October 13, 2019 Proper 23, Year C The 18th Sunday after Pentecost Sunday after National Coming Out Day Luke 17:11-19 (the Gospel text) On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy…
Tomorrow Americans are going to their polling places to vote. Mr. Trump has usurped the presidency now for two years and we can see clearly what he and his administration is up to. We have also seen, ever since the Supreme Court decided to allow elections to be bought by large corporations and major capitalists,…
We become who we are when we realize we belong to the Divine One. When our will belongs to the Divine One, it is finally our own and not anyone else's.
Yesterday, after a single meal shared between the two of us at Tani's in Englewood, Karen and I went for a late afternoon hike from the Englewood Boat Basin on the Hudson River, up the Dyckman Hill Trail, and then on the Long Path for a short distance (to almost parallel to where Unilever is…
Last night, October 11, 2018, Rabbi Jesse Olitzky hosted an interfaith panel discussion for National Coming Day at Congregation Beth El in South Orange, New Jersey. I was one of three panelists along with Rabbi Abby Stein and Dr. Chris Adamo. It was titled, "Made in the Image and Likeness of God: An Interfaith Discussion…
Last night and for the next couple of nights Karen and I are staying up in the heart of the Catskill Mountains, in the town of Mount Tremper. The weather is good and we have plans to go hiking today and tomorrow. Our conversations are still reverberating about Goni and her community in the West…
Today Karen and I drove over the river to Hastings-on-Hudson to participate in a presentation of the film, Beyond the Land, hosted by the Mishkan Ha’am synagogue. It was an intimate group of about thirty or so, mostly members of the synagogue. Beyond the Land (see its Facebook page) is a documentary about the EcoME community in…
Today I finally got my eyebrows done and finally mopped most of the floors of the house after the bathroom was redone. My hands are dry, but I can moisturize them, and my back needs a break, which it shall have. But now I can finally spread my yoga mat on the floor since it…
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…
Celine and I are friends who met when we both worked at the REI store in Paramus. The Pharaoh Lake Wilderness is in the southeastern Adirondack Park in New York State. Two years ago we came to the same wilderness area in September, but we starting from Crane Pond. There were three of us then,…
