Monthly Archives: December 2013

Joy to the World

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First Sunday of Christmas, December 29, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 63:7-9 I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord.
Hebrews 2:10-18 It is clear that [Jesus] did not come to help angels.
Matthew 2:13-23 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men…

O God of our redeeming, 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.

I wonder how you hear this story from the Gospel of Matthew’s birth narrative this morning. With Christmas carols ringing in your ears? Do you notice the fulfillment of so much scripture according to Matthew? Are you scratching your head trying to place the various Hebrew bible references? Do you notice Joseph’s many dreams? If you were a Jewish congregation from the first century of the common era, you might all be thinking, “Jacob’s son Joseph was a dreamer and he ended up in Egypt because of it.” If you were a Jewish congregation from the first century, you would know that Ramah was the site of national disaster when Babylonian armies gathered the people of Israel there to begin the forced march of deportation into exile. And you would also think that, “hey! Jesus was just like Moses! Moses survived Pharaoh’s mandate to kill all of the male babies of the Hebrew people.” And when you thought that, you might feel a glimmer of excitement and hope for an exodus from enslavement to the Roman empire! Continue reading →

Just sit there!

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Christmas Eve, December 24, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 9:2-7 Those who lived in a land of deep darkness–on them light has shined.
Titus 3:4-7 We might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Luke 21:5-19 Full of grace and truth.

O great Light and abundant 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.

I wish you could see yourselves the way you look from this pulpit! You look so beautiful! I was hoping that you would be here and I am so glad that you are. Thank you for coming to Emmanuel Church to spend some of your Christmas time. Welcome to those of you who are here for the first time, welcome to those of you who have been here more times than you can count, and welcome to all of you who are in between. I always like to begin my sermon on Christmas Eve by letting you know that I imagine that some of you have been looking forward to being here and could not wait to get to this lovely church on this holy night, to hear the extraordinary music and the lessons and the prayers of Christmas. And I imagine that for others of you, this was not your first choice, maybe you are here because it matters to someone you love, or maybe there’s a sadder reason that you’re here. Maybe some of you don’t even quite know the reason – and I’m especially grateful that you’re here too. Whether you skipped or stumbled here, thank you for coming into this refuge – this sanctuary. My Christmas hope for all of you is that, however you’re feeling, thrilled, ambivalent, healthy or unwell, joyful or heavy hearted, peaceful or downright stressed and cranky, you will leave here tonight feeling better than when you arrived. Continue reading →

2015

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April 4.  The New York Times reported that Pauli Murray’s family home in Raleigh NC had been named a national treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

As part of the Pauli Murray Project a memorial mural painted on the brick wall of a former tobacco warehouse in Durham NC shows her flanked by panels that read:

 As an Episcopal priest, Pauli Murray used the pulpit to find the “spirit of love and reconciliation” as expressed in her ministry as the “goal of human wholeness”. — Karla Holloway

It may be that when historians look back on 20th century America, all roads will lead to Pauli Murray.  Civil rights, feminism, religion, literature, law, sexuality — no matter what the subject, there is Pauli. — Historian Susan Ware

Pauli Murray taught us that our lives are not defined by our race or our gender but by our striving to make the world a better place than when we found it.  — Elnora J. Shields, Southwest Central Durham Quality of Life Project

Murray mural

Pauli Murray mural (detail) on tobacco warehouse in Durham NC

See also:

Blessing in the Chaos

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Fourth Sunday of Advent (A), December 22, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 7:10-17 Ask for yourself a sign from Hashem your God, make it deep as sheol and high as heaven.
Romans 1:1-7 Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship.
Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.

O God of blessing, 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.

The Gospel according to Matthew begins with a genealogy genealogy, and it’s too bad that it’s not included in our lectionary portion for today (although it’s full of tongue-twisting names and lectors all over Christendom are probably grateful for its omission)! It begins with Abraham and lists fourteen generations to David, then another fourteen generations to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah. (A handful of kings have to be omitted in order to achieve the perfect symmetry – oh well.) The best thing about the genealogy is that the list includes women, non-Jewish ancestors and several immoral characters.1 In other words, it’s not an unblemished pedigree, in other words – it’s a mixed bag, not unlike my own ancestry! Continue reading →

2014

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Dorothy A. Brown, 1963 (image credit: NQ, Boston Globe)

March 20.  Dorothy Addams Brown died in Gloucester MA.  She had been born on 29 May 1923 to parishioners Harriet Addams Young (1886-1952) and Lawrence Allyn Brown (1876-1937) and baptized here.  She resided for many year at 434 Marlborough St. with her brother Lawrence, Jr.. She served on our vestry (1962-4 & 1969-74) and our Finance & Budget and Long-Range Planning committees. She was a generous benefactor until her death at the age of 90.  She credited William Wolbach, President of the Boston Safe Deposit & Trust Co., for hiring her as a clerk in 1944, when she graduated from Vassar.  She became the bank’s first woman trust officer and then Vice President.  Mary Meier of The Boston Globe (May 16, 1963) wrote an article about her entitled, “Banks Rarely Give Women Key Role.” When Dottie retired as chair of the New England Group of the National Association of Bank Women in 1965, she was the only senior investment officer in the Association.

