Tag Archives: interpretation

The Better Portion

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Proper 11C. 17 July 2022.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Amos 8:1-12. Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land.
Colossians 1:15-29. For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.
Luke 10:38-42 The better portion.

O God beyond our perceiving, 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.

It might just be because it’s hot and I’m getting close to vacation, so I’m a little grumpier than usual; but I looked at our readings for today earlier this week and thought to myself, “I don’t really want to say thanks be to God or praise be to you, Lord Christ to any of these three!” 

Amos, of course, is responding to the ancient command of the Divine: “If you see something, say something.” What he saw was the shocking evils of a flourishing urban elite exploiting people and extracting resources in a way that was impoverishing the whole country. Amos saw that military might, extravagant wealth, and shallow piety would result in utter devastation if those in power did not repent and return to the Holy One, to the Mosaic Law of love for neighbor, which meant (and still means) the just distribution of resources. The word of hope in Amos, which our lectionary doesn’t include, is that the time will come when those who plow shall overtake those who reap, when those who plant the vineyards will enjoy the fruit of their labor. 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 →

The Crux

Aside

Proper 19B.  12 September 2021. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Proverbs 1:20-33. How long, O [stupid] ones, will you love being [stupid]?
James 3:1-12. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing….This ought not to be so.
Mark 8:27-38.  Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

O God of Integrity 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.

Before I speak about our Gospel reading for today, I want to say something about our reading from Proverbs. It sounds to me like it could be a column in The New York Times (or a sermon in Boston) addressing those in positions of influence over our climate or our white-supremacist culture, or those who are still unvaccinated against COVID-19 by actively discouraging vaccines for economic or political gain, and who really and truly should know better. Wisdom, personified in Proverbs as a woman, is preaching, and she is making her strongest plea[1] to those who seem to love being stupid, willfully naïve, not simple in the sense of incapable of understanding, but those who have arrogantly rejected her insights and warnings. “How long, O stupid ones,” she says, “how long will you love being stupid?” Her laughter at the easy-to-predict catastrophe that has resulted from ignoring her sage advice may seem harsh, but it’s not unlike any of us rejoicing when an oppressor or tyrant falls because of self-induced calamity.[2] Wisdom’s laughter is not a generic form of Schadenfreude (or joy at another’s suffering). She is calling to account corrupt leaders, not innocent lambs. Continue reading →

Jacob wrestles with God.

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Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13, August 3, 2014, The Rev. Frederick Stecker

Genesis 32:22-31 The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
Romans 9:1-5 I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
Matthew 14:13-21 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart.

In a book of poems entitled Yahweh’s Other Shoe Benedictine poet Kilian McDonnell interprets the Hebrew saga we’ve been following. His poem is entitled God Cheats. [1] Continue reading →