2018 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.

Creative, Embodied, Inspired

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Trinity Sunday, Year B, May 27, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 6:1-8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
Romans 8:12-17 Children of God.
John 3:1-17 God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world.

O God ‘increation,’ incarnation, inspiration, 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 our Gospel lesson contains one of the most misappropriated and misunderstood passages of scripture in the whole Bible, in my view. “For God so loved the world that God gave the only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” John 3:16 has fueled some of the most damaging and unloving impulses of those who have taken the name Christian, from the Crusades to the destruction of conquered indigenous peoples, to the Holocaust, and to our present day, where the idea of the common good is endangered. If folks would just focus on what comes next, multitudes might have been spared. Verse 17 says: “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (or by him or because of him or for the sake of him. Being saved here means healing, integrity, and dignity. Being saved means being rescued from danger, liberated from oppression, being restored to right-relationship.
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Daydream Believers

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Seventh Sunday after Easter, Year B, May 13, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26. ‘Lord, you know everyone’s heart.’
1 John 5:9-13. So that you may know that you have eternal life.”
John 17:6-19. So that they may have my joy made complete in themselves…Sanctify them in the truth.

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.

Today is a threshold Sunday, and I don’t just mean between the Sanctuary and the Chapel. Today is a threshold Sunday between the Feast of the Ascension and the Feast of Pentecost. Our readings this morning have something to say about standing on the cusp, standing in between the feelings of abandonment and feelings of inspiration. The curious story of the selection of a replacement apostle for Judas Iscariot comes right after the list of the eleven remaining, praying and waiting in Jerusalem along with “certain women,” including the mother of Jesus. Peter addresses an assembly of 120 and explains that the way he understood scripture, Judas’ betrayal and what happened afterwards was just like Psalms 69 and 109. (Incidentally, he doesn’t mention his own three denials of Jesus, or his remorse.)
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Enlarging the Circle

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Sixth Sunday after Easter, Year B, May 6, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 10:44-48 Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people?
1 John 5:1-6 And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is truth.
John 15:9-17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

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 we are celebrating the baptism of a little boy with a big name. Samuel Dennis Warren, VII, also known as Micah. Maybe you recall that Micah is the name of the Biblical prophet, who famously reminded the people that what is required of us is only to do justice and to love kindness and to walk modestly or humbly with the Holy One. That might be the best description of what it looks like to love one another and love God in all of scripture.
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Let Love become us!

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Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 29, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L.Werntz

Acts 8:26-40 (This is a wilderness road.)
1 John 4:7-21 God is love.
John 15:1-8 Abide in me.

O God of the wilderness roads, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it.

During the Great Fifty Days of Easter, our schedule of scripture readings, called “The Revised Common Lectionary,” eschews readings from the First Testament of our Bible in favor of stories from the Book of Acts, which is the sequel or companion volume to the Gospel of Luke. Many of you know that I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I appreciate that readings from Hebrew Scripture are not explicitly being employed to prop up resurrection narratives (the way I think they get used to prop up Jesus’ birth narratives during Advent). And I love the portions of the fantastic stories from the Book of Acts of people who were completely carried away by the inspiration of spreading the Good News that even the most horrific death had not destroyed the mighty Love of Jesus in God. However, without reading the wisdom of the Tanakh – that is, the Torah or the Prophets or the Writings of Hebrew scripture – we risk not understanding the content and context of this Good News.
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Looking More Resurrected

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Second Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 8, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 4:32-35 There was not a needy person among them.
1 John 1:1-2:2 If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves.
John 20:19-31 Peace be with you.

O God of our wildest dreams, 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 eighth day of Easter. Eight out of fifty of Easter – so it’s still early. The puppets from our grand first-day procession last week have been returned to their storage places, but the flowers are still pretty fresh, and there are still good Easter hymns left to be sung. We have a baptism to celebrate today. Emilia Julu Hudson Houge has brought together family and friends from near and far to join her Emmanuel Church peeps for a ceremony of Christian belonging. Thank you all for being here today. Almost any day in the church year is a good day for a baptism, as far as I’m concerned, and today is especially rich because the theological message for the second Sunday in Easter is always: “you should believe it whether or not you’ve seen it.” Because of Emi’s baptism, I’m reminded of what one of my seminary professors was fond of saying: “I believe in infant baptism, heck, I’ve seen it!” I want to make sure you know that you don’t have to have a baptism ceremony to belong here at Emmanuel Church, but why not give the community another reason to rejoice?
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It’s funny. Live in the along!

