This week’s text is one that always makes me smile. Mark 6:1-13 — Jesus Is Rejected in Nazareth In Mark 6:1-13, Jesus has come home for a visit, and when he teaches in the synagogue all his old family friends and neighbors are blown away. They just can’t believe that the kid they watched growing […]
Monday Meditation: RCL Year B, 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mark 4:26-34
I have come to dearly love the parables of the kingdom — all those rich metaphors for how God works in the world, in us, through us, and despite us. I love them even when, like this week, the lectionary wrenches them from their context. Mark 4:26-34 This week’s little parables come in Jesus’ sermon […]
Letters to a Young Pastor: The Children’s Sermon — Is it Gospel?
Dear ______: Thanks for asking me to clarify. I said something about how children’s sermons often reveal a preacher’s real theology, for good or for ill. I suspect it is because pastors do not think of the children’s sermon as a sermon. They think of it more as a conversation. If they have a warm, […]
Letters to a Young Pastor: The Children’s Sermon — Is it True?
Dear ______: I do think you’ll be well on your way to a solid children’s sermon if you take up my challenge to make it one salient point from the text you are preaching to the grown-ups. But that isn’t the whole journey. You still need to work hard at finding kid-friendly ways to get […]
Letters to a Young Pastor: The Children’s Sermon — One Salient Point
Dear ______: I hear your objection to preaching a children’s sermon that is rooted in the main text you are preaching to the grown-ups. But I don’t think it is really a problem. Yes, some parts of Scripture are kind of “R-rated” or at least “PG-13.” But how often (really, let’s be honest here) do […]
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