A weekly reading and a prayer feed

Two Traditions, One Text

One Bible passage. Two Christian traditions, each in its own best words, quoted from their confessions and catechisms rather than paraphrased. Then one prayer that both could pray without crossing their fingers.

I am John Moelker. I spent fifteen years as a software engineer and fifteen in pastoral ministry in Reformed churches, and I am still a pastor. I have spent a long time inside one tradition and studying the others, and I have come to think that the fastest way to love a tradition that is not yours is to hear it explain a passage you already love. That is what this is. Not a debate, and not a blend. Two rooms in the same house, one text on the table.

The first seven

• Where are you? Genesis 3:8-13. Lutheran and Pentecostal.
• Carry it up the mountain. Genesis 22:1-19. Roman Catholic and Baptist.
• The limp. Genesis 32:22-32. Eastern Orthodox and Reformed.
• Who is my neighbour? Luke 10:25-37. Anglican and Anabaptist.
• The father runs. Luke 15:11-32. Wesleyan and the Black Church.
• A covenant bigger than Abraham. Genesis 17:1-27. Missional and historic.
• God who sees. Genesis 21:8-21. Charismatic and Liberation.

Two ways to read along

By email, weekly. The full reading: the passage, each tradition in its own words, what they share, and the prayer. Sign up below.

In PrayerMate, daily. The prayer feed of the same name carries the short form: a sentence for each tradition and the prayer, one passage at a time. Search for "Two Traditions, One Text" in the PrayerMate app.

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What it is not

It is not an argument for one tradition over another, and it does not pretend the differences are small. Where two traditions disagree, you will see the disagreement in their own words. What you will also see, every week, is the ground they share, which is usually larger than either side remembers.