Everyone Who Hears Will Laugh With Me : Humor and Telling God\u27s Truth

Since humor is an essential part of human nature, speaking the truth, including the biblical truth, seems to require the use of humor. Humor exposes our flaws and opens us to new vistas—or in theological terms, it preaches both law and gospel

The One Who Will Be Born: Preaching Isaiah\u27s Promises in a Harry Potter Culture

The prophetic texts for Advent are not merely historical nor merely predictive. They should be read as vital messages to their original context, as promises fulfilled in Jesus, and as living words for hearers today

The Old Testament and the Neighbor

The dispute between Jesus and the legal expert in Luke over the question of “the neighbor” was certainly not a new conflict. It is possible to understand the Lucan exchange as a Midrash on sections from the Pentateuch and the Hebrew writings. Rolf and Karl Jacobson delve back into the Old Testament to find the roots of the Lucan dispute, and shed further light on this important biblical concept

Preaching the David Story

The David story is the longest and most complete biblical treatment of any one human life. This allows the story to speak to many stages of the faith journey. The story is not fully present in the pericopes, but the preacher can choose to use this material in a sermon series to address the spiritual and moral contexts of our age

We Are Our Stories: Narrative Dimension of Human Identity and its Implications for Christian Faith Formation

Increasingly, representatives of diverse disciplines have come to a significant consensus about human identity. Each of us constructs and lives in a narrative that is, in fact, us. If this is the case, we will need an outside source to construct a narrative that is both good and true—one to which and in which we can give our lives. Such a story is given us in Holy Scripture and in the collective memory of the church

Stewards of God\u27s Mysteries : Stewarding as a Model for Congregational Ministry

Are we members of our congregation or stewards of God’s mysteries? Our model for ministry makes all the difference

What Every Christian Should Know About Amos and Hosea

To overcome the biblical illiteracy of the churches, leaders need to teach parishioners the basic content of the Bible. This essay offers a resource for that important task