Sermon Brainwave from Working Preacher

Matt Skinner, Karoline Lewis, and Cody Sanders tackle Matthew's parable of the wheat and the weeds and its unsettling questions about judgment and impostors in the community of faith. They turn to Isaiah 44's witness against idols, Jacob's dream at Bethel and God's promise to migrants, Psalm 86's memorable use of the word "ruffians," and Paul's rare focus on creation's groaning for redemption in Romans 8. Along the way, they connect that cosmic vision to modern issues like environmental harm and data center water usage, giving preachers rich homiletical angles for July 19, 2026.

Cody Sanders, Karoline Lewis, and Matt Skinner unpack the lectionary texts for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. They dig into the parables of the mustard seed, the yeast, the hidden treasure, the pearl, and the dragnet from Matthew 13. The hosts explore why Jesus chose strange, subversive images to describe the kingdom of heaven. They discuss the woman who hides yeast in an enormous amount of flour, connecting the parable to Gospel of Thomas variants. The team wrestles with the dragnet's uncomfortable sorting imagery and warns against easy allegorization. They turn to Solomon's request for an understanding mind in 1 Kings 3 and connect it to Psalm 119's themes of memory and discernment. The conversation moves to Jacob, Rachel, and Laban in Genesis 29, addressing marriage, gender, and power in the ancient world. They close with Romans 8:26-39, highlighting its pastoral power for people who have experienced religious condemnation. Cody shares a story about the MCC Church of San Francisco during the AIDS epidemic. This episode offers preachers fresh angles on parables, wisdom, and grace for July 26.

Titles matter. So does the soil. On this episode of Sermon Brainwave, Matt Skinner, Caroline Lewis, and Cody Sanders dig into the texts for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (July 12, 2026).The team wrestles with Matthew's Parable of the Sower and asks what it really means to "bear fruit." Is it congregational growth? Spiritual maturity? Something else entirely? Cody points out the parable's strange, almost anti-strategic logic: why would a sower scatter seed on every kind of ground, including the bad soil? The hosts connect this to Jesus' own approach to ministry and mission.The conversation moves through Isaiah 55's image of creation itself rejoicing, then into Genesis 25's story of Jacob and Esau, a text the hosts caution can easily be misused to justify xenophobia and tribal hatred if preached without care. From there, they turn to Psalm 65 and its language of a God who answers prayer, before closing with Romans 8 and Paul's teaching on flesh and spirit. Cody offers an important corrective here, naming how "flesh" language has historically been weaponized against bodies, women, and queer people, and pointing preachers toward a healthier way to handle the text.Whether you're preaching the parable, the psalm, the epistle, or the Genesis narrative this week, this episode offers grounded, honest reflection to help shape your sermon.

What does it mean to come to Jesus weary and burdened? In this episode of the Sermon Brainwave podcast, Karoline Lewis, Cody Sanders, and Matt Skinner dig into a rich set of texts for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A. The conversation centers on Matthew 11:28–30 and the promise of rest — but not the kind that soothes middle-class stress. These are beatitude people, crushed under systemic weight, for whom Jesus offers liberation one act of mercy at a time.The hosts unpack the yoke imagery, explore what "rest" means for bodies burdened by imperial economies (ancient and modern), and consider the book Rest Is Resistance as a lens for prophetic preaching. They also take on a challenging passage from Romans 7, where Paul's portrait of a divided self opens an unexpected window into addiction, neurobiology, and how sin operates not just through personal moral failure but through systems — from opioid distribution networks to algorithmically engineered technology. The Pope's recent encyclical on AI even makes an appearance.Along the way, the group touches on Zechariah 9's post-exilic vision of a humble king riding a donkey (and why that image matters beyond Palm Sunday), the often-overlooked agency of Rebekah in Genesis 24, and how Psalm 145 might work better as liturgy than as sermon text.

What does it mean to take up the cross in a world that rewards safety and silence? Matt Skinner, Karoline Lewis, and Cody Sanders dig into the lectionary texts for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (June 22, 2026), exploring the missionary discourse in Matthew 10, the prophet Jeremiah's anguished vocation, the casting out of Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis 21, Psalm 69's theology of complaint, and the "with Christ" language of Romans 6.The conversation wrestles with fear as a communal emotion, the two historical horizons behind Matthew's hard sayings, what it means that God makes a covenant with Ishmael, and how baptism in Romans 6 plants us together with Christ in a death like his. Along the way: a remarkable story of Danish Christians defying Nazi deportations, a reframing of judgment as being seen rather than punished, and honest reflection on what prophetic courage and prophetic silence have each cost the church.

