Tag Archives: righteousness

The work of Christmas begins.

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Baptism of Our Lord,  8 Jan. 2023.  The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Isaiah 42:1-9.  I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand.
  • Acts 10:34-43. Anyone who…does what is right is acceptable to [God].
  • Matthew 3:13-17.  Let it go for now, for it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.

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.

Today is the day in the church calendar called The Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. We are two days past the Feast of the Epiphany with its dramatic story of the Magi following a star with their extravagant gifts in hand. In the biblical narrative, we have advanced a generation from Jesus’ infancy to his mature adulthood. It feels too fast! I want to say, “Wait, go back!” So we have, in our first hymn and in our cantata for today; but otherwise, we are pressing ahead. Continue reading →

Raise your heads!

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Advent 1C.  28 November 2021. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 33:14-16 [Jerusalem] will be called [the Holy One] is our righteousness.
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13. Someone has testified somewhere.
Luke 21:25-36 Raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near.

O startling God, 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.

Good morning! Happy Advent! It’s the Church’s New Year and the beginning of a season characterized by re-awakening, of waking up to re-examine our collective systems, our institutions. Advent calls for corporate, collective reflection, and repentance. It’s like an annual check-up for our communal systems. It’s a season of waking up even more to reports of sin, chaos, and devastation among the nations confused and disturbed by the roaring sea, the waves, and the shaking, agitated heavens. Fortunately, that’s just what our Gospel reading addresses this morning. Continue reading →

Turn around!

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Advent 2B, December 6, 2020. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 40:1-11 Cry out!
2 Peter 3:8-15a Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.
Mark 1:1-8 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

O God of the prophets, 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.

Every year our branch of Christianity gives us a new year, advent, a new season for longing to hear and respond to lessons of prophetic wisdom and calls for repentance writ large. This morning our collect for the day gathers us as one to beg for grace to heed the prophets’ warnings and forsake our sins, our collective sins: the sins of our communities, corporations, governments, and churches. We beg for grace because we surely cannot forsake our sins without grace. If the good news is that God’s grace is abundantly available to us, all around us, completely accessible for the asking, then what? How do we drink from the deep well of God’s grace so that we heed the prophetic warnings and forsake our sins?
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Spiritual Infrastructure

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All Saints’ Day (with alt second reading), November 1, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9 The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God
Revelation 7:9-17 Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!
John 11:32-44 Come out!…Unbind him and let him go.

O God of all, 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.

Some days on the church calendar are really big – Christmas Eve, Easter Day, Pentecost and All Saints are generally the four biggest for us. Today is the great Feast of All Saints; it’s a day to celebrate the saints, known and unknown. Tomorrow is All Souls’ Day – the day set aside in the church calendar for commemoration of all those who have departed this life, whether they were saints or sinners or both. So this is a Sunday to remember the present as well as the past – to honor all those who go and have gone before us – all saints and all souls. Continue reading →

Come closer! (with audio)

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Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, 24B, October 18, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 53:4-12 It was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.
[Job 38:1-7, 34-41 Who.]
Hebrews 5:1-10 He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Mark 10:35-45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.

O suffering God, 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 Rabbi-in-Residence, Howard Berman, is fond of asking me whenever he preaches at one of our services, “Why do I always get the hard texts?” I say, I wonder the very same thing! Why do I always get the hard texts?” (I think the answer might be that they’re almost all hard.) When it comes to the Isaiah reading, I’ll admit that I did it to myself when I agreed to take a week away from our reading of the story of Job in the interest of Ryan Turner’s request for the lovely Distler motet.
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