I love to watch people draw and create. People reveal aspects of themselves through the way their bodies move and the facial expressions they make when they draw, paint, and play instruments. Some people move with aggression and furrow their brows, and others move with melancholic lethargy and have a sullen look in their eyes. Some people make bold, confident gestures while painting, and others make tiny, meticulous brush stokes. When we are engrossed in the creative process, we are not using our cognitive energy to monitor our facial expressions or body movements; instead, we are using that energy to create. Our need for control takes a back seat and our sadness, anger, jubilation, and many other aspects of self rise to the surface when we stop using our mental power to stifle these things and instead use it to express ourselves through artistic media. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: October 2015
Reflective Listening
A skill I’ve found valuable as an intern with Emmanuel Church is one that I learned when volunteering with the Center for Grieving Children called reflective listening. Commonly when we are conversing with others, we may appear to be listening but instead we’re processing what the other person is saying by evaluating how it relates to ourselves. This can result in unsolicited (and unhelpful) subjective responses or advice. Continue reading
Go lead!
Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, 25B, October 24, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Job 42:1-6, 10-17 Now my eyes see you.
Hebrews 7:23-28 Prevented by death from continuing in office!
Mark 10:46-52 What do you want me to do for you?
Hebrews 7:23-28 Prevented by death from continuing in office!
Mark 10:46-52 What do you want me to do for you?
O God of our wildest dreams, 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.
Dan Hazen had a vision of how he wanted his completed life acknowledged at Emmanuel Church and it did not include a sermon being preached about him. (I’ll honor his wish.) But I want to share one of the things Dan frequently mentioned in the seven short years that I knew him. It was that he didn’t like worship services that tied things up in a neat bow. So instead of eulogizing him from this pulpit, I’ll do my best to offer a sermon that is long on questions and short on answers, one that doesn’t even try to make sense of the incongruities and ambiguities! Continue reading
Come closer! (with audio)
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, 24B, October 18, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Isaiah 53:4-12 It was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.
[Job 38:1-7, 34-41 Who.]
Hebrews 5:1-10 He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Mark 10:35-45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.
[Job 38:1-7, 34-41 Who.]
Hebrews 5:1-10 He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Mark 10:35-45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.
O suffering 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.
Our Rabbi-in-Residence, Howard Berman, is fond of asking me whenever he preaches at one of our services, “Why do I always get the hard texts?” I say, I wonder the very same thing! Why do I always get the hard texts?” (I think the answer might be that they’re almost all hard.) When it comes to the Isaiah reading, I’ll admit that I did it to myself when I agreed to take a week away from our reading of the story of Job in the interest of Ryan Turner’s request for the lovely Distler motet.
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In Time of Need (with audio)
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, 23B, October 11, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Job 23:1-9Today my complaint is bitter.
Hebrews 4:12-16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness.
Mark 10:17-31 For God all things are possible.
Hebrews 4:12-16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness.
Mark 10:17-31 For God all things are possible.
O God of possibility, 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.
“Indeed, [according to Hebrews] the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before God no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.” Continue reading
Sharing Stories
Firstly I’d like to thank the Reverend Pamela Werntz and Emmanuel Church for the opportunity to participate in the Common Art program, Café Emmanuel, and the Art and Spirituality program. I consider it an honor to be chosen and believe this will be an exceptionally enriching experience because of the real life, real time dynamics of non-clinical settings.
Kindness
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 22B, October 4, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Job 1:1, 2:1-10 Do you still persist in your integrity?
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12 Someone has testified somewhere… .
Mark 10:2-16 Receive the kingdom of God as a little child.
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12 Someone has testified somewhere… .
Mark 10:2-16 Receive the kingdom of God as a little child.
O God of 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.
So how about those readings? One of the things that my clergy colleagues and I often do when we see each other in the week before particularly troublesome readings is ask one another, “are you preaching on Sunday?” And if the answer is no, the response is, “lucky!” If the answer is yes, the follow up question is, “What are you going to do with those readings?” This past week one of my friends gloated that she had decided to celebrate the Feast of St. Francis and to use the readings assigned for that celebration. I thought, “huh, I’ve never wanted everyone to bring their animals to church on a Sunday so badly!” And I thought of the ways that colleagues turn to one another for perspective, guidance, sympathy, insight. Debate is often a part of that engagement.
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