Fourth Sunday after the Pentecost, June 21, 2015; The Rev. Susanne George

A few days ago, after I contacted a friend on the west coast by email, I received this message back: “Thank God you are OK! The news, and you being in the church has made us nervous here.”

I thought a minute and realized that my friend had put together the fact that I serve at Emmanuel Church Boston, and that I was also in Charleston, recently, where horrific events took place at another Emanuel Church. So I could see how my friend had been concerned.

My immediate reaction to this message was to think: I am not in any danger. I’m perfectly fine. No, that is untrue – I am an optimistic person, but right now I feel the danger around me. I feel sadness and I feel vulnerable.

But I am coming from a place of relative entitlement. I recognize that I need to listen to my neighbors of color describe living with an extreme lack of security, because some neighbors have been singled out as special targets. Racism fuels the violence, even as it makes others casually dismiss its severity. Continue reading →

The Third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 6B, June 14, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O startling 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.

This morning we are celebrating a harvest in the Church – the baptism of Marina Victoria Yeretsian, and the ordination of William Clayton Cruse! We are celebrating the spread of the realm of God, which is, as Jesus says, as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and wake up day after day, while the seed would sprout and grow, without the sower knowing how. Then one day the grain is ready to be harvested. This is such a day – a harvesting of growth from seeds that were planted – with Marina, some months ago, and with Bill, some years ago. This is a day to celebrate the growth that happened while we and they slept or didn’t sleep! None of us, not even the smartest scientist in the world, knows exactly how it happens. This is a day to celebrate the mystery of life and love that comes to fruition in the realm of God. Continue reading →

Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year B, May 17, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

O God of holiness, 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.

If I asked you to think of an important holiday that always falls on a Thursday, what would you say? (Maybe you would think first of Thanksgiving.) What if I asked you to name two important holidays that always fall on Thursdays? (Thanksgiving and since we’re in church, maybe someone would think of Maundy Thursday in Holy Week.) Do you know where I’m going with this? I wonder how many of you would have thought of Ascension Day — always a Thursday forty days after Easter Sunday. Did any of you take the day off this past Thursday to observe Ascension Day with your friends and family?
Continue reading →

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B, May 3, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

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 want to preach about everything – the humanitarian crisis in Nepal; Baltimore and the widespread damaging effects of racism in the United States; my discoveries sifting through family archives when I was in Denver for my aunt’s funeral last week; the huge number of people who go hungry in Massachusetts, where the poverty rate is at its highest since 1960 (the year I was born); the pending jury decision about the sentence for Johar Tsarnaev; and the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania, and that’s just for starters. Bishops and scholarly theologians in the Anglican Reformation had a remedy for this kind of challenge: they wrote approved homilies to be read at sermon time. Article 35 in the 39 Articles of Religion, pages 874 and 875 in the Book of Common Prayer (the red prayer book in your pews), states that homilies from an authorized book are “to be read in Churches by the Ministers, diligently and distinctly, that they may be understanded of the people.” But then in 1801 as the Episcopal Church was being organized in the post-Revolutionary War era, the requirement was suspended “until a revision of them may be conveniently made, for the clearing of them, as well from obsolete words and phrases, as from the local references.” We are still living in that suspension! Continue reading →

Easter, April 5, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

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.

While the younger kids are engaged in the Lindsey Chapel with the Small Wonders program, I want to tell you a little story. About fifteen years ago, my wife Joy came home from a walk through Mount Auburn Cemetery with our then four-year-old daughter, Grace. They had been enjoying a beautiful summer day, looking at statues and gravestones and flowers. After being quiet for a while, Grace looked up and said, “Mom, what happened to that guy who died in church?” Joy repeated the phrase to give herself time to think, “the guy who died in church.” Her mind raced. Had there been a recent medical emergency during worship? Had there been prayers for a loved one who had died? Had Grace heard something in the news? She hadn’t been to any funerals yet. Grace repeated, “you know. The guy. Who died. In church.” All of the sudden, Joy knew who she meant. “Jesus?” “Yes!” said Grace, “Jesus! What happened to him?” As Joy was relating this conversation to me, before I could learn what she said next to Grace, I interrupted with, “did you tell her he died from listening to sermons that were too long, or from singing every verse to all the hymns?” Continue reading →