Proper 20B, September 23, 2012; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of radical welcome, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

“A capable wife who can find?” Well I certainly found one! And if you’ve been reading religious news headlines this week, it’s feasible that Jesus did as well! Intriguing as the possibility is, though, that’s not where I am feeling called to go with you this morning in my sermon! Continue reading →

Proper 19B, September 16, 2012; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of compassion, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Our Gospel lesson this morning finds Jesus and his disciples on their way into what we might call Caesarville. Caesarea Philippi was a seat of political, military and economic power: oppressive, corrupt, and idolatrous. In other words, they were right in the thick of it, on their way.  They were, you may remember, called people of The Way. And this episode lies at the exact center of Mark’s gospel – it is Mark’s centerpiece. In ancient literature, this means that it is a very important passage. It is the heart – the core [1] message – the crux, a turning point when Jesus moves from the ministry of healing and feeding into an articulation of the ministry of suffering with – the ministry of compassion – a ministry which will cost everything. This is also a story of how Peter almost didn’t make the turn on the way! Continue reading →

Proper 18B, September 9, 2012; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of mercy, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Our lessons from Proverbs and James today kind of preach themselves. They make it very clear – abundantly clear – about the blessing upon those who are generous, who share their bread with people who are poor. The evidence of blessing is not simply prosperity, according to Proverbs; but it’s the sharing or distribution of abundance so that everyone gets enough to eat. The evidence of blessing is the sharing. And James says that mercy triumphs over judgment – mercy trumps judgment — every time in the realm of God. (Here are two texts I want Biblical literalists to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.) Continue reading →

Proper 17B, September 12, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of hope, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Today we mark the end of the liturgical (or church) year – the last Sunday in Pentecost. This day has come to be known as The Feast of Christ the King – or The Reign of Christ Sunday for folks moving away from patriarchal language. It’s a fairly new church holiday — first declared by Pius the 11^th in 1925. It was a Roman Catholic feast day; then it caught on with the Lutherans. As recently as a dozen years ago, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church described it as “kept unofficially in some Anglican churches.” As we Episcopalians have lived into our commitment to use the Revised Common Lectionary (shared with other major Christian denominations), Christ the King Sunday has become a part of our common practice, printed on our calendars (so you know it’s legit), but I’m a bit slow in my own conversion. Continue reading →