Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, May 27, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
From the very beginning, women were apostles. Women like Phoebe carried Paul’s letters to the churches, read them out loud, and interpreted them for the fledgling churches near and far. So many people get hung up on the epistles’ insistence that women should not be preachers or teachers and yet the reality is that women were doing these things with Paul’s approval.
It’s so important to read scripture through the lens of Christ’s radical welcome for all people, not matter what—men and women, healthy and sick, young and old, Jew and Gentile. I am so grateful for all the women pastors, the LGBTQ+ pastors, the disabled pastors, and the BIPOC pastors out there, whose “struggling in the work of the gospel” proclaims the radical inclusivity of God’s love.
Which pastors and teachers of the gospel have had the greatest impact on me and why?
