Tag Archives: Word of God

Thirst

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Lent 3A, 12 March 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Exodus 17:1-7. The people thirsted there.
  • Romans 5:1-11. God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
  • John 4:5-42. Give me a drink.

O God of water and thirst, 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.

One theme for the day that I hear in our scripture readings is thirst. Maybe you know Mary Oliver’s poem called “Thirst,” in her book by the same name. [1] When I first read the poem, I heard it in Mary Oliver’s voice; this time around the I hear two voices in dialogue. The first part of the poem seems like the voice of the Samaritan woman.  Continue reading →

Pickled

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The Baptism of Our Lord, January 10, 2021, The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.

Genesis 1:1-5. God saw that light was good.
Acts 19:1-7. No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.
Mark 1:4-11. People from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem…[and] Jesus came from Nazareth

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.

What a week. I’ve been reflecting more than usual on the history of Emmanuel Church, organized by a group of religious progressives, abolitionists whose wealth had come largely from the economics of enslaving people, though they were not slaveholders themselves. They formed Emmanuel in the spring of 1860, just eight months before states seceded from the United States, one year before the Civil War began. Our cornerstone was laid at the same time as the Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. Many in the North thought the conflict would be resolved quickly. They were so wrong; yet, their hope for the future represented by their church planting has produced so much good fruit, and it’s still producing today.

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Fantastic News!

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Advent 3B, December 13, 2020. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 66:1-4, 8-11. To give them a garland instead of ashes.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24. May the God of peace sanctify you entirely.
John 1:6-8, 19-28. There was a man sent from God….He came to testify to the light….The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

O God of grace and mercy, 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, I’ve been paying particularly close attention to our opening prayers, our collect for each Sunday. Our collect for this third Sunday in Advent pleads with the Holy One to stir up power and with great might come among us with bountiful grace and mercy because our sins are sorely hindering us. I love this prayer, and it also scares me. It’s not that I disagree with the idea that our sins are sorely hindering us; it’s just that I’d rather be praying, “Settle down, O God, so that we can have a peaceful and happy holiday season. Settle us down, O Desire of Nations, so that we can read or listen to the news without anxiety, fear, rage, or despair. Dear Jesse’s Branch, please don’t stir us up too much, because we’ve already been through it this year, between the ravages of COVID, the ravages of racism, and the ravages of weather-related disasters.” Here, however, is John the Baptist bearing witness to the powerful brightness of the coming Christ.

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And the story isn’t finished.

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First Sunday after Christmas, Proper 1B, December 31, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.

Isaiah 61:10-62:3. For the sake of Zion I will not be silent. For the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest.
Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7. So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
John 1:1-18. And the Word became flesh and lived among us.

O God of our story, 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.

First, a poem by Padraig O Tuama, called “Narrative Theology”.  [1]

And I said to him

Are there questions to all of this?

And he said

The answer is in a story

and the story is being told.

 

And I said

But there is so much pain

And she answered, plainly,

Pain will happen.

 

Then I said

Will I ever find meaning?

And they said

You will find meaning

Where you give meaning.

 

The answer is in the story

And the story isn’t finished.

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