Theme: Peter is like many of us who preach. He thinks he must talk, even when he has little to say.

Setting: The lectionary reading was Mark 8. It was the Lenten season. What does it mean for Messiah to die? Peter wrestles with that eventuality in a manner that we Monday morning quarterbacks sometimes can't quite comprehend.

Dramatic Monologue

In the year 1988, the Democratic Convention opened with a bleached blonde, whose time on terra firma was enough to designate her "numerically challenged," speaking of the then Republican presidential candidate.Her startling introduction began with the words: "Poor George, he cain't help it; he was born with a silver foot in his mouth."

That somewhat abrasive statement brought down the house, and it eventually ushered Ann Richards into the Texas g…