RoboPreacher

i'll make things right A sermon on Revelation 6 & 7 : Today’s scripture addresses something we all have a vested interest in. Something we’ve all got. And something we all want to know what to do about. I’m talking about, of course, ordeals . Ordeals.   Now, the first thing about ordeals is that none of them happen  outside  the Lamb's scroll. And that’s a whole sermon right there. Isn’t it?!? Those ordeals that seem God forsaken are actually God blessed ! They’re blessed because they’re in the scroll that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, opens by his pierced hands! At the moment, though , it doesn’t feel like our ordeals are blessed. Does it? At the moment, it feels like our ordeals are going to tear anything loose that isn’t bolted down. God’s favor included. Now, John does tell us there is something, or someone actually, who isn’t affected by all those ordeals. It’s a great multitude. A crowd so large no one can count them—an assembly of individuals from ev...

she crashed into the easter mass with her hair done up in broken glass Second Sermon from the Revelation Sermon-Series, Chapters 6 & 7 One of my favorite bands is The Hold Steady. They’re from the New York, rock-revival scene of the early aughts.  Really, it’s not the best scene to be identified with . But, these guys originally hail from the midwest, and they’re Catholic to boot. So they’re a cool amalgamation, midwestern Christians, trying to make a go of it in New York, with rock 'n roll of all things!  And the only way they could pull that off was by knowing a thing or two about what Paul called the scandal of the cross. The one-way street of grace. Their songs are chock-full of characters who aren’t looking for grace, only to end up tripping over it; because God planted it square in the middle of their lives.  One of The Hold Steady’s best albums, is the concept album that broke them through to a larger audience, “Separation Sunday.” It...

he wasn't really where it's at “You used to laugh about, everyone who was hanging out. Now you don’t talk so loud, now you don’t seem so proud; about having to be scrounging for your next meal,” Bob Dylan sings defiantly on his brilliant “Like a Rolling Stone.” But then he poses the question, “How does it feel?” How does it feel ? …It’s a rhetorical question, of course.  As Dylan croons, “how does it feel,” you can’t help but have the sense that you know the person he is singing to: someone who had laughed at all the unfortunate ones, only to inevitably find themselves among those same down and outs of the world one day… Dylan’s song has such power because it is a song that is sung to each of us. This song hasn’t stayed with us simply because we love seeing someone get their just-deserts (although we do love seeing that). No, the reason Bob Dylan’s adept “Like a Rolling Stone,” is so powerful is because we know deep down that we are the one’s he is singing ...