Tag Archives: love

The Seventh Story

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Feast of the Epiphany
January 6, 2019
Isaiah 60:1-6 Arise, shine; for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
Ephesians 3:1-12 The Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 2:1-12 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother.

O God of our epiphanies, 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 we are observing the Feast of the Epiphany, the beginning of our churchy season of celebrating manifestations, realizations, indications, and expressions of the Holy One in our midst. We start with the story of the magi.  If you’re new to Emmanuel Church, or you’re visiting, buckle up, because the way we engage Holy Scripture here can be a bumpy ride. Here’s what I mean. The word magi (or magoi in Greek) never meant wise, and never meant exclusively men. The word refers to Persian astrologers or sorcerers or magicians, a word that comes from the term magoi.  Furthermore, there’s no mention of how many there were. They brought three gifts, but there’s no telling how many of them it took to pool their resources to offer gold, frankincense and myrrh. Why not think of them as many who included women?

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Make the choice to let Love in!

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Fourth Sunday of Advent (C)
December 23, 2018

Micah 5:2-5a And he shall be the one of peace.
Hebrews 10:5-10 In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Luke 1:39-56 Blessed is she who believed.

O God of “she who believed,” 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.

 

It’s been a noisy week for me around here: the newly manufactured elevator doors have been getting installed, the roofers have been walking back and forth outside my office window. At home, it’s been the gutter cleaners and leaf blowers. Aside from sawing rocks, I don’t think there’s any machine noise that I dislike more. And really, those things are quite trivial compared with the domestic and international news that just keeps going from bad to worse. While the timing might not seem so good, the noise really fits very well with where we are in our Christian calendar. Our readings have wisdom for us to hear through the din.
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Prepare for the Peasant of Peasants!

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Third Sunday of Advent (C), December 16, 2018.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Zephaniah 3:14-20. I will change their shame into praise.
Philippians 4:4-7. Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
Luke 3:7-18.   What then should we do?
O God of the Prophets, 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.

It’s the third Sunday of Advent; we are barreling toward Christmas, and we haven’t really heard any biblical readings about peaceful preparation for the birth of the Christ child. It’s been more about bulldozing and less about receiving blankets. Our ancient narratives describe nations at war, raging seas, devastation and disaster, with plenty of blame to go around. The people are anxious and afraid; they are struggling. And just to be clear, we are talking about 28 centuries of struggle. The people Zephaniah was addressing were struggling in about 625 BCE. The people Paul and Luke were addressing were struggling in the latter half of the first century of the common era. And the people I’m addressing are struggling in the early years of the 21st century.
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Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

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Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost (25B), October 28, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

Job 42:1-6, 10-17 Then Job answered the Lord: “I know that you can do all things.”
Hebrews 7:23-28 Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.
Mark 10:46-52 As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.

This is a difficult Sunday to preach.

How can we, gathered here this morning, possibly hold these two events together — the Baptism of little Nina and the killings at Tree of Life Synagogue?
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Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

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Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (22B), October 7, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

Job 1:1; 2:1-10 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job.
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds
Mark 10:2-16 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’

Ah — this Gospel, the “divorce” Gospel. Not the favorite of most preachers, definitely including me.

It’s hits me personally. I was divorced 41 years ago, but the scars, both from a very bad marriage and a clumsy divorce, remain.
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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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