By Doug Lee

The Patron Saint of the Tongue-Tied by Doug Lee (4/24/2012)
...works out to be only operable in acceptable times and places: Sundays mornings within a self-identified arena of worship, but not Monday mornings in the workplace or classroom. Our kids’ elementary school banned biblical characters in this year’s hero essay project after a second-grader from our congregation wrote about Jesus last year. To punch through such invisible yet resilient barriers in Ame...
Power Politics and the Politics of Weakness by Doug Lee (2/1/2012)
...cal parties, and super PACs climb over one another to gain access to the levers of power. Could it be that the church is little different in its craving for potency? Waning influence in American culture, declining membership, or just the plain desire for some kind of noticeable impact on our communities makes us long for the capacity to make stuff happen. If only we had more money, more influen...
The Living Gospel by Doug Lee (12/1/2011)
...alm 85</a> <a title="2 Peter 3:8-15a" href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=189680855" target="_blank">2 Peter 3:8-15a</a> <a title="Mark 1:1-8" href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=189680925" target="_blank">Mark 1:1-8</a> Advent has a powerful way of clarifying our vision because it takes us back to what is most basic. This week the gospel is front and center as our texts ide...
Fallible Church, Deliberate Grace by Doug Lee (8/29/2011)
... in practice. But if ever we wondered whether Jesus were a realist or not, his words in Matthew 18 put that question to rest. The church Jesus envisions is not some idealized community we have not yet discovered or planted, or can’t belong to. The church Jesus envisions is entirely realistic: it is my sinful congregation and yours. We don’t need to be told that sin exists among the saints. We s...
Gospel Sequel by Doug Lee (5/31/2011)
... while others with a less definite timetable still await a rapture. Meanwhile, on the other side of the divide, scoffing at such expectations is easy, especially after announced deadlines pass. Jesus’ own response resounds as an all-too-obvious rebuke to Rapture-enraptured Christians: “It is not for you to know the times that the Father has set by his own authority.” But what if t...
Engaging Jesus by Doug Lee (3/22/2011)
...erations of slotting him in our christological taxonomies, tradition, and piety. But time and again, Jesus eludes our fully apprehending him. Last week Nicodemus approached Jesus and began by uttering those deadly words, “We know that you are….” As that conversation progresses, it is clear that this doctor of the faith remains in the dark when it comes to Jesus. In similar fashion, the Samar...
Still the Crucified by Doug Lee (2/3/2011)
...wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Paul’s description of his preaching is enough to stop any preacher in her or his tracks. It is certainly enough to stop this one. What do I regard as essential in my preaching? Do I rely on sounding scholarly or worldly wise? Do I trust in having something new and captivating to say? W...
The Politics of Hope: American and Apocalyptic by Doug Lee (12/1/2010)
...orners of the country far less blue than this Left Coast City. Not since the 1960s had both Virginia and North Carolina gone Democratic. No matter one’s view of Obama then or now, the fact of his election revealed a welling up of desire for the healing of centuries-old divides in race and politics. It highlighted the longing of many Americans for someone who could transcend the politics of entr...
Redeeming Shrewdness by Doug Lee (9/16/2010)
...o in a story where cheating goes unpunished and cunning is seemingly commended? Are we to use money to buy friends the way we buy objects for consumption? Can Jesus truly be recommending such scandalous behavior? But the scandal we hate in this story is precisely the scandal we love in the immediately preceding parable. Artificially separated by a chapter divide, the parable of the dishonest...
Three Funerals and a Wedding by Doug Lee (6/30/2010)
...and spicy don’t belong together. It’s a violation of the natural order of things. This was my settled culinary worldview until something unexpected happened on a visit to Mexico City. At the mercado, my family ordered a heaping cup of sweet, succulent mango. But because we had crossed the border, the mango slices came with a liberal dusting of chili powder. Mango with chili sounded lik...
Enduring Desire by Doug Lee (2/24/2010)
...p://bible.oremus.org/?ql=134044410">Luke 13:31-35</a> Having passed through the devil’s testing in the wilderness in last week’s lectionary text from Luke, Jesus contends next with testing that takes on a decidedly more human and communal face. Some friendly Pharisees counsel Jesus to get out of Dodge before the menacing Herod devours him. That villain has already imprisoned and executed Jes...
As Good As Done by Doug Lee (12/16/2009)
... celebration were the women. They had come dressed in their best clothes, shiny and clean. They raised their voices in song, loud and bright. With call and response, joyful ululation, and bodies moving in vibrant celebration, these poor rural village women in Zambia gave voice to God’s victory over disease, hunger, and death. In many times and places, it is the women who best celebrate the triu...
Ultimate Imagination by Doug Lee (11/18/2009)
...remus.org/?ql=125513868">John 18:33-38a</a> Some years ago, a friend of ours who was a major player on the Nigerian political scene nearly met an untimely death but survived. After confronting his mortality—his end, Takai abandoned his ascendant career trajectory and told his children that they would receive no inheritance from him. Their inheritance would now come in the form of a ministry he ...
What to Wear in Battle by Doug Lee (8/20/2009)
...3</a>; <a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=117734626">Ephesians 6:10-20</a>;<a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=117734669"> John 6:56-69</a> The culmination to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians has ample capacity either to thrill or repulse us. For those who already envision themselves locked in a mortal struggle against enemies of various stripes, Paul’s use of militaristic imagery fits and hea...