Last issue of Voices was published with a farewell letter from its editor Margo Risk.

2013

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  • March.  With support from the Lilly Foundation, our rector Pamela Werntz left on her sabbatical pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland, several sites in the Holy Land, and Ste. Maxime, France, where she sought inspiration from Mary Magdalene. The Rev. Susan Ackley became our  Sabbatical Priest/Artist in Residence.
  • April 13.  Faculty from Leslie University’s Expressive Arts Therapy Program spoke after the service about how their students might assist with such programs as Emmanuel Cafe and Common Art.  Our Leslie interns have described their experiences since then in Musings from the Margins.
  • April 15.  Two bombs exploded on Boylston Street near the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring several hundred others. Leslie students joined people at Emmanuel in creating memorial flags in an event called “When Words Are Not Enough.”
Participants in "Words Are Not Enough" carry prayer flags to the Boston Marathon bombing memorial site in Copley Square.

The Rev. Susan Ackley, our Sabbatical Priest/Artist-in-Residence, and participants in “Words Are Not Enough” carry prayer flags down Newbury Street to the Boston Marathon bombing memorial site in Copley Square.

Benefits of God

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Third Sunday of Advent (A), December 15, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 35:1-10 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
James 5:7-10 Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.
Matthew 11:2-11 Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?

O God, 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.

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.” Some of you might remember that I already declared my favorite collect of the day a few weeks ago. This one is also my favorites. “With great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us.” I’m sure you don’t need me to read this to you again, but I can’t hear it enough. Today, on the third Sunday of Advent, it’s the American Episcopal Church’s Stir-up Sunday.

In England, Stir-up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent when the collect begins with the plea for God to stir things up. Maybe you know the children’s rhyme: Stir, up, we beseech thee/ the pudding in the pot/ And when we get home/ We’ll all eat it hot! In other words, the children don’t want to wait until Christmas to eat the Christmas pudding. Do you know people who don’t want to wait until Christmas to eat Christmas treats or open Christmas presents? (I’m not one of them, but I am married to one!) Continue reading →

2012

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Photo credit: UNC. Carolina Digital Library and Archives via WikiCommons.

Photo credit: UNC. Carolina Digital Library and Archives via WikiCommons.

The 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church resolved to add The Rev. Dr. Anna Pauline Murray to Holy Women, Holy Men and the Calendar of the Church Year, which now commemorates her life on the day of her death, July 1.

Murray attended Emmanuel in the early 1970s and served on our vestry (1973-75).  In her autobiography (1987) , she credits former Rector Al Kershaw with encouraging her to leave her faculty position at Brandeis University and pursue ordination in The Episcopal Church.  In 1977, at the age of sixty-six, she became The Church’s first black-woman priest.

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2010

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  • InstitutionMarch 7.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz was installed as 12th rector with the Rt. Rev. Thomas M. Shaw presiding.  See The Musical Intelligencer‘s interview with John Harbison, in which he discusses the history of Emmanuel Music, its founder Craig Smith, The Rev. Alvin L. Kershaw, Pam’s musical background, and her dedication to our music program.
  • September.  Bishop Shaw presided at our celebration of the 150th anniversary of the church’s founding.
  • Vintage Books published Mary Catherine Bateson‘s Composing a Further Life: The Age of Active Wisdom, in which she discusses the influence of our 9th rector, Al Kershaw (pp. 171-2 & 1979-80). See also Timeline:  1963 & 1969.

2009

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PL WerntzOur vestry called The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz to be our twelfth rector.

 

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The Rt. Rev. Gayle Harris blessed our new garden.

 

 

 

Brett Cook and others in Durham NC completed the installation of Face Up:  Telling Stories of Community Life, which includes five murals picturing The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray. Installed at 117 S. Buchanan Blvd. is “Soul Roots” with an inscription from Proud Shoes:  “It had taken me almost a lifetime to discover that true emancipation lies in the acceptance of the whole past, in deriving strength from all my roots, in facing up to the degradation as well as the dignity of my ancestors”.