an invitation to eat what someone has prepared. So when we hear “Come and get it!” we may think of Mom, standing on the front steps, hollering for us to come home for supper….
Preaching Connection: Goodness