RoboPreacher

if you take cover or abandon it A sermon on Jesus' great Sermon on the Mount : Here you are, doing your best to keep your spiritual house in order .   And let me say this is no small thing! Being here this morning makes you a rare bird, indeed. Plus, it’s not like you’re here because you’ve got nothing else to do. Is it? No, we’ve all got a lot on our plates. Too much, in fact.   But, despite all the hindrances, here you are. And for all that, Christ sallies up the great mountain and delivers the most consequential sermon in all human history. And he tells you , NOT good on you. And he tells you , NOT keep at it. No, he tells you , in effect, don’t bother! Don’t bother?!? I mean, here you are, defying odds and the obstacles, and Jesus just shrugs ! He climbs the mountain, parts his lips, and pronounces his blessings. Pronounces his blessings not upon the prayer warriors but rather the prayer weary .   “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” Jesus declares. The poor in sp...

it never took me anywhere A sermon on the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount ( Matthew 5:1-20 ): One of my favorite movies, and I've talked about it before, is "Little Miss Sunshine." This movie, for me, coincided with lutheran theology. And so it occupies a place right alongside "Lutheranism 101." That said, this movie is not PG, so if you rent it and are offended, don't say I didn't try to warn you... The movie follows a more or less nuclear family. And like many families these days, every member struggles to put up with one another. For various reasons, they all grate on each-other’s nerves.   One of the funniest points of friction in the movie, is the father with, well, basically everyone … The father aspires to be a self-help guru. In fact, the movie opens on him giving one of his seminars. …The class, though, is comprised of a small handful of students, in a dimly -lit and depressing little classroom.   Despite ...