RoboPreacher

are the corporations cutting back Here is a link to an interesting lecture given by Hans J. Hillerbrand at the 2011 Colloquy at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (pages 9-20). Hillerbrand sets out to consider what Luther’s position on Christian Faith and politics would have been. He begins with Luther’s dinner table remark that, “Christ has nothing to do with politics.” From there he goes on to consider the question any seminary student sitting with the contradiction between that Lutheran tradition of “quietism” and the Lutheran notion of “vocation” or “priesthood of all believers” has entertained Hillerbrand phrases the question, “ Really? Jesus has nothing to do with how we as Christians relate our faith to our daily lives, to our vocations, our professions?” I might put the question another way; if we say that every vocation that serves the neighbor is laudable, why do we draw the line at advocacy? Or, to put it a little more bluntly; don’t we act nearly schizo...

i wanna change, too. Matthew 16:21-28 : Prayer: Lord, may the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts humbly follow you. Amen Greetings sisters and brothers. It is truly my honor to be back here with you all today. You have supported me, and I have prayed for you often. We have always been bound by something very deep and personal. For those of you I may not have had the pleasure of meeting, my name is Ryan Cosgrove and I am a member of Luther Memorial . I am a student studying to be a pastor, and this fall will begin my last year of seminary. I will be studying in Washington D.C., and I just completed a year-long internship at a Danish Lutheran congregation in Seattle, Washington. As I’ve gone through this process of working to become a pastor you all have supported me greatly. That support has sustained me, because as fun as this process of becoming a pastor can be, it is also challenging. In fact, I remember one time when I found myself deeply reco...

it's a hell of a heaven we must go to when we die Matthew 16:13-20 Prayer: Lord, may the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts proclaim your son, Jesus, as your anointed one, the messiah. Keys, these simple tools are quite common. I imagine most of you have a ring of them in your pocket or purse. Keys are just one of the many mundane props in the play of our day to day life. Keys are ordinary, except, of course, when they’re not… Today I will give these keys back. No longer will I need to use them to unlock my office. No longer will I find myself strolling upstairs to talk to Pastor Carol. No longer will I find myself taking a quite lunch in the Emmaus Lounge taking in that amazing skyline. No longer. Today I turn in these keys. These keys. These keys that have become mundane and ordinary. These keys have become so humdrum I have forgotten when I rushed here to get ready for a theology pub, a men’s breakfast or the Children’s Christma...

Part I: Contextual Theological Reflection: Ministry Context: Folk musician, Josh Ritter, described the West as a story we made up to erase. In other words, the frontier, or the West, is a destination, not a stop on a journey somewhere else. If an urban dweller were to go to the frontier of the continental United States, Seattle is the largest city one could go that is westernmost and northernmost. This pioneer sentimentality manifests itself in a number of ways in Seattle. For instance, individualism and autonomy are highly valued. These values show up in atypical living arrangements that, while atypical nationwide, are more common in Seattle. For instance, Seattle has among the highest rates of people living alone or unrelated people living together, as well as the smallest average family sizes in the nation. Given that Seattle is a destination, it is the geographically mobile who dwell in the Emerald City. So, paradoxically, while a sense of individuality dr...