Sermons

We invite you to enjoy sermons of our rector The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz and others., which are collected by year with links in the column on the right. Our earliest sermons are posted in an archive covering the years 2000-09 include sermons by the late Rabbi Howard Berman, The Rev. William Blaine-Wallace, The Rev. Dr. Maureen D. Kemeza, The Rev. Dr. James M. Weiss, The Rev. Christiaan A. Beukman, and others.

In 2022 we began to broadcast her sermons in our livestreamed services.  Please listen to her dynamic preaching about 20 minutes into our live-streamed services on our YouTube Channel.  Her sermons preached in Lindsey Chapel are not available in video.

Shehechyanu

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Proper 27A
November 8, 2020

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. So that you may not grieve as others who have no hope
Matthew 25:1-13. Keep awake therefore

I don’t know how many of you heard the Gospel passage that Bob just read and felt a sense of vague anxiety or maybe even stronger – a sense of indignation or anger about who is in and who is out. It’s striking to read this in the context of our nation, divided nearly in half politically. It sounded different to me at the beginning of the week compared with the end of the week. Maybe some hear this Gospel passage and feel secretly smug because you are someone who is always prepared – you know, who never lets your gas tank in your car go below half full. Maybe you are elated by the results of the presidential election. I will confess to you that I am someone who is often driving on empty, and I’ve been on the losing side of votes many times.
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Sing the songs of Love!

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The Feast of All Saints
November 1, 2020

Revelation 7:9-17. These are they who have come out of the great ordeal.
1 John 3:1-3. See what love [God] has given us
Matthew 5:1-12. Blessed . . . blessed . . . blessed

O God of all saints, 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 observe the Feast of All Saints in the Church, with a special celebration of “A Saint for All Saints, The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray,” the first Black woman ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church, sponsored for ordination by Emmanuel Church before any woman had been ordained in the Episcopal Church. I hope that you will be able to join our webinar program at 4:00 this afternoon about her life and legacy – there’s still time to register by going to Emmanuel’s web page. You may also want to download the program booklet.
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Make no peace with oppression!

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Proper 24A
October 18, 2020

Exodus 33:12-23. But you have not let me know whom you will send with me.
1 Thessalonians. Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
Matthew:15-22. Whose head is this, and whose title? i.e., whose image is this and whose inscription?

O God of 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.

The other day I heard a lecture by Episcopal priest Reed Carlson, Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at United Lutheran Seminary, that made me want to go back to the end of last week’s Gospel lesson and last week’s sermon. You might remember that I posited that the story of the king that binds the hands and feet of one who is not properly dressed is not a story about how God works, but how human kings work. The verse at the end of the Gospel portion says, “For many are called but few are chosen,” or more literally, many are called but few are called out. It has always seemed like a non-sequitur to me, but I don’t believe non-sequiturs actually exist in Biblical literature. The apparent disconnect is always on our end, not the narrative’s end.
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Take the encouragement!

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Proper 23A.  11 October 2020.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Exodus 32:1-14. And the LORD changed his [sic] mind.
Philippians 4:1-9. there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Matthew 22:1-14. Invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet or friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?

O God of compassion and justice, 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.

This morning, as I reflect with you on the Gospel lesson from Matthew, I do so influenced and encouraged by the Torah story from Exodus. It’s a story of what happens to the people when there is a scarcity of visible leadership, plenty of deep anxiety, and considerable impatience with unknowing. While there is no doctrine of original sin in Judaism, commentator Gunther Plaut tells about a midrash that “all ills which have befallen the people since that time are in part traceable to the sin with the golden calf.” [1] Divine anger threatened to utterly destroy the unfaithful nation, but Moses stood up for God’s people and reminded God of God’s promise of abundant life and God changed God’s mind.
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Enduring Mercy & Forgiveness

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Proper 22A
October 4, 2020

Exodus 20:1-4,7-9, 12-20. So that you do not sin
Philippians 2:1-13. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call in Christ Jesus
Matthew 21:33-46. Listen to another parable

O God of mercy and forgiveness, 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 have a little exercise for you. Many of us are out of shape from not being able to sing together, so I’m going to say some opening words of various hymns and see if you can complete the first line –do it at home if you’re joining us by livestream. Those of you at home can even sing your parts! If I say: “Amazing grace,” you’d know that the next words are: “how sweet the sound.” If I say: “The Church’s one foundation,” you’d say: “is Jesus Christ her Lord.” If I say: “O God our help in ages past,” you’d say: “our hope for years to come.” If I say: “Immortal invisible,” you’d say: “God only wise.” If I say: “This is the day that the Lord has made,” you’d say:, “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” One more time: “This is the day that the Lord has made. (Let us rejoice and be glad in it.)”
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Turn around and run for it!

