Breathe: A holy Week and Easter Survival Guide for Preachers
Ask the Spirit what one thing you are to do right now.
- If it's to work on your sermon, work on your sermon and your sermon alone.
- If it's to proofread bulletins, then focus on each line, each word, each number, one...at...a...time.
- If it's to stand in the pulpit and preach, then preach with your whole being.
Do the one thing you are to do. And find the peace of Christ waiting for you therein.
Find your Palm Sunday message in ten minutes (free download)
Writing your Palm Sunday sermon can be done quickly with this easy process and collection of quotes to inspire your preaching.
Three (Merry) Christmas Sermon Themes
It is TOUGH this year! The cost of a Christmas turkey is sky-high, ICE agents will be patrolling churches on Christmas Eve, and the promise of another year of increasing chaos and dehumanization makes us want to stay in bed and not wake up to 2026.
And yet—this year, like every other year for the past 2025 of them—will still be a merry one. Why?
Today's blog offers three Christmas sermon themes that allow all of us to claim, from the bottom of our hearts, Merry Christmas, indeed.
Disaster after Disaster: How to Preach So Listeners Don’t Tune Out
When natural disasters, political crises, and social injustices occur week after week, compassion fatigue can set in. What are we to do in the face of overwhelming need? Preachers can help their listeners avoid becoming numb, irritated or unresponsive, though. Read on to find out how.
Preaching the Arc of Holy week to Easter (A guest post)
Why do we observe Holy Week? It is so much work. Can’t we just skip the death and go from Palm Sunday to the happiness of the Resurrection?
No.
This week is the center not only of our faith but our very lives. It embeds in us the fundamental events of our people. It opens a window into what lies beneath and behind the foundation itself.
Lenten Preaching: Why Change is So Hard
We preachers often wonder whether our words have any effect. The people we preach to and the world around us pretty much look the same week after week. It doesn’t often look like the Good News has caught fire in people’s hearts. It doesn’t look like the reign of God is being built. For all our efforts to preach the Good News, how come it looks like nothing much is changing?
Preachers’ Annual Gift LIst, 2024
Each year I channel my inner Santa Claus to pull together a list of ten fun gifts for preachers. If church members or your family don’t yet know what to get for you, point them to this list!
Backstory Preaching receives no compensation if items are purchased. I suggest them only because they look jolly!
Ho, ho, ho!
More Than "Meek & Mild": Preaching the real Mary
When Mary gazes gently at us from statues, paintings, and icons, what do we see? How do we understand her? Perhaps there's more to Mary than her "meek and mild" representations suggest.
Advent-Christmas Sermons: 5 Steps to Preach the Sermons Your Listeners Need
Whether you’re preaching once or at every service the rest of December, exegeting your congregation and determining the preaching “voice” that will best serve them can make your sermon prep more efficient and relevant. Consider this 5-step process to craft Advent-Christmas sermons that bring good news to your listeners’ contexts.