Lent 4A, March 30, 2014; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of Love, 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.

We have just passed the half-way point on our journey through Lent – 22 out of 40 days. (Yes, the answer to “who’s counting?” is, “I am!”) How is it going for you? It’s time for a check-in. Have the first 22 days gone by quickly or slowly? Have you been taking the Church’s prescription for Lenten disciplines? Are you feeling that these disciplines are preparing you to be able to celebrate Easter? Have the been too hard? Too easy? Do you need to make adjustments in your Lenten exercises so that you are better prepared to celebrate the abundant glory of God in another 18 days (not counting Sundays)?

The words of the Proper Preface for Lent – that part at the beginning of the Eucharistic prayer that changes depending on the day or the season – comes to my mind: (we pray to God) “you bid your faithful people cleanse their hearts, and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast; that fervent in prayer and in works of mercy, and renewed by your Word and Sacraments, they may come to the fullness of grace which you have prepared for those who love you.” I’ll sing it in a little while – but I want to ask you to reflect with me now about your response to the bidding that you cleanse your hearts and prepare with joy for Easter – through prayer and works of mercy, through engaging scripture and sacramental worship – so that your experience of grace becomes fuller than ever. And I want you to check in with yourself about how it is going. Any surprises? I hope so. Continue reading →

Lent 2A, March 16, 2014; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of mercy, 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.

There are two things I want you to know about the famous passage of the call of Avram or Abram from the Book of Genesis that we just heard. The first has to do with translating the pesky verb in the second verse. The Hebrew says, I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and I will cause your name to grow, and be a blessing – what’s not so clear in English is that the verb is imperative. Be a blessing. It’s a command, rather than a prediction of the future. Lech l’cha is the song we sometimes sing when Rabbi Berman preaches. Lech l’cha. Go, (also an imperative) go, for your own good, from everything and everyone you know to a land and people you do not know, and be a blessing. The second thing I want you to know is that, although our lectionary ends the reading in the first half of verse four, the second half seems really important to me. In the last part of verse four, the Torah tells us that Avram was 75 years old when he embarked on this journey. And I daresay that 75 was a lot older 3,000 years ago, when this story is set, than it is now. So in our time, for any of you who are under the age of 100, I think this story might apply to you. Be a blessing. Continue reading →