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.

Bear the light as a group!

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First Sunday of Advent (A)
November 30, 2019

Isaiah 2:1-5 [When God judges] they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.
Romans 13:11-14 [love is the fulfilling of the law] let us live honorably.
Matthew 24:37-44 Therefore you also must be ready

O God of our new year, 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 our new church (or liturgical) year begins. Happy New Year! What did you all do for the Church’s New Year’s Eve last night? Did you stay awake celebrating past midnight? (Probably most of you did not, or you wouldn’t be here now!) That’s okay – staying up past midnight is overrated. Have you made any churchy new year’s resolutions about spiritual or religious diet and exercise to get ready for the Feast of the Nativity? I saw a meme the other day that said, “It’s almost time to switch from your regular anxiety to your fancy Christmas anxiety!” Isn’t that what Advent is for? What is Advent for?

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A Garden in Paradise

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Last Sunday after Pentecost (29C)
November 24, 2019

Jeremiah 23:1-6 Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
Colossians 1:11-20 In him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.
Luke 23:33-43 Paradise.

Merciful and generous 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.

Today is the Feast of the Reign of Christ (a liturgical observance not yet 100 years old) that has been placed on the last Sunday in the church year – the completion of our lectionary cycle of Bible readings. Although we don’t read our Gospel portions in order, today is the last time we will hear from the Gospel of Luke except for Christmas-time nativity stories until Advent of 2022.
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Covenant Celebration

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Covenant Celebration
November 15, 2019
Central Reform Temple and Emmanuel Church

Isaiah 65:17-25 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
Luke 21:5-19 By your endurance you will gain your souls [or lives].

In our celebration of our new covenant between Central Reform Temple and Emmanuel Church, the prayer that I usually pray at the beginning of my sermons – you know, about searching always and everywhere after truth, come when it may and cost what it will, seems particularly apt, because truth is costly, both in the sense of consequences and even sacrifice, and in the sense of precious and dear (teuer in German).
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Come clean!

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Proper 26C
November 3, 2019

Habakkuk 1:1-2:4 Write the vision; make it plain so that a runner can see it.
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4,11-12 The love of everyone of you for one another is increasing.
Luke 19:1-10 The Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost.

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.

This morning we are celebrating the Feasts of All Saints’ Day, which was Friday, and All Souls’ Day, which was yesterday, with our music. However, we are observing the 24th Sunday after Pentecost with our readings, because I just couldn’t skip over the readings from Habakkuk and second Thessalonians, or the story of Zacchaeus from the Gospel of Luke.

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God’s Story

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Proper 23C, October 13, 2019. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
2 Timothy 2:8-15. The word of God is not chained.
Luke 17:11-19. Jesus asked, ‘Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?’

O God of Sacred 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.

This sermon is going to include a list-making exercise – and so you might want to have a pen or pencil ready – or take notes on your phone. (Yes, I’m the priest who regularly tells people to use their phones during the liturgy.) You won’t need it for a few minutes, but I want you to be ready. Before that I want to offer some commentary on the readings from our First and Second Testaments. I want to highlight the surprising instructions from God through the prophecy of Jeremiah to the people who were in exile, far from home, captives in Babylon, because maybe some of you are in a similar situation. Jeremiah wrote the Word of God in a letter to them and said: “Plant gardens. Build dwelling places. Seek the welfare of the city where you are, for in its welfare, you will find your welfare.” The Hebrew word for welfare is “shalom.” The same word in Arabic, “salaam,” forms the word Islam. Islam is often translated “submission,” and that is also an essential part of shalom – submission is obedience; obedience is radical listening; radical listening is what God, also known as Love, commands above all else. Listening to love, submitting to love, and well-being are all one. Seek wellbeing in the new and difficult place to which you have arrived against your will. God’s blessing continues even in exile. Contribute to the welfare of the city wherever you are. Be a blessing where you are, even if you are a captive.

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Being Played

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Proper 22C
October 6, 2019

Lamentations 1:1-6 Her priests groan, her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter…nobody goes to church any more.
2 Timothy 1:1-11 Recalling your tears…I am reminded of…a faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice…rekindle the gift of God that is within you.
Luke 17:5-10 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

O God of our weary years and silent 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.

