RoboPreacher

but it's the rules of the game A sermon on stewardship from the Gospel of Luke In his parable today, Jesus imagines a man who manages to make it. Someone who has a harvest to remember. Someone who, instead of squandering his good fortune, makes a plan to invest it.   The fellow in today’s parable realizes the bumper crop for the opportunity that it is. And he takes it, too. He makes arrangements for this windfall to pay dividends for the rest of his life! And he goes to bed that night dreaming of the bright future he’s just made for himself.   As it turns out, though, he buys the farm that night. Instead of settling into a comfortable life, he dies . And all that shrewd financial planning of his turns out to be a whole bunch of nothing . …From where we sit, this fellow is unlucky or, perhaps, unfortunate . Jesus, though, has another word. As far as Jesus is concerned, the chap in today’s parable didn’t catch a bad break. No, he was downright foolish . Now we oug...

this love isn't crazy A sermon on stewardship from the Gospel of Mark : As far as I know, this is the only account of someone turning down Jesus’ invitation to follow him. For as surprising as this is, and it is surprising, it’s an even bigger surprise who it is that can’t answer Jesus’ call. Because this is a fellow who never met a challenge he can’t meet. He’s motivated , scrupulous , and he’s got plenty of resources behind him, too. Picture the scene, Jesus is going along, minding his own business, when all of a sudden this man runs up to him and lays himself out before Jesus. Now, this kind of thing is not entirely uncommon where Jesus is concerned. However , this chap isn’t seeking healing or anything like that. Most people who throw themselves before Jesus are at the end of their rope. This man, however, is at the top of his game! He’s got it all together . He’s managed to keep the finer points of the law. And as we learn later , he’s also managed to attain a degree of ...

that i feel now A sermon on stewardship from a portion of the Sermon on the Mount   The legend goes that when John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world at the time, was asked how much is enough, he replied, “just a little bit more .” It’s a breathtaking answer. But not for how crass it is. It’s breathtaking for how honest it is. The truth is, to various degrees, we are all caught up in this same rat race. We, too, think the missing ingredient to our satisfaction is just a little bit more .   And that’s the rub , isn’t it? A little bit more is always just a little out of reach. No sooner do we amass a little more than we realize it’s still not enough! That we have to gain a little more still before we will finally have enough . None of us ever set out to become greedy . It’s just something that happens to us. After years of chasing that allusive enough that never seems to come, the light in our eyes becomes darkness , as Jesus says. One day, suddenly, everythin...

bring you fruit of the knowledge of your heart The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark the 12th Chapter ! Well; like it or not, it’s stewardship season… And let me guess, you’re in the “ or not ” camp; aren’t you? I know, I know. You already have so many other demands placed on you. There are so many good causes already asking for a part of your time, a part of your funds. Everyone wants a piece of you … I know. It feels like there isn’t any more you can give; and perhaps you’d rather not think about it in the church. Everyone wants a piece of you.  We are an over-burdened people, spread so thin, probably too thin. What with work, raising children, volunteering and everything else, we’re lucky if we can even find the time to get eight solid hours of sleep.  Such are the demands placed upon us. Everyone wants a piece of us… And now, even the church is getting in on the action. The one place you thought you could come and get a little r...

and nothin' more  / man, that's nothin' The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew! One slave received five talents, another two, and finally the last slave received just one talent…  Well I don’t know about you, but listening to this parable today, I can’t help but think that it’s be great to just get one talent! Now, don’t get me wrong, you’re all great. I don’t suppose I’m surprising any of you, though, when I point out that there’s always room in the pews and yet none in the budget… No, we weren’t the congregation that got those five talents. All we have to do is look over our shoulder to that congregation sitting on the edge of town to see the contrast. Just look at them! Of course they’re going to multiply, adding a satellite location in town even… It seems, that we’re the congregation just trying to hold onto what little we have, during these dog days of being the church in the twenty-first century - when fewer and fewer folks appear to go to c...

catch me up, i've got warmth in my bones The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 25th chapter! I love it when we have an upbeat, even chaotic prelude (like last week). It’s great coming into worship -led by a flame- with the sense that anything could happen. It’s a good way to begin worship, anticipating that anything could happen, because, well , maybe it could …  Remember how I used to make you share with each other what you thought God might do during our worship (an exercise I learned from former ELCA Bishop, Mark Hansen)? Well, I only gave that up reluctantly. The truth is, it’s a good question. More precisely, it’s a good way to begin worship: anticipating that God is going to do something, that anything could happen. That’s what today’s parable is about … I remember once when I was younger, and my uncle was going to drive in from Washington State, to visit us all in Iowa. His siblings decided to keep this a secret from my grandmother. Their ide...