Monthly Archives: March 2024

You all belong to God.

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Epiphany 2B, 14 January 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 1 Samuel 3:1-20. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
  • 1 Corinthians 6:12-20. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God and that you are not your own?
  • John 1:43-51. You [all] will see greater things than these.

O God of calling and questing, may we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth – come when it may and cost what it will.

In the midst of sequential Gospel of Mark readings during the season of Epiphany, today we hear a passage from the Gospel of John. I don’t have the foggiest idea why. The answer often given is that the Gospel of Mark is just too short – it moves too fast. (I’ve parroted that answer myself.) But when I stop to think about it, I realize that I’ve never heard anyone in church complain that a Gospel reading (or a sermon, for that matter) was too short!  Continue reading →

Say I love you, too.

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Epiphany 1B, 7 January 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Genesis 1:1-5. Beginning.
  • Acts 19:1-7. We have not even heard that there is a holy spirit.
  • Mark 1:4-11. He will baptize you with the [sic] holy spirit.

O God of beginning again, may we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth – come when it may and cost what it will.

Today is the day that the Church celebrates the Baptism of Our Lord. Jesus’ baptism is considered the beginning of his ministry; and so we have three scripture readings before us today that speak of new beginnings. “In the beginning,” goes our first reading from the first book of the Bible. “In the beginning God created” are the first words of Genesis, the first words of the Torah.  Actually in Hebrew they say something more like, “When God began shaping.” There is no completed action. Rather, there is a strong sense of ongoing, incomplete shaping. Continue reading →

The story isn’t finished.

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Christmas 1B, 31 December 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Isaiah 61:10-62:3. You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.
  • Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7. So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
  • John 1:1-18. No one has ever seen God.

O God of our 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.

First a poem by Irish theologian Padraig O Tuama, called “Narrative Theology #1”.  [1]

And I said to him
Are there answers to all of this?
And he said
The answer is in a story
and the story is being told.

And I said
But there is so much pain
And she answered, plainly,
Pain will happen.

Then I said
Will I ever find meaning?
And they said
You will find meaning
Where you give meaning.

The answer is in the story
And the story isn’t finished. Continue reading →

Sing a song of love.

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Advent 4B, 24 December 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16. I will not take my steadfast love from him.
  • Romans 16:25-27. The revelation of the mystery…is now disclosed.
  • Luke 1:26-38. But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

O God in whom is heaven, may we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth – come when it may and cost what it will.

Every once in a while, our liturgical calendar gives us the Fourth Sunday of Advent in the morning and Christmas Eve in the evening. It always seems to take us by surprise even though it’s possible to see it coming for a long time. The last time was in 2017, and the next time will be in 2028. Plan accordingly!

Over the past weeks, our scripture readings have been full of prophetic calls to vast numbers of people for large scale relational and economic repair projects, leveling the playing fields and making it easier for all people to experience the love of God. Today, in a dramatic downshift, we are invited into intensely intimate scenes between David and Nathan, between Mary and Gabriel. You can almost hear our theological engine revving as we slow down to make this big turn. For the Gospel of Luke (and the Gospel of Matthew), this passage from Samuel about David and Nathan was essential to understanding just who Jesus would be. Continue reading →

Finding Magnification of the Lord

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Advent 3B, 17 December 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11. To give them a garland instead of ashes.
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.
  • John 1:6-8, 19-28. This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

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

So, are you ready for Christmas? It’s hard for me to think of a more annoying question at this time of year. It jangles my nerves as it conjures up conversations to have, plans to make, places to go, bulletins to prepare, and sermons to write. It also conjures up the yawning gap between how I want the world to be and how it is at this moment – wracked by war and alienation, torn apart by greed and fear, peoples estranged from one another in hopes of finding safety and security. The question conjures up in me the recognition of the emotional freight of this tricky season. It conjures up those who are broken-hearted, captive, imprisoned, those who are being crushed by debt or other kinds of devastation, those who are huddled in doorways and alleyways without adequate and dignified shelter or even access to toilets. “No!” I want to shout. “No, we are not ready.” “How could we be ready?” And our scriptures smile and say, “Well, ready or not….” Continue reading →

Represent the goodness and love of God.

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Advent 2B, 10 December 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Isaiah 40:1-11. Comfort, O comfort my people says your God.
  • 2 Peter 3:8-15a. New heavens and a new earth where righteousness is at home.
  • Mark 1:1-8. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah.

O God of the prophets, may we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth – come when it may and cost what it will.

The season of Advent in the Church is meant to be more an annual pilgrimage than a shopping spree or a holiday frenzy. The observance of Advent is a spiritual, theological practice, and it’s also political, sociological, economic when we are paying attention to the scriptures. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it is also a pilgrimage in a season marked by darkness. For those of us in and around the city, true darkness is barely possible to experience, but the loss of sunlight is felt deeply, nonetheless. So many of us are unaccustomed to noticing the beauty of darkness. I have found that I need to slow down to notice the beauty of darkness, to appreciate the growth that occurs in the darkness, to identify the many blessings of darkness. It takes some slowing down and remembering that to the Divine, darkness and light are both alike. Continue reading →

If You Want to Hear the Truth

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Advent 1B, 3 December 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Isaiah 64:1-9. O that you would tear open the heavens and come down….We are your people.
  • 1 Corinthians 1:1-9. So that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Mark 13:24-37. Keep awake.

O God of repentance, repair, and reconciliation, may we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth – come when it may and cost what it will.

Hello! Happy Advent! Happy Churchy New Year! I’m so glad to be back with you after four months of time away.  I’m eager to hear about how you’ve changed and grown while we’ve been apart.  I hope you’ll find a time to talk with me so we can catch up; or if you’re new to Emmanuel, so that we can get to know one another. I have stories to tell you about my adventures learning about my Maryland ancestors and my Civil Rights pilgrimage with my wife Joy across the deep South – from Louisiana to Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. I’ve been learning about and reflecting more deeply on my family’s relationship with racial oppression, my Church’s (big C) relationship with racial oppression, and my government’s relationship with racial oppression. Along the way, I’ve been building new relationships with folks who are engaging in racial reckoning by learning and practicing restorative and reparative justice in meaningful and sustainable ways. My heart is full of gratitude for Emmanuel Church’s gift to me of time away for rest and restoration, and for education and inspiration. Continue reading →