I know, Working Preachers. This story is overwhelming. So much going on. So many places to land. Of course, this is the challenge with any text, but somehow …

John 3:16. Perhaps the most well-known Bible verse and yet also one of the most destructive -- an assertion of exclusion rather than one of God’s …

It is tempting to make Jesus’ temptation something that it is not. And, it is tempting to make Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness the only …

Dear Working Preachers, I feel like I need to begin with some rather unsolicited advice: do not preach some sort of sermon on the how the Transfiguration …

I am a perfectionist. I know this about myself and people have rarely hesitated to confirm it. Yet, typical advice to me usually goes something like this: …

Choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). Not as easy as it sounds these days. This rather obvious litmus test for what it means to a disciple in the Kingdom of …

If you want to know what it’s looked like lately to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, Google the Women’s March of January …

Do you really hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Sometimes, perhaps most times, I am not sure. That’s where the Beatitudes hit me this week.

Many of you know that early on in Sermon Brainwave history, I became known as the geography maven. I am the one who usually points out in a passage a geographical …

“It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.” I have always been curious about this detail, but have never quite known what to do with it. I …

Preaching on the baptism of Jesus requires a significant amount of homiletical restraint. Our denominational desires tend to lean toward sermons that try …

Happy New Year, Dear Working Preachers.

From different kinds of correspondence with many of you -- emails, Facebook, being together at conferences -- 2016 …

Merry Christmas, Dear Working Preachers.

I hope you will be forgiving of a rather personal perspective on Christmas for this week’s column. Yet, …

“God with us” is not always good news. It depends on who you think God is. It depends on how you think God is active in the world. It depends …

"Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" If that isn’t a question that breaks your heart ... or maybe, it speaks a truth, …