2024 Sermons

Sermons of The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz and others at Emmanuel Church in the City of Boston

Handle with prayer!

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Christmas 1C, 29 December 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Isaiah 61:10 – 62:3. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD.
  • 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. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

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.

Our lectionary, which assigns the prologue to the Gospel of John for the first Sunday in Christmas, baffles me. Since we’re in a Gospel of Luke year, why not the story of the presentation of Jesus as an infant in the Temple eight days after he was born? The answer, I guess, is that story will be read on February 2, which is the Feast of the Presentation. Continue reading →

The blessing is in the sharing.

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Proper 18B, September 8, 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23. Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.
  • James 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17. Mercy triumphs over judgement.
  • Mark 7:24-37. They were astounded beyond measure.

O astonishing 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.

In my first semester of seminary, I was accepted into a senior seminar taught by Professor Alison Cheek, who was one of the Philadelphia 11. [1] The course had the longest title: “Learning to Teach Small Group Bible Study from a Feminist Perspective.” LTSGBSFP doesn’t make a good acronym, but it sure did help me engage scripture with an unapologetic feminist consciousness. Professor Cheek helped unstop my ears and loosen my tongue! I give thanks to God for her whenever I encounter lessons like the ones we have before us today. Continue reading →

Becoming

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Proper 13B, 4 August 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 2 Samuel 11:26 -12:13a.  There were two men in a certain city, one rich, and the other poor.
  • Ephesians 4:1-16.  Speaking the truth in love…promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
  • John 6:24-35. I AM the bread of life..

O God of continual mercy, 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.

I will confess to you that when I looked at the Gospel lesson for this Sunday, I wondered if I’d made a mistake starting my vacation tomorrow instead of last Thursday. John’s emphasis on believing and his assertion that whoever comes to Jesus will never be hungry or thirsty are teachings that are complicated for me. I don’t think they were intended to be stumbling blocks, but I find that they often are. So here goes! I’m stumbling forward. Continue reading →

Doing the Next Brave & Compassionate Thing

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Proper 12B, 28 July 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 2 Samuel 11:1-15.  As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.
  • Ephesians 3:14-21.  That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.
  • John 6:1-21. Ego eimi mey phobeisthe.

O God of 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.

Today we hear the two stories that were left out of last week’s Gospel lesson from Mark. For some reason, the lectionary assigns the Gospel reading for today from John’s version. If you’d like a homework assignment, read all six feeding stories in the four Gospels side by side! Given how very different the four Gospels are, the versions of these stories are remarkably similar. Mark’s version is characteristically a little rougher, John’s is more polished. Mark’s Jesus is in the thick of conflict and confusion all along; for John, Jesus’ feet never really touched the ground. The story of Jesus feeding a huge, hungry crowd is one of the most significant stories about Jesus. It’s rare that a miracle story appears in all four Gospels. I still think that the lectionary should have stuck with Mark this week, though, because it’s complicated and confusing to mix and match Gospel stories. It means shifting gears rather wildly from one literary world to another, each with different assumptions, strategies, purposes, and even audiences. [1] Some may wonder whether the repetition and similarities of the feeding stories make them more likely memory and less likely metaphor. I don’t know; but for me, the stories are equally powerful either as memory or metaphor.  Continue reading →

Don’t skip the verses!

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Proper 11B, 21 July 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 2 Samuel 7:1-14a. I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day.
  • Ephesians 2:11-22.  He came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
  • Mark 6:30-34, 53-56. You give them something to eat.

O God of compassion, 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 hope you noticed that our Gospel portion for this morning is missing quite a few verses, nineteen to be exact; and then it acts like nothing happened. These verses, in my view, are essential to the story, so I’m chagrined that they never get read in church, not next week or any week. They are the Gospel of Mark’s particular version of Jesus telling the weary twelve, who were anticipating a needed rest, to use the five loaves and two fish that they had between them to feed to a crowd of 5,000. After dinner they got back in the boat without Jesus, who had gone up the mountain to pray. Then early the next morning, straining against an adverse wind, they saw Jesus walking on the water. Jesus intended to pass them by, Mark writes, but he saw their terror and told them not to be afraid. When he got in the boat with them, the wind ceased. They were astounded; indeed, they did not understand about the loaves, for their hearts were hardened. In other words, Jesus has just walked on water and calmed a storm, but the disciples are still grumbling about the loaves. Continue reading →

Nesting Stories

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Proper 10B, 14 July 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19.  David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the LORD with all their might.
  • Ephesians 1:3-14.  We should be called children of God, and that is what we are.
  • Mark 6: 14-29. What should I ask for.

