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Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
Commentary: How are we meant to read the text of Daniel 7? Is it a history book, a mystery novel, an algebra equation? Or is it poetry? Well, how would Daniel’s original audience have received the vision? Context Daniel wrote for Israelites in Babylonian exile, about 600 years before Christ’s birth. They knew the story…
1 Kings 19:4-8
Sermon Illustration: During the recent Paris Olympics, I was reminded again of the acronym: G.O.A.T., which stands for Greatest of All Time. While many athletes have claimed the title and a few of them have even earned it, I think the GOAT-iest GOAT in sports is American gymnast, Simone Biles. Her gold medals in Paris…
2 Samuel 5:1-10
Whose Idea? Something that ties together the two mini-texts within our larger lectionary reading for this week is the idea of Divine-human cooperation. In the first case, we knew long ago (all the way back in 1 Samuel 16) that God had chosen David to serve as the next king of Israel. But Saul (the…
1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15)
Getting Political This week’s lectionary reading fronts a larger section of text that tells us what happens when God’s people “get political.” From the start, God’s people have been shaped and sustained through covenants. Of course, there have always been leaders mediating this covenant — folks like Moses and Joshua feature prominently in that list. …
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
God’s “mercy” (eleos) is the shining center and beating heart of this Sunday’s (strangely) divided Epistolary Lesson. After all, while Paul uses the word only in this text’s second part, it’s also actually one of the unstated themes of its first half. In that way, God’s mercy serves as a kind of bridge between Romans…
Preaching Connection: Uncategorized