When John was locked up, Jesus moved from Nazareth to Capernaum, a town at the top of the Sea of Galilee (a lake about twelve miles long and seven miles wide). It was a very short move. He started to preach, just like John: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” People were excited […]

Rich Dixon is here for the new year. +++ Let’s let go of last year with one of my favorite verses in Scripture. “Forget the former things;    do not dwell on the past.   See, I am doing a new thing!    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” I’ve used it many times when I speak, […]

When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, his most familiar sermon, he was working close to home. In fact, most of his life happened in a country the size of Vermont or New Jersey. He had been born in Bethlehem, a small town a few miles south of Jerusalem. He was taken to Egypt […]

When this blog started, we read and wrote our way through the Gospel of Matthew. It seemed a good place to start. A few years later, I went back to the posts about what we call “The Sermon on the Mount” and put it into a book. For me, it’s a good time to go […]

God. It’s still the first week of the year. We already feel confused and behind. We’re trying to catch our breath. Some of us because of all the chaos. Some of us because we are actually sick. Our minds, our hearts, and our lungs are feeling clogged. We hear the words about being chosen. We […]