What does it mean to truly welcome someone? In this episode of Sermon Brainwave, Matt Skinner, Karoline Lewis, and Cody Sanders dig into a compact but dense set of texts for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (June 28). The gospel reading — just three verses from Matthew 10 — uses the word "welcome" six times and raises big questions about hospitality, belonging, and who the "little ones" really are. The hosts also wrestle with Jeremiah 28's portrait of prophetic conflict and the politics of legitimating power, explore the Akedah in Genesis 22 through the lens of a God who sees (not just provides), and follow Paul's argument in Romans 6 toward a conversation about sanctification that Lutherans might find surprising.

What does it mean to be sent? In this episode of Sermon Brainwave, Cody Sanders, Karoline Lewis, and Matt Skinner dig into the lectionary texts for the Third Sunday after Pentecost: Matthew 9:35–10:8, Exodus 19:2–8a, Romans 5:1–8, and Psalm 100 (with the alternate first reading from Genesis 18:1–15 also in view).The conversation moves from Jesus's missionary discourse in Matthew and what it means that the disciples are sent not to convert but to heal and restore, to the stunning proclamation of Exodus and what "good news" is actually contextualized to say. The hosts explore laughter and impossibility in Genesis 18, the multi-generational witness of Psalm 100, and the pastoral dangers of reading Romans 5 as a formula for self-improvement. Cody offers a grounded, communal take on hope as something that germinates in despair, not optimism.

What does it mean to faith your way toward healing? On this episode of Sermon Brainwave, Karoline Lewis, Cody Sanders, and Matt Skinner dig into the lectionary texts for the Second Sunday after Pentecost (June 7, 2026): Matthew 9:9–13, 18–26; Hosea 5:15–6:6; Genesis 12:1–9; Psalm 50:7–15; and Romans 4:13–25.The conversation moves from the unlikely calling of Matthew the tax collector to the woman who reached for healing in secret, to Abram's costly and risky act of faithfulness. Along the way, the hosts explore what mercy looks like in practice, how "faith" functions more as a verb than a noun, and why a God who can be counted on matters deeply for preachers and congregations right now.They also note that Romans begins a 15-week summer run through the lectionary, and offer a preview of rich Matthean material ahead through the fall.

Matt Skinner, Karoline Lewis, and Cody Sanders dig into one of the most theologically demanding Sundays of the church year.The lectionary texts span Genesis 1:1–2:4a, Psalm 8, 2 Corinthians 13:11–13, and Matthew 28:16–20. The hosts explore what it means to preach a doctrine that Scripture imprints rather than spells out, and why the Trinitarian formula in the Great Commission sends disciples not after their doubts are resolved, but right in the middle of them.

The Day of Pentecost offers preachers more than one path in. Matt, Karoline, and Cody explore all four lectionary texts for this week and find each one illuminating a different dimension of the Spirit's work.John 20 gets special attention: instead of the dramatic rush of wind and fire in Acts, the risen Jesus enters a room of grieving, frightened disciples and breathes the Spirit into them at close range. The contrast is striking. Acts invites awe and wonder. John offers intimacy. Both are worth preaching.The conversation ranges across all four texts, with discussion of the Spirit's creative power in Psalm 104, the radical inclusivity of Joel's prophecy poured out on all flesh, and Paul's vision in 1 Corinthians 12 of diverse gifts working together for the common good. Cody offers a "telescoping lens" framework for preachers who want to weave all four readings together.

What does "eternal life" actually mean? In this episode, Matt Skinner, Karoline Lewis, and Cody Sanders dig into the texts for the Seventh Sunday of Easter (May 17, 2026): Acts 1:6–14, Psalm 68:1–10, 32–35, 1 Peter 4:12–14 and 5:6–11, and John 17:1–11.The conversation opens with a close look at the High Priestly Prayer in John 17 and a reframe of eternal life as a quality of relationship with God rather than a quantity of time. Cody's Working Preacher commentary on this passage shapes much of the discussion, including the insight that eternal life is a matter of identity, not duration.The hosts also explore the Ascension text in Acts 1, where wonder becomes a spiritual posture and witness becomes a charge to the whole church. On Psalm 68, the group pushes back against triumphalism by centering the psalm's vision of God as protector of orphans, widows, and the desolate. And in 1 Peter, a sharp discussion of solidarity and suffering asks what it truly means to stand beside those whose backs are against the wall.New episodes of Sermon Brainwave drop weekly. Subscribe and visit workingpreacher.org for commentaries, sermon resources, and more.Mentioned in this episode:Support Working Preacher

Join Profs. Rolf Jacobson, Karoline Lewis, and Matt Skinner for a conversation on the Revised Common Lectionary texts for Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (Ord. 5C), Feb. 6, 2022. Recorded via Zoom on Jan. 11, 2022, for Working Preacher. Watch video version at https://youtu.be/npsEtzRf7Wg

Join Profs. Rolf Jacobson, Karoline Lewis, and Matt Skinner for a conversation on the Revised Common Lectionary texts for Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (Ord. 5C), Feb. 6, 2022. Recorded via Zoom on Jan. 11, 2022, for Working Preacher. Watch video version at https://youtu.be/npsEtzRf7Wg