Tag Archives: reconciliation

Blessed Pauli Murray

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Feast of Pauli Murray.  9 July. 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Sirach 15:1-6. They will lean on her and not fall.
  • Galatians 3:23-29. There is no longer Jew or Greek…slave or free…male and female.
  • Mark 12:1-12.  The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone [or keystone]; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing.

O God of reconciling love, 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 a long-anticipated, special day at Emmanuel Church because we are celebrating the Feast Day of The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray with the unveiling of a statue of her, beautifully rendered by our Artist-in-Residence Ted Southwick. The statue is installed on the sanctuary pulpit, from which Dr. Murray preached. We are thrilled and honored to welcome her niece Rosita Stevens-Holsey, who will speak with us after the service. While Dr. Murray’s feast day is July 1, the day that she completed her earthly mission, today is the 112th anniversary of her baptism at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Baltimore. Just prior to being ordained, she had described herself as: woman, Christian, seminarian, poet, lawyer, person of color, and senior citizen. Last week in Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion in the bigoted-website case, she recalled Murray’s pioneering work with regard to public accommodations.[1] I want to assure you that Pauli Murray is still speaking to us all. Continue reading →

A Gentile and a Tax Collector

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Proper 18A
September 6, 2020

Exodus 12:1-14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.
Romans 13:8-14 Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Matthew 18:15-20 Let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

O Divine presence, 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.

It’s Labor Day weekend, our secular signal that the summer is ended. That brings Jeremiah’s lament to my mind: “the summer is ended, and we are not saved,” say the people. The Lord responds: “For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?” …“It is because the people do not know me,” says the Lord of Love. That’s not the Hebrew Bible reading that our lectionary offers us this morning, but you might read chapters 8 and 9 in Jeremiah later on for extra credit.
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Unholy Trinity: Idolatry, Blasphemy & White Supremacy

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Trinity Sunday (A), June 7, 2020.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Genesis 1:1-2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace.
Matthew 28:16-20 But some doubted.

O Trinity of blessed light, 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 Trinity Sunday everyone. I’m feeling particularly spun up by the Holy Spirit this week and I want to preach about the turbulence of civil and religious unrest. A mighty wind is blowing people out of their homes, as Bishop Gates preached last week, and into the streets, throughout our land. We are hearing the Spirit in a variety of languages. Last Sunday, because it was Pentecost, we renewed our baptismal promises, and this week I’m going to speak to those promises. I’m particularly speaking to the questions: Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? And will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? Because Emmanuel Church is a predominantly white parish, not entirely, but predominately, this white priest is preaching primarily to the white people who are listening today. I think you know deep in your hearts the things I’m going to say, and yet, I have to be sure even though it feels awkward.

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Our Obligation and Opportunity to Shine

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Presentation in the Temple
February 2, 2020 – Annual Meeting

Malachi 3:1-4 Who can stand when he appears? (Anna can.)
Hebrews 2:14-18 Free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.
Luke 2:22-40 There was also a prophet, Anna.

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.

This year, Emmanuel’s 160th Annual Meeting falls on the fortieth day after Christmas, the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, which the Gospel of Luke tells us occurred, as required, when Mary and Joseph took their infant into the Temple in Jerusalem to dedicate him to God and to celebrate the return to purity of his mother. This is a little bit odd because there actually is no known requirement or even custom of presenting an infant in the temple, but there was a rite of purification for a mother after delivering a baby.

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Lambs of God

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Epiphany 2A
January 19, 2020

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.

Since the beginning of Advent, our Sunday Gospel readings have been from Matthew, and we will return to Matthew next week. But this morning it is as if the lectionary announces, “we interrupt our serial reading of the Gospel of Matthew to bring you this Good News from the Gospel of John. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John the Baptist has testified to it.” Our lectionary has decided to call witnesses!

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Being Played

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Proper 22C
October 6, 2019

Lamentations 1:1-6 Her priests groan, her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter…nobody goes to church any more.
2 Timothy 1:1-11 Recalling your tears…I am reminded of…a faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice…rekindle the gift of God that is within you.
Luke 17:5-10 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

O God of our weary years and silent tears, 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.

