RoboPreacher

Discipleship Sermon 5 - Cross & Resurrection: As we hear this story , we all get still. Something inside us knows this story is important... Truthfully, though, it sort of feels odd to have this moment in the biblical narrative read today , doesn't it? This is that most special of stories that we save for the "Three Great Days." Hearing about the cross and the resurrection today almost feels a little inappropriate... After all, we save this most-central story for that most-central festival, for the most important moment of the Christian year...   Honestly, though, I believe there is another reason; a subtle reason we keep this story locked away to that one day. We do this, keeping the story set aside, because this story is hard to hear . This story of the empty tomb is hard to believe, it is hard to imagine; frankly it is hard for us to live after that one tomb has been found to be empty. As Bono of U2 quipped, "I can't live...

Mission   Today's discipleship sermon is about the mission. In today's Gospel we hear about how Jesus imagines his mission happening. And it is interesting that Jesus describes this mission as someone planting a little seed in their garden only to have a strong tree take root and house the birds of the air, or as a woman adding a little yeast to the dough to make a batch of bread...   The problem is we're so familiar with these parables we don't let them shock us anymore... The truth is, I do not think this is how we expect Jesus to describe the way God's Kingdom comes. Let us pause to notice who Jesus preaches to; the type of people Jesus sends, and how Jesus sends these folks... I mean, let's just take a second to notice who Jesuspreaches to : Jesus is preaching to those who have lost it all, Those who are hungry, Those who are weeping, Those who have been the target of malicious rumors. These are the kind of people...

the incarnation   Today the discipleship sermon is about the "Incarnation," the Christmas story, God becoming human - flesh and blood.   Today is about that story of the angel coming to Joseph and Mary , the Shepherds , the full inn and the manger, all of it. This story is incredible, full of miracles, and it is also familiar . Perhaps this story is a little too familiar... One of the tells that this story has become tragically familiar is by noticing what does and does not capture our attention. It is interesting that when reflecting on this story of the Incarnation, some people will say that detail of a virgin giving birth is just too much to swallow, too hard to believe. The first time I heard someone actually say that, I nearly swallowed my gum! You mean to tell me, I thought, that in a story where angels speak to humans, God's army sings hymns of peace to shepherds in the fields; in that story the detail that is just too much for you is a...