Craft of Preaching

Ed. note: Don’t miss last week's article by the same author entitled, “Read Before Preaching: Forming Communities of Resistance” …

Here’s a headline that captured my attention:

Stop working on your personal brand—you’re wasting your time.¹

The article promising a …

Ed. note: This is the second of three articles on “Forming Communities of Resistance.” Last week’s article, “A Thriving Community …

Luke closely associates Jesus’ public ministry with both the sabbath and the synagogue, beginning already in Luke 4:16-30. In fact, this week’s …

“Liberation is not a catch phrase—but is at the heart of your desire for all people.”
- Pastor Marcus McFaul, Olin T. Binkley Memorial …

If consensus exists around anything today in American society, it is that we are afflicted by “division.” This general sense of heightened divisiveness …

I read recently that Dolly Parton leaves her makeup on all night when she’s away from home. She told the New York Times, “You never know if …

This is one of those weeks when preachers find a text pretty easy to interpret but the sermon hard to deliver.

Ah, but it’s never easy to interpret …

It’s a very personal, intimate thing, one’s prayer life. Getting started at praying is less like learning how to drive a car, how to play the …

Be careful with this one, Dear Working Preachers. The story of Mary and Martha in Luke’s Gospel has been subject to feats of hermeneutical acrobatics …

The Good Samaritan. The ubiquity of this passage in society and in our shared discourse is more than enough to encourage a sermon on another text. A story …

For the first time in my life, this past week I was trolled on Facebook. To be honest, I expected it to happen sooner, but to be totally honest, I never …

There are some tough texts coming up in the lectionary. I’m thinking especially of the Hosea 1 text for July 28th (listen to my podcast on this …

“But first.” Such an expedient and automatic answer, isn’t it? One that we utter without thinking, even, and to so many requests for our …

Mark A. Torgerson’s book Greening Spaces for Worship and Ministry (Alban, 2012) offers numerous case studies of congregations that have incorporated …