Tag Archives: change

Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

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Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, (28B), November 18th, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

1 Samuel 1:4-20 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters…
Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.
Mark 13:1-8 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’

What is your first political memory?

Someone asked that question at a breakfast I was with with a group of strangers. My first memory was the McCarthy hearings. I remember my mother doing housework and at the same time watching the hearings on our fuzzy black-and-white television. It was odd to me, because we didn’t usually have the tv on during the day. Strangely enough I remember McCarthy’s face, bland, self-possessed. The whole thing was disturbing to me; I knew something was bad but my mother didn’t explain anything to me. I couldn’t articulate it, but in some child way I was wondering, what will the future hold?

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This world is passing away. (with audio)

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Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B, January 21, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.
1 Corinthians 7:29-31 The present form of this world is passing away.
Mark 1:14-20 And immediately…

O God of good news, 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.

Our readings this morning, from Jonah’s advice to the great city of Ninevah, to Paul’s advice to the Jesus followers in the city of Corinth, to the Gospel of Mark’s breathless account of Jesus’ move back to Galilee, all convey a sense of urgency and risk. Ninevah has only 40 days to clean up its act (which seems like a very short time). Paul says that time has grown short, that the present form of this world is passing away. Jesus has come out of the wilderness where he was being tempted by Satan for 40 days (which seems like a very long time) to learn that John has been arrested, and has headed to Galilee quoting John directly: repent, that is, change your hearts toward God. A complete re-orientation is what John and Jesus were calling for. Jesus began to teach that the present form of this world is passing away.
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Laugh and grow!

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Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 11A, July 23, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Genesis 28:10-19a He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
Romans 8:12-25 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
Matthew 13:24-30, 26-43 Listen!

O God of grace, 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. Amen.

Listen!  Very early on Tuesday mornings in July, people have been gathering in the Emmanuel Room to do some exploration of the Gospel lesson appointed for the coming Sunday.  We follow a process of reading the passage three times and after each time we respond to a question.  After the first reading the question is “what did you notice?”  After the second reading the question is “what is speaking to you?”  And after the third time through the question is “what will be different about your week because of this encounter with the passage?”  In other words, “how will you be changed by this experience?”  As a group we generally don’t like that question and it takes considerable discipline to make sure that we have time in the hour that we spend together to ask and respond to it.
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