2015 Sermons

Unless noted otherwise these sermons were preached by Emmanuel’s Rector, the Reverend Pamela L. Werntz.  For other years, please see the links on Sermons.

And the story isn’t finished.

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First Sunday after Christmas, Proper 1B, December 31, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.

Isaiah 61:10-62:3. For the sake of Zion I will not be silent. For the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest.
Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7. So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
John 1:1-18. And the Word became flesh and lived among us.

O God of our story, 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.

First, a poem by Padraig O Tuama, called “Narrative Theology”.  [1]

And I said to him

Are there questions to all of this?

And he said

The answer is in a story

and the story is being told.

 

And I said

But there is so much pain

And she answered, plainly,

Pain will happen.

 

Then I said

Will I ever find meaning?

And they said

You will find meaning

Where you give meaning.

 

The answer is in the story

And the story isn’t finished.

Continue reading →

Dress Covenant

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First Sunday after Christmas C (RCL Propers), December 27, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

1 Samuel 2:18-26 A boy wearing a linen ephod. His mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year.
Colossians 3:12-17 “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Bear with one another…forgive one another.
Luke 2:22:40 Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem.

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.

This morning I have taken our readings from the Revised Common Lectionary instead of the Episcopal exception to the Revised Common Lectionary, because the latter called for the Gospel reading to be the prologue to the Gospel of John. As beautiful as it is, I do believe that I said everything I could think of to say about that (for this year anyway) on Thursday night! Continue reading →

The Greatness of the Lord

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Fourth Sunday of Advent (C), December 20, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Micah 5:2-5a And he shall be the one of peace.
Hebrews 10:5-10 In burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
Luke 1:39-56 Blessed is she who believed.

O God of “she who believed,” 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 have always loved Mary, the mother of Jesus – the Godbearer, more than a good Protestant girl should. It is Mary who draws me to the catholicity of the Episcopal Church, but I’ve never understood Mary to be meek or mild or mindless, and I don’t know how anyone who reads Biblical accounts of her could understand her that way either. I don’t know how anyone who hears the words of the Magnificat, which are taken from the Song of Hannah in the Hebrew Bible book of Samuel, could hear anything but a religious and political manifesto. Earlier this month, the Rev. Nancy Rockwell, wrote an essay entitled, “No More Lying about Mary,” that captured in writing what I have always believed about Mary – that she was brave and strong. Continue reading →

Disarming Love

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Third Sunday of Advent (C), December 13, 2015, The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Zephaniah 3:14-20 I will change their shame into praise.
Philippians 4:4-7 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Luke 3:7-18 He proclaimed good news to the people.

O God of bountiful grace and 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.

On this third Sunday of Advent, our scripture lessons all contain great and prophetic dissonance. The dissonance is easy to hear in the Gospel reading from Luke. John the Baptist is yelling things at the people who came to be baptized by him, like “You brood of vipers!…Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees…He will baptize you with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” and then the writer of Luke adds in his best story-telling voice, “with many other exhortations John the Baptist proclaimed the good news to the people.” That always makes me think, “Boy, if that’s the good news, I’d hate to hear the bad news.” Continue reading →

May our love overflow!

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Second Sunday of Advent (C), December 6, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Baruch 5:1-9 So that Israel [“the one who wrestles with God”] may walk safely in the glory of God.
Phillipians 1:1-11 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
Luke 3:1-6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

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.

In the third year of the presidency of George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush; when Mitt Romney, son of George Romney, was governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, during the Episcopacy of M. Thomas Shaw, Jr., and during the 26th year of the Rectorate of George M. Chapman and the 2nd year of the Assistant Rectorate of Pamela L. Werntz at a parish in Brookline named after St. Paul, the word of God came to a homeless person named Matthew in the wilderness (the wilder-ness) of the Boston Common. [1] He went into all the region around Boston, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah and the evangelist Luke: “The voice of one crying out: “in the wilderness ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” In other words, the lone voice of one yelling — in the wilderness – the dangerous place – the unclean place of madness, of testing and of demons and of chaos: get to work on making God’s way, which of course, is Love’s way. To make God’s way, you will raise up the depressed places, lower the insurmountable obstacles, straighten out the run-around, make the rough ways easy so that ALL people can see the goodness of God – the goodness of Love — salvation. Continue reading →

Make your spirits ready!

