Tag Archives: children

Believe it or not!

Posted on by

Proper 8A, 2 July 2023. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Genesis 22:1-14. The Lord will provide.
  • Romans 6:12-23. Present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
  • 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 wisdom, the strength, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.

Our Gospel passage from Matthew is from the conclusion of Jesus’ instructions to his disciples, made apostles (by being sent out). It’s about welcome, about radical hospitality, that is, Biblical hospitality, Torah hospitality. Jesus’ message in Matthew is that impressive religious experiences like exorcisms and miracles are great but, “What counts [more than anything] is the cup of cold water given to a thirsty person,” especially a thirsty person who has no privilege or power to demand it. [1] Jesus was sending folks out to spread the news of God’s love and assuring them that when people welcome them, they are welcoming Jesus, which means that they are welcoming the Holy One. I would love to preach a sermon about welcome this morning. Continue reading →

Fulfillment of the Law

Posted on by

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (6B), June 17, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 The Lord looks on the heart.
2 Corinthians 5:6-17 If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.
Mark 4:26-34 With many such parables he spoke the word to them.

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.

This morning we have lessons before us from 1 Samuel, 2 Corinthians, and the Gospel of Mark, but I want to start with a word about Paul’s letter to the Romans. Can you guess why?
Continue reading →

Welcome (with audio)

Posted on by

The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 20B, September 20, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Proverbs 31:10-31 Give her a share in the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the city gates.James 3:13-4:3, 7-8 Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.

Mark 9:30-37 Welcomes…welcomes…welcomes…welcomes.

O God of radical welcome, 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 you’re here! Happy New Year! Part of the fun of living in an interfaith family like the family Emmanuel Church makes with Central Reform Temple is that we double our holidays! This sanctuary is still humming with the celebrations of the Jewish New Year that began last Sunday evening. So we enter this place today in the midst of the prayers of the Days of Awe – the high holy days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The themes of the Days of Awe are hope, reconciliation and repair – in individual lives and in the world – the Days of Awe are days of reflection, renewed commitment, and action. Continue reading →

1918

Posted on by

Albert Williams Snow replaced Lynnwood Farnum as organist.

January 20. The Anthony Memorial Organ in the West Gallery was dedicated, honoring Silas Reed Anthony (1863-1914), who served as Parish Clerk (1887-1898), Vestryman (1898-1906), and Junior Warden (1906-1914). The organ was a gift of his widow, Harriet Weeks. who later became Mrs. Randolph Frothingham.

March 22.  Bishop William Lawrence and Rector Elwood Worcester officiated at the funeral of Andrew Robeson Sargent, who at the age of 42 died in his sleep. After graduating from Harvard College in 1900, he had followed in his father Charles Sprague Sargent‘s footsteps and worked as a landscape architect with his brother-in-law Guy Lowell.  His wife Maria de Acosta Sargent, daughter of the writer Mercedes de Acosta, had been painted by his third cousin John Singer Sargent. His mother Mary Robeson Sargent and sisters Henrietta, Molly, and Alice Sargent gave in his memory our hymn boards and the carved doors to leading from our sanctuary to the “Bride’s Lobby”.

See also:

  • His letters to his father Charles Sprague Sargent in the archives of the Arnold Arboretum.
  •  “Andrew Robeson Sargent, Class of 1900.”  The Harvard Graduates’ Magazine, 1918.
  • “Andrew Robeson Sargent Dies.” The New York Times, March 21, 1918.
  • “Many Friends Mourn Andrew R. Sargent.” The Boston Daily Globe, March 23, 1918.

August 26.  Col. Cranmore Nesmith Wallace, who had served on our vestry from 1896 until his death, died at the age of 74.  His widow Eunice Sprague Wallace gave 2 lancets in our sanctuary (#18: Adoration of the Magi) in his memory

November 2.  The Churchman (p. 518) reported that the Emmanuel Memorial House was serving as an emergency shelter for children made homeless by the influenza epidemic.  Nurses and workers from the Children’s Aid Society and the (Episcopal) Church Home Society were supervising children housed in its “clubrooms” until they could be placed with families by “the usual placing-out services”.

1906

Posted on by

Camp Lowell was established by the shores of Lake Annabessacook in Winthrop ME to provide a summer camp for the choir boys of Emmanuel and  Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill.  Boys from our mission Church of the Ascension also attended for two weeks in its first summer.  The camp, which had sleeping accomodations for 28 campers and 2 staff, was named in memory of Charles Lowell, late treasurer of Emmanuel.  Its trustees were Charles H. Kip, John Lowell, and William Blodgett.

1905

Posted on by

Tuberculosis Class, organized by Joseph H. Pratt MD and Lesley H. Spooner, MD., reached 308 patients in its first year.

The Rev. Dr. Samuel McComb (1864–1938) became Associate Rector. Raised in Belfast, Ireland, with a doctorate from Oxford University, he had taught church history at Queens University, Ontario, and served as a Presbyterian minister in England and New York City before his ordination in the Episcopal Church. He became a spokesman for the Emmanuel Movement during its active years.  See also 1909 and his many works available on Amazon and full text from Hathi Trust.


November 23.  Emmanuel Memorial House was dedicated.  Given by Harriet Pierce Weeks (Mrs. Silas Reed) Anthony in memory of her brother Andrew Gray Weeks, whose widow gave its playground, it was located at 11 Newcomb St. around the corner from 1906 Washington St., where our diocese maintained a mission in the South End, Church of the Ascension (now Grant African Methodist Episcopal Church).  Through the Emmanuel House Committee, Emmanuel parishioners helped with the kindergarten and summer play school for neighborhood children.  They also ran homemaking and other classes and a gymnasium for Ascension parishioners. Emmanuel Memorial House567

1899

Posted on by
  • The new sanctuary was dedicated.

  • Fay Cottage @ 216 Elm Rd., Falmouth MA was built c1740 by David Butler. 1916 photo thanks to Woods Hole Historical Archive

    A cottage overlooking the Vineyard Sound in Falmouth was provided for a summer-long series of 10-day seaside sojourns for women and children of the Church of the Ascension by Emmanuel parishioners Mr. & Mrs. Henry B. Fay.  A piazza and bathhouses along its beach were constructed with Emmanuel funds.  Sