Where charity and love are, God is there. Emmanuel’s stewardship theme this year is “Love your neighbor”. Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard about different ways that we can think of our neighbor. A few weeks ago Karen King highlighted several places where the command to love our neighbor is found in the Bible. She shared one of her favorites, Jesus telling in the Gospel of Luke the parable of the Good Samaritan. Our neighbors can be those who were strangers but made neighbors thanks to compassion and mercy. Building on this the following week, Carolyn Roosevelt reminded us that the Samaritan made a pledge to the innkeeper to pay for his neighbor’s care. Last week Mary Blocher spoke to us about how Emmanuel ensures that there is room at the inn by keeping the doors open, the programs running, the staff paid, the lights on, and the hospitality flowing. Continue reading
Tag Archives: commitment
Narrative Theology
First Sunday after Christmas
December 29, 2019
Isaiah 61:10-62:3 For the sake of Zion I will not be silent. For the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest.
Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7 So you are…a child then also an heir, through God.
John 1:1-18 and the Word became flesh and lived among us
Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7 So you are…a child then also an heir, through God.
John 1:1-18 and the Word became flesh and lived among us
O God of our 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.
If you were in church here on Christmas Eve or anywhere else on Christmas morning, you heard the prologue from the Gospel of John, verses 1-14 of it anyway. Our deacon Bob and I chanted it by candlelight. So it’s curious that the lectionary assigns it again for the First Sunday of Christmas with four more verses. Curious, but I kind of like it because there are just some places a preacher shouldn’t go in a Christmas Eve sermon in an overly full service in the sanctuary. But today, in Lindsey Chapel, we can go there. Today we can review some Biblical Greek. Not many people want to review Biblical Greek on Christmas Eve. This morning we’ve got a little elbow room and I’m going to take full advantage.
Cost what it will.
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.
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!
Become trusting!
Second Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 12, 2015; 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.
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 hope, 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.
Many of you know that one of my life projects has to do with increasing literacy, particularly Biblical literacy among progressive Christians, who have tended to cede the Bible to more conservative Christians. For example, I want people to understand that what we call “The Bible” is actually more like a library or an anthology than a book. The anthology contains more than a dozen different kinds of literature – and each kind of literature has different rules and built-in assumptions for understanding it. For instance, one would read biography differently from reading a sermon or an editorial. One would read legislation differently from poetry or a song. It helps to know what type of literature one is reading in order to understand what it might mean or how to apply it to our lives. Unfortunately, figuring out the genre is often complicated by many centuries and many miles of distance, and further complicated by modern inventions – inventions such as the English language, punctuation, customs of printing, etc. Continue reading