RoboPreacher

like it always has Sermon on Communion, from the Last Supper in Mark : At Grand View, every senior has to take this final seminar. In it, the school does everything it can, to prepare students for life after the academy.   You have to go to a toastmasters meeting. Social events until you get five business cards from potential employers. Mock interviews that are taped, and then replayed in front of class. Informational meetings about student loans, and the impossibility of getting out of them…   Of all that, though, for me the most intimidating part was the sessions on etiquette … I’m from a small town, and we’re all pretty much the same . And while I learned the basics: wash your hands, wipe your face, say please, and don’t forget to say thank you afterward; that was about the extent of it.   It wasn’t until college that I learned there was a proper way to eat soup. That there is particular fork to use for the salad.   It wasn’t keepi...

of the lies that you speak A sermon on Isaiah : Once a month, around noon, on a Wednesday; a few of us do a very brave thing. We. Choose. A. New. Hymn(!)… Of which, worry not, I inevitable hear about… Now it used to drive me bonkers! ‘Lighten up, you old sticks in the mud,’ I’d think. I’ve come to learn, though , that your apprehension to new hymns is actually faithful . Now look, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I’m not about to use the sermon to commend the likes of you . In scripture today we hear about the prophet, Isaiah going to church.  Now, when we hear the word “prophet,” we imagine the likes of John the Baptist, unkept, living out in the desert. Isaiah, though, was probably far more ordinary .  He’s from a good family. His great-grandfather’s name was undoubtedly on the church-charter. His mom was the Shabbat-school superintendent. In confirmation his attendance was perfect. His rabbi, more than likely, had the boy pegged for se...