If one follows the lectionary readings as a basic source for one’s preaching, it is obvious that we Christians are approaching Advent, because the Hebrew Bible texts begin to sound rather predictive of the coming Christ, or at least indicative of what we may expect in his coming. Let me clear at the outset: I do not hear these texts as predictive of the coming of Jesus into the world, though I understand that many believers still do. I simply... Read more

Recently, my wife and I attended a performance of Gustav Mahler’s massive Symphony #2, known as the Resurrection symphony. By any measure this is a monumental work, requiring an extraordinarily large orchestra with multiple percussion (including steel rods (!) and a huge bell), 6 French horns (plus two more in an offstage ensemble), and on and on. The Los Angeles Philharmonic, under the baton of the venerable Zubin Mehta, now 83 years old, played the work beautifully, especially the shattering... Read more

The prophets of the Hebrew Bible spend the bulk of their spoken and written words on accusing and indicting their people with the myriad ways they have not done what their God has asked, begged, cajoled, and demanded that they do. YHWH commanded them to be just, to care for the widow, defend the orphan, love and protect the stranger, thus creating a society of genuine righteousness where all have full access to rich life, grand hope, a society characterized... Read more

What is it about the mountains? I have long been a lover of mountains, have for decades longed to see, live in, be surrounded by mountains. Then, by a cruel trick of fate, I found myself living for 40 years in Dallas, Texas, which by most calculations is at least 400 miles from any serious mountains. I used to gaze longingly at various cloud formations on hot summer days, imagining them either to be mountains or perhaps to hide mountains... Read more

I have been using a lectionary list that includes two complete Hebrew Bible texts, so this week I want to address an enormously influential pericope from a book I know very well. I wrote a long, and essentially unreadable, dissertation on the book of Job in 1974, published a book, Preaching Job, in 1999, and have spoken about the book in numerous settings throughout my scholarly life. I absolutely love this book, and regret very deeply that it has played... Read more

If any preacher needs reasons to understand why the prophets of the Hebrew Bible are nearly absent from 21st pulpits, Isaiah 1:10-18 would be a prime example. I well remember when I was in seminary, now 50 years ago, books about preaching the prophets were ubiquitous. How about “The Prophets on Main Street” or “The Prophets Speak to Us Today’ for catchy and memorable titles? It was the day of the Vietnam War, the continuing racial divides, the sexual revolution,... Read more

I am a great lover of opera. This has been a fact since Diana, my wife now of 50 years, gave to me a copy of Puccini’s “La Boheme” on long-playing 33 1/3 vinyl records. The performance included one of the 20th century’s finest tenors, Nicolai Gedda, who possessed one of opera’s purest and easiest voices, proclaimed in any one of the six languages he spoke! I was hooked, and over the past 50+ years since Diana’s gift, she and... Read more

Many years ago, I had an exceptionally bright student who, upon his graduation from our seminary, was assigned by his bishop to a small congregation in East Texas. In the fall of that same year, he wrote me a heartfelt letter—this was well before the advent of computers and e-mail, so it was an actual letter, written in pen on a piece paper, placed in an envelope, embossed with a postage stamp, and mailed to the school. (If this concept... Read more

As I have indicated in several previous essays, my wife and I recently took a long trip through Switzerland, Bavaria (Austria and Southern Germany), with a final stop in Leipzig, a city in the former East Germany. The journey was superb in so many ways, magnificent scenery, delicious food, friendly people (many in dirndls and lederhosen since it was Oktober Fest time), and excellent roads on which to drive from tiny two-lane ones to the Autobahn, where my little rental... Read more

There are multiple ways that the Bible attempts to demonstrate just how radically new the God of Israel proves to be. Whenever the text bids us to “remember” the great deeds that YHWH has performed in the past—and that is a constant theme in the tradition—other texts rarely fail to offer occasions where God is about very new things. The classic example is to be found in Isaiah 43:16-19. Directly after Isaiah bids the reader to remember especially the grand... Read more