Davidlose.net Website Review

Matthew 2:1-12 (13-17) Dear Partner in Preaching, This isn’t the Christmas story most of us shared with the kids and grandkids in our lives. It’s not the Christmas story any of us read on Christmas Eve. And, truth be told, it’s not the Christmas story we like to remember. (And the lectionary, for some reason, spares us the worst part!) But it is in Scripture, and it’s important to take it seriously. Here are the troubling elements most briefly: An easily threatened and manipulative despot who turns to violence when Luke 3:7-18 Dear Partner in Preaching, To scold or not to scold, that is the question. At least that often seems to be the question many preachers ask themselves in Advent. Facing a Christmas celebration that is shaped at least as much by a consumption-driven culture as it is the nativity story, noting the painful disparity present in our communities between the “haves” and “have-nots,” and given perhaps understandable tug toward not simply calling our people to resistance but also scolding.. Dear Partner in Preaching, Upon sitting down to write this letter to you, I quickly reviewed the three earlier times I’ve written on this pas*age (once on these pages, once in a Dear Working Preacher column, and once by way of commentary for Working Preacher) and realized… that they same more or less the same thing! (Less you miss this, take it as a warning about reviewing old sermons, too!