Ever since the summer of 2009, I accompanied with my own study Bible revised by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It includes informative devotions and histories of writing both of the Old and New Testaments. However, I came across my small notebook of passages that pinpointed me all to the Gospel of Matthew -the first book of the New Testament. The 27 chapters of Matthew brings up stories of faithful diversities in Israel and the parallel connections between Jesus' baptism and resurrection.
"But I (Jesus) say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." - Matthew 5:44
This brought me to this past January when I ran and marched on Martin Luther King Day. I was surrounded by the good people of Duluth marching towards the DECC. Nearly desperate hope around President Trump's Inauguration, I still love my enemies being those voted Trump in the majority. My biggest hope for the country right now depends on any visible civil justice. I seek to strengthen community of all races sharing a common voice of righteousness.
I go to Sunday worship very occasionally. In between my recent church visits, I do attend group Bible studies. Like Matthew making a sequence of stories, I reflect a few of my personal stories in the constant care of people.
"In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets." - Matthew 7:12
During this one Bible study at the Hermantown Community Church, we watched a video about how scripture is analyzed in three forms of writing - Narratives, poetry and discourse. I may use the Bible as an alternative source of knowledge to repeat both mindful and careful actions. I listen to sermons at church as narratives.
Pastor Thor Sorenson of the Hermantown Community Church gave his memoir, "The Hillside Story," to share his life story of becoming a minister in order to seek forgiveness and recovery of his family suffering alcoholism. To how you can sum up and select a collection of stories, you carry on a message of never giving up an everlasting life.
"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 16:18-19
Jesus told one of his disciples, Peter, that he will keep the church in place to go against anything so evil to turn the world so apart from heaven. To me, heaven has this poetic sense of place for the common good. As the times keep changing, I came to believe that "the key to heaven" might be staying civil and kind to my fellow neighbors. As a student of psychology, the Lord may have blessed me with humanistic views. In other words, people are basically good.
For hundreds of years, the poetry and discourse surrounded the earliest and later stages of Jesus' life that prompted the debate of two separate movements: The Jews and Gentiles. Matthew wrote more of the backstory of all of the Lord's teachings told specifically in the second book of the Gospel, Mark. It occurred to me in a church retreat that the book of Mark explains more about how the Gentiles saw miracles and promises granted by "the kingdom of heaven."
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others." - Matthew 23:23
Since I've been raised Lutheran, nothing oppressed me away to explore or question my own faith in God. Both my history class in high school and my church's confirmation class acknowledged the teachings of Martin Luther- one of the major Protestant Reformation leaders back in the 16th century. He influenced so many Christians in Germany with his criticism of the Roman Catholic church- known as the 95 Theses. I believe that there are so many denominations of Christianity formed out of the shared, interpreted practices without neglecting anyone as sinners.
A month prior to writing this, a ministry team from Colorado invited me into a baptism and worship. They've traveled to Duluth to establish the United Church of Christ, which focused both on more organized services and a mix of all Protestant rituals. I perceived that night of worship as a sign of reformed communities building with the people's interest of change and being thankful for others joining in.
If Matthew was dedicated to tell Jesus's life in an outline, I might've gotten the gist. I have been recommended to read the book of Mark for more specific stories prior to the union of the 12 disciples. If the world keeps turning and changing, interpretations will always matter to one or more Christian reaching whoever they can.
