Tag Archives: baptism

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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Enlarging the Circle

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Sixth Sunday after Easter, Year B, May 6, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 10:44-48 Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people?
1 John 5:1-6 And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is truth.
John 15:9-17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

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 are celebrating the baptism of a little boy with a big name. Samuel Dennis Warren, VII, also known as Micah. Maybe you recall that Micah is the name of the Biblical prophet, who famously reminded the people that what is required of us is only to do justice and to love kindness and to walk modestly or humbly with the Holy One. That might be the best description of what it looks like to love one another and love God in all of scripture.
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Looking More Resurrected

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Second Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 8, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 4:32-35 There was not a needy person among them.
1 John 1:1-2:2 If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves.
John 20:19-31 Peace be with you.

O God of our wildest dreams, 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.

Today is the eighth day of Easter. Eight out of fifty of Easter – so it’s still early. The puppets from our grand first-day procession last week have been returned to their storage places, but the flowers are still pretty fresh, and there are still good Easter hymns left to be sung. We have a baptism to celebrate today. Emilia Julu Hudson Houge has brought together family and friends from near and far to join her Emmanuel Church peeps for a ceremony of Christian belonging. Thank you all for being here today. Almost any day in the church year is a good day for a baptism, as far as I’m concerned, and today is especially rich because the theological message for the second Sunday in Easter is always: “you should believe it whether or not you’ve seen it.” Because of Emi’s baptism, I’m reminded of what one of my seminary professors was fond of saying: “I believe in infant baptism, heck, I’ve seen it!” I want to make sure you know that you don’t have to have a baptism ceremony to belong here at Emmanuel Church, but why not give the community another reason to rejoice?
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Resolutions, Revelations & Realizations

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The Baptism of our Lord, Year B, January 7, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Genesis 1:1-5 God saw that light was good.
Acts 19:1-7 No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
Mark 1:4-11 People from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem…[and] Jesus came from Nazareth.

O God, manifest in us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

What a treasure trove of scripture readings have been given to us by wise men (and wise women) to celebrate a new calendar year, the beginning of the season of Epiphany, and the feast of The Baptism of our Lord! Today is about resolutions, revelations, and realizations. I have so many things I want to say to you! Where to start? How about in the beginning? The last two Sundays we heard the Gospel of John’s jazz variation on the prologue to the book of Genesis. Now we hear the original.
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My liberation is bound with yours.

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Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King, Proper 29A, November 26, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will [safeguard].
Ephesians 1:15-23 So that with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.
Matthew 25:31-46 Just as you did it to the least of these…you did it to me.

O God of endings and new beginnings, 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.

Today we mark the end of the liturgical calendar year for Christians. This is our New Year’s Eve day – a time for reflection and review, for celebration, and for renewed hope for the future.  Our year end coincides this year with Thanksgiving weekend, and I hope you’ve all found reasons to be thankful. But if this week has been particularly hard, and you haven’t found a reason yet, I hope you will find it this morning in this place!  I am so thankful that you are here.
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Vision of Dignity (with audio)

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Epiphany 2A, January 15, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 49:1-7 I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
1 Corinthians 1:1-9 God is faithful.
John 1:29-41 Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

O God, manifest in 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 in our Gospel lesson, we heard Matthew’s version of Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan River. You might remember that I said that, according to Matthew, the voice that Jesus heard was an inside-out rather than an outside-in voice. Matthew was describing the bat kol – the voice of the Divine that sounds like the voice of a little girl, or the daughter of a voice, an echo. Matthew mentions that the heavens opened up to Jesus and a spirit of holiness landed on Jesus like a dove and he heard the voice of the Divine – the bat kol – saying this is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Matthew does not describe this as a voice that any of the others who were there would have heard. Continue reading →

Pieces of Emmanuel

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Epiphany 1A, January 8, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 42:1-9 I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand.
Acts 10:34-43 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Matthew 3:13-17 And [pay attention] the heavens were opened to him…and [pay attention] a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.’

O God, manifest in 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 is the day in the church liturgical calendar called “The Baptism of our Lord.” In the early church, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord was much more important a celebration than the Feast of the Birth of Our Lord (which we know as Christmas). The ancient church celebrated three feasts of light: Epiphany, which was the story of people wise enough to seek after and find Jesus, The Baptism of Our Lord by the incredulous John at the River Jordan, and the Wedding Feast at Cana where the story goes that Jesus changed water into some really good wine. These feasts of light were understood to illuminate the nature of God, they were manifestations or revelations initiated by God and noticed by people. These three feasts demonstrated to early Christians not only what God is like but also Who (God) wishes us to be in community – in relationship to one another.
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The beginning is near.

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First Sunday of Advent, Proper 1A, November 27, 2016; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 2:1-5 They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.
Romans 13:11-14 Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Matthew 24:37-44 No one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son.

O God of new beginnings, 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.

And so we begin a new year in the Church. Our ordinary time has been interrupted like the blast of the ram’s horn, by Advent, a season of preparation and repentance. Preparation and repentance can sound like the season of Lent, but Advent is not about the personal so much as it is about institutional, organizational, and communal preparation and repentance (repentance meaning turning around toward God). Our lessons for this Sunday are about a vision of nations waging peace, instructions to the Church that loving is the fulfillment of the law, and a reminder from Jesus that no one knows when the end will be, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son. No one knows except the Author of creation, the Author of Love.
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Some Women of Means

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Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (6C), June 12, 2016; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

1 Kings 21:1-21a Jezebel.
Galatians 2:15-21 I do not nullify the grace of God.
Luke 7:36-8:3 The twelve were with him as well as some women…who provided for them out of their resources.

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.

In today’s Gospel reading, we hear the famous story of an unnamed city woman who lived a life of flagrant disobedience to the law (aka a criminal). In order to undercut the authority of religious leaders in Luke’s own time at the end of the first century, Luke misrepresents and caricatures a Pharisee named Simon in a way that is historically mistaken and theologically inappropriate. Pharisees were quite clear in their teachings about the abundant mercy and compassion of God, and their teachings that faithful people were to emulate God in offering mercy and compassion. Of course there may have been a gap between teachings and behavior. We’ve seen that in our own religious practices, haven’t we? Ironically, Luke, and those who have repeated the slander of Pharisees, put themselves in the position of needing great forgiveness. [1] Continue reading →