Additional content related to Prophecy
Luke 1:68-79
We could call it Psalm 151. Because that is what Zechariah’s song sounds like. Not only does it sound like some of the actual 150 psalms in the Hebrew Psalter, it sounds very much like an Old Testament passage even though it is of course in the New Testament (which may be why the Year…
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13
It’s possible you got to the end of last week’s text deeply dissatisfied. Uriah, for all his integrity, is dead. David, for all his duplicity, has gotten his way. If this were the end, we might despair of justice and righteousness but, as it turns out, last week’s ending was just the cliff-hanger in a…
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Judges, Kings, Priests and Prophets – oh my! Up to this point in Deuteronomy, the law has spelled out the role of kings and judges and priests. Each is invested with a distinct kind of institutional authority. However, over time, in the history of Israel and her people, these roles began to take on a…
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
It’s not often that a true prophet of God ends up having prophetic egg on his face, but just that had recently happened to Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 28 a prophetic wannabe named Hananiah delivered what he declared was a true revelation from God. Hananiah made wonderfully sunny promises about Israel’s being released from captivity very,…
Amos 7:7-17
It just doesn’t pay to tell a prophet to shut up. Things tend to get worse. Or at least that is so with a true prophet of God. Hucksters, fakes, charlatans can be intimidated. They will flee when threatened. They will say nicer things for a price. But not so the true prophets of God…
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
There’s no getting around it: this is a very curious story. It’s also a story with some good old-fashioned suspense, a bit of intrigue, and some humor. The writer tips off us readers right from the get-go of verse 1 to say that Elijah was departing via a whirlwind. The way the writer just drops…
2 Kings 2:1-12
The compilers of the Revised Common Lectionary have done us preachers a real favor by pairing this Old Testament reading with the story of Jesus Transfiguration in Mark 9. This juxtaposition of texts will save us from preaching on the importance of mentoring (as many folks will do because the relationship between Elijah and Elisha…
Deuteromony 18:15-20
A couple of weeks before the Presidential election in the US, Pat Robertson gave another of his fantastic prophecies: President Trump would win the election, widespread civil discontent would follow, and five years later a huge asteroid would hit the world. Robertson has been giving spectacular prophecies for years now. He has predicted the exact…
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Sometimes it feels as though the Lectionary has a mild case of Alzheimer’s, because it seems to forget that we just talked about a certain text, just a few months ago. Now here it is again in the cycle of readings. That’s the case on this Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, deep in the heart of…
Isaiah 6:1-8
Isaiah 6 is a bit reminiscent of a “good news, bad news” joke about a conversation between a lawyer and her client. She told him, “I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?” Her client replied, “Give me the bad news first.” “The bad news is that…
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Those who take a deep enough whiff of Deuteronomy 18 may detect at least a hint of death clinging to it. In fact, we might even say that the scent of death both lingers within and bookends the Old Testament lesson the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday. The lesson begins innocently enough, though (again!) right…
Haggai 1:15b-2:9
How can people build a home for God that fully reflects his glory? That’s the question with which Israel wrestles in the Old Testament text the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday. However, it’s also an issue with which modern Christians also struggle, though we know that God no longer lives in buildings, but in human…
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
A real estate deal seldom had it so good. All through the Bible you can find a recurrent theme related to real estate, to land, to who owns what. It all began with a promise of land to Abram (who for some reason had to leave behind the land he already owned to set out…
Jeremiah 1:4-10
God doesn’t try to keep God’s truth to himself. God doesn’t make God’s adopted sons and daughters try to guess what God is thinking. God likes to speak. However, many of God’s experiences with speaking directly to people haven’t turned out very well. The people at Sinai, for example, just couldn’t handle it. So when…
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
God doesn’t usually whisk presidents, pastors, church leaders and other workers up to the heavenly realm upon their retirement. Nor do their successors generally actually pick up their articles of clothing. Yet it’s appropriate to reflect on this Sunday’s appointed text anyway. God, after all, remains deeply interested in human leadership and its transitions. 2…
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Those who try to say something authoritative about the Lord had better have a really good reason for doing so. After all, few tasks are, more intimidating than trying to faithfully proclaim God’s Word. In fact, most preachers and teachers know the fear that sometimes chases them right up to the pulpit or lectern. Scholars…
Habakkuk 3
To really understand the gravity of the prayer that Habakkuk offers in this chapter, you cannot skip over the two preceding chapters. This is easily avoided when you preach this text in a series; but if you’re highlighting chapter 3 only, you’d do well to lay the groundwork of Habakkuk’s questions to God from earlier…
Luke 4:14-21
Suspense! If you stop at verse 21 as the Lectionary would have you to do and hold off on what happens in verses 22 and following next week, then a sermon on this text ends in some suspense as we wait to see how the people will react to what Jesus has just said and…
Ezekiel 1
Comments and Observations Do you ever start telling a story but then get so bogged down in the details that you end up far astray from the actual point of the story you were trying to tell? Sometimes I find that I’ll tell a story for a particular reason but other people keep asking me…
Preaching Connection: Prophecy