Tag Archives: shame

If not for love, what are you for?

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Lent 2B, 25 February 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16. Then Abram fell on his face.
  • Romans 4:13-25. Hoping against hope.
  • Mark 8:31-38. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?

O God all sufficient, 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.

Last week, on the first Sunday in Lent, we learned that the spirit of holiness can drive a very hard bargain. Jesus, perhaps, in order to understand his mission, was pushed hard into the wild for a quarantine. Then, upon hearing of John the Baptist’s imprisonment and picking up where John had left off, Jesus proclaimed the good news of the realm of the Holy One and taught  that the time is now to turn around (or, to change your channel to see and understand that love is the only way). This week we get a glimpse of why the good news was so dangerous. Continue reading →

A Beautiful, Terrible Day

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Epiphany 4B, 28 January 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Deuteronomy 18:15-20. This is what you requested.
  • 1 Corinthians 8:1-13. Love builds up.
  • Mark 1:21-28. A new teaching – with authority!

O God of compassion, 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 an angel of the Lord sent me a book about how to live in these terrible days and, at the same time, how to live in these beautiful days. The book is by theologian Kate Bowler:  Have a Beautiful Terrible Day: Daily Meditations for the Ups, Downs, & In-Betweens. She writes about living with an apocalyptic (that is, revelatory) awareness of the catastrophic — globally, nationally, communally, and personally. Many of us are living, she says, with a heightened sense of precarity, a state of dangerous uncertainty. Insisting that we can be both faithful and afraid at the same time, she maintains, “There is tremendous opportunity here, now, for us to develop language and foster community around empathy, courage, and hope in the midst of this fear of our own vulnerability.” [1] Continue reading →

On the Fear of Stepping into Ourselves

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All year long, I have navigated resistance that seems to get heavier by the day, at times feels like depression; shape-shifts as needs be; takes on oh-so-many elusive forms; mutters in my ear that I can’t do it, that I shouldn’t do it, and even questions what is the point of doing it; finds excuses, blames others, drains me of all willpower to go forth. Resistance!

Where is it coming from? Anyone who has known me for a long time can attest that I am pretty much as strong-willed as it gets. I have never had any issue plunging into the unknown if intuition strongly told me to do so, never doubted my purpose, my path, or my mission. Only now, as the start of my professional life, which I have strived for for so long and in so many ways, draws closer, do I find myself pulling back. Shrinking. Disappearing. Resisting.

Continue reading →

Non-Hate

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Epiphany 7C, 20 February 2022.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Genesis 45:3-11 & 15. He kissed all his brothers and wept upon them.
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50. Someone will ask, “How are the dead raised?”
Luke 6:27-38. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your lap.

Most Merciful and Compassionate, 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.

As I began the process of preparing my sermon for you over the last ten days or so, I found myself surprised by our readings and wondered if you’d recognize them. It’s rare to have a 7th Sunday in Epiphany; I don’t think that there has been one in lectionary Year C in my 20 years of ordained ministry! My first clue that there was something unusual going on was the lesson from Genesis about Joseph encountering his brothers in Pharaoh’s court. We’ve been hearing portions from Isaiah and Jeremiah through Epiphany and, suddenly, unexpectedly, stunning high drama of the end of Genesis falls into our laps? I wonder, how many of you even know the back story. If Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat wasn’t a part of your cultural experience in the 1970’s, or you didn’t have at least half a dozen years of Sunday School, how would you know? Continue reading →

Immersion

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Proper 24B.  17 October 2021. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Job 38:1-7, 34-41. Who?
Hebrews 5:1-10. Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears.
Mark 10:35-45.  What is it you want me to do for you?

O God of Mercy and 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.

This morning we have many reasons to deck our dear souls, our dear selves, with gladness, as the famous chorale tune begins. God woke us up today and called us to this place. We have responded to our longings, whether they are barely perceptible or practically billboard-sized. God has put longings in our hearts, longings to make spiritual meaning of our lives and of our world with shared prayer, communal wisdom, and the practice of self-giving love. Now I realize that some of you might be thinking, “Oh, that’s not why I’m here! I’m just here for Diana’s baptism,” or “I’m just here for the music!” or “I’m just here because it matters to someone I care about.” My response is, “I am too! It’s all good, and I’m so glad you’re here!” Continue reading →

Everything happens next.

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Advent 4B, December 20, 2020. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16. The Lord will make you a house. (Poof!)
Romans 16:25-27. Now to God…be the glory forever. Amen.
Luke 1:26-38. Here I am, the servant of the Lord.

O God in whom is heaven, 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.

This Advent, Emmanuel Church has begun repenting of – turning-around from — theological and liturgical words and images that set up “darkness bad/light good” teachings, because language is a powerful tool, which we can use in dismantling white supremacy in the Church, especially the unconscious kind. We have stopped using darkness as a metaphor for sin or for evil, because the Bible teaches us that to God, darkness and light are both alike. [1] Therefore, darkness cannot be only profane, and lightness only holy. Dark and light can both be beautiful and grace-filled. Dark and light can both be terrifying and terrible.
Continue reading →

As a Gentile and a Tax Collector

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Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, 18A, September 7, 2014; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

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 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.

Those of you who have heard me preach more than once or twice might know that I often complain about lectionary reading combination – the scheduled selections of the Hebrew Bible, Second Testament, and Gospel readings. Today I love them. Today, the reading from Exodus in the Torah, the piece of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, and the Gospel passage from Matthew all speak to each other so beautifully, at least to my ears. I especially love the way the first two readings can help us realize what the Gospel reading is all about, not in a way that props up the Gospel, but in a way that illuminates the path for us. Continue reading →