Sermons (Page 107)

       Here we are again in the wilderness of Lent, and here we are again after another deadly school shooting. Many of you know I was the chaplain for the closest pediatric trauma center following the Newtown school shooting. And, so, each time a school shooting happens, a wave of memories emerges. With this far too frequent wave, I often hear attempts to make sense of a senseless tragedy. Most recently we heard the story of an orphaned, loner, teen who was expelled from school with a mental illness that drove him to commit a heinous massacre…

We are in the age of VCD and AI–that is, the age of Voice Command Devices and Artificial Intelligence.  With a phrase like “Hey, Siri” or “Okay, google” or the name “Alexa,” a personal assistant begins interacting. Sometimes these devices seem God-like. Siri can do math faster than a mathematician, Alexa can play almost any song, and google, well, google knows everything. While we logically recognize that these assistants are not God, we sometimes believe that God acts like the great google. We believe that with the correct phrasing, we’ll get our desired response from God. We might begin to think the Bible is God’s only instruction book, or, at its worst, that the Bible is God. Yet, even a quick glance at today’s readings will redirect these understandings…