RoboPreacher

steady your boats / arms to shoulder The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke ! Get lost. Take a hike. Beat it. Go to He/  Well, you get the idea.. Not a proper way to say, ‘well, I guess we disagree on this issue.’  Only crass folks would talk like that. I’m sure none of you saints have ever said such a thing …  You can learn a lot about the character of someone by the way they speak. Which is why today, I have to tell you, you have a savior who would say something like that. And not only that! Your savior doesn’t just have a dirty mouth. You have the kind of savior who would tell you to go to Helena, Montana. If you catch my drift…  There isn’t any love lost between the Pharisees and Jesus.  They never seem to agree on anything; they’re like republicans and democrats that way. Throughout the Gospel they’re always butting heads. Today , in the Gospel, it finally comes to a head.  Admittedly, the Pharisees couldn’t ha...

when you first began it The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark ! Well, we’ve got another problem on this second week of Lent; or maybe to be more accurate, I should say I’ve got a problem… My problem, as it turns out, is today’s Gospel. Because here’s the thing; I love you all, I know how hard following is, I know how busy you all are, and I know how you really do try to be faithful. And while I’d prefer to come up here and say something anodyne like “I know you’re  doing your best,” or “ you deserve a break;” today’s Gospel won’t allow me to do that kind of thing. Sorry... Jesus and his Word stands firm: Pick up your cross. Deny yourself. Don’t try to save your life, lose it. Follow me… … And I thought I was giving up a lot when I dropped meat from my menu for Lent … So, I’ve got a problem; although I love you, and although I know you’re doing your best; I can’t give you any wiggle room, I can’t let you off the hook of Jesus’ hard Word today… Sorry....

trying not to tear it apart Martin Luther once said, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.” A living, daring confidence in God’s grace … Saul had lived his life atop his high horse; defending the faith, capturing those deviant christians and jailing or even killing them.  Until one day, from left-field he was knocked from his perch because he heard the voice of the one he’d been hunting. Only this voice wasn’t declaring vengeance but asking, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?” In the face of God’s unlikely and unexpected declaration, Saul’s only recourse, really, was empty-handed trust.  Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace. Long before Paul had come to experience such a profound change that he needed to change his name, though, Sarai and Abram were doing what they could to carve out a life. Without any children to support them in their old ...