RoboPreacher

he meant an entire life of repentance... Reformation 500 has come and gone… For years we’ve been talking about how big of a deal this is. But as the big day approached, it became more and more clear, "business as usual” was directing our affairs. Practical as that may be, what Martin Luther set off 500 years ago interrupted “business as usual.” In fact, folks who were sympathetic to his reforms, suggested Luther back off a little because they were disrupting “business as usual” too much! When did we as a church become more committed to “business as usual,” than the Gospel?   And, don’t think I’m trying to soak the ELCA here, I include myself in this … (Quickly, I think the ornaments were a cool exception to what I’m thinking about) Yes, the “to-do” list never ends anymore. Plenty of usual business calls for our attention. But I can’t help but wonder, how many of these “to-do’s,” really need to be done? What things do we do as the church, just bec...

feel it out until you know it isn’t meant for you (i'm so free) A sermon from David's anointing, 1 Samuel 16:1-13 You know those movies we watch?   The ones where “earth faces it’s darkest hour.” The ones where a cast of heroes must be assembled. And the greatest minds brought together. The ones with a scheme “so crazy it might just work.”   You know those movies you watch? …Well, today’s isn’t one of those movies.   In fact, today’s scripture is about as near the opposite to that as you can get. Because this isn’t Hollywood, this is real life. And the message of scripture is news that has bearing on real life … In scripture today we see the young nation, Israel, facing a crisis. Instead of squadron of heroes, though, every person assembled to ‘save the day,’ from the first to the last, is a loser ! There’s the deposed , Saul. The gun-shy , Samuel. The shaking in his boots, Jesse. And the, not even important enough to get an invite, David...

aint nothing truer than death A sermon on the God who kills to make alive from 1 Samuel 3:1-21 Eli is a priest in over his head, if ever there was one… Today God calls Eli’s charge , Samuel . Samuel, the boy . Samuel, the prophet in training . God calls Samuel in the night. Samuel hears God calling, but isn’t sure what’s happening, so he figures it must be Eli calling. An innocent mistake for a trainee . But Eli, Eli should know better. After all, the calling of God is the stuff his career is made out of . When Samuel goes to Eli, though, it takes him not once , not twice , but three times before he figures out what’s going on! And sadly, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Eli’s blunders .   There was the time when Samuel’s mom, Hannah, was in the temple thanking God for the giving her a child after her and her husband were unable to conceive on their own. When Eli saw Hannah praying, though, he thought she was drunk! Eli can’t tell ...

the waiting is the hardest part A sermon from Exodus 16 A few weeks ago I stumbled on this series, “Last Chance U.” It’s a Netflix, documentary about a junior college, football program in Mississippi.   This is the kind of show that would usually hold no interest for me, but Last Chance U is so well done and compelling, that I was pulled in right away.   It’s centers on the football program at East Mississippi Community College.   What the coach, Buddy Stephens, has done is, build the team out of players who have been turned down from or kicked out of Division One schools for one reason or another. * Usually because of grades or bad decisions .   So his team is made up of players who, it really is their last chance to try and make a go of it in football. And , you have full of players who can play way over the heads of most of their completion… What’s so compelling about “Last Chance U,” is that in the end, the series isn’t about f...

is our God We’re all a bunch of sinners free-riding on Jesus This month we are going to celebrate something that happened 500 years ago ; the day Martin Luther posted his 95 Thesis in Wittenberg and mailed them to his archbishop. The thesis concern the church practices of Luther’s day. Particularly the practice of buying and selling indulgences. Indulgences we’re a church authorized document, sponsoring the forgiveness of sins of loved ones who had died.   Let me lift up a couple of often overlooked facts about this document’s history. For one thing, it’s scholarly . Luther wrote it in Latin, the language of church professionals.   For another, it wasn’t even Luther who broadcasted these thesis! Others who were sympathetic to the cause of reforming the church, saw the potential of Luther’s letter. So they translated and spread it throughout Europe. In other words, there’s no way Luther could have imagined the impact of these 95 thesis when he was writing the...