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.

Lamb of God

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Epiphany 2A, January 19, 2014; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 49:1-7 I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
1 Corinthians 1:1-9 God is faithful.
John 1:29-41 Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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.

We’ve been hearing readings from the Gospel of Matthew over the last eight weeks. We will return to Matthew next week. But this week it is as if the Lectionary announces, “We interrupt our serial reading of the Gospel of Matthew to bring you this Good News from the Gospel of John. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John the Baptist has testified to it.”  But what on earth does that mean? You know, that’s a question that I get asked. “What does ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ mean?” And like a good pastoral listener, my response is, “What do you think?” Part of me is truly interested in what the questioner thinks. And part of me is dodging the question. Continue reading →

Outwitted by Love

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Eve of Epiphany, January 5, 2014;  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 60:1-6 Arise, shine; for your light has come.
Ephesians 3:1-12 [It] will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.
Matthew 2:1-12 Opening their treasure chests.

O God of light and 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.

Happy Epiphany Eve, everyone! Technically, this is the Second Sunday after Christmas Day and tonight is Twelfth Night – when the Lord of Misrule reigns and kings become peasants and vice versa! So it’s not quite Epiphany, and I generally don’t like to celebrate holidays before they arrive, but there is an exception to almost every rule. You probably know by now that pragmatism nearly always trumps idealism for me, and I didn’t think so many of you would be able to come to church tomorrow to celebrate the Feast of Epiphany! So whether you are still savoring the last day of Christmas or you’ve already packed up the decorations for another year, we are all on the cusp of moving from the season when we are called to rejoice in the light, to the season when we are called to show that light or reflect that light in our wider worlds. Continue reading →

Joy to the World

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First Sunday of Christmas, December 29, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 63:7-9 I will recount the gracious deeds of the Lord.
Hebrews 2:10-18 It is clear that [Jesus] did not come to help angels.
Matthew 2:13-23 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men…

O God of our redeeming, 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 wonder how you hear this story from the Gospel of Matthew’s birth narrative this morning. With Christmas carols ringing in your ears? Do you notice the fulfillment of so much scripture according to Matthew? Are you scratching your head trying to place the various Hebrew bible references? Do you notice Joseph’s many dreams? If you were a Jewish congregation from the first century of the common era, you might all be thinking, “Jacob’s son Joseph was a dreamer and he ended up in Egypt because of it.” If you were a Jewish congregation from the first century, you would know that Ramah was the site of national disaster when Babylonian armies gathered the people of Israel there to begin the forced march of deportation into exile. And you would also think that, “hey! Jesus was just like Moses! Moses survived Pharaoh’s mandate to kill all of the male babies of the Hebrew people.” And when you thought that, you might feel a glimmer of excitement and hope for an exodus from enslavement to the Roman empire! Continue reading →

Just sit there!

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Christmas Eve, December 24, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 9:2-7 Those who lived in a land of deep darkness–on them light has shined.
Titus 3:4-7 We might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Luke 21:5-19 Full of grace and truth.

O great Light and abundant 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.

I wish you could see yourselves the way you look from this pulpit! You look so beautiful! I was hoping that you would be here and I am so glad that you are. Thank you for coming to Emmanuel Church to spend some of your Christmas time. 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 all of you who are in between. I always like to begin my sermon on Christmas Eve by letting you know that I imagine that some of you have been looking forward to being here and could not wait to get to this lovely church on this holy night, to hear the extraordinary music and the lessons and the prayers of Christmas. And I imagine that for others of you, this was not your first choice, maybe you are here because it matters to someone you love, or maybe there’s a sadder reason that you’re here. Maybe some of you don’t even quite know the reason – and I’m especially grateful that you’re here too. Whether you skipped or stumbled here, thank you for coming into this refuge – this sanctuary. My Christmas hope for all of you is that, however you’re feeling, thrilled, ambivalent, healthy or unwell, joyful or heavy hearted, peaceful or downright stressed and cranky, you will leave here tonight feeling better than when you arrived. Continue reading →

Blessing in the Chaos

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Fourth Sunday of Advent (A), December 22, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 7:10-17 Ask for yourself a sign from Hashem your God, make it deep as sheol and high as heaven.
Romans 1:1-7 Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship.
Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.

O God of blessing, 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.

The Gospel according to Matthew begins with a genealogy genealogy, and it’s too bad that it’s not included in our lectionary portion for today (although it’s full of tongue-twisting names and lectors all over Christendom are probably grateful for its omission)! It begins with Abraham and lists fourteen generations to David, then another fourteen generations to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah. (A handful of kings have to be omitted in order to achieve the perfect symmetry – oh well.) The best thing about the genealogy is that the list includes women, non-Jewish ancestors and several immoral characters.1 In other words, it’s not an unblemished pedigree, in other words – it’s a mixed bag, not unlike my own ancestry! Continue reading →

Benefits of God

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Third Sunday of Advent (A), December 15, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 35:1-10 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
James 5:7-10 Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.
Matthew 11:2-11 Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?