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Proper 21A
September 27, 2020

Exodus 17:1-7. So that the people may drink
Philippians 2:1-13. For it is God who is at work in you
Matthew 21:23-32. Even after you saw it you did not change your minds.

O God of of mercy and pity, 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 today’s appointed collect, or gathering prayer, I’m struck by the idea that God declares almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: mercy being forgiveness, and pity being sympathy for another’s suffering. It might not be the kind of almighty power we want, but I think it is what we need. Whenever we are invoking the mighty power of God, it behooves us to look for forgiveness and sympathy first, as evidence of God’s response. It is God’s forgiveness for our sins and sympathy for our suffering and for the suffering of others that we are running to obtain, so that we can be partakers of that treasure.

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Share the wealth!

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Proper 20A
September 20, 2020
Exodus 16:2-15. What is it? It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
Philippians 1:21-30. It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way.
Matthew 20:1-16. Take what belongs to you and go.

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.

Hello! Welcome into this time and space and community that is Emmanuel Church gathered. Some are gathered in this physical place, and many more are gathered in places around New England and in various other time zones, to pray together and to worship God. Welcome into the future of God’s beloved community, as we figure out ways to adapt to challenging circumstances. I often hear people remark, when I tell them that I serve as rector of Emmanuel Church in Boston, that Emmanuel has such a great history. And I’m quick to respond, “yes! And a great present and future too!” Our vision of the future is foggier, perhaps, more treacherous perhaps, but we are sticking together. This first Sunday of the cantata season is “welcome forward Sunday. Come with us into the future, Sunday.”

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A Gentile and a Tax Collector

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Proper 18A
September 6, 2020

Exodus 12:1-14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you.
Romans 13:8-14 Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Matthew 18:15-20 Let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

O Divine presence, 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.

It’s Labor Day weekend, our secular signal that the summer is ended. That brings Jeremiah’s lament to my mind: “the summer is ended, and we are not saved,” say the people. The Lord responds: “For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?” …“It is because the people do not know me,” says the Lord of Love. That’s not the Hebrew Bible reading that our lectionary offers us this morning, but you might read chapters 8 and 9 in Jeremiah later on for extra credit.
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Thirst

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Proper 8A
June 28, 2020

Genesis 22:1-14 Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him.
Romans 6:12-23 Present your members to God as instruments of righteousness…the stipend of sin is death.
Matthew 10:40-42 And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.

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 lesson from Genesis about Abraham’s binding of Isaac is such a troubling story to me – it is, as theologian Phyllis Trible says, a text of terror. And the interpretation of this story also horrifies me. It so often gets taught as a theological yardstick story that sizes up Abraham’s obedience to what he understands to be the voice of the Holy One telling him to sacrifice his son. It gets paired with the story of Jesus’ death on the cross. I haven’t heard nearly enough criticism in religious settings about the kind of father who would be willing to kill his own son; or the kind of god that would devise such a horrendous test of faith. I wonder why anyone would want to worship such a god. 

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No Ordinary Time

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Proper 6A
June 14, 2020

Genesis 18:1-15 (21:1-7) Sarah laughed to herself.
Romans 5:1-8 And hope will not disappoint us.
Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23) When he saw the crowds he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless…the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.

O most faithful and patient 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.

I want to begin by taking stock of the journey we’ve been on as a community of faith since early March, when the COVID-19 pandemic started to become real in the Boston area. We have endured great uncertainty and tremendous loss, concern for the safety of others and for ourselves, a lot of fear, grief, and more than a little shame. I hear see and hear these things in our phone conversations, on your faces via video conferencing, in your emails, and I feel them too. In our worship, we have navigated (with significant technological turbulence) the second half of Lent, Holy Week, Eastertide, the feasts of the Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. And now we have entered the long stretch of what the Church calls Ordinary Time. 
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