Tag Archives: revelation

Drive like it!

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Last Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, 11 February 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 2 Kings 2:1-12. “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”
  • 1 Corinthians 4:3-6. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
  • Mark 9:2-10. He did not know what to say for they were terrified.

O God of revelation, 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.

This past week I had an unusually high number of harrowing experiences as I was navigating the streets in and around Boston. Last Tuesday, two cars crashed right in front of me on the Mass Pike; and on Thursday a car I was riding in nearly got T-boned by a distracted driver. I witnessed pedestrians nearly getting hit in crosswalks by drivers running red lights, bicyclists riding against traffic and traffic signs, aggressive tailgating, erratic lane changing, and gridlocked intersections. It seems to me that drivers have gotten so much worse in the last few years. I googled the worst drivers in the country and was shocked by the results; it’s very bad news. Boston is not even in the top-twenty cities with the worst drivers; we are not even close; we’re not even competitive! Continue reading →

Both Host & Guest

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Proper 6A, 18 June 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Genesis 18:1-15 (21:1-7). When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them.
  • Romans 5:1-8. Because God’s love has been poured into our hearts.
  • Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23). When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless….The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.

O God of the harvest, may we have 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 rare that I can resist the urge to speak about all three of our appointed scripture lessons, and today is no exception! Today we have a vivid scene from the Torah of three men who visited Abraham and Sarah and conveyed a divine message that made Sarah laugh to herself, and not quietly. Today in Paul’s writing to Jesus’ followers in Rome, we hear his confidence that suffering can produce endurance, endurance can produce character, character can produce hope, and hope does not make us ashamed, because God’s love has been poured into the hearts of Jesus’ followers through the gift of a spirit of holiness. It’s not that we don’t get disappointed. It’s that we need not be ashamed because God’s spirit is with us. It’s really not about disappointment. Paul is saying don’t be ashamed to hope when you have love in your heart. Today we have the Gospel of Matthew’s account of when twelve disciples became twelve apostles, and the traveling instructions Jesus gave to them. How can I not mention all of these lessons? I mean, really. Continue reading →

Our Only Way

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Easter 5A, 7 May 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Acts 7:55-60. But they covered their ears.
  • 1 Peter 2:2-10. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
  • John 14:1-14.  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

O God of our redemption, may we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth – come when it may and cost what it will.

When I was in seminary, I took a class called “Teaching and Preaching Texts of Terror.” The idea behind the title was that there are passages in scripture that scare the daylights out of people; and this was a course designed for us to face our terrors with some companions. We each had to pick our top-two-most-terrifying Biblical texts. (Picking only two was the hardest part!) Our Gospel lesson for today was one of the two that I picked because of Jesus’ claim that no one comes to the Father except through him. I do love Jesus, but I’m terrorized by the idea of Jesus as the only way: Jesus, the gatekeeper, rather than the gate; Jesus holding all the tickets; Jesus, the anti-Jewish Jew; Jesus on the shields of the Crusaders; Jesus, the champion of the Doctrine of Discovery; Jesus, who became definitively white in Warner Sallman’s ubiquitous depiction in 1940 of “The Head of Christ” with blond-hair and blue-eyes; Jesus on the minds of those who commit all kinds of hate crimes and enact hateful legislation; Jesus in the prayers of the “in groups” as they justify the exclusion of others. Isn’t it ironic, then, that this passage begins with “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Do not give in to your distress. Continue reading →