Tag Archives: dreams

Thirst

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Lent 3A, 12 March 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Exodus 17:1-7. The people thirsted there.
  • Romans 5:1-11. God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
  • John 4:5-42. Give me a drink.

O God of water and thirst, 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.

One theme for the day that I hear in our scripture readings is thirst. Maybe you know Mary Oliver’s poem called “Thirst,” in her book by the same name. [1] When I first read the poem, I heard it in Mary Oliver’s voice; this time around the I hear two voices in dialogue. The first part of the poem seems like the voice of the Samaritan woman.  Continue reading →

Telling the Story

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Proper 10B.  July 11, 2021

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19.  David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the LORD with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.
Ephesians 1:3-14. [God] set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time.
Mark 6:14-29. What should I ask for?

O God of Our Dreaming, 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.

The summer lectionary has dealt us some truly terrible readings for us this morning,  readings that should give any of us pause before we say, “Thanks be to God” or “Praise to you, Lord Christ.” First is the story of how the ark of the covenant came to reside in Jerusalem, which is not a nice story, although the lectionary calls for the most troubling parts of the story to be removed. Then, we have the story of the beheading of John the Baptist with a passage from Ephesians in the middle insisting that somehow everything is going to be alright.
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Freedom is a dream.

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Proper 9B. July 4, 2021

2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10. Look, we are your bone and flesh. [Take us in].
2 Corinthians 12:2-10. My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.
Mark 6:1-13. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

O Dreamer of Freedom, 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 people at Emmanuel wonder what a lesson like the one from 2 Samuel has to do with the Gospel (or anything else in the service). It’s a great question that often comes from experiencing a lifetime of lectionary reading selections that used to fit neatly together, in which Christians appropriated the First Testament to serve the Second Testament. That has changed somewhat with the Episcopal Church’s use of the Revised Common Lectionary. 
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Clear Vision

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Christmas 2B, January 3, 2021, The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.

Jeremiah 31:7-14 Their life shall become like a watered garden . . . and my people will be satisfied with my bounty.
Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-19a With the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which [God] has called you.
Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 We observed his star at its rising.

O God of our dreams, 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. Amen.

Before the year 2020 began, I thought a lot about the idea that 20/20 is a term to express visual clarity. 20/20 is what optometrists strive for when prescribing corrective lenses, and did we ever see more clearly in this past year. We have seen “with the eyes of our hearts enlightened” where we have missed the marks as a society when it comes to the equitable distribution of resources, and we have seen “with the eyes of our hearts enlightened, what is the hope to which God has called us.” We have risen to previously unthought of challenges, and we have acknowledged our vulnerabilities. We have seen (in others and in ourselves) foolishness and bravery, self-absorption and self-emptying, grasping and giving away. Since hindsight is 20/20, it might take a little time before we are completely clear about all that we’ve seen and what it means for us going forward.
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