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.

Blessing for All

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Proper 24C. Oct. 16, 2022.  The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.

Jeremiah 31:27-24. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be to them for a god and they will be to me for a people.
2 Timothy 3:13-4:5. Be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable.
Luke 18:1-8. Pray always and [do] not…lose heart.

O God of hope, 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 have three challenging readings from scripture before us this morning; I would like to preach a full sermon on each of them. So much is going on here; it makes my head feel as if it might explode because I have so many things to say to you. I’m wondering, do you have a few hours? Probably not;  besides, I want to get to Genevieve’s baptism, so I’ll summarize. Continue reading →

Proportional Thanksgiving

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Proper 23C. 9 October 2022.  The Very 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 morning at Emmanuel Church we are giving thanks for the life and love of Joan Nordell, who was the President of the Board of Emmanuel Music when I arrived at Emmanuel almost 15 years ago. Her steady and generous leadership made a world of difference during a time of instability and uncertainty. Her commitment to Emmanuel Church was remarkable and continued to grow even after she completed her service on the board. I hope my sermon would delight her, because it’s inspired by her. I should let you know that this sermon is going to include a list-making exercise. I want you to have a pen ready or take notes on your phone. (Yes, I’m a priest who tells people to use their phones during the liturgy.) Or you could just make a mental list when the time comes.  Continue reading →

The Book of How

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Proper 22C. 2 October 2022.  The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Lamentations 1:1-6. Her priests groan, her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter.
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 while because we so seldom read anything from this book of the Bible. Only once every three years do we hear any passage from Lamentations during our Sunday worship. It doesn’t surprise me that we don’t read from this book more often, because it’s a collection of five dirges, five 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. The poetry of Lamentations challenges the notion that religious life should somehow be spiritual but not political. I often think that anyone who believes that hasn’t read very much of the Bible, but the lectionary colludes by not scheduling many overtly-political readings. Continue reading →

The Anxious Class

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Proper 21C, 25 September 2022.  The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15. Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.
1 Timothy 6:11-19. As for those who…are rich, command them to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share.
Luke 16:19-31. They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.

O God of peace, 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.

Partly by chance and partly by design, in the last two weeks, I’ve pondered and discussed our Gospel lesson for today with more than three dozen people, lay people and clergy. In the last two weeks, I’ve also deliberated with our Boston Harbor Deanery assembly about how to distribute some of what has fallen from the tables of the rich to people who lack adequate food, clothing, and shelter; and I’ve visited a dozen women in prison at South Bay, which requires driving through the encampments of destitute people at Melnea Cass and Mass. Ave..The story of the rich man and Lazarus has been very alive and present for me, right in my face. I’m aware that this is a story of great hope, of Good News, for anyone who is at the gates begging, but a story that sounds harsh and unforgiving, that it stirs up fear, shame, and defensiveness in many of us who have more-than-adequate food, clothing, and shelter. Continue reading →

Being Faithful

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Proper 20C, 18 September 2022. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

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.

Welcome to this grand sanctuary, this haven of beauty, whether it is surrounding you because you are here in person, or you’re seeing it online again through the lenses of cameras. Welcome to this magnificent community whose mission is to welcome you, no matter how long you’ve been here, no matter how long you’ve been away, and wherever you are on your spiritual journey, even and especially if you are not in such a good place! Welcome to a gathering of people whose mission is also to love you just the way you are and love you too much to let you stay that way! Welcome to a church that is very likely to change you for the better. Welcome to a worship service in which the readings are usually challenging and sometimes confounding, the prayers of the people are often disturbing, and the music is reliably lovely! Welcome to a community long on questions and short on answers, and yet, one where one beggar can always show another beggar where to get some bread. Although we may have been apart for a time, this is not, “Welcome back”; this is, as I like to say, “Welcome forward”. Continue reading →

Rejoice with the angels!

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Proper 19C.  11 September 2022. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28. It will be said a hot wind comes from me…toward my poor people.
1 Timothy 1:12-17. But I received mercy.
Luke 15:1-10. This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.

