Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (8C), June 30, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

You know, I nearly always begin a sermon or homily with that bidding. My daughter Laura once noted that it helps me find my preacher voice. It’s my paraphrase of a prayer attributed to Phillips Brooks, who was ordained to the priesthood in 1860, the same year that Emmanuel Church in the City of Boston was established. Later, he was the bishop of Massachusetts, after he had served as rector of the downtown parish that then moved during his Episcopacy to Emmanuel’s backyard in Copley Square – what’s the name of it? It’s a prayer that one of my most important preaching mentors at Immanuel-on-the-Hill Church in Alexandria, Virginia, always said before he preached and I decided long before I was ordained to adopt it as my own. Sometimes I think that I don’t pray it as much as it prays me. And it’s the “cost what it will” part that rings through our scripture readings today in my ears. Continue reading →

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (7C), June 23, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

This morning we have, in my humble opinion, too much on our plates when it comes to great readings of scripture. So in my sermon I am going to try some of everything. I’m going to say something about all three readings. In the story of Elijah – whose name literally translated is “my god is [the Holy One]” Eliyahu in Hebrew, is running from the law. Israel’s much-maligned Queen Jezebel, working with foreign allies for peace and prosperity for her people, had had enough of the insurgent Elijah and she sent a messenger to tell him that his days were numbered. Her fury had to do with the large public demonstration Elijah staged to show the power over nature of the god whose Name is too holy to pronounce. Elijah’s god produced much needed rain to end a deadly drought and famine. But then in a hideous display of aggression, Elijah had all 450 of the prophets of the losing god Baal seized and killed. Continue reading →

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (6C), June 16, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Third Sunday after Pentecost (5C), June 9, 2013; 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.

In the last three months, I have flown on a lot of airplanes, so I heard the admonishment approximately 20 times about using caution when opening the overhead bins because contents might have shifted during the flight. In spite of all the warnings and my caution, I did cause a bag full of duty free items to rain down on a sleeping passenger in the middle of one overnight flight. Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt, and fortunately the stuff that fell on her actually belonged to her. I haven’t been able to shake thinking of the metaphor for shifting contents in overhead bins during our spiritual journeys, and how startling the shifts can be! Continue reading →

Second Sunday after Pentecost (4C), June 2, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God love, 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.

You look so good and I am so glad to be back. I’ve missed you! I’m looking forward to hearing what you’ve been up to. As if to welcome me home, our lectionary this morning includes a Gospel verse that is used as the stepping off point in the prayer an Episcopal priest says when she becomes a rector of a parish. After three months away, I am eager to renew my commitment to be your rector, and this prayer has been on my heart for the last couple of weeks. Continue reading →