RoboPreacher

but i'm confident when i'm with you a sermon on Jesus' bread of life sermon : A few years ago, pop theologian, David Zahl, wrote the book “Seculosity.” This word is a portmanteau of secularism and religiosity . Zahl’s point with the title is that, although we live in a secular age, we are more religious than ever! Only now we have redirected our religious longings onto the secular plane. Now we try to find fulfillment , not in spirituality , but in secular endeavors. Things like careers , childrearing , politics , and even hobbies .   The result, argues Zahl, is that we are less fulfilled than ever! Transferring our yearning from the sacred to the secular has not succeeded in stemming our longing. On the contrary , it’s only stoked it!   What’s more , argues Zahl, we’ve also gutted what would otherwise be perfectly pleasant pastimes! Now, our hobbies must be side- hustles . Now, instead of marveling at the miracle of childhood, we’re fixated upon the idea that...

all i did was waste your time Continuing Luther's story by way of the fifth chapter of Romans Last week we talked about how Luther had grown up on the myth that we have it in us to earn God’s good graces. Experience , though, had taught him something else ; namely how impossible that is…   Luther tried to pull it off, only to find out how untrustworthy our efforts are; they run out when we most need them and go astray when you least expect them to. This experience agonized Martin. And in that agony, he began to grow angry with God … Thankfully, Luther’s superior knew a thing or two about spiritual distress like this, and ordered Luther to go teach Bible at Wittenberg University.   This promotion was a healing balm for Luther. Remember? Because it FORCED him out of himself and into the Bible . And there , out of himself and in the Bible , he finally heard what the Bible had been saying all along! That it’s not about us and our effort...