RoboPreacher

and a breakthrough a sermon on Jesus' parable of the reckless creditor : We’ve all been reading this passage all wrong ! Tell me if I’m mistaken, but we typically read Jesus’ words in the first part of this passage as guidance about how to bring a wayward member back into the fold. Don’t we? I know that’s how I’ve always read it.   If that’s the case, though , that makes Peter’s question if he should forgive an offending member seven times more than twice as forgiving as Jesus ’ THREE strikes and you’re out policy! Doesn’t it?   However , Jesus doesn’t tell Peter that’s too lenient. On the contrary , Jesus says seven times isn’t even eleven times enough! Something doesn’t add up! Does it?   And perhaps sensing this, Jesus tells a parable . A parable about someone who hits the jackpot when they get something like a billion -dollar debt erased , free and clear!   As well as that might have made the point, though; Jesus doesn’t end the parable there. Does he? No...

that the right song / can't make it better a sermon on Jesus' out-and-out glory on that mountainside The film, Banshees of Inisherin , a contender for this year’s best motion picture and probably a lock for my favorite film of the year depicts, without flinching and yet full of pathos, life devoid of Christ’s hearty redemption . The movie takes place on a fictional island, on the coast of Ireland, at the tail end of the Irish Civil War. In this movie, two drinking buddies come to an abrupt impasse. The rift emerges when one of the friends can no longer bear the prattle that passes for conversation in the pub. Colm, played just excellently by Brendan Gleeson, decides he no longer has the time to while away the hours. Instead of spending his afternoons idly at J. J. Devine’s, the local tavern, Colm determines to dedicate himself to more meaningful pursuits, primarily composing music on his fiddle. This sounds simple enough, but as you and I know, such things rarely are...

i'm leaving tomorrow, babe / i'll come back from the dead a sermon the (unsatisfactory) conclusion to Jesus' sermon on the mount : Today Christ brings the Sermon on the Mount HOME. However , Christ refuses to end this sermon with a rousing finale. Instead of ending on a high note, Christ ends on a disheartening one. Instead of telling us sunny days are ahead, he speaks of the storms of life. Storms with the power to flood and beat us into pieces … Tuesday was the State of the Union Address.   I remember that night when I lived in Washington, D.C. It’s a big to-do. And I’m sure Tuesday was no exception. Truthfully, though, I don’t miss those days much.   Nonetheless, it’s fair to say that these aren’t the most unpredictable events. Although the rancor is something new . Truthfully, though, whether you watched the State of the Union or not, you know how it ended . You know how it ended because they all end the same way, with a crescendo ! President Biden’s speech end...

when you shake off / what's weighing down heavily Another sermon on Jesus' (better) Sermon (on the Mount) Who here would like a deeper discipleship, a more satisfying spirituality, or a fuller faith? * Raise hand . … Don’t worry. We all do. There’s not a one of us here who graduated from godliness . Whatever else you make of such a notion, you can at least take comfort from the fact you’re in a good place today.   Now, I don’t mean that you’re making progress in the pursuit of perfection . Don’t hear that by any means! If anything , we’re all in terrible arrears when it comes to that benchmark. And I don’t even mean that you’ve made it to church , either. Although , that is closer to my meaning than some cockamamy Christianity.   No, I’m talking about how holy Scripture has taken us to a good place. Today, by the power of the living word, we find ourselves at the foot of that great mount where Jesus gives his most famous sermon. And in today’s portion of this sermon, ...