300 words a day

Jesus says “Blessed” nine times in the first few sentences of chapter 5. We look at this list, which is often called “The Beatitudes,” and we try to figure out what Jesus meant. Actually, I think, we try to figure out how we can be part of the list. We want to know because we […]

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 […]