O 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.

“Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.” Some of you might remember that I already declared my favorite collect of the day a few weeks ago. This one is also my favorites. “With great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us.” I’m sure you don’t need me to read this to you again, but I can’t hear it enough. Today, on the third Sunday of Advent, it’s the American Episcopal Church’s Stir-up Sunday.

In England, Stir-up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent when the collect begins with the plea for God to stir things up. Maybe you know the children’s rhyme: Stir, up, we beseech thee/ the pudding in the pot/ And when we get home/ We’ll all eat it hot! In other words, the children don’t want to wait until Christmas to eat the Christmas pudding. Do you know people who don’t want to wait until Christmas to eat Christmas treats or open Christmas presents? (I’m not one of them, but I am married to one!) Continue reading →

2009

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PL WerntzOur vestry called The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz to be our twelfth rector.

 

bishopblessing253

 

 

 

 

The Rt. Rev. Gayle Harris blessed our new garden.

 

 

 

Brett Cook and others in Durham NC completed the installation of Face Up:  Telling Stories of Community Life, which includes five murals picturing The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray. Installed at 117 S. Buchanan Blvd. is “Soul Roots” with an inscription from Proud Shoes:  “It had taken me almost a lifetime to discover that true emancipation lies in the acceptance of the whole past, in deriving strength from all my roots, in facing up to the degradation as well as the dignity of my ancestors”.

Inside out

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Second Sunday of Advent (A), December 8, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 11:1-10 And with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. (That’s some powerful bad breath bad breath!)
Romans 15:4-13 On behalf of the truth of God.
Matthew 3:1-12 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

O God, hope of the prophets, 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.

It’s the second Sunday of Advent, and once again (in the Church, anyway) we have to go by John the Baptist in order to get to the baby Jesus. I don’t know about you, but whenever I encounter John the Baptist, in scripture or in people that remind me of him in day-to-day life, I have a strong urge to steer clear. It’s not that I disagree with John the Baptist’s message; it’s just hard for me to look at him and hard to listen to him, especially when he starts his blistering critiques of well-meaning religious teachers and priests (which is what Pharisees and Sadducees were). I feel inclined to respond, “Look, come back and talk to me when you’ve calmed down and you’ve had a good meal and a shower.” But John the Baptist never calms down. And I don’t want to look him in the eyes any more than I want to look people in the eyes who are rough and wild and eating whatever they can find out of garbage cans in the wilderness of places like the Back Bay. I don’t want to listen to John the Baptist any more than I want to listen to the angry rants about injustice from a disgruntled resident of the women’s shelter downstairs or anyone else, for that matter. Continue reading →

Love can’t wait.

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Christ the King, Proper 29C, November 24, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 23:1-6 Alas shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
Colossians 1:11-20 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power.
Luke 23:33-43 Save yourself.

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.

There are days when I am tempted to depart from preaching the lectionary – and this is one of those days. There’s a lot going on this morning. Today is the Feast of the Reign of Christ – or Christ the King Sunday. This is the last Sunday in the church year – the completion of our lectionary cycle of Bible readings – our version of the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah!1 Our new liturgical year begins next week. Also, it’s almost Thanksgiving and just past the somber 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy. We are celebrating the baptism of Connor Christopher Carmine today, welcoming him into the household of faith at Emmanuel Church. And it’s pledge stewardship Sunday – a day on which we give thanks to God for this parish’s important witness in the world, and pledge our financial commitment to do all in our power to keep the ministries and ministers of this place going – or better, growing — for another year! Quite a casserole! And those are just the things I know about. I’m sure there’s more going on with you all. (That’s just how life is, isn’t it?) Continue reading →

Inwardly digest them!

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Proper 28C, November 17, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Isaiah 65:17-25 For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 We hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.
Luke 21:5-19 An opportunity to testify.

O God of our testimony, 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 collect for the day is my all-time favorite. “Blessed Lord who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them.” Eat this scroll – as the story goes in Ezekiel. This is holy scripture – eat up! Inwardly digest it. Except, I have to say, apocalyptic Biblical literature, can be hard to swallow for many progressive Christians, and that is what is on our plates in today’s Gospel lesson from Luke.

Biblical scholars are in wide agreement that these passages, written as a prediction, describe what had already happened to the followers of the Rabbi from Nazareth. By the time Luke was written near the end of the first century, the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Roman army in the year 70. Nations were rising against nations, and utter chaos and devastation were being experienced by those who claimed Jesus as Lord. Was Jesus able to predict this future? Just as sure as he was able to quote Isaiah and 2 Chronicles that predicted the same thing. Continue reading →