RoboPreacher

it's still a surprise A sermon on the time Jesus turned a tough night into a new day Well, I hate to say it, but while all of you were freezing your tuchuses off in the polar vortex, I was sporting short sleeves in sunny California. But I don’t bring this up to brag . I mention it because I wasn’t just in sunny California. No, I was in the land of affluence .   Southern California is a place of conspicuous consumption. Before I even made it to the hotel room, I saw a Porsche . And you know what? Sports cars like that were a regular sight out there.   Now, I was in there for work . I was there as a facilitator for the Iowa Preachers Project. And one of my jobs was to shuttle the participants from location to location. But the car we rented was a large SUV.   I have to admit, when I found myself idling behind one of those sports cars, I was sorely tempted . As a good boy from the Midwest , I felt it was my job to poke my finger in that kind of opulence. And I knew al...

hope, love, truth, and the belief in the indestructability of the good in all people The holy Gospel according to St. Luke the 5th chapter ! Peter, James, and John are washing their nets. But they might as well be licking their wounds after the night they just had. That’s why, when Jesus commandeers one of their boats for a makeshift stage, they don’t protest.   Once the sermon’s complete and the crowds have dispersed, Jesus tells Peter to sail out INTO the deeper waters, for a little catch. Peter tries to tell Jesus what kind of a night it’s been, but it’s not worth the trouble. Peter obeys Jesus, but he could just as well be humoring him for all Peter expects to come of their little endeavor. If they didn’t catch anything that night , they’re not about to catch anything during daylight hours, either. And certainly not in the deep waters, for that matter. …You know what happens next, though. Don’t you? Apparently, when it comes to following Jesus, life works the other way ‘r...

but I don't care A sermon from the hodgepodge of Luke 5 : This is one of those passages from the Bible that you hear and think, “I’ve heard this before.”  This passage has that ring of familiarity to it, doesn’t it? Well, it sounds so familiar, because it is .  This is one of the few passages in the Bible that turns up in all four Gospels!  It’s a surprisingly rare thing for a account of Jesus’ ministry to turn up in all four gospels. And this passage does! Well, parts of it anyway… With the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, this passage tells of the drafting of the first disciples. How Jesus called Peter and his partners, to follow him. How then and there, they dropped everything and did just that.  With the Gospel of John, this passage tells about how, after a night of failure , Jesus tells Peter to cast out to some spot or another. How when Jesus’ orders are followed the result is a catch is so big, the nets can barely keep from break...