RoboPreacher

that are keeping us on our feet A Sermon for Maundy Thursday : Isn’t it just like Jesus, to make us do something we’d just as well avoid? All this business of taking off shoes, having someone wash our feet, for heaven’s sake. It’s all just too much!  Today is Maundy Thursday, though. On this evening, we hear of Jesus’ last night with his disciples. On this holy day, the church gathers her children and puts before them Jesus’ command to actually love one another, to risk vulnerability. To risk humility. Tonight we hear of Jesus’ last night with his disciples.  The command he gave them, as he said what had to have been so hard to hear. How soon, he would go where they could not . The way their life together, was going to rupture all too quickly. Admitting that in a matter of hours, nothing would be able to put it back together the days they had, had with Jesus… Of all the poignant moments in Jesus’ all too short life and ministry, this is the p...

now there is naught but death's gray shell The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke ! For Easter Sunday; it sure is gloomy. Not only that, either. The Gospel practically reads like a misprint this day. Here you are. Dressed in your Sunday finest. On your best behavior, no doubt. The Easter feast is waiting at home. Or the brunch reservation made weeks ago.  You’re here . Ready for some good news. All decked out and just waiting to sing Alleluias to the rafters. Only the Gospel is sure full of false-starts .  I nstead of “alleluias;” the Gospel report is keeps inserting that qualifier, “ but .” Hardly a joyous word. And that isn’t all that’s wrong! The cast isn’t filled with joy or wonder this day. The women arrive early to prepare the body, only to have two men dressed in dazzling clothes, reprimand them. They should know better than to be looking for Jesus in a tomb , they sternly say. Once they finally remember everything Jesu...

but you idiot kid, you don't have a clue A sermon from Paul's epistle to the Philippians: “For [Jesus’] sake I have suffered the loss of all things,” sighs Paul. Talk about a tough sell… Paul was never much of a salesman, though. And it wasn’t just that he didn’t have such instincts. No, Paul had too much trust in his Lord, and he had too much respect for his hearers to do something like, try and peddle worshipping the Risen Christ… “For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things,” admits Paul.  That’s a hard God to talk about. A God who would demand everything . A God who would even let it all be lost.  No, this kind of talk about God, isn’t our favorite… Paul has that evangelistic fervor, though. You can’t help but have the sense he would gladly polish his pitch; if only he could.  The trouble, however, is the kind of God we have. A God who doesn’t share. A jealous God… If you’re going to try and get someone to join yo...

from where you left it Lent Music Vol IIII Untitled 07 - Kendrick Lamar California - Grimes Get Up - Caitlin Canty My Silver Lining - First Aid Kit Slow Coming - Benjamin Booker

let's do it different Lent Music Vol. 3 LA Hallucinations -  Carly Rae Jepsen Eagle on a Pole - Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band Black History Month - Death From Above 1979 Home - Heems All I want - LCD Soundsystem

if i could i would no longer be barren The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke ! When Jesus wants to light a fuse and then leave the room; he tells a parable… We hear this parable of the barren fig tree, and even before Jesus has abruptly finished, we assume we’ve gotten the moral of his little life-lesson. The landowner is God, of course . Jesus is the gardener, trying to convince an angry God to wait a little longer before he callously has the tree cut down and tossed on the heap. Like most assumptions, this one only holds so long as we don’t give it too much though… Is the landowner’s character really so similar to God’s? Is the behavior of the landowner faithful to the witness of God we have in Jesus? What if God isn’t the landowner at all? What if we are?  What if you are? After all, aren’t we the ones who get impatient ? Aren’t we the one’s who demand to see the tree bear fruit right now , darn it! Aren’t we the one’s who think we’re t...