Our first reading this morning was taken from the book of Lamentations, and I want to linger there a moment because we rarely hear anything from this book of the Bible in church, although I wish we did. It’s a collection of five dirges: poems of deep pain and suffering, of outrage and grief, of complaint and protest, in response to political calamity, social and economic devastation, and utter theological collapse. It’s a direct challenge to the notion that religious life should somehow not be political. The Bible’s response to that is “nonsense!”

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Be an angel!

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Proper 21C-19 (& St. Michael and All Angels)
September 29, 2019

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 The word of the Lord came to me.
Psalm 91 God’s faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler.
1Timothy 6:6-19 So that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
Luke 16:19-31 If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.

O God of St. Michael and All Angels, 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.

Although today is the 16th Sunday after Pentecost in what the Church calls “ordinary time,” today is also the date appointed for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, which, technically will be observed in the wider Church tomorrow since this year it falls on a Sunday. And the Jewish New Year begins this evening marking the beginning of the Days of Awe. So I want to say that this is no ordinary time. I want today to be a day to celebrate the whole company of heaven, giving thanks for the ministries of angels. Perhaps you’ve heard Jane Siberry’s beautiful folk song, “Calling All Angels.” It’s a song for us. The refrain goes, “calling all angels, calling all angels – walk me through this one, don’t leave me alone. We’re trying, we’re hoping, we’re hurting, we’re loving, we’re crying, we’re calling, ‘cause we’re not sure how this goes.”

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A Giant Squander

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Proper 20C
September 22, 2019

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 The summer is ended and we are not saved.
1 Timothy 2:1-7 First of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone.
Luke 16:1-13 You cannot serve God and wealth.

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.

Well, Happy Unjust Steward Day everyone! I am so glad that you are here to help us celebrate! Is it possible that Jesus was really telling a story encouraging dishonesty and injustice? Did anyone hear the Gospel reading this morning and think, “wait a minute, what?” Or are any of us who could be considered wealthy thinking, “uh-oh”? Are any of you hoping that I will pull a Greek translation trick out of this boxy pulpit? Alas, not today. As Jeremiah tells us, the summer is ended and we are not saved. Vulnerable people are not being properly cared for. As our planet continues to heat up, it’s the people who are the poorest who suffer the most. Is there no balm in Gilead? This anguished question in Jeremiah is the voice of God. God knows there is balm and God does not have enough tears for the disaster that is looming because the people with resources are spreading dis-ease instead of balm.
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Come to the party!

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Proper 19C
September 15, 2019

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 Skilled in doing evil but do not know how to do good.
1 Timothy 1:12-17 But I received mercy.
Luke 15:1-10 This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.

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.

Oh I have so much I want to say to you this morning about the ancient scriptures we’ve heard just now: Jeremiah, Psalm 14, 1 Timothy, the Gospel of Luke, and we haven’t even heard Psalm 42 yet – that will come after communion. Our oldest reading today is about 3000 years old, and the newest is about 1900 years old, give or take. Old. They tell us that in ancient times there were foolish people who said in their hearts, “There is no God.” By the way, this is not a critique of individual philosophical or theoretical atheism; this is an ethical critique of a people who did not think it mattered how the most vulnerable in society were treated: widows, orphans, and aliens. In ancient times people thought that prosperity and power and security and status were all that mattered; they were corrupt and committed abominable acts. In ancient times, there were people who profaned what was sacred, who pursued others in order to oppress them, who engaged in violence, who cheated and mistreated people, who were serving wealth instead of fidelity to love. In ancient times, people who believed that doing justice and loving kindness and walking with humility were not the ones in power very often. Maybe not ever. The staying power that these ancient texts have, the wisdom that they contain, is staggering to me.

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It’s true.

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Proper 18C
September 8, 2019

Jeremiah 18:1-11  Then I will change my mind.
Philemon 1-21  Though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love.
Luke 14:25-33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

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.

So how about those readings? We have a vision of God as a vengeful potter, angry and manipulative, devising punishing plans; a story of a runaway slave being sent back to his owner; and an admonition about being fit to follow Jesus only if one hates family and life itself and is willing to give up all one’s possessions. That’s the line that strikes fear in Episcopal congregations everywhere.

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