Proper 8B, 30 June 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

• 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27. O daughters of Israel..
• 2 Corinthians 8:7-15.  It is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need.
• Mark 5:21-43. They were overcome by amazement.

O God of the whole truth, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after that truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

If I asked you about the Parable of the Three Women, you would probably look at me blankly and say you’ve never heard of it. You have actually just heard it in our reading from the Gospel of Mark, but you’ve never heard it called the “Parable of the Three Women,” because I just made that title up. Now you might be thinking, “wait, that Gospel lesson was about two women – an older woman and a girl. Who’s the third?” The third woman is the girl’s mother. Part of problem is that none of the women are named, so they’re easily forgotten. I thought about this when I noticed today’s opening prayer which speaks to God Who has “built [their] Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.” I bet that a lot of you could name men who were foundational apostles and prophets, but would be at a loss to name many women who were foundational apostles and prophets. Some of you have heard church leaders say that only men can be ordained priests or pastors because Jesus only called men. That’s just not true. A few women apostles and prophets are named in the Bible, but many more are not named, and that has more to do with the patriarchy of the Church than it has to do with Jesus’ life and teachings. You know, someday I think we should base a religion on following what we know of the teachings and behaviors of Jesus! (Just saying.) Continue reading →

Proper 7B, 23 June 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

• 1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-40.  That all the assembly know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear.
• 2 Corinthians 6:1-13.    See, now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.
• Mark 4:35-41. Let us go across to the other side.

O God of our faith, 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.

Today all three of our scripture readings are about being overwhelmed and mismatched for the challenges being faced. I want to say something about all three of them because I think they speak to how many of us feel when we face the forces of militarism and empire, individual ailments and injustices, and even the ill-effects of white-supremacy and climate change. To be clear, I don’t think that the Bible was anticipating white-supremacy or climate change of course, but I hear it speaking wisdom to us nonetheless. Continue reading →

Proper 6B, 16 June 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

• 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13.  The Lord looks on the heart
• 2 Corinthians 5:6-17.  If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.
• Mark 4:26-34. With many such parables he spoke the word to them.

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.

Many of you know that I was away last weekend so that I could travel with Emmanuel Music to support them at their sacred music concert at Bachfest in Leipzig. I carried you with me, and not just you who are in the chapel right now, but all those who have called themselves Emmanuelites over the last five-and-a-half decades, because Emmanuel Church gave birth to Emmanuel Music some 54 years ago. Bishop Gates once called Emmanuel Church an incubator of vocations. It’s such an apt description. Emmanuel Church has incubated and continues to incubate the vocations — the callings – of hundreds of people (maybe thousands). You might remember how theologian Frederick Buechner defined vocation as being the place where “your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”  Continue reading →