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Last Sunday in Pentecost: Christ the King, Proper 29B-15, November 22, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

2 Samuel 23:1-7 The spirit of the LORD is upon me
Revelation 1:4b-8 Grace to you and peace
John 18:33-37 For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.

O God of hope, 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.

Today is the last Sunday of the church year. This day has come to be known as The Feast of Christ the King. It’s a new church holiday — first declared by Bishop of Rome, Pius the 11th in 1925 – so not yet 100 years old even in the Roman Catholic Church. As recently as fifteen years ago, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church described it as observed “unofficially in some Anglican churches.” As Episcopalians live into our ecumenical commitment to use the Revised Common Lectionary (shared with other major Christian denominations), Christ the King Sunday has become a part of our practice, printed on our calendars and worship planning books (so you know it’s real). Continue reading →

We are doing it.

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The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, 27B, November 8, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17 Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin.
Hebrews 9:24-28 Now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.
Mark 12:38-44 This poor widow has put in more than all those…she out of her poverty has put in everything she had.

O God of all, 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.

The Gospel lesson that we just heard is a very familiar story about the woman who put two copper coins, approximately enough money to buy one meal, in the offering in the temple. It’s a story many of us learned in Church School. People know it by the title, “the widow’s mite” (mite meaning a tiny little bit). It’s a nice story for little children who are learning about mite boxes and putting coins in offering plates. I’m aware that when the story gets told about Jesus commending the woman for giving everything she had, especially during pledge stewardship season (probably no coincidence, by the way), many of us adults kind of seize up inside. You know – we kind of brace ourselves for what’s coming next. Continue reading →

Spiritual Infrastructure

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All Saints’ Day (with alt second reading), November 1, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9 The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God
Revelation 7:9-17 Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!
John 11:32-44 Come out!…Unbind him and let him go.

O God of all, 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.

Some days on the church calendar are really big – Christmas Eve, Easter Day, Pentecost and All Saints are generally the four biggest for us. Today is the great Feast of All Saints; it’s a day to celebrate the saints, known and unknown. Tomorrow is All Souls’ Day – the day set aside in the church calendar for commemoration of all those who have departed this life, whether they were saints or sinners or both. So this is a Sunday to remember the present as well as the past – to honor all those who go and have gone before us – all saints and all souls. Continue reading →

Go lead!

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Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost, 25B, October 24, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Job 42:1-6, 10-17 Now my eyes see you.
Hebrews 7:23-28 Prevented by death from continuing in office!
Mark 10:46-52 What do you want me to do for you?

O God of our wildest dreams, 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.

Dan Hazen had a vision of how he wanted his completed life acknowledged at Emmanuel Church and it did not include a sermon being preached about him. (I’ll honor his wish.) But I want to share one of the things Dan frequently mentioned in the seven short years that I knew him. It was that he didn’t like worship services that tied things up in a neat bow. So instead of eulogizing him from this pulpit, I’ll do my best to offer a sermon that is long on questions and short on answers, one that doesn’t even try to make sense of the incongruities and ambiguities! Continue reading →

Come closer! (with audio)

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Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, 24B, October 18, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 53:4-12 It was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.
[Job 38:1-7, 34-41 Who.]
Hebrews 5:1-10 He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Mark 10:35-45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.

O suffering 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.

Our Rabbi-in-Residence, Howard Berman, is fond of asking me whenever he preaches at one of our services, “Why do I always get the hard texts?” I say, I wonder the very same thing! Why do I always get the hard texts?” (I think the answer might be that they’re almost all hard.) When it comes to the Isaiah reading, I’ll admit that I did it to myself when I agreed to take a week away from our reading of the story of Job in the interest of Ryan Turner’s request for the lovely Distler motet.
Continue reading →