Author Archives: Elizabeth Richardson

Spelling It Out

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Epiphany 5A, February 2, 2014; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 58:1-12 You will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
1 Corinthians 2:1-16 So that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
Matthew 5:13-20 You are the salt…you are the light.

O God of salt and light, 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.

I don’t know about you, but from time to time someone tells me that they don’t believe in or that they don’t like “organized religion.” My knee-jerk response is to shake my head and say, “We’re really not that organized.” But if I can keep quiet a minute and ask what it is that the person doesn’t believe in or like, it’s usually hypocrisy. I can eagerly affirm that I share the feelings of disgust for hypocrisy. And then, if the person is willing to continue the conversation, I muse out loud that much of the Bible -– both the first and the second testaments -– is devoted to calling religious people to account for hypocrisy. The Bible may have been written for the people who need the most help. (I am one of them.) Continue reading →

Listening to Anna

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Presentation of Jesus in the Temple,  February 2, 2014; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Malachi 3:1-4 Who can stand when he appears?”(Anna can.)
Hebrews 2:14-18 Free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.
Luke 2:22-40 There was also a prophet, Anna.

O God of the prophets, 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.

Because today is fortieth day after Christmas, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, which the Gospel of Luke tells us occurred, as required, when Mary and Joseph took their infant into the Temple in Jerusalem to dedicate him to God and to celebrate the return to purity of his mother. There actually is no known requirement or even custom of presenting an infant in the temple, but there was a rite of purification for a mother after delivering a baby.

In Jesus’ time, a mother of a son could return to a state of purity after 40 days with the offering of a sheep and a dove if she could afford it, or the offering of two doves if she were poor. The mother of a daughter took 80 days, twice as long to regain purity (whatever). The Church celebration of this feast on February 2 used to be known as The Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mother. In 1969 the name got changed by the Roman Catholic Church, and the Episcopalians followed suit in our 1979 Book of Common Prayer. When February 2 falls on a Sunday, the Feast trumps the usual Sunday lectionary appointments. Since February 2 doesn’t fall on a Sunday very often (the last time was in 2003), we typically don’t hear this part of the infancy narrative so long after Christmas. Perhaps it’s a little jarring. You might notice that it’s completely incompatible with the Gospel of Matthew’s story of the Holy Family’s escape to Egypt to avoid King Herod. Continue reading →

The Beauty of Holiness

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Epiphany 3A, January 26, 2014; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 9:1-4 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
1 Corinthians 1:10-18 I appeal to you…that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you.
Matthew 4:12-23 Follow me, and I will make you fish for people…Immediately they left.

Merciful and generous 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.

Today is the day that we hold our Annual Meeting at Emmanuel and celebrate 154 years in the City of Boston of subverting the dominant paradigm. Our subversive work has undoubtedly ebbed and flowed through the years, but as far as I can tell, it’s in the DNA of this place. (So we’re looking forward to more!) Our archives are replete with predictions that we would never survive (and we still might not), but look how far we’ve come! I will confess to you, that as your Rector, anticipating our Annual Meeting, I am especially drawn to Paul’s plea to the church in Corinth that the people all be in agreement and that there be no divisions or quarrelling among them – that they all be of the same mind and purpose. That sounds so appealing to me, but I’m sure Paul never got his wish, and I’m not even sure that lack of division or dissent is healthy. So please know that when we say that all are welcome, we include those with dissenting voices. I don’t like dissent or quarrelling, but I do like a healthy community, and I know that dissent is a necessary ingredient. Continue reading →

Lamb of God

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Epiphany 2A, January 19, 2014; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 49:1-7 I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
1 Corinthians 1:1-9 God is faithful.
John 1:29-41 Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Merciful and generous 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.

We’ve been hearing readings from the Gospel of Matthew over the last eight weeks. We will return to Matthew next week. But this week it is as if the Lectionary announces, “We interrupt our serial reading of the Gospel of Matthew to bring you this Good News from the Gospel of John. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John the Baptist has testified to it.”  But what on earth does that mean? You know, that’s a question that I get asked. “What does ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ mean?” And like a good pastoral listener, my response is, “What do you think?” Part of me is truly interested in what the questioner thinks. And part of me is dodging the question. Continue reading →

It’s great to be back at Emmanuel.

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I just got back to Boston last week, and I’m very happy to see everyone’s smiling faces again. It’s been odd being away for a month; I feel as though so much has happened at the church since I’ve been away. Thankfully, Amanda, Liz, and Pam all got me back up to speed. I hear that things have been a little hectic, but that everyone is supporting each other and treating one another with grace, kindness, and compassion. This pleases me immensely! Continue reading →

2016

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deacon Greiner

The Rev. Robert Greiner

June.  The Rev. Robert Charles Greiner was ordained to the diaconate and began his blessed tenure with us.  After joining our Building Commission, he began photographing our building’s features and posting his photos of it and parish activities to our Facebook page.

