RoboPreacher

& i get more than i deserve A sermon on St. Stephen and ministry : There’s a question we sometimes ask students in confirmation . And the reason we ask is to check if the students are paying attention . Obviously, of course, not this year’s students. They always pay attention. They’re perfect . As they are every year.   Nevertheless, it’s a nice little exercise. So, I thought we might try it. And here’s the question: What just happened? This isn’t a trick question, either. I just want to engage you. What just happened in today’s passage? That said, although this isn’t a trick question, it is the sort of question that has right and wrong answers. For instance, if you were to say that Stephen was just hired as the head pastor at First Lutheran in Jerusalem, that would be wrong . However, there were a few details in that example that would be considered correct . But I don’t want to do your work for you. So, I’m not going to tell you what they were.   Instead , let’s ...

pop a nickel & it all comes back A sermon on Jesus' healing of a paralytic : Have you ever felt like the friends in today’s Scripture? Have you ever been so fed up, frantic , forlorn , or just plain frazzled that you’d do anything you could to change your situation? I’m sure you have. We all have. And, if you’re anything like me , you hate feeling that way, too. In fact, most of the time, you probably try to arrange your life so that you never have to be in that kind of a pinch . Don’t you? I know I do.   Sadly, though, it goes without saying that we still find ourselves in a fix more often than we wish. Don’t we? It can come to pass in any number of ways. A change in health, career, or relationship can do the job. But so can a lack of change. A stubborn habit or ingrained relationship dynamic can also drive us to desperation , too. Can’t they? Speaking for myself , I hear this story and long for something like that . Deep down, I want to grab that stretcher that is...

i wanna go to heaven but i'm afraid to fly A sermon on that time Peter healed the man crippled from birth Today’s Scripture seems more like something out of a summer blockbuster , full of special effects , than it does anything out of real life. Doesn’t it? …Part of the training for every pastor in the ELCA is a “unit of CPE.” If you can’t make sense of that, don’t worry. You’re not alone. CPE is an acronym for “Clinical Pastoral Education.”   During your “unit” of CPE, roughly 400 hours, you’re ostensibly trained in the method of pastoral counseling. But , as the very use of such wonk-ish jargon suggests, the assumption behind much of this training is that pastoring is a profession —something that can be observed and measured —something that can be acknowledged by the rest of the world out there.   …The truth is, our discomfort with this passage runs deeper than just a general uncertainty about instantaneous miracles. No , we’re not even sure God intervenes ...