Our first reading this morning was taken from the book of Lamentations, and I want to linger there a moment because we rarely hear anything from this book of the Bible in church, although I wish we did. It’s a collection of five dirges: poems of deep pain and suffering, of outrage and grief, of complaint and protest, in response to political calamity, social and economic devastation, and utter theological collapse. It’s a direct challenge to the notion that religious life should somehow not be political. The Bible’s response to that is “nonsense!”

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Bearing One Another’s Burdens

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Proper 9C
July 7, 2019

2 Kings 5:1-14 Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.
Galatians 6:1-16 [You all,} bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 Peace to this house.

O God of gentleness and redemption, 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 I want to focus our attention on our reading from Galatians, because we aren’t going to hear from this beautiful letter for another three years, and it’s one of the most important books in our Second Testament, theologically and ethically. We don’t know for sure, but it might be the second oldest document in our Christian scripture, probably written just after the year 50. Galatia was a large territory in what is now known as central Turkey. Paul was writing to a group of communities, not just to a gathering in one town or city. Here is the oldest document that asserts justification by faith and not works (works, in this case, mean circumcision for men and keeping dietary commandments – it doesn’t mean “good deeds”). The thing about justification by faith, though, is that, according to Paul, it’s the faith of or from Jesus Christ, not faith in Jesus Christ that saves us. It was Jesus’s faith, not his followers’ faith, and that’s a good thing, because as a group, we aren’t all that faithful. As far as I can tell, Paul never meant to suggest that we don’t have work to do in response to Jesus’ faith in God and in his followers.
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This world is passing away. (with audio)

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Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, January 21, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31 The present form of this world is passing away.
Mark 1:14-20 And immediately…

O God of good news, 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.

Our readings this morning, from Jonah’s advice to the great city of Ninevah, to Paul’s advice to the Jesus followers in the city of Corinth, to the Gospel of Mark’s breathless account of Jesus’ move back to Galilee, all convey a sense of urgency and risk. Ninevah has only 40 days to clean up its act (which seems like a very short time). Paul says that time has grown short, that the present form of this world is passing away. Jesus has come out of the wilderness where he was being tempted by Satan for 40 days (which seems like a very long time) to learn that John has been arrested, and has headed to Galilee quoting John directly: repent, that is, change your hearts toward God. A complete re-orientation is what John and Jesus were calling for. Jesus began to teach that the present form of this world is passing away.
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Endless Mercy

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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 19A, September 17, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Exodus 14:19-31 The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground.
Romans 14:1-12 Welcome.
Matthew 18:21-35 Have…mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?

O God of mercy, 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.

Did any of you see the pictures of the strong east wind that blew the water right out of Tampa Bay during Hurricane Irma? The opposite of a storm surge, Tampa Bay was emptied as the hurricane advanced north. For a few hours, parts of Tampa Bay were six feet below sea level and people could walk across the floor of the bay. Meteorologists speculate that the receding water saved Tampa, because by the time the eye of the hurricane arrived, the storm was weaker and the predicted storm surge just filled the bay back in rather than swamping the entire city. The water never came over the city’s barriers. Whatever the explanation, it was a miracle for the residents of Tampa. Continue reading →

Singing Love Songs

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Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 18A, September 10, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L.Werntz

Exodus 12:1-14 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor.
Romans 13:8-14 Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Matthew 18:15-20 If two of you agree…about anything you ask, it will be done for you.

O God of love, 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.

Those of you who have heard me preach, know that I frequently offer alternative translations of Biblical passages as a way of helping us get out from under the heavy rubble of Christian doctrine, burdensome dogma, that can be the weights around God’s ankles. I never want us to be putting on weights around God’s ankles. If Theresa of Avila is right that, “Christ has no hands but our hands,” I’d add that God has no ankles but our ankles, and we must not be weighing one another down, but encouraging one another to be light on our feet, ready to move, able to be swift to love. That seems especially critical in a time of wildfires, floods, high winds, hurricanes, and earthquakes, of devastation and suffering around our country and around the world. It seems especially critical in a culture where what passes for Christianity can have so little to do with the life and love of Jesus. Continue reading →