O God our help and our home, 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! I’m so glad to see you. I’ve missed you! This morning I want to invite you to reflect with me about sinning and repenting. How’s that for my first sermon out of the gate after vacation? You may know that in our lectionary cycle of readings, the pairing of the First Testament reading with the Gospel is random during Ordinary Time. That is, we hear large segments of Hebrew scripture, scheduled without consideration of the Gospel appointments. So the pairing of Jeremiah and Luke is coincidental. Today, we also hear Psalm 14 and a reading from 1 Timothy. In seminary, preachers are admonished to stick with one lesson in our sermons, but I just can’t do it. I hear the readings in conversation with each other, even if they weren’t designed to be, and in conversation with us, even though they didn’t anticipate us.  Continue reading →

You are set free from your ailment.

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11th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 17C, August 21, 2022; The Rev. Dr. John D. Golenski

Luke 13:12.  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”

In our Gospel portion today, the authors of Luke describe an encounter between a woman living with long-term consequences of something like Guillain–Barré Syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, or tuberculosis of the spine.  As so often happens in the Gospel stories, when a diseased, wounded, or psychically-damaged person encounters Jesus, a profound healing results.  These accounts of Jesus’s cures, however, are not selectively recounted in the Gospel just to convince us that Jesus is divine.  Usually, there is a message or lesson embedded in the account of the healing. Continue reading →

Do you not know how to interpret the present time?

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The 10th Sunday after Pentecost, August 14, 2022; The Rev. Dr. John D. Golenski

Luke 12:56. Do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Believe me when I tell you that clergy in Christian churches using the Revised Common Lectionary dread August.  That’s when we have to deal in our preaching with the apocalyptic passages in the Synoptic Gospels.  When last we shared a meal, I joked with Pam that she always takes her vacation during this month so she can escape all these “doom and gloom” passages.  Seriously, there is a lot of gloom in the portions from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that are assigned for August’s Sundays.  Suffused with what we could call an apocalyptic vision, they focus on the inevitability of divine judgment and the imminence of the end of time.

Continue reading →

Do not be afraid.

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9th Sunday after Pentecost, 7 August 2022,  The Rev. Dr. John D. Golenski

Genesis 15:1. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1.  Do not be afraid, little flock.
Luke 12:32.

On the island of Torcello in the northern reaches of the Venetian lagoon, stands a Romanesque basilica built by the Veneti people over several centuries. They had left their cities on the mainland to seek refuge from the ravages of the Huns. There they worshipped with their bishops until malaria drove them to the group of islands we know now as the city of Venice. The basilica remains on the almost-deserted island, a relic of earlier Christian worship.

Directly in front of the central doors of this basilica, which is really a museum, are the
ruins of an octagonal building which was pillaged for marble and bricks for constructions in Venice. It served as the baptistry, a separate building which opened into the basilica’s narthex. Looking into the eight-sided ruin, which had been topped by a dome, one quickly realizes that the structure focuses on the exact center where a large stone basin would have been placed. We know a good deal about the practices of the first centuries of the Church through the writings of hierarchs and scholars of the time, but also from the structure of buildings, many in ruins like Torcello’s baptistry, built around the liturgies of baptism and the Eucharist. Continue reading →

Don’t mismanage your miracle.

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Proper 13C, 31 July 2022. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Hosea 11:1-11. My compassion grows warm and tender.
Colossians 3:1-11. The wrath of God is coming on whose who are disobedient.
Luke 12:13-21. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed.

O God of abundance, 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 have scripture readings that take the clichéd and inaccurate characterization of Old Testament god of wrath and New Testament god of love and turn it on its head. You might know that one of my life goals is to stop as many Christians as possible from thinking that the First Testament or Hebrew Bible depicts an angry God and the Second or Christian Testament depicts a loving God. I also want those people who finally learn to spread the news to others. Alas, it’s like the work of coming out: my work is never done.
Continue reading →