Matthew 5:11-16 (the Gospel Reading)

Prophecy ζηλοῦτε ... ἵνα προφητεύητε. "Desire earnestly ... that you may prophesy." θέλω ... πάντας ὑμᾶς ἵνα προφητεύητε. "I want you all ... that you may prophesy." ἐὰν πάντας προφητεύωσιν ... "If all would prophesy ..." δύνασθε ... πάντες προφητελυειν. "Υou can all prophesy." ζηλοῦτε τὸ προφτεύειν. "Desire earnestly to prophesy." Paul, I Corinthians 14:1,…

The Sermon on the Mount

When Jesus called the four fishermen and told them to get behind him (to step into his footprints) and to accompany him as he continued to fulfill the penitence of his baptism, presumably defining the life to which Christian baptism leads us, Matthew followed this with the Sermon on the Mount, which spells this out.…

Matthew 4:12-24 (the Gospel Reading)

The gospel “According to Matthew” has always appealed to me for its straightforwardness. Contrary to the opinion of the majority of scholars (most of whom are invested in the “Q” hypothesis), I think Matthew’s Gospel was first, Luke used Matthew’s Gospel and his own independent research to craft another, a much more beautiful version of…

A Further Reflection on John’s Gospel

In last Sunday’s post, I wrote about the beginning of the gospel according to John (after the opening prologue), namely, chapter 1 verses 19-51. I wrote that it corresponds to the seventh day of creation as also does chapter 20 verses 19-31. The seventh day is the holy Shabbat, the day for resting. I pointed…

A Memo

The gospel “according to John” doesn’t give us much by way of instructions like the synoptic Gospels do: be poor, love everyone who’s marginalized, love your enemies, and so on. Mostly it just gives us something to contemplate. It is an invitation that draws us in to love whom it presents, the one who is…

John 1:29-42 (the Gospel Reading)

If you went to church this morning, you might remember that the Gospel reading was from the gospel “according to John” 1:29-42. Whether it was written by John or not, we don’t know. It claims to have been written by the “beloved disciple” who was obviously not one of the twelve but someone much more…

In the Media

On Tuesday, September 26, 2017, John Ensslin, who does a podcast and reporting using social media, posted this in On the Record on his interview with reporter Monsy Alvarado about the feature story she wrote about me: Transgender minister talks about her decision to come out to her former congregation. The caption reads: "Petra Strand, a transgender…