Encountering the text: This is the moving climax of a long and drawn out story. Joseph’s brothers, who had sold him into slavery several chapters ago, have just finished a… read more

Encountering the text: The lectionary picks up in the last third of a rather busy chapter. Crammed in this chapter are three stories. The first third of the chapter details the… read more

Encountering the text: Pulpit Resource has spent some time in Romans already this summer, and I hope that none of its readers—nor the congregations they serve—will be… read more

Encountering the text: My colleague Ellen Davis has said that one of the functions of Israel’s Passover narrative is to guard against any sentimentalizing of God’s… read more

Jesus, returning to his hometown synagogue in Luke 4, unrolls an Isaiah scroll and preaches. We believe that the synagogue was born during Israel’s exile. What do you do… read more

Encountering the text: Because the RCL’s First Lesson gives us a series of readings this fall from the Exodus, let’s do a sermon series from the wonderfully crafted… read more