Speaking a specific message of grace in the Absolution is a chance to bring the healing balm of the Gospel not just to generic ills, but to the particular pain point exposed by the Law on this day.

As we “seed” the sermon, we see week-by-week how the creative act is finally not ours at all. Though we can do our level best to prepare the soil, the words and thoughts and ideas take root and bear fruit according to gracious forces well beyond our control.

More than once, as I have listened while driving, this podcast prompted me to pull over in order to make some notes.

Those fifteen minutes in the pulpit are a labor of love on behalf of God’s people. You are trying to cook up something that will satisfy, if not delight, and not just homiletic milkshakes but solid, Scriptural steaks.

In the pulpit a preacher who is making eye contact, preaching by heart, speaking “to” you and not merely “at” you, you feel like you can trust this guide.