O God of the stony roads watered with tears, 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 past few weeks, the opening collects have really been speaking to me and influencing my preaching. This morning, for instance, we prayed that we may know and understand what things we ought to do and have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them. That’s a lot to ask for, isn’t it? Especially when our Gospel lesson is the kind of story that makes many of us hesitant to say “praise to you, Lord Christ” in response to its proclamation. This gruesome story of John the Baptist’s incarceration and execution as a macabre party favor is unusually long and detailed for the Gospel of Mark. And our lectionary doesn’t include the verses just before and after this grim tale, so we’re not made aware that this is one of Mark’s story interruptions. Continue reading →

Remember and imagine!

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Proper 9B, 7 July 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10. King David made a covenant with them..
  • 2 Corinthians 12:2-10..  My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.
  • Mark 6:1-13. Jesus left that place and came to his home….Then he went among the villages teaching.

O God of grace, 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 our Gospel reading for today, Mark tells us that Jesus left the place where the hemorrhaging woman was healed and Jairus’ daughter was raised, and came to his hometown. I used to assume that Mark meant Nazareth when he said that Jesus came to his hometown, but now when I read this story with what comes before and what comes after, it seems clear to me that it’s not Nazareth at all; Jesus and his disciples are along the Sea of Galilee, and Mark has already mentioned in chapter three that Jesus, originally from Nazareth, was at home in Capernaum. Jesus had made a new home, a bigger home to accommodate not just his biological kin, but his kin in the kin-dom work of repentance, reconciliation and right relationship.  Continue reading →

The Parable of the Three Women

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Proper 8B, 30 June 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27. O daughters of Israel..
  • 2 Corinthians 8:7-15.  It is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need.
  • Mark 5:21-43. They were overcome by amazement.

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

If I asked you about the Parable of the Three Women, you would probably look at me blankly and say you’ve never heard of it. You have actually just heard it in our reading from the Gospel of Mark, but you’ve never heard it called the “Parable of the Three Women,” because I just made that title up. Now you might be thinking, “wait, that Gospel lesson was about two women – an older woman and a girl. Who’s the third?” The third woman is the girl’s mother. Part of problem is that none of the women are named, so they’re easily forgotten. I thought about this when I noticed today’s opening prayer which speaks to God Who has “built [their] Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.” I bet that a lot of you could name men who were foundational apostles and prophets, but would be at a loss to name many women who were foundational apostles and prophets. Some of you have heard church leaders say that only men can be ordained priests or pastors because Jesus only called men. That’s just not true. A few women apostles and prophets are named in the Bible, but many more are not named, and that has more to do with the patriarchy of the Church than it has to do with Jesus’ life and teachings. You know, someday I think we should base a religion on following what we know of the teachings and behaviors of Jesus! (Just saying.) Continue reading →

Embracing Right-Relationship

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Proper 7B, 23 June 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-40.  That all the assembly know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear.
  • 2 Corinthians 6:1-13.    See, now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.
  • Mark 4:35-41. Let us go across to the other side.

O God of our faith, 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 all three of our scripture readings are about being overwhelmed and mismatched for the challenges being faced. I want to say something about all three of them because I think they speak to how many of us feel when we face the forces of militarism and empire, individual ailments and injustices, and even the ill-effects of white-supremacy and climate change. To be clear, I don’t think that the Bible was anticipating white-supremacy or climate change of course, but I hear it speaking wisdom to us nonetheless. Continue reading →

Telling Wondrous Stories about God

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Proper 6B, 16 June 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13.  The Lord looks on the heart
  • 2 Corinthians 5:6-17.  If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.
  • Mark 4:26-34. With many such parables he spoke the word to them.

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.

Many of you know that I was away last weekend so that I could travel with Emmanuel Music to support them at their sacred music concert at Bachfest in Leipzig. I carried you with me, and not just you who are in the chapel right now, but all those who have called themselves Emmanuelites over the last five-and-a-half decades, because Emmanuel Church gave birth to Emmanuel Music some 54 years ago. Bishop Gates once called Emmanuel Church an incubator of vocations. It’s such an apt description. Emmanuel Church has incubated and continues to incubate the vocations — the callings – of hundreds of people (maybe thousands). You might remember how theologian Frederick Buechner defined vocation as being the place where “your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”  Continue reading →