RoboPreacher

but the laws we changed 'em A sermon on the anointing of David You know those movies where the “earth faces its darkest hour”? The ones where a band of heroes must be assembled. The movies where the best and brightest are brought together for an impossible task. You know those movies? Well, today’s passage isn’t one of them. In fact, this passage is about as near the opposite from that as you can get! This is because we’re dealing with the Bible . And the Bible isn’t for Tinseltown. No , the Bible is for real life. In scripture today, we see the young nation, Israel, facing a crisis . Instead of assembling a squadron of heroes , though, every person brought on the scene, from first to last, is an absolute loser ! There’s gun-shy , Samuel. The know- nothing Jesse. And the, not important enough to be on the stage at the big moment, David. But , spoiler alert, in that room full of nobodies , God had hidden the future! Let me set the scene: Fledging Israel is staring down

& you failed A sermon on Samuel's subpar supervisor Eli is a priest in  over his head if ever there was one… Today God calls Eli’s charge , Samuel . Samuel, the boy . Samuel, the prophet-in- training . When God first calls Samuel, though, Samuel isn’t sure what’s happening. As a novice in all this God-business, he thinks it’s his supervisor calling. An innocent mistake for a trainee . Eli, however , should know better. After all, discerning the voice of God is the stuff his career is made of! When Samuel goes to Eli, though , it takes Eli not once , not twice , but three times to figure out what’s going on! And sadly, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Eli’s blunders .   There was the time Samuel’s mom, Hannah, was in the temple thanking God for giving her a child after she and her husband had been unable to conceive. When Eli saw Hannah praying, though , he thought she was drunk! Eli couldn’t tell the difference between a grateful parishioner and som

to recreate us A sermon on the Israelite's wandering the wilderness It all began with so much promise : There were the staggering plagues. The hasty escape. The harrowing passage through the Red Sea. The songs of triumph belted out from the safe side of the shore. And then there was the much-needed respite of Elim. Elim, that little oasis full of fresh water and lush palm trees. For the Israelites, though , all that is now well in the past . A distant memory. And if that wasn’t enough , their destination still lies a good way ahead of them. So far ahead, in fact, they can’t make out the faintest glimmer of their journey’s end , the Promised Land to which God is leading them. For all intents and purposes, it appears as though God has left the Israelites in as dire of straights as they’ve ever known.   This is the very essence of the wilderness. The wilderness is that place betwixt and between . In the wilderness , all those comforts of the past are roundly a thing of

be afraid, be very afraid. But do it anyway  A sermon on Moses' call On my office door, I have a print of the Caravaggio painting, “The Calling of Saint Matthew.” It’s there as a bit of a wink . I encourage you to take a look at it sometime. Caravaggio was a true master . His paintings are famous for their realism . As well as their ability to capture a moment filled with action. The Calling of Saint Matthew depicts such a scene, too. In the painting, Matthew is in a dusky room, bent over a table full of coins with a coterie of Italian dandies . Into this scene steps Jesus . And it’s impossible to tell if the light that’s bursting in around him comes from the open doorway, or Jesus himself . This divine intrusion startles a few of Matthew’s associates out of their business, but not Matthew. No, Matthew’s too busy counting his money. At that very moment, while Matthew is still unaware, Jesus thrusts his hand forward. Motioning that he’s come for the very one who’s to

but it ain't for free A sermon on J acob's cheat and the aftermath thereupon I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but in the past year or so, I’ve really stepped up my Sunday morning fashion game. It was one of those COVID hobbies, I suppose. It began with a COVID sale. And since then, my Sunday attire has consisted almost exclusively of slacks and a formal cleric. Complete with cufflinks . And even an occasional bespoke blazer to set the whole ensemble off.   Now, I’m not exactly sure where this desire to dress up came from. Maybe it was an attempt to interject a little show into these pared- down services. Maybe it was because I was feeling a little older and thought I might as well dress like it. Or maybe it was because everything else felt out of control, and my attire was one thing I did have some power over. Whatever the exact nature of the cause was, though, I can’t help but notice how my fashion choices were never just about my fashion choices! And I’m not