RoboPreacher

standing in the breach We’re about to begin another trip through the Bible. This is our second year with the Narrative Lectionary; and I’ve really enjoyed it.   I love that we start at the beginning and work our way through. That the passages are longer. That there is only one passage to focus on. That we get to spend time with some great parts of the Bible that are often overlooked or given short shrift. But one of my favorite things is, the way working from beginning to end helps us draw connections. How you can see the way the stories in the Old Testament continue and build on one another.   How you can see what it means to say Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises. Because Jesus didn’t just come out of nowhere. Jesus came from the story that began in Genesis and ends in Revelation. And Jesus is the one who completes these stories. Sadly, I think that’s hard for us to connect with these days.   Because we live with a lot of broken promises, ...

like it always has Sermon on Communion, from the Last Supper in Mark : At Grand View, every senior has to take this final seminar. In it, the school does everything it can, to prepare students for life after the academy.   You have to go to a toastmasters meeting. Social events until you get five business cards from potential employers. Mock interviews that are taped, and then replayed in front of class. Informational meetings about student loans, and the impossibility of getting out of them…   Of all that, though, for me the most intimidating part was the sessions on etiquette … I’m from a small town, and we’re all pretty much the same . And while I learned the basics: wash your hands, wipe your face, say please, and don’t forget to say thank you afterward; that was about the extent of it.   It wasn’t until college that I learned there was a proper way to eat soup. That there is particular fork to use for the salad.   It wasn’t keepi...

leaning on the everlasting arm A sermon on Communion, and Paul's instructions thereof: At some point in my life I learned the lesson that nothing is given to you. That, if you want something, you have to go out there and earn it. You have to work for everything .   And what’s that lesson has especially earned me; is totally unbearable streak! I mean, can you imagine having someone like that as older brother? *I bet some of you can , because you have one . Anyone want to testify??? Or, being married to a guy like that? Woof … Because being around someone like that, is exhausting . Not only because they’re always pushing ; but because the truth is, that lesson I bought into so long ago is wrong . It’s wrong .   Life doesn’t work like that. And there’s a movie that depicts this so well. Then western, “True Grit.” The Coen brother’s version, of course .   It’s about this teenage girl, Mattie. Her father died when a two-bit crook, Tom Chaney...

these things get louder The second sermon on baptism, with Paul's letter to the Romans as our guide: Much trouble is caused imagining “sin” is only something we do . Or, if we remember our catechism, something we fail to do .   And, while it is what do, and fail to, that unleashes sin. Sin is so much more than just actions . It’s a power that’s been let loose . Sin is a power that’s been let loose in the world… Kind of like that great sci-fi series; “Stranger Things.” A show about this ragtag crew of outcasts who stumble upon an experiment gone horribly wrong.   A weapons manufacturer, exploring paranormal weapons, opened a portal to another dimension. Instead of accessing weapon power, though, they just unlocked a path for the monster who inhabited that dimension, to wreak havoc on ours .   Basically it’s the story of Adam and Eve and the aftermath. A tale of an action that began a terrible chain reaction.   That’s how sin works. Mor...

to go down to the river, and come up all three times A reading from Acts 2 It’s one of those questions that cuts through it all. One that lays our humanity, our brokenness bare . “Brothers,” the crowd asked after Peter’s sermon, “ what should we do ?” …What should we do? And who among us here hasn’t wondered that? When you’re cut to the heart. When you’re overwhelmed by it all and the words just come tumbling out, “What should I do.” We’ve all been there.  Life has a way of doing that. Of pressing us up against it. Of making it all too plain, we don’t know what to do. We’re lost . The circumstances of life have left us helpless… “What should we do?” And, who hasn’t been on the other side of it, either? Sitting across the table from a friend, a child, a brother or sister who’s in trouble. Listening as they lay it all out. What they’re up against. What’s happened to them. The news they got from an unexpected call.  They lay it all out to y...