Monthly Archives: October 2019

Finding my groove?

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Boston Warm Collage

Collaborative collage created by BostonWarm participants to commemorate the program’s five-year anniversary

It was tough for me to figure out what to write about for this week. It’s not that nothing happened, that’s for sure—there’s always plenty going on at BostonWarm and common art—rather, there was no singular topic or moment I could think to focus on. I was starting to ask fewer questions of my (incredibly patient) supervisors and starting to learn better how to initiate things on my own. Was it possible that I was starting to find my “groove” here at my internship?
Of course, now I realize that I did indeed have a noteworthy moment at BostonWarm—I led my first art project!

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God’s Story

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Proper 23C, October 13, 2019. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
2 Timothy 2:8-15. The word of God is not chained.
Luke 17:11-19. Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?’

O God of Sacred Story, 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.

This sermon is going to include a list-making exercise – and so you might want to have a pen or pencil ready – or take notes on your phone. (Yes, I’m the priest who regularly tells people to use their phones during the liturgy.) You won’t need it for a few minutes, but I want you to be ready. Before that I want to offer some commentary on the readings from our First and Second Testaments. I want to highlight the surprising instructions from God through the prophecy of Jeremiah to the people who were in exile, far from home, captives in Babylon, because maybe some of you are in a similar situation. Jeremiah wrote the Word of God in a letter to them and said: “Plant gardens. Build dwelling places. Seek the welfare of the city where you are, for in its welfare, you will find your welfare.” The Hebrew word for welfare is “shalom.” The same word in Arabic, “salaam,” forms the word Islam. Islam is often translated “submission,” and that is also an essential part of shalom – submission is obedience; obedience is radical listening; radical listening is what God, also known as Love, commands above all else. Listening to love, submitting to love, and well-being are all one. Seek wellbeing in the new and difficult place to which you have arrived against your will. God’s blessing continues even in exile. Contribute to the welfare of the city wherever you are. Be a blessing where you are, even if you are a captive.

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Mistakes

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There’s a lemon in life that I’ve been trying to turn into lemonade for quite some time now: mistakes. Logically I understand that mistakes are a part of life and a key element to learning. Some of the world’s greatest inventions, from potato chips to penicillin, were discovered or created accidentally. If I were talking to a friend or a student, I would encourage them to try different things, make mistakes, and learn something new—but me make a mistake in my internship? Surely this would be the end of me, my career over before it started.

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Being Played

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Proper 22C
October 6, 2019

Lamentations 1:1-6 Her priests groan, her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter…nobody goes to church any more.
2 Timothy 1:1-11 Recalling your tears…I am reminded of…a faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice…rekindle the gift of God that is within you.
Luke 17:5-10 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

O God of our weary years and silent tears, 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 first reading this morning was taken from the book of Lamentations, and I want to linger there a moment because we rarely hear anything from this book of the Bible in church, although I wish we did. It’s a collection of five dirges: poems of deep pain and suffering, of outrage and grief, of complaint and protest, in response to political calamity, social and economic devastation, and utter theological collapse. It’s a direct challenge to the notion that religious life should somehow not be political. The Bible’s response to that is “nonsense!”

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