First Sunday in Lent, B; February 22, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of love, 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.

I always love praying The Great Litany with you each year on the first Sunday of Lent. Intended to be used during times of great duress or danger or devastation, The Great Litany seems particularly appropriate this year as we are in the midst of what feels like a slow motion, wide-spread, ongoing disaster of a winter in Boston with record-breaking snowfalls and low temperatures which are straining people and systems to the breaking point. I hesitate to call weather disasters “natural” disasters because the most disastrous parts have the fingerprints of humans all over them. (People are a part of nature, I guess, but that’s not usually what’s meant.) The suffering is born by most people, of course, but the disparate impact on those who have limited or insufficient resources is scandalous and painful. With coming cycles of melting and freezing, hoped for warmer temperatures are actually going to reveal and result in much more structural damage and flooding in buildings including our own parish house, where it’s been raining in the kitchen, music room, and basement for much the last week. I’ve been hearing similar stories from parishioners all week. If you are distressed by the disaster, I’m glad you’ve found your way here to this warm building and, more importantly, warm community. If you are not distressed by the disaster, please take a little time in the weeks to come to see what you can do to help people who are struggling. Continue reading →

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, B, February 1, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of love, 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. In our reading from Deuteronomy this morning, the last book of the Torah, we hear a portion of the section of Moses’ teaching about developing and maintaining the welfare of the community. A couple of chapters earlier, Deuteronomy has taught, “If there is among you anyone in need within the land that you inhabit, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand…give liberally and be ungrudging when you do so…open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor.” Compassion is one of the hallmark values of Deuteronomy. [1] Compassion is an ordering principle for Torah and Gospel. Continue reading →

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, January 18, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of our wildest dreams, may we have 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 heard the stirring reading of the call of Samuel with the fantastic introduction that back then (“then” being about 1100 BCE), in the olden days, the word of the Lord was rare, and the ability to see clearly was not widespread! Eli the priest and his sons were responsible for guarding the Ark of the Covenant and its holy oracle, which, in those days, was more like a war trophy than a piece of liturgical furniture. Eli’s sons did not behave well at all and Eli wasn’t able to get them to change their violent ways. This is a story of the transfer of authority from Eli to Samuel that highlights Eli’s wisdom and integrity, and Samuel’s responsiveness and bravery. For me, this story has always been a powerful lesson about how the Word of the Holy One can come through the voices of humans, in this case, a beloved teacher. Have you ever heard your name called by a beloved teacher and known that you were being invited to grow in leadership and authority? That’s how God works sometimes. Continue reading →

Second Sunday After Christmas B, January 4, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God with us, 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.

The Gospel of Luke contains the only story of the boyhood of Jesus in the Bible – and I’ll tell you, it baffles Biblical scholars. We know that ancient biographies commonly told stories of heroes in their youth to demonstrate that there were signs of greatness early on. There are some fantastic stories about Jesus’ magical powers as a youth that didn’t make the cut when the scriptural canon was being set. But none of the other three Gospels that did make it into the Bible have any stories from Jesus’ youth, and Luke’s intention is not clear. Is Luke demonstrating that Jesus was like other heroes, fulfilling a divine promise clear in his youth? Or was Luke demonstrating that Jesus was NOT like the others because he didn’t start out knowing everything? Was he a child prodigy, teaching the teachers in the temple? Or was the young Jesus an ordinary adolescent, not telling his parents where he was, doing something quite dangerous getting separated from his family, worrying them sick for the better part of a week? The answer to all these questions seems to be yes. Continue reading →