RoboPreacher

that his love might save us A sermon on Jesus' surprising parable of the sheep and goats : Reflecting on this parable, Martin Luther said, “the world is full , FULL of God.”   …At any rate, this is Jesus’ final parable. And fittingly , it’s all about the end of things. Specifically, the last judgment .   And we’ve all suspected history is heading toward a final reckoning, too. Haven’t we? However , at least as far as Jesus tells it, when the sorting is complete, everyone will have been proven to have had absolutely no clue as to what they were doing!   By the time Jesus , the Good Shepherd, finishes his parable, everyone , from the sheep to the goats , is surprised . And so are you . And so am I . We, too , LIKE the sheep and the goats, are flummoxed by the end of this parable. Aren’t we? That, however , is understandable . What’s more, it’s copacetic . No, better than that. It is truly felicitous that this parable surprises you and me.   After all, surprise is the hinge th

looked 'round, asked, 'you made this hell yourself  / well it's real nice' A sermon on Jesus' perfect parable of the 10 bridesmaids : On any given Sunday, more than a few of us walk through those doors, just barely hanging by a thread . And trust me, I’m not being dramatic here, either.   Now I know we don’t come here every Sunday fresh off a crisis . However, I do know that plenty of us ARE here with some drama breathing down our necks as I speak. Aren’t we? And what’s more , I know just as many of us staggered through those doors only recently touched by some calamity . And I know plenty of US here are trying to make heads from tails after life pulled the rug out from under our feet. And I even know there are not a few of us worried life will never be put a’right .   And as for the rest of us , well, we’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Aren’t we? It’s like Thoreau said, isn’t it? The majority of us lead lives of quiet desperation. Qui

it's just another damn of the damns not given  A sermon on the parable of the irrepressible wedding banquet : This is one of those parables that make us blush. Isn’t it? If last week’s   parable hit too close to home, this one strikes too far afield. As far as the likes of us are concerned, this parable has a number of strikes against it.   First, there’s the fact this parable compares the kingdom of heaven to a king who’s all too willing to raze a city and even toss out a poor guest just for wearing the wrong duds! But that’s not the real problem we have with this parable. Is it? No, the real problem with this parable is that it dares to depict the kingdom of heaven as infringing upon our own present one! If the kingdom of heaven has any place in our daily affairs, it’s mainly in the background . The kingdom of heaven is something that’s distant . Distant in both time and space.   As Jesus would tell it, though, the kingdom of heaven is not so far off. What’s more, it’