Last Friday I stayed for common cathedral’s Bible study after Boston Warm. I’ve been a bit hesitant to join Bible study because of some negative associations it brings up for me about my own religious upbringing, but lately I’ve been trying to approach it with a new perspective. I decided to look at the Bible study group as a way to not only continue to spend time with this community and practice therapeutic communication skills, but also as a sort of assessment time to learn about the spiritual perspectives and themes that community members are currently dealing with. Continue reading
Tag Archives: art
Talent Show
I am feeling excited for common cathedral‘s talent show this week, although a bit nervous to see how it goes, since there are many unknowns: whether or not everyone who signed up will show up, how big the audience will be, if the tech that people need for their acts will work or malfunction, and any other number of things I can’t predict. I am trying to practice flexibility and trust myself to respond to whatever comes.
I am thinking of my role for this project as something like “therapeutic stage manager”, someone whose job is to offer containment for the performances both on a technical/logistical as well as emotional level. I have already had a few conversations with some community members who expressed some anxiety about their performances and have tried my best to offer reassurance and solutions to their concerns. I also am planning on introducing and closing the show. For the closing, I plan to do a “fill-in-the-blank”-style poem using suggestions from the audience, which would reflect on themes and inspirations they took away from the performances. I am hoping that this would provide the participants with a sense of being seen, appreciated, and connected with one another.
I am also enjoying thinking of the talent show as a sort of assessment tool, a way for me to get to know these community members more deeply and see where their unique strengths, topics of interest, and creative capacities lie. I am hoping that what I observe will give me further insight into how I could continue to use the arts to engage this community with things that are important to them.
Colorful common-art session in our Parish Hall
Help, like an atheist!
Lent 4B, 10 March 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
- Numbers 21: 4-9. Look at the serpent of bronze and live.
- Ephesians 2: 1-10. For by grace you have been saved.
- John 3: 14-21. For God loved the world like this.
O God of love, 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 historical and contemporary misunderstandings and mistreatments of our Gospel lesson this morning are almost too much for me to bear. I knew when Deacon Bob read this passage to you this morning, many of you would start shutting down, going other places in your heads, perhaps leaving the building in your imagination. He had asked me if I wanted to make any edits to what he would read, but frankly I didn’t know where to begin. There are so many edits I want to make, and I’m not sure any amount of editing could solve all the problems in this passage. So perhaps I can bring your imagination back into the building with this First Nations Version rendering of John 3:14-2, a dynamic equivalence translation, which was published a few years ago. That’s a fancy way of saying that it’s a translation focused on retelling the dynamics of the story, not attempting a word-for-word translation of the original. The context for this scene is that Nicodemus, a religious leader in Jerusalem has come to Jesus in the night to learn more about him and his ministry. I’ve made a few more edits to it, so I want you to notice whether and how you respond differently when you hear the Gospel story this way: [1] Continue reading
We Celebrate Bishop Barbara Harris
April 30, 2024
This past Sunday, The Rt. Rev. Dr. Carol J. Gallagher, visited us, presiding and preaching at our Eucharist for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. Bishop Gallagher also dedicated our second pulpit statue. Bishop Barbara Harris’s statue joins that of the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, both carved by our resident sculptor, Ted Southwick. Bishop Barbara was known to many of us and stories about her forthright manner and other qualities are legendary. We honor her in this column. While it would be impossible to cite her writings and writings about her, we present a few here.
“I would like to see the church come to some better understanding of what it means to be an inclusive fellowship, how to more fully exhibit the love of Christ in the world.”
— Barbara Harris, The Right Reverend Barbara C. Harris, 1930-2020
Harris, Barbara C. Hallelujah Anyhow! A Memoir. New York: Church Publishing,
2018.
Johnson, Qiana M., “The First Five Black Women Episcopal Priests,” Anglican
and Episcopal History 92:1 (March 2023), p. 81-102. An article about Pauli Murray, Mary, Adebonojo, Barbara C. Harris, Sandye Wilson, and Gayle Harris.
–Mary Beth Clack, Mary Blocher, Cindy Coldren, Pat Krol, Liz Levin
–Published in This Week @Emmanuel Church April 30, 2024
Look for things that go right.
Easter (A), 9 April 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
- Jeremiah 31:1-6. I have loved you with an everlasting love.
- Colossians 3:1-4, 5-15. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
- Matthew 28:1-10. Go and tell.
O God of new life, grant us the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may and cost what it will.
I wish you could see yourselves, the way you look from this pulpit; you look beautiful! I was hoping that you would be here, and I am so glad that you are. I’m glad for those of you who are with us via live-stream, too, even though I can’t see you! Thank you for celebrating Easter with Emmanuel Church! Welcome to those of you who are here for the first time, those of you who have been here more times than you can count, and all of you who are somewhere in between. Continue reading
It’s funny. Live in the along!
Easter, Year B, April 1, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Acts 10:34-43 I truly understand that God shows no partiality.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Also you are being saved.
John 20:1-18 I have seen the Lord.
O God of laughter, 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.
Happy April Fools’ Day everyone! I’m so glad you’re here. You look very beautiful (and that is no joke). Welcome to those of you who are here for the first time; welcome to those of you who have been here more times than you can count, and welcome to everyone in between! Thank you for coming to Emmanuel Church to begin the festival of the Great Fifty Days of Easter. You honor us with your presence this morning. We are glad that you’re here whether you love this holiday, or you don’t so much, but you are here because it matters to someone you love, or you are here for a sadder reason. Maybe some of you don’t even quite know the reason you’re here – and I’m grateful that you’re here too!
Continue reading
The Art of Resurrection
Easter Year A, April 16, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Jeremiah 31:1-6 I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Colossians 3:1-4, 5-15 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Matthew 28:1-10 Go and tell.
O God of new life, grant us the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may and cost what it will.
I love the Gospel of Matthew’s account of the resurrection of Jesus. But before I get to it, I need to say something briefly about our readings from Jeremiah and Colossians. Many of you know that promoting Biblical literacy is one of my life projects, and so I don’t want to miss the opportunity to draw your attention to the God of Love represented in our First Testament (also known as the Old Testament) reading. In Jeremiah, God is saying to Jeremiah “In the days to come, I will be their God and they will be my people. [Remember] the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness when they were returning homeward.” Then God says to those who are living in exile as captives of the Babylonian Empire, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you…I will build you up again and you’ll make music and dance, you will plant long-term crops and live to enjoy the fruit.” Continue reading
Snowflakes from Common Art
Precious Communication
The Work of Christmas
The Feast of the Nativity, December 25, 2016
Isaiah 52:7-10 Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem.
Titus 2:11-14 Let no one look down on you.
John 1:1-14 Full of grace and truth.
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.