Tag Archives: time

G-AWE-D

Posted on by

Epiphany 5B, 4 February 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Isaiah 40:21-31. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? [Yes!]
  • 1 Corinthians 9:16-23. In my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge.
  • Mark 1:29-39. So that I may proclaim the message.

O God of wonder, 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.

I’m going to interrupt my preaching on the Gospel of Mark this week to spend a few moments to talk with you about our Hebrew Bible lesson from the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, because it’s one of my favorites. Actually it’s Second Isaiah, which is what Chapters 40 through 55 get called, because they were so clearly written at a different time by a different author than the first thirty-nine chapters or the last eleven. The writer of Second Isaiah might be considered the great poet, rather than the great prophet. This writer never once refers to herself as a prophet. I imagine her words might have come to Jesus’ mind sometimes, especially when he was able to find a deserted place to pray while it was still very dark. Continue reading →

If you were a clock, what time would you show? 

Posted on by
“Saying goodbye is not easy.” resonated in my head this week. Monday (1/9) was my last day after nine weeks at the Suffolk County House of Correction for the Art and Spirituality Program. When leading the opening group check-in, I asked participants: “If you were a clock, what time would you be now?” Some people said they were in the morning; some people said they were in the afternoon. What spoke to me was that some people said they were at 12 o’clock midnight, which means it is an end but also a start of something new. I related to their words deeply. Indeed, without goodbyes, we would not be able to have a new beginning. The ending of something can also be a new start for people who are looking for a change.

Continue reading →

Wishing to See Jesus

Posted on by

Lent 5B, March 21, 2021.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 31:31-34. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts.
Hebrews 5:5-10. So also Christ did not glorify himself.
John 12:20-33. We wish to see Jesus.

O God of our help, 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.

A season of time has passed since our reading from the Gospel of John last Sunday. Suddenly, we are only four days away from Jesus’ crucifixion. The context for our reading today is that Jesus has spent the last several years darting in and out of hiding, but has come into Jerusalem very publicly for the last time. Jesus has just ridden up to Jerusalem on a donkey, with huge crowds waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna (which means help, please or save, please). Some irritated and fearful colleagues of Jesus’ have muttered to one another about Jesus, “You see, you can do nothing. Look the world has gone over to him.”
Continue reading →