Monthly Archives: September 2018

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (21B), September 30, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther.
James 5:13-20 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
Mark 9:38-50 John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’

[I hold up one of the Hamsas.]

I know some of you know what this is and why it’s here, but I want to fill the rest of you in.

It’s a Hamsa, a symbol precious to many Jews and Muslims and middle-eastern Christians.

Among Jews it’s called the Hand of Miriam, among Muslims the Hand of Fatima (the Prophet’s favorite daughter), and for Christians, it’s the Hand of Mary.
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Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (20B), September 23, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

Proverb 31:10-31 A capable wife who can find?
James 3:13-3;3, 7-8A Who is wise and understanding among you?
Mark 9:30-37 Jesus and his disciples pass through Galilee.

You might know that Emmanuel Church has started a Recovery Eucharist.

I initiated it when I came here because I’ve celebrated — and “celebrated” is a good word — a weekly Recovery Eucharist for seven years at a drug and alcohol rehab in NH.

I emphasized “celebrated” because I’m an alcoholic and I live in perpetual wonder that God lets me do this priest thing!
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Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (19B), Sept 16, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

Isaiah 50:4-9a The Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher…
James 3:1-12 Not many of you should become teachers…
Mark 8:27-38 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi…

Here we are back in the sanctuary.

A change of location for our worship as we move from the long, narrow space in the Lindsey Chapel back to this BIG wide open space.  Banners visible up in the choir loft. The Emmanuel Land window. All this resonant air just waiting to be charged by sounds of the Schutz, Byrd, and Bach.
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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (17B), September 2, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe…
James 1:17-27 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him…

Here we are, you and I, at the official beginning of Pam’s sabbatical.

Pam left us with a particular intention for this three months so that it might be a time for her and Emmanuel to walk paths, not precisely parallel, but definitely meandering under the same stars.

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