Ep49. Reading the Bible, Melissa Florer-Bixler and Emmy Kegler

Love Rinse Repeat

How does one pick up a Bible and start to read it?

It’s a deceptively complex question. And in the time of COVID19 when many people are reaching for their Bibles outside of their familiar contexts of a worshipping community, shared liturgy and the proclamation of the word, it’s a question well worth considering.

To help us consider it I sat down with two wonderful pastors, authors, and friends of the podcast, Melissa Florer-Bixler and Emmy Kegler. We talk about the questions we bring to scripture and the questions scripture asks of us. I ask about resisting the urge of reading scripture to “come to something” and we discuss how to approach texts that have been used to wound. We cover how the pandemic is re-shaping their ministries and how it feels to have their books turn one.

Melissa Florer-Bixler is the pastor of Raleigh Mennonite Church, and a graduate of Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary. She studied in Kenya, worked on an archaeological dig in Israel, worked as a barmaid in East Oxford, and lived with the L'Arche community in the Pacific Northwest. Now she prefers the Eno River and her raised beds in the Piedmont. She writes as a feminist working to dismantle whiteness, a disposition that emerged from sticking near to Jesus Christ for almost four decades. She is the chair of L'Arche North Carolina. She and her spouse parent their three children in Raleigh, NC. She is the author of, Fire By Night: Finding God in the Pages of the Old Testament, released with Herald Press.

More about Melissa: https://www.melissaflorerbixler.com/ Follow on Twitter: @MelissaFloBix

Emmy Kegler is a pastor, author, and speaker called to ministry at the margins of the church, especially among LGBTQ+ Christians. She serves as pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Northeast Minneapolis, a small servant-hearted neighbourhood congregation focused on feeding the hungry and community outreach. Emmy has a Master’s in Divinity from Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minn., and is an ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. She was raised in the Episcopal Church and spent some time in evangelical and non-denominational traditions before finding her home in the ELCA. She is a co-leader of the Queer Grace Community, a group of LGBTQ+ Christians in the Twin Cities who meet for worship, Bible study, and fellowship. She is also the founder and editor of the Queer Grace Encyclopedia, a curated collection of online resources around LGBTQ life and faith. She lives in Saint Paul and enjoys biking, board games, books, and spending time with her wife Michelle and their two dogs and cat. Her first book, One Coin Found: How God’s Love Stretches to the Margins, tells her story as a queer Christian called to ordained ministry and how it formed her relationship with Scripture, available with Fortress Press.

More about Emmy: http://emmykegler.com/

Follow on Twitter: @emmykegler

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Music by Fyzex