In my group-therapy class, we just started to talk about dealing with the ending phase of a group, when the individuals that comprise a particular group inevitably shift or disperse. The groups that I am part of through Emmanuel will continue on without me when I leave this internship, but that doesn’t mean that the groups will remain the same; in fact, they will have changed because my co-intern and I will be gone. Continue reading
Author Archives: Elizabeth Richardson
Let’s live fully!
Second Sunday of Easter, Year C, April 3, 2016; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Acts 5:27-32 Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
Revelation 1:4-8 To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood.
John 20:19-31 Peace to you…peace to you…peace to you.
Revelation 1:4-8 To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood.
John 20:19-31 Peace to you…peace to you…peace to you.
O God of life, grant us the wisdom, the strength and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
This morning we have a trifecta of truly terrible theological ideas: the first in The Acts of the Apostles, a charge against high priests that they were the ones who had Jesus killed. Second, we have the idea of Jesus’ death as a blood atonement from John the Divine in Revelation. And to top it off, we have the story of “Doubting Thomas” from John the Evangelist (somehow bad to doubt?), which will be retold in a beautiful musical form later in Cantata 42. No doubt it will sound better than what I just read, but oy! You know, sometimes our lectionary gives choices – but not today. This Gospel reading is the only portion of all our four Gospels that gets read every single year on the Sunday after Easter, without rotation or options. That’s awfully heavy-handed, in my opinion. Perhaps the only good news about that is that many people take the Sunday after Easter off from attending church! But we’re here, so what are we to do?
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The proof is all around you.
Easter Sunday (C), March 27, 2016; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Isaiah 65:17-25 Be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Luke 24:1-12 Amazed at what had happened.
O God of life, 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.
Whenever I prepare a sermon, I begin with the questions that I have about the assigned reading. In our Gospel lesson, some of my first questions are: Why was the stone moved? To let Jesus out, or to let “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women with them” in? Why did the men think the women were telling them an idle tale? Did men not believe reports of the experiences of groups of women back in the olden days? Why were Jesus’ burial clothes left behind? What is the Risen Lord wearing? I imagine you have questions also. Continue reading
Palm Sunday (with Audio)
Costly Discipleship
Fifth Sunday in Lent (C), March 13, 2016; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Isaiah 43:16-21 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
Philippians 3:4b-14 Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
John 12:1-8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.
O God of our heavenly calling, 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 how endlessly fascinated I am by our assigned lectionary readings and by the narrative differences across our four canonical gospels. This being Lectionary Year C, we have been going along just fine, hearing about Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem according to the Gospel of Luke. Suddenly our assigned Gospel reading lurched off into the Gospel of John for this story of Mary of Bethany anointing Jesus’ feet, set in the very few weeks between when Lazarus and Jesus were raised from the dead. It’s a fine story, and I guess Luke thought so too, but he used it in an entirely different way: different woman, different place and a different time. The differences between the stories of a particular woman wiping feet with her hair are not reconcilable in my opinion, and the variations and diversity of Gospel “truth” give us all kinds of elbow room, which is something for which I am always looking — for all of our sake.
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Tactfulness vs Empathy
In my conversations with people this week, an issue keeps coming up again and again: what is the best way to balance tactfulness and empathy? At first, this may sound like a strange question. Tactfulness and empathy may be like comparing apples and oranges to some and then considered essentially intertwined by others. However, in all of my conversations, individuals expressed concern that their desire to be tactful would somehow be at the expense of empathy. Continue reading
We are to be reconciled.
Fourth Sunday in Lent (C), March 6, 2016; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Joshua 5:9-12 Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 So we are ambassadors for Christ.
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling.
O reconciling God, 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.
Earlier this week, I briefly entertained the notion that I would preach about our First Testament Bible lesson from Joshua or our Second Testament lesson from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians – you know, something different. Then I experienced our Tuesday early morning Bible study, which was so lively that folks were late to work because they were so stirred up that they didn’t want to stop talking. The parable that gets called, “The Prodigal Son” is a narrative that provokes strong and animated responses. I cannot say the same about either of our other two passages of scripture this morning, although their themes of Passover in Joshua, and being ambassadors for Christ in 2nd Corinthians are certainly appealing. I decided that I shouldn’t attempt to steer around our Gospel story. So we’re going in! Continue reading
Self-Expression under Challenging Circumstances
Self-expression, as a vital quality of life can be empowering, reflective and an interesting intellectual exercise. What I have come to realize over these past few months is the perseverance of self-expression even under challenging circumstances.
The Common Art program participants come in each week with decorative headbands, patchwork that they have chosen and applied to their jackets, t-shirts with poignant declarations, and tattoos (the ultimate in permanent self-expression). Continue reading
Opportunity of Choice
Last week prior to lunch at the Common Art program, I wondered what they would be serving for lunch that day. If it was something I liked, I would join the others; if not, I would grab something later to eat. I realized, for the first time in the months that I have interned with Emmanuel Church, that to have the option to choose what I eat that day is a privilege that many of our members do not have. Furthermore, there are a number of choices most take for granted that our members may not have access to. It struck me that the lack of choice could is insidiously destructive as personal choices define who we are or aspire to be. Continue reading
Our Mother Hen
Second Sunday in Lent (C), February 24, 2016; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 I am your shield.
Philippians 3:17-4:1 He will transform the body of our humiliation.
Luke 13:31-35 How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.
Philippians 3:17-4:1 He will transform the body of our humiliation.
Luke 13:31-35 How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.
O God whose glory is 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.
Today’s choice of a Gospel text for the second Sunday in Lent strikes me as a little strange. It’s strange to be catapulted from the first week of Lent, from Luke’s account of Jesus before his ministry began, resisting all sorts of temptations in the wilderness, past miles of travel, teaching and healing all around the Galilee and beyond, to the middle of the Gospel of Luke, at the end of chapter thirteen. (Next week the scheduled portion is back at the beginning of chapter 13.) The slow, almost leisurely pace of Jesus’ ministry in Luke which includes magnificent story-telling, prayer and Sabbath meals gets completely eclipsed in our Lenten readings from Luke’s Gospel. Our lectionary saves all that for the summer. Continue reading