2018 Sermons

Unless noted otherwise these sermons were preached by Emmanuel’s rector, the Reverend Pamela L. Werntz. For other years, please see the links on Sermons.

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (19B), Sept 16, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

Isaiah 50:4-9a The Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher…
James 3:1-12 Not many of you should become teachers…
Mark 8:27-38 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi…

Here we are back in the sanctuary.

A change of location for our worship as we move from the long, narrow space in the Lindsey Chapel back to this BIG wide open space.  Banners visible up in the choir loft. The Emmanuel Land window. All this resonant air just waiting to be charged by sounds of the Schutz, Byrd, and Bach.
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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (17B), September 2, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe…
James 1:17-27 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him…

Here we are, you and I, at the official beginning of Pam’s sabbatical.

Pam left us with a particular intention for this three months so that it might be a time for her and Emmanuel to walk paths, not precisely parallel, but definitely meandering under the same stars.

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Gather up the fragments!

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Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (12B), July 29, 2018

2 Samuel 11:1-15 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle…David [stayed home].
Ephesians 3:14-21 The power to comprehend…what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ.
John 6:1-21 ’Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So the gathered them up.

O God of wondrous 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 know me will imagine that I have a head of steam built up about the story of King David’s misuse of power when it came to Bathsheba and Uriah. That might be why it is so hot in this chapel. But I’m not going to preach about that today. Rather, I want to focus on our Gospel lesson. Last week I extended our Gospel reading to include Mark’s first story of the disciples feeding the multitudes with five loaves and two fish, and of a frightening storm on the sea of Galilee. This week we hear the Gospel of John’s version, which is quite different. It’s very hard not to conflate the various versions of these famous stories, but, as usual, I want to discourage the summer gazpacho soup treatment that blends distinct ingredients. The early church embraced many incompatible narratives and meanings about the life and ministry of Jesus, and I think we should too! Different versions of the same event, making differing meanings, gives us all more theological elbow room.
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Revealing the Love of God

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Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (11B), July 22, 2018

2 Samuel 7:1-14a Are you the one to build me a house to live in?
Ephesians 2:11-22 You are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 He had compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

O God of compassion, 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.

If you were in any other church service where the Revised Common Lectionary is used for the appointed Bible readings today, you would have heard a short Gospel lesson about Jesus’ lovely invitation to his disciples to have a little R&R in a deserted place, and the compassion that Jesus had on the crowds that messed up their retreat plans. Then, skipping almost twenty verses, you would have heard that people from all over brought friends and family who were sick to Jesus, hoping to have them touch even the fringe of his cloak because all who came in contact with it were healed. Usually when verses are skipped like that, I mention something about them in my sermon, but this week I really wanted you to hear the whole story for yourselves because the skipped verses are about Jesus’ disciples. When those verses get taken out, the story becomes solely about the power and popularity of Jesus. Of course that matters, but Mark’s Gospel is not so much about how magical Jesus was. What matters much more is that Jesus’ followers fully engage, fully participate in the Rule of Love, which is another name for the Reign of God. [1]
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For what shall we ask?

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Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (10B), July 15, 2018

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 Michal…despised him in her heart.
Ephesians 1:3-14 [God] chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before [God] in love.
Mark 6:14-29 What should I ask for?

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.

This is one of those Sundays when acclamations of thanksgiving and praise seem inappropriate after the readings. We have a particularly terrible set of readings when it comes to the denigration of women.
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Now is the time to know.

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Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (9B), July 8, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 Thirty-three years.
2 Corinthians 12:2-10 My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.
Mark 6:1-13 And he began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority.

O God of grace, 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.

Sometimes Bible readings are so weird –even for a Bible geek like me! Second Corinthians definitely wins the prize this week. I love the story from the Gospel of Mark about when Jesus inaugurated the buddy system for his followers, to get out there to extend hearts and hands, to expect miracles, but not to carry the dirty residue of rejection with them as they went from one town to another. I love the idea that Jesus sent no-one out alone. They got sent out two by two to proclaim that everybody should turn around toward Love, and doing this, they were able to cast out many demons and heal many who were suffering. I love to preach about that, but I think I need to say something about the portion of Paul’s letter that we heard read to us this morning, because it sounds so weird that I can’t let it just sit there today.
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Love will make you brave.

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Sixth Sunday after Pentecost (8B), July 1, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 Greatly beloved were you to me. Your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
2 Corinthians 8:7-15 We want you to excel also in this generous undertaking…in order that there may be a fair balance…’the one who had much did not have too much and the one who had little did not have too little.’
Mark 5:21-43 And they laughed at him.

O God of healing and restoration, 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’ve got good news and bad news for you this morning. The bad news is I’m feeling very preachy this morning. The good news is that I’ve had laryngitis for the past 10 days, so I won’t be able to talk very long. Besides, it’s hot.
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Fulfillment of the Law

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Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (6B), June 17, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 The Lord looks on the heart.
2 Corinthians 5:6-17 If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.
Mark 4:26-34 With many such parables he spoke the word to them.

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.

This morning we have lessons before us from 1 Samuel, 2 Corinthians, and the Gospel of Mark, but I want to start with a word about Paul’s letter to the Romans. Can you guess why?
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This Kind of Community

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Third Sunday after Pentecost (5B), June 10, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

1 Samuel 8:4-20; 11:14-15 We are determined to have a king over us.
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 So we do not lose heart.
Mark 3:20-35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

O God of glory, 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.

Sometimes the lectionary just puts much too much on a preacher’s plate. This morning feels like something of a dog’s breakfast – a confused mash up of 1 Samuel, 2 Corinthians, and a peculiar section of the Gospel of Mark. (Well it confuses me, anyway.) The story in 1 Samuel of Samuel’s warning that the people’s desire to be like the other nations and have an autocrat is going to backfire (the more things change…). Then we hear the Apostle Paul’s encouragement that enduring affliction is going to be rewarded by God. According to the notes for this passage in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, Paul was articulating a Rabbinic Judaism idea that overcoming adversity reveals the presence of divine power, and Paul was taking it one step further asserting that affliction of those that God loves assures their greatest reward in the next life. [1] I’d say that idea has backfired too. It’s one thing to offer encouragement and comfort to not lose heart, which I think is what Paul was doing. It’s quite another to start glorifying suffering. Continue reading →

Sabbath Delight

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Second Sunday after Pentecost (4B), June 3, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

1 Samuel 3:1-20 The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
2 Corinthians 4:5-12 We have this treasure in clay jars…so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies…in our mortal flesh.
Mark 2:23-3:6 The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.

O God of our delight, 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.

Today Emmanuel Church is celebrating an abundant harvest, the ordinations yesterday of Helen McKinney to the permanent diaconate and Tamra Tucker to the transitional diaconate. Helen and Tamra were both sponsored for ordination by Emmanuel Church and so we are blessed and thrilled that they’re both able to be here today to worship with us in their new roles in the Episcopal Church. Following our service and a bit of refreshment, I invite those of you who are able and interested, to join in a conversation about the ordination process. Helen and her sweetheart, Rebecca are going to have to dash to catch a plane back to Albuquerque, but Tamra will have time to stay and talk – she’s staying in Boston!
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