RoboPreacher

yes this time it'll be different  In our reading from Acts we find Paul combining everything that makes him so lovable and taking it to the streets in the name of the Gospel. In fact, today’s story from Acts is just perfect for us as we consider what it means to be church now , at this moment in history. Here’s the cool thing about today’s reading from Acts; the folks Paul is taking the message to, the athenians, these folks aren’t churchgoers who simply haven’t been in to church for a while, they aren’t even former catholics looking for a new church. No, these athenians Paul is preaching to are people who have never been to church at all.  Paul is preaching to “unchurched” people, the same sort of people we’ve been scratching our head over, trying to figure out how to reach… Since, as we all know, Paul does such an excellent job at reaching these people and since this sermon series is all about what Church is, let’s take a few moments to reflect on how Pa...

what you know is better, is brighter It’s been said we live in a time when the church is well out of fashion… And maybe they’re right.  After all, none of us have to think too hard to recall a headline of some news story of a church scandal, or a time some cranky church member stared down a visitor for sitting in “ their ” pew. Now add those grievances to the common sentiment that you can worship God just as well on the fishing-boat or taking a walk outdoors; and you just about have to grant the point.  The church, our faith, is headed for the dustbin of history… And sadly, the truth is, most of us here have conceded the argument to those who would say we live in a time when the church is a thing of the past.  Honestly, we don’t have much faith in the value of this place or faith in general ourselves… Tragically our misgivings about the faith are put on full display by how we react to Peter’s sermon we hear today in Acts .  When Peter...

if we scream & shout    The Holy Gospel according to St. John the 1stChapter! The number one reason folks come to church for the first time, surprise-surprise, is that they were invited. But I'd be willing to bet that isn't the reason why those who stick around do , why they stay, why they abide...   Now, I have to tell y'all, I'm pleasantly surprised at how the exercise of daily reminding ourselves we're children of God is going. It isn't at all like the Holy Spirit exercise we tried ;-) I've heard the sentence brought up in conversations, I've heard reflection about the best place to post this reminder, I've heard how well the exercise is going and I've even heard that this exercise isn't uncomfortable, but comforting for a few of you. That's great! In fact it makes me think that we should carry this exercise through the year... With how well reminding ourselves that we're chi...

decide your fate       The Holy Gospel According to St. Luke the10th Chapter! This is one of those stories that it serves us well to just really slow down, and listen to as if we've never heard it before.   The truth is, this is probably one of the Bible stories that has made its way into popular culture. All too often we hear things like; 'are you a Mary or a Martha;' or 'without Martha, Mary would not have been able to sit there at Jesus' feet.' You know, things like that.   The problem with reading the Gospel through such formulas, though, is that aside from being boringly formulaic, it falsely pits Mary against Martha, it mistakenly pits time of rest against action. In other words, this simplistic reading misses the real power of this story in some sorry attempt to boil this rich instant down to some lesson on how best to and not to behave.   Whenever the Gospel becomes a list of dos and don'ts, we should get ...