Author Archives: Elizabeth Richardson

Love the one who shows mercy!

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Proper 10C
July 15 2019

Amos 7:7-17 The Lord said to me, ‘Go prophesy to my people Israel.’
Colossians 1:1-14 Grace to you and peace from God.
Luke 10:25-37 But wanting to justify himself.

O God of mercy, 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.

Following my sermon last week about Galatians, I thought I might do some teaching about the letter to the Colossians, but I just couldn’t let the story called “The Good Samaritan” go unaddressed. It’s such an iconic story that one doesn’t have to be a church goer to know it. You don’t have to be a Christian to have heard of it or understand something about it. Hospitals, emergency services, counseling services, rules of law about limits of liability, award programs, all get called Good Samaritan. This parable called “The Good Samaritan,” found only in Luke, might be the most famous parable of them all. And with its fame comes the enormous and crushing weight of Protestant Moral Theology, Sunday School lessons, and a hefty dose of Christian anti-Jewish bias. The preaching challenge for me seems formidable because of what we all think we already know about this story, and the guilt that has been wired into most of us about seeing people in life’s various ditches and not doing enough or not doing anything at all to help. In my time as a priest, this bible story has provoked more confessions and more defensive attempts at self-justification than any other I know.

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Bearing One Another’s Burdens

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Proper 9C
July 7, 2019

2 Kings 5:1-14 Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.
Galatians 6:1-16 [You all,} bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 Peace to this house.

O God of gentleness and redemption, 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 morning I want to focus our attention on our reading from Galatians, because we aren’t going to hear from this beautiful letter for another three years, and it’s one of the most important books in our Second Testament, theologically and ethically. We don’t know for sure, but it might be the second oldest document in our Christian scripture, probably written just after the year 50. Galatia was a large territory in what is now known as central Turkey. Paul was writing to a group of communities, not just to a gathering in one town or city. Here is the oldest document that asserts justification by faith and not works (works, in this case, mean circumcision for men and keeping dietary commandments – it doesn’t mean “good deeds”). The thing about justification by faith, though, is that, according to Paul, it’s the faith of or from Jesus Christ, not faith in Jesus Christ that saves us. It was Jesus’s faith, not his followers’ faith, and that’s a good thing, because as a group, we aren’t all that faithful. As far as I can tell, Paul never meant to suggest that we don’t have work to do in response to Jesus’ faith in God and in his followers.
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Cost what it will.

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Proper 8C  
June 30, 2019

1 Kings 2:1-2,6-14 Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.
Galatians 5:1,13-25 You were called to freedom…do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence.
Luke 9:51-62 Follow me.

O God of our ground of all being, 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.

Last week I gave you some homework: to re-read or pray with Psalm 42 to help you acknowledge your thirst for the Divine; to disable or dial down the “better-than/worse-than” calculators that are always running in our brains and using up power like background apps on a smart phone or like clocks on kitchen appliances. And finally, to tell others what the Holy One has done for you. How did it go? If you missed the assignment or the dog ate your homework, it’s okay. You’re here – that’s the important thing! Thank you for being here. Church is one place in life where you get full credit just for showing up!

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Tell how much God has done for you!

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Proper 7C
June 23, 2019

1 Kings 19:1-15a What are you doing here Elijah?
Psalm 42 Deep calls to deep.
Galatians 3:23-29 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female for all of you are one.
Luke 8:26-39 Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.

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.

Those of you who have heard me preach know I often have scripture readings to complain about. (Think the late Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes.) Today I want to say that there should be a lectionary rule about not having too many good readings from scripture on the same day. The story of Elijah, Psalm 42, Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and the Gerasene demoniac story – I mean, come on. It’s just too much. I love these scriptures – they are touchstones for me in my own life of faith. Very often, they are at the top of my head and the tip of my tongue. Today there’s too much to say about what I love.

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A Time of Prayer

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Seventh Sunday in Easter (C)
June 2, 2019

Acts 16:16-34  Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21  And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
John 17:20-26  So that the love with which you have loved me may be in them.

O God of purpose and 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.

In our Church calendar, we have entered into the commemoration of a period of time after Jesus’ death, in between when his friends stopped having powerful external experiences of his presence and started internalizing his presence. After they watched Jesus work and before they started feeling brave enough and inspired enough to make his work their own. In the Church calendar, the commemoration is nine days – a novena – a period of special devotion, a period of prayerful waiting for a spirit of holiness to deliver some grace in a circumstance of peril or need. Of course, any churchy observance or season might feel mismatched with what we’re experiencing or feeling. You might already be filled with inspiration – like our newly ordained deacon Sarah. You might be feeling dazed and confused by the sorrows of your life or the sorrows of the world. Either way, the Church invites you to be in a time of prayer about what’s next.

