RoboPreacher

it breaks your neck, it builds you a delicate shine  A sermon on Genesis 21:1-3, 22:1-14 : The closer they get to the top of the mountain, the  more the tension mounts. I’m talking about, of course, Abraham and that child promised to him in his old age, Isaac. Isaac, that miraculous child of mirth .   Today’s passage has a way of scandalizing folks. And it’s not hard to see why. Is it? After all, what kind of a God would ask for something like that? The thing, though , is this passage is only shocking in a theoretical way. Because in the trenches of real life, this passage rings all too true . Doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you agree that we only ever make it to the altar of the Lord after a harrowing journey ? Maybe it’s that mountain of paperwork sitting on your desk. Maybe it’s that seemingly endless valley of grief you’ve been trying to make your way through. Maybe it’s that uneven terrain of family life. Maybe it’s that dense thicket of guilt you can’t seem to ...

i was once afraid of heights A sermon on the Beginning of the Bible ( Himself ): Referencing Seinfeld  never goes well. But I can’t help myself! The show is a masterpiece ! The care and craft that went into it are lovingly conspicuous. The intricacy with which the jokes are set up and the aplomb with which the punchlines are delivered all betray the very premise upon which the show itself was based! If you didn’t already know, and I hope you do, Seinfeld is famously about Nothing . A car lost in a parking lot, gum-chewing, a wink, soft-talkers, traffic, waiting for a table, and “yada, yada, yada.” These are all fair game. And rather than flopping , all these nonstarters turn out to be raw material for some of the best television ever created! That’s a bold claim. But it holds up. The genius of Seinfeld was the realization that those parts of life we consider insignificant are really prime material for   great comedy . And upon reviewing their opus, you’ve got to han...

but it's the rules of the game A sermon on stewardship from the Gospel of Luke In his parable today, Jesus imagines a man who manages to make it. Someone who has a harvest to remember. Someone who, instead of squandering his good fortune, makes a plan to invest it.   The fellow in today’s parable realizes the bumper crop for the opportunity that it is. And he takes it, too. He makes arrangements for this windfall to pay dividends for the rest of his life! And he goes to bed that night dreaming of the bright future he’s just made for himself.   As it turns out, though, he buys the farm that night. Instead of settling into a comfortable life, he dies . And all that shrewd financial planning of his turns out to be a whole bunch of nothing . …From where we sit, this fellow is unlucky or, perhaps, unfortunate . Jesus, though, has another word. As far as Jesus is concerned, the chap in today’s parable didn’t catch a bad break. No, he was downright foolish . Now we oug...