Kevin Neel began his six-year tenure as organist and director of our parish choir.

Kevin Neel playing our Rogers organ

Outwitted by Love

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Eve of Epiphany, January 5, 2014;  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 60:1-6 Arise, shine; for your light has come.
Ephesians 3:1-12 [It] will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.
Matthew 2:1-12 Opening their treasure chests.

O God of light and 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.

Happy Epiphany Eve, everyone! Technically, this is the Second Sunday after Christmas Day and tonight is Twelfth Night – when the Lord of Misrule reigns and kings become peasants and vice versa! So it’s not quite Epiphany, and I generally don’t like to celebrate holidays before they arrive, but there is an exception to almost every rule. You probably know by now that pragmatism nearly always trumps idealism for me, and I didn’t think so many of you would be able to come to church tomorrow to celebrate the Feast of Epiphany! So whether you are still savoring the last day of Christmas or you’ve already packed up the decorations for another year, we are all on the cusp of moving from the season when we are called to rejoice in the light, to the season when we are called to show that light or reflect that light in our wider worlds. Continue reading →

Joy to the World

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First Sunday of Christmas, December 29, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 63:7-9 I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord.
Hebrews 2:10-18 It is clear that [Jesus] did not come to help angels.
Matthew 2:13-23 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men…

O God of our redeeming, 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.

I wonder how you hear this story from the Gospel of Matthew’s birth narrative this morning. With Christmas carols ringing in your ears? Do you notice the fulfillment of so much scripture according to Matthew? Are you scratching your head trying to place the various Hebrew bible references? Do you notice Joseph’s many dreams? If you were a Jewish congregation from the first century of the common era, you might all be thinking, “Jacob’s son Joseph was a dreamer and he ended up in Egypt because of it.” If you were a Jewish congregation from the first century, you would know that Ramah was the site of national disaster when Babylonian armies gathered the people of Israel there to begin the forced march of deportation into exile. And you would also think that, “hey! Jesus was just like Moses! Moses survived Pharaoh’s mandate to kill all of the male babies of the Hebrew people.” And when you thought that, you might feel a glimmer of excitement and hope for an exodus from enslavement to the Roman empire! Continue reading →

Just sit there!

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Christmas Eve, December 24, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 9:2-7 Those who lived in a land of deep darkness–on them light has shined.
Titus 3:4-7 We might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Luke 21:5-19 Full of grace and truth.

O great Light and abundant 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.

I wish you could see yourselves the way you look from this pulpit! You look so beautiful! I was hoping that you would be here and I am so glad that you are. Thank you for coming to Emmanuel Church to spend some of your Christmas time. Welcome to those of you who are here for the first time, welcome to those of you who have been here more times than you can count, and welcome to all of you who are in between. I always like to begin my sermon on Christmas Eve by letting you know that I imagine that some of you have been looking forward to being here and could not wait to get to this lovely church on this holy night, to hear the extraordinary music and the lessons and the prayers of Christmas. And I imagine that for others of you, this was not your first choice, maybe you are here because it matters to someone you love, or maybe there’s a sadder reason that you’re here. Maybe some of you don’t even quite know the reason – and I’m especially grateful that you’re here too. Whether you skipped or stumbled here, thank you for coming into this refuge – this sanctuary. My Christmas hope for all of you is that, however you’re feeling, thrilled, ambivalent, healthy or unwell, joyful or heavy hearted, peaceful or downright stressed and cranky, you will leave here tonight feeling better than when you arrived. Continue reading →

2015

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April 4.  The New York Times reported that Pauli Murray‘s family home in Raleigh NC had been named a national treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

As part of the Pauli Murray Project a memorial mural painted on the brick wall of a former tobacco warehouse in Durham NC shows her flanked by panels that read:

 As an Episcopal priest, Pauli Murray used the pulpit to find the “spirit of love and reconciliation” as expressed in her ministry as the “goal of human wholeness”. — Karla Holloway

It may be that when historians look back on 20th century America, all roads will lead to Pauli Murray.  Civil rights, feminism, religion, literature, law, sexuality — no matter what the subject, there is Pauli. — Historian Susan Ware

Pauli Murray taught us that our lives are not defined by our race or our gender but by our striving to make the world a better place than when we found it.  — Elnora J. Shields, Southwest Central Durham Quality of Life Project

Murray mural

Pauli Murray mural (detail) on tobacco warehouse in Durham NC

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