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Fixer-Uppers

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Sixth Sunday in Easter, Year C, May 26, 2019.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 16:9-15. Come and stay at my home.
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5. Gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night.
John 14:23-29.  We will come to them and make our home with them.

O God of Homecoming, 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.

More visions this week in our scripture readings: today a vision of Paul, another vision of John of Patmos, and more of the vision of John the Evangelist. What strikes me about the three visions last week and this week is that they are visions of home. They’ve reminded me that I really miss the occupation description “homemaker.” I’m sorry that it has become a bad word for progressives and I want to take it back. I also miss the name home economics as a course of study. The root meaning of the word economy is household. A household or home, in this sense, is a place where the residents (who are not necessarily related) share their meals and rest together. There is an economy.

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Surprising Visions of Peace

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Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C
May 19, 2019

Acts 11:1-18 The spirit told me…not to make a distinction between them and us.
Revelation 21:1-6 I am making all things new…to the thirsty I will give water as a gift.
John 13:31-35 I give you a new commandment, [in order] that you love one another.
O God of all, 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.


We are thirty-five days into Eastertide, and our scripture lessons today describe visions: Peter’s vision, John of Patmos’ vision, and John the Evangelist’s vision. While Peter was in a trance of prayer, he had a life-changing dream that revealed there is no distinction between “them” and “us.” In other words, when it comes to the redeeming urge or work of the Holy One, (also known as Jesus Christ for Christians), there is no Jew or Gentile, no free or slave, no male and female, [1]  no insiders and outsiders, no gender binary; all people are one. While there are always those in the center and those on the margins, those with more power and those with less, those of us who have and use more than our fair share of resources and those who do not have their basic needs met, we are all one. Peter realizes that he should not be hindering the work of God by deciding who is inside and who is outside of God’s reach when it comes to sacred and profane practices. Here’s where we often get tripped up as Christians. How does any of us decide what is godly is and what it’s not? Well, for starters, as our Presiding Bishop Curry is fond of saying, “if it’s not about love, it’s not about God.” Of course it gets complicated, but that’s where we start. If it looks like there are competing interests that all have to do with love, we might need to enlarge our view. We might need to look at the situation from 30,000 feet where differences become imperceptible.

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Come alive!

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Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C
May 12, 2019

Acts 9:36-43 He gave her his hand and helped her up.
Revelation 7:9-17 He will guide them to springs of the water of life.
John 10:22-30 It was winter.

O God of eternal life, 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.

During Eastertide, our lectionary offers no lessons from the First Testament. The effect, I think, is to overemphasize a break between Jesus’ followers and Jesus’ religious identity and tradition. Instead, we have passages from the Acts of the Apostles’ romantic accounts of the beginnings of Christianity, written toward the end of the first century about “the good old days.” (Always be suspicious when you hear about good old days, because they’ve never been good for everybody.) Today it’s Peter raising Dorcas from the dead with a line that is almost exactly the same as what Jesus said to raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead. Jesus reportedly said, “talitha cum” which means arise or wake up, come alive! Here Peter says, “tabitha anasteythi” which means arise or wake up, come alive!. In other words, Peter was ministering just like Jesus.

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Looking for Resurrection Joy

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Third Sunday of Easter, Year C, May 5, 2019.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 9:1-6(7-20).  Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen.
Revelation 5:11-14. And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’.
John 21:1-19. Come and have breakfast.

O God of Resurrection, 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.

We are going deep into the Great Fifty Days of Easter, the extended celebration of the Resurrection of the Dead. I’m always grateful that the Church calendar gives 40 days for Lent, but 50 days for Easter. Lent is easier for many of us – we can easily believe in the need for focus on penitence, prayer, study, and almsgiving. Many of you tell me that Lent is your favorite season. On the other hand, a season of increased focus on resurrection joy really trips people up. So the Church gives us extra time – an extension or sorts – to observe, to celebrate new life for what has seemed unredeemable, discarded, lost or dead! Some of you might be thinking that fifty days is not long enough. That’s okay – this is a group project, not an individual assignment, and every year we get another try.

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Discipline & Commitment

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Second Sunday of Easter, Year C
April 28, 2019

Acts 5:27-32 Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
Revelation 1:4-8 To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood.
John 20:19-31 Peace be to you…I send you…receive the spirit of holiness.

O God of life, 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 Gospel reading for today is a little like watching a prime-time serial program where the story leaves off at the end of one episode and picks up the next week only several hours later in the story. This passage begins, “being evening on that first day” – narratively, the same day that the women had found the tomb empty, the same day that Mary Magdalene had encountered the risen Lord. The disciples were hiding behind shut doors because they were afraid.
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