RoboPreacher

and cause us in her ways to go Luke 1:5-13, 14-25, 57-80 : \It was Zechariah’s shift, again … Zechariah could remember the first time he served as priest at the altar of the Lord. He’d been anxious . Worried he’d mess up. But, that was long time ago.   Over the course of the years , though, Zechariah had served as priest plenty of times. And in that time, life, as it is wont to do, had gone by … Zechariah got married . He and Elizabeth built a life together.   And while it wasn’t the most glamorous life, it was a good one. They were happy enough with it. They couldn’t ask for more… Except … Except one thing; they hadn’t had a child . …And while it may not be our child situation, we all have barren places in our lives. Don’t we? Places where things haven’t gone the way we expected. Places where, despite all our efforts , we haven’t been able to make them come out a’right… That was Zechariah and Elizabeth’s lot.   ...

in time the lord will rise Ezra 1:1-4; 3:1-4, 10-13 : This story really begins about 50 years earlier . When God’s chosen people, Israel, were defeated by Babylon.   Babylon had sacked their capitol city and razed their national cathedral. In a final act of indignation , Babylon deported their leading citizens away into exile . Forcing them to live as foreigners in a foreign country… …And the truth is, although we’ve never been led away by force, we CAN relate to this. Those times when we’re so down and out , it feels like we’re a foreigner , a stranger to our own lives. Sometimes we especially feel like that during this time of the year. …One of my favorite musicians, Sufjan Stevens, has released two , five album Christmas box sets! That’s a lot of Christmas music; 10 albums! As fun and quirky as all the music is, the story behind it is even better.   For Sufjan Christmas was usually the time all the drama of his family l...

i should be satisfied Isaiah 40:1-11 “ Prepare the way of the Lord .”   … Sounds pretty good . Doesn’t it?   It certainly fits with our most beloved image of ourselves and our lives; as preparing . Getting ready . Day by day, little by little, putting our lives , and the life of the world , a little more in order … Prepare the way of the Lord ; yeah, it sounds good… It sounds good only so long as you don’t actually think about it. The Advent devotion Amanda and I are reading offers a helpful description.   It read: All we can imagine is that God is infinite , overwhelming , and beyond words. Millions of light years mean less to God than a centimeter for us . Nebulae and the Milky Way are likes specks of dust that dance in the sun for God . God upholds everything with almighty power. God knows everything , even the invisible electrons that revolve in their orbit. …Then the writer asks, “what about us .” What about us , indeed...

where it went Jeremiah 33:14-18 : So, how was Thanksgiving? Was I right? Was it im -perfect? Were there any full-blown disasters ? …Well, if there were, and you want to talk about it, let’s schedule a visit. But the truth is, it’s a pretty safe bet to predict the holidays won’t be perfect. After all, nothing is. And the high-wire balancing act of the holidays is rife with opportunities for things to go wrong .   So no , predicting the holidays won’t be perfect is hardly prophetic. At least, not like anything Jeremiah was called to predict… To be honest, though , much of Jeremiah’s prophesies would hardly count as predictive, either! First, Jeremiah was called to speak against the people’s rampant and flagrant infidelity . And second, he was called to predict that superpower, Babylon , would come in and conquer Jerusalem. But between those two things, there’s not a lot of prediction , per se.   Saying God chooses peop...