RoboPreacher

i can learn to be easy The holy Gospel according to St. Luke the 3rd chapter ! Bypassing all the usual lackeys, the Word of God goes right up the line. Past the governor, and finally even over the head of the Emperor himself! In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius the word of God comes to not a single one of those men in power …   Neither , though, does the word of God come to the High Priest in the temple . Instead , the word of God comes to John .   John, the son of a priest. John, who apparently has nothing to do with the priesthood, though . John who’s doing ministry outside the temple, in the wilderness .   Yet, it is him , of all people, that the word of God comes! And the word of God comes to him, no less, while he’s out there in the wilderness .   Whatever else it is, the wilderness is the opposite of civilization . The wilderness is what lies on the other side of our tamed world. And it is there that the word of God comes every time. J...

but who's gonna say a little grace for me(?) A Sermon on John's Question : Each week the pastor returns from an encounter with Scripture to report back what he’s seen and heard… Truthfully, that’s a lot harder than it sounds. Especially with a doozy of a passage like today’s … John, shut-up in prison, sends a message to Jesus, “Are you The One , or should we keep waiting.” Honestly, the honesty of John’s question scandalizes us. Why would John, who leapt in utero when Jesus’ mom was simply within earshot, be having second thoughts now ? And, if that did happen at all, why does Luke insist on telling us about it? Couldn’t he have papered over that part?  It’s not what we’d like to hear today; a report of this fiery preacher having misgivings… But it is for me, to report this back to you.  And of course, the temptation is to wriggle here on the hook for ten-minutes, or so. Doing what I can to convince you John didn’t really mean that.  ...

turns to paradise   The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew the 3rd (1-12) chapter! Shall we have a story?   A friend had told me I needed to hear this prophet of God preaching... Now, I've never been much for these prophets; and when I found out this prophet was carrying on the wilderness, well, I just didn't have the patience to go all that way just to hear some crying about how mad God was. My friend wouldn't stop, though, she kept going on and on about this John guy. Finally I just gave in; to get her to be quiet if nothing else.   After a journey of a few hours we were finally there right, exactly, in the middle of nowhere; and when I saw the prophet I couldn't believe my eyes, this guy didn't even have the sense to pretend to be respectable; he was wearing clothes made of camels hair, and when I leaned over and told my friend this guy looked crazy enough to eat bugs; well, she just looked at me... Apparently that's what this prophet did, ate...

i hope you're coming with me   The Holy Gospel according toSt. Luke, the third chapter! One Emperor, four rulers and two priests all could not conjure up the Word of God. Instead, God's Word shows up in the wilderness to the son of a barren woman. This work of God is unexpected, unparalleled, and ultimately unlikely. Yet that is exactly what happens. And it is a good thing, too...   John, son of Zechariah, while in the wilderness, receives the Word of God. It is a good thing that God decides to send God's word into the Wilderness. It is a good thing because we all know a thing or two about the wilderness, don't we? We've known that feeling of being lost.   Do any of you watch Modern Family? It is quite good. If you don't watch it, consider it. Anyway, there is an episode where the family goes on a vacation to a dude-ranch. Two of the characters, Haley and Dylan, are high-school age. They have been dating for the entire ...

because they refused to be their servant On December 12 I will be leading Chapel at the Church of the Abiding Presence. The Gospel for the Monday of the third week of Advent is Luke 3:7-18 . At this point I’ve only done cursory research, but the dynamics of this story have already piqued my interest. Here we have an itinerant preacher addressing the need for justice and repentance (this is John after all). In their culture of oppression and corruption the crowds are immediately drawn to this message. In fact, some are so infatuated with John they begin to wonder if, indeed, he is the insurgent to overthrow the powers and principalities and become the new, just ruler. Quickly John points to one greater than he. This dynamic can be seen in many places, but one contemporary example is the OWS movement. Many have criticized this movement as lacking leadership and direction. While many of these critiques are well-intentioned and well-made ( great New Yorker article analyzing the...