RoboPreacher

in a different way A sermon on the beginning of Paul's Galatian epistle : You don’t have to be a Bible scholar to realize that St. Paul isn’t happy with the folks at Faith Lutheran in Galatia. After a brief introduction containing his credentials and succinct greeting praising the liberating work of God in Christ Jesus, Paul turns his attention to the Galatians. And he doesn’t beat around the bush with them, either. “I am astonished ,” St. Paul says. And before you can wonder if he’s astonished in a good way, he lets you know what’s got him so flabbergasted. “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ…,” Paul says.   What’s got St. Paul, a man whose nearly seen it all before, so taken aback, is that he’s never met such a group of fast turncoats before! “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting ,” breathes Paul. And do you know what the Galatians have gone and done that has provoked St. Paul’s ire so? Well, they wen...

with the same old blues oh, then you touched my life A sermon on Jesus' unique therapy With these words, Jesus lays out the course of the Christian life . And with these words, he couldn’t be more clear . Jesus doesn’t equivocate in this sermon. And neither is he subtle.   In fact, that’s one of the things I like about this translation we’re using. The word choices shock us into actually hearing what Jesus is preaching. This translation aims to peel away the religious sentiment these words have so often been wrapped in. Hopefully , this translation will make Jesus’ words zing with a newfound potency for you today. Ideally, it will even jolt you with what Jesus is doing in this upside - down sermon of his! Take, for instance, the first beatitude. You’re used to hearing this outrageous pronouncement as, “Blessed are the poor in spirit .” A very fine translation, all in all. The trouble , though, is how we hear these words.   When we hear “poor in spirit,” we tend t...