RoboPreacher

rejoice Let’s do something a little different. Let’s skip the gospel, and instead work our way through appointed Psalm for Ash Wednesday, Psalm 51 .   Psalm 51 is the prayer King David wrote after ordering the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. It was also one of Martin Luther’s favorite psalms. So to begin, let’s open our hymnals to Psalm 51.   Here’s a little trick, all the psalms are in our hymnal. They’re the first 150 hymns. So, to find Psalm 51, just turn to hymn number 51 in your hymnal. …Got it? Okay. Let’s recite the beginning of Psalm 51 responsively , verses one through six.   I’ll recite the odd verses, and you all respond by reciting the even verses. *READ V.1-6 OF PS.51* Well, this is no psalm for the faint-hearted. Is it? “My sin is ever before me. / Against you ONLY have I sinned ; and done what is evil in your sight; so that you are justified when YOU speak and right in YOUR judgement .” It...

you're the one to change my mind The holy gospel according to St. Mark 7:24-37 ! This is one of the most scandalous encounters in the Bible! Aside from the fact that the woman is the wrong gender, the wrong race, and the wrong religion to be approaching Jesus like that; the really offensive part of this tête-à-tête is how gruff , and frankly disrespectful , Jesus comes across! A desperate mother falls at Jesus’ feet, begging him to cast a demon from her daughter. Full of “compassion,” Jesus replies, “it isn’t fair to take the children’s food, and throw it to the dogs .”   …Ouch! But then, in a move almost everyone hates just as much, the woman doesn’t take Jesus to task for being so insensitive! Instead , she just agrees ! “ Sure ,” she shrugs , “But, even the dogs snatch up a loose crumb or two.” …With that, Jesus tells the woman to go back home; the demon has left her daughter.   And, indeed , upon returning home, the woma...

past the point of hanging 'round too long The holy Gospel according to St. Mark the 6th chapter ! Well, this week wasn’t the best week to be an Iowan. Was it? …I thought about asking who participated in the caucus, and then I thought, “I can’t do that.”   But then I thought it’s be funny to ask who participated in the caucus, and then while hands were raised, I’d yell, “now everyone else , get ‘em!” But , in a country increasingly defined by whether you’re blue or red, our insistence that in Jesus Christ even that division has been overcome, is one of our most potent witnesses . …Back to the caucus, though. Because there’s a very apt sermon-illustration in there.   By now it’s been determined that the cause of the fiasco was a coding error.   But , judging by how agitated everyone got, over what turned out to be nothing more than a technical issue, it would seem as though this whole ordeal tipped into some inexcusable terr...

be down The holy Gospel according to St. Mark the 5th chapter ! Faith is featured prominently in today’s gospel. Isn’t it? But , if you’re anything like the rest of us, it’s a little convicting to see these characters interact with Jesus.   Here they are, making faith look like the easiest thing in the world. While the rest of us are struggling to keep what little faith we have left from failing . …Today’s scripture begins as Jesus lands upon the rocky shoals of life.   No sooner does he land, than a man runs up to him and throws himself at his feet! Last week it was a foreigner possessed by a whole legion of demons. But this week it’s a local, possessed by the fear he’s going to lose his daughter . Jairus, a leader in the church. His little girl is at the point of death .   Chocking out the words in broken sentences, he manages to ask Jesus is he’ll come with him, and lay his hands on his poor girl, so that she might be m...