RoboPreacher

still my fear keeps my moving but my heartbeats are slow. i was sitting on the metro. I had just left an OWS rally in DC. I was reading an issue of Newsweek, but I wasn’t really reading. Instead I was thinking about who was at the rally, and I was bumming about who wasn’t. Specifically, my classmates. In general, churches. i guess i just don’t understand. To me the OWS movement seems like an explicit movement with many tendrils follows of Jesus can get on board with. This movement is about solidarity among a disenfranchised populace. This movement is incredibly horizontal or democratic. This movement is strikingly non-partisan. This movement also has its own integrity. I am not interested in OWS being co-opted by institutional Christianity. I am, however, quite interested in how followers of Jesus can support this movement, stand in solidarity with these folks. Basically, I am interested in how followers of Jesus can give a damn. i want to, though. ...

they are free. White people smell like dogs when they're wet... I was biking to class, and it started to rain. Cold rain. The first cold rain of the season. It sucked. It sucked because I had to go to class, and I was going to have to sit in class wet. And, as Elliot says in an episode of Scrubs, “White people smell like dogs when they’re wet.” I was going to have to sit in class wet & cold, smelling like a dog… But what made that bike ride especially terrible was I had just had an awesome talk with Joe. That was the conversation when Joe and I started to talk about working on this Advent project. So, I had been talking with him about all these exciting ideas; and, like I said earlier, it started to rain. Biking to class, getting soaked, I thought about that conversation. I thought about how spoiled I was that some rain was going to sour my day. And then I heard metal on metal; and a whizzing sound… Great. My pedals lost their tension. My bike sh...

when we know your talk is cheap. A new thing: For Advent RoboPreacher is going to try something new; brief vignettes talking about things I am waiting on. After all, advent is the season of waiting. Why: Theology is ultimately a joke. Yeah, I said it. Theology that sits in a book on a shelf doesn’t matter. As Paul says, without love any and all speech is noise . So much theology is noise, or a joke. It doesn't have to be, though. I have a friend, let’s call him Joe. Joe is a theologian. He is a theologian who designs shit. His design is awesome. He is a theologian because when he designs, he thinks about how it serves God and God’s creation. He is a theologian, because when he loves his wife, he thinks about how it serves God and God’s creation. Joe is a theologian. I am a seminary. I am not a theologian. I want to be though. I am waiting… Joe is one of my many sources of my inspiration. That is why RoboPreacher is going to try something new. The im...

because they refused to be their servant On December 12 I will be leading Chapel at the Church of the Abiding Presence. The Gospel for the Monday of the third week of Advent is Luke 3:7-18 . At this point I’ve only done cursory research, but the dynamics of this story have already piqued my interest. Here we have an itinerant preacher addressing the need for justice and repentance (this is John after all). In their culture of oppression and corruption the crowds are immediately drawn to this message. In fact, some are so infatuated with John they begin to wonder if, indeed, he is the insurgent to overthrow the powers and principalities and become the new, just ruler. Quickly John points to one greater than he. This dynamic can be seen in many places, but one contemporary example is the OWS movement. Many have criticized this movement as lacking leadership and direction. While many of these critiques are well-intentioned and well-made ( great New Yorker article analyzing the...

are the corporations cutting back Here is a link to an interesting lecture given by Hans J. Hillerbrand at the 2011 Colloquy at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (pages 9-20). Hillerbrand sets out to consider what Luther’s position on Christian Faith and politics would have been. He begins with Luther’s dinner table remark that, “Christ has nothing to do with politics.” From there he goes on to consider the question any seminary student sitting with the contradiction between that Lutheran tradition of “quietism” and the Lutheran notion of “vocation” or “priesthood of all believers” has entertained Hillerbrand phrases the question, “ Really? Jesus has nothing to do with how we as Christians relate our faith to our daily lives, to our vocations, our professions?” I might put the question another way; if we say that every vocation that serves the neighbor is laudable, why do we draw the line at advocacy? Or, to put it a little more bluntly; don’t we act nearly schizo...

i wanna change, too. Matthew 16:21-28 : Prayer: Lord, may the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts humbly follow you. Amen Greetings sisters and brothers. It is truly my honor to be back here with you all today. You have supported me, and I have prayed for you often. We have always been bound by something very deep and personal. For those of you I may not have had the pleasure of meeting, my name is Ryan Cosgrove and I am a member of Luther Memorial . I am a student studying to be a pastor, and this fall will begin my last year of seminary. I will be studying in Washington D.C., and I just completed a year-long internship at a Danish Lutheran congregation in Seattle, Washington. As I’ve gone through this process of working to become a pastor you all have supported me greatly. That support has sustained me, because as fun as this process of becoming a pastor can be, it is also challenging. In fact, I remember one time when I found myself deeply reco...

it's a hell of a heaven we must go to when we die Matthew 16:13-20 Prayer: Lord, may the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts proclaim your son, Jesus, as your anointed one, the messiah. Keys, these simple tools are quite common. I imagine most of you have a ring of them in your pocket or purse. Keys are just one of the many mundane props in the play of our day to day life. Keys are ordinary, except, of course, when they’re not… Today I will give these keys back. No longer will I need to use them to unlock my office. No longer will I find myself strolling upstairs to talk to Pastor Carol. No longer will I find myself taking a quite lunch in the Emmaus Lounge taking in that amazing skyline. No longer. Today I turn in these keys. These keys. These keys that have become mundane and ordinary. These keys have become so humdrum I have forgotten when I rushed here to get ready for a theology pub, a men’s breakfast or the Children’s Christma...