RoboPreacher

if you change The holy gospel according to St. Luke, the 19th chapter ! This and last year’s Palm Sunday presented a particular challenge for me . You see, I’ve been schooled in the tradition of Palm/ Passion Sunday. Not just Palm Sunday.   The logic of adding the Passion into Palm Sunday is to reduce the likelihood we’ll go directly from the ‘ Glory, Laud, and Honor ’ of Palm Sunday into the glorious victory of Easter Sunday. If you avoid the darkness, distress, and downright doom of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, you are not only missing the power of Jesus’ empty tomb. You are also robbing yourself of the opportunity to reckon with those ambiguous dimensions of your own life. The problem , though, is there’s no good way to try and fit the Passion into an at-home Palm Sunday service. Maybe there’s never been a good way to shoehorn the Passion into Palm Sunday, and life in the time of COVID is just making that apparent. Either way, all we can observe today is the festivities...

oh, be near me The holy gospel according to St. Luke the 18th & 19th chapters ! Jericho is the  last stop before Jerusalem . And Jerusalem is ground zero . Everyone knows it, too. In fact, as Jesus heads to the capital , a crowd swells . This is the moment they’ve all been waiting for. When someone would finally lead them to take back their nation and their pride , too. Jericho, and then Jerusalem . After that, all that’s left are the spoils. Before they can march into Jericho, though, a blind beggar starts making a scene! Not cheering the crowd on, but crying out for mercy .   If there ever was a time for mercy, it’s not now. Now is the time for justice . Some in the crowd let the man know as much, too. “Quiet,” they hiss. “Jesus is marching on Jerusalem. He’s got bigger fish to fry than you and your little problems. Hush up.” But the beggar won’t . In fact, he shouts all the louder. The momentum the crowd has been building starts to lose steam as people look this ...

oh, be near me The holy gospel according to  St. Luke the 16th chapter, 19-31 ! If you’re anything like me, or anyone else with a pulse for that matter, your first reaction to this parable is to wonder how you can try and avoid the rich man’s fate. The irony , though, is that in attempting to avoid his fate, you effectively consign YOURSELF to it!   Despite your best attempts , OR perhaps because of them, your reaction to this parable is very likely to land you in the company of the rich man himself! …The rich man’s entire life is a testimony to the art of life WELL- lived . Every move he makes, from his residence, to his attire, down to even his fare, are all finely curated affects of his exquisite life . Lazarus , on the other hand, couldn’t be more different ! Everything about his meager life screams, “ death ." Even before he’s in the grave , the dogs come and feed on his corpse ! Lazarus is nothing more than GOOD as dead ALL his life . Eventually , though, Lazarus...