Additional content related to Leadership
Exodus 33:12-23
Go Between The first 11 verses of chapter 33 spell out the way Moses was called by God to operate among the people. At first God indicates that Moses will need to lead the people on his own. It’s almost as if God doesn’t trust that He will be able to keep loving these hard-hearted,…
Exodus 32:1-14
Meanwhile, Back at Camp… Let’s pause for a moment to consider where we are in the text. Last Sunday’s lectionary reading was the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 but the intervening 11 chapters are filled with all kinds of instructions for God’s people — from how to treat animals and property to the ordination of…
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…
Psalm 20
In these politically charged times, it is interesting (or ironic, or fortuitous, or providential) that the Lectionary would give us two Royal Psalms in a row. Last week in Psalm 138 we had a Psalm that spoke truth to power. This week in Psalm 20 we have a Psalm that prays for the one in…
Psalm 138
While some scholars call this an individual Psalm of thanksgiving, I think there is enough evidence to label it a royal Psalm of praise. For one thing, it is “of David,” the first of 8 Psalms attributed to David. While that doesn’t definitively prove that David wrote it, the central section (verses 4-5) is addressed…
2 Kings 2:1-12
I once preached on this text during a worship service in which our church installed new leaders whom we call elders and deacons. At the time it seemed like its story of the transition from Elijah to Elisha’s leadership seemed appropriate. Yet the Lectionary ends the Old Testament lesson it appoints for this Sunday with…
Preaching Connection: Leadership