RoboPreacher

these things get louder The second sermon on baptism, with Paul's letter to the Romans as our guide: Much trouble is caused imagining “sin” is only something we do . Or, if we remember our catechism, something we fail to do .   And, while it is what do, and fail to, that unleashes sin. Sin is so much more than just actions . It’s a power that’s been let loose . Sin is a power that’s been let loose in the world… Kind of like that great sci-fi series; “Stranger Things.” A show about this ragtag crew of outcasts who stumble upon an experiment gone horribly wrong.   A weapons manufacturer, exploring paranormal weapons, opened a portal to another dimension. Instead of accessing weapon power, though, they just unlocked a path for the monster who inhabited that dimension, to wreak havoc on ours .   Basically it’s the story of Adam and Eve and the aftermath. A tale of an action that began a terrible chain reaction.   That’s how sin works. Mor...

when you give me the whole damn zoo A Pentecost sermon on the fruit of the Spirit : Remember that week before Lent began when I went to Des Moines to talk with other pastors about leadership? Well, one of my extracurriculars was to join Dr. Jones in his “Life and Thought of Martin Luther” class.  That’s where it all began for me … Well, they were working through “Freedom of a Christian.”  Dr. Jones asked about the famous claim; ‘although a Christian may be perfectly free and subject to none , a Christian is also a perfectly dutiful servant, subject to all .’ He asked the students how could that be. One earnest, young man offered the theory that, when you do something good for someone else you feel good about it.  Conventional wisdom at its finest, but not what Luther was after.  As I’ve thought about that, I’ve come to realize the profound challenge Luther and his ilk put to us.  Paul once put it like this, “I could not speak ...

be my love A sermon from Paul's Letter to the Galatians: Have you ever tried to change some big part of your life? (Now be honest) And how’d that go? (Anyone have any stories they want to share?) No? Lately , every morning, I find myself praying to be more joyful and less judgmental.  And I have to pray, because nothing else seems to be working … And I bet you know what I mean … I began college studying journalism. It was a fluke. I was an okay writer and a better reader, so I had potential. And it turns out, I had ambition , too… So it made a good enough of match. At Kirkwood, I became an editor and wrote a bunch. We even managed to win some Iowa College Media Association awards. Beating out four-year colleges. The kind I would end up transferring to; like Grand View … I transferred there with a big enough of a head. I had managed a paper that won more awards, written some good stories too, and even interned at a daily newspaper. So when I cam...