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Easter, Year B, April 1, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 10:34-43 I truly understand that God shows no partiality.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Also you are being saved.
John 20:1-18 I have seen the Lord.

O God of laughter, 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.

Happy April Fools’ Day everyone! I’m so glad you’re here. You look very beautiful (and that is no joke). 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 everyone in between!  Thank you for coming to Emmanuel Church to begin the festival of the Great Fifty Days of Easter.  You honor us with your presence this morning. We are glad that you’re here whether you love this holiday, or you don’t so much, but you are here because it matters to someone you love, or you are here for a sadder reason.  Maybe some of you don’t even quite know the reason you’re here – and I’m grateful that you’re here too!
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Diving into the Wreck

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Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year B, March 11, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Numbers 21:4-9 So Moses prayed for the people.
Ephesians 2:1-10 And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
John 3:14-21 Those who do what is true come to the light.

O God of infinite grace, 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.

When I’m writing a sermon, I often think of songs or poems. For today it was Adrienne Rich’s “Diving into the Wreck.” The connection in my mind is our gospel lesson from John – the wreck of misunderstandings and mistreatments of this text – it’s almost too much for me to bear. I knew that when our Deacon Bob read this passage to you, many of you would start shutting down, going other places in your heads, perhaps leaving the building in your imaginations. I’m not going to recite the whole poem, but listen to these lines from the middle:

I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail…

the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth [1]

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The Marks of Love

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Third Sunday in Lent, Year B, March 4, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Exodus 20:1-17 Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.
John 2:13-22 He was speaking of the temple of his body.

O mysterious God, 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.

Many of you know that one of my life projects is increasing Biblical literacy, so I’m always on the lookout for books and articles that are accessible to people who are interested in learning about our sacred texts. Episcopal priest Lauren Winner has recently written a slim volume in the new Episcopal Church teaching series, called A Word to Live By, about engaging scripture with curiosity and confidence. It’s less than a hundred pages, less than $10, and it’s fantastic. In her introduction Winner invites readers of Biblical literature to “expect to be delighted. Expect to be discomfited… .[and] expect to be puzzled… .because the Bible is opaque, and puzzlement means you’re paying attention to, rather than filtering out, the opaque bits.” [1]
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Inheriting Love’s Blessing (with audio)

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First Sunday in Lent, Year B, February 18, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Genesis 9:8-17 I will remember my covenant.
1 Peter 3:18-22 An appeal to God for a good conscience.
Mark 1:9-15 The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

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.

We began our service for this first Sunday in Lent, as is our practice, with The Great Litany sung in solemn procession. The first liturgy published in English, The Great Litany is intended to be used during times of great distress or danger or devastation. I think what is going on in our nation right now qualifies, don’t you? Sixteenth century Anglican theologian Richard Hooker’s defended praying the Great Litany even when a particular community is not suffering. He wrote: “if we for ourselves had a privilege of immunity, doth not true Christian charity require that whatsoever any part of the world, yea, any one … elsewhere doth either suffer or fear, the same we account as our own burden? What one petition is there found in the whole Litany, whereof we shall ever be able to say at any time that no [one] living needeth the grace or benefit therein craved at God’s hands?” [1} The Great Litany serves to remind us that we belong to one another. We share one another’s joys and we bear each other’s burdens. Continue reading →

Plans Questioned & Prayers Answered

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Fifth Sunday after the Epipany, Year B, February 4, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 40:21-31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning?
1 Corinthians 9:16-23 In my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge.
Mark 1:29-39 So that I may proclaim the message.”\

O God of our liberation, 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.

One of the many things I love about the Gospel of Mark is his economy of words – both the amount of information packed into a few verses, and the enormous amount of room for the reader or hearer’s imagination, because the details and definitions are not all specified. Of course, this was viewed as a deficiency by later evangelists (Matthew in particular), but I appreciate the spare and breathless prose. Our reading today picks up after just 28 previous verses in which Mark has proclaimed that the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ was that John the Baptist was calling for the heart’s transformation, citing the prophet Isaiah as his authority, John the Baptist was calling for immersion in forgiveness and amendment of life. A whole lot of people answered this call, including Jesus from Nazareth. The experience was a complete life changer for Jesus, who emerged from the Jordan River with dawning understanding that the Spirit from the heavens (the Ruach, the breath of the Holy One) was delighted in him. Without more time than a heartbeat, that same spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness for a quarantine (40 days of separation) where he was being tempted by the Accuser and divine messengers ministered to him. (All that is in just the first 13 verses.)
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