RoboPreacher

when the wind goes the other way A sermon on Jesus washing of the disciples' feet Seeing as it’s Lent, I’ll begin with a confession : I am a total fan of the pop darling Carly Rae Jepsen. * Any fans? Lest you think I’m making this disclosure in jest , I offer exhibits A through E as evidence against myself. Even more troublesome, though, is if you don’t know Carly’s music, I implore you to rectify this omission as quickly as possible! I’d begin with her 2015 album, “ Emotion .”   Well, seeing as I’ve already made one confession, I’ll make another : I have no shame about this admission! And I don’t have any guilt about it, either! Carly’s songs are syrupy -sweet, and shockingly sophisticated , too. She’s a consummate pop musician.   As such, her songs are about one thing and one thing only . Something we all have a stake in, to some degree. I’m talking about, of course, love . If you hadn’t already guessed that from the fact she named an entire album “ Emotion .” What’...

with the dawn of redeeming grace A sermon on the Christmas gospel : A word before our Christmas Scripture. For years now, Luke has out - peached me! Each year, we hear his lovely Christmas gospel. And then, each year, it’s this poor pastor’s lot to try and follow that up! And each year, the best I’ve managed is to flail about in the wake of Luke’s masterful Christmas sermon. This year, though , I’m not going to let that happen. But not because I’ve come up with a better sermon than Luke. No , no one can do that on Christmas Eve! No, Luke’s not going to show me up tonight because I’m not going to let him preach before me! I’m going to exercise a little of my Christian freedom and preach before Luke! And only then will we let Luke preach. That way, he can’t outshine me! Joking aside, this is as it should be. No one can preach like Scripture itself. And tonight, Luke’s the master . He should get the last word. So we’re going to let him have it! For my part, it’s my pray...

the weary world rejoices A sermon on Isaiah 55 : About now , the airwaves are crammed past to their point of bursting . Everywhere you turn, some vendor is hawking their goods. All vowing their wares are that missing ingredient to finally make your life definitely happy, healthy, and handsome.   We’ve all been let down by these empty promises enough times to hear them with suspicion . However , neither are we immune from their claims either. Our longing for something more than what’s peddled in the ads is so deep that we can’t help but give those tired old sales pitches a hearing . And often, even our hard -earned money. Today , though, of all days, God adds a voice to that already crowded marketplace. Numb though we may be becoming to all those propositions out there, God adds one more to the litany. This offer, though , has a different ring to it. This offer, so says God , promises to truly satisfy! This offer is the one to which all our earthly merchandise is ...

will never again, sir, tear us from each other's hearts A sermon from Isaiah 9 Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last gathering of the church year. After today, we begin another trip through the wild ride of counting our days as the church would have us. But that’s not all today is, is it? Today is also the last Sunday before Thanksgiving . And then Black Friday . And then that mad dash to Christmas. Until, finally, we come to that heap of exhaustion on New Year’s Day.   Today, then, is something of a tipping point. We stand at the precipice of those last moments before the holiday season falls entirely into the clutches of the advertising world. In just a few days, each day will be little more than one more occasion to buy more stuff and accumulate more goods. All in the quixotic bid to ‘have yourself a merry little Christmas.’ So how about it, then? On these last moments before the season of overpriced gadgets, jammed airwaves, packed parking lots, and even more crow...

by ninety million lonely miles The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 15 : Sometimes you read a passage of the Bible, and its concerns are so contemporary they nearly leap off the page! …Today’s Scripture is not one of those passages. Or, so it would seem . With its concern for something as icky and private as circumcision , today’s passage seems primitive to enlightened modern people like us . Really, though, the subject matter of this passage is just as burning for us now as it was for them then, over two thousand years ago ! Circumcision may not be our particular bugaboo. And I’m not altogether sure it isn’t. Regardless, we have just as many, if not more , causes and concerns we presume the Gospel is contingent upon! And like circumcision, all our Gospel considerations are good and honorable . Which is what makes them so insidious . …A few months ago, Amanda got me onto the fantastic podcast, Heavyweight. In this program, host Jonathan Goldstein helps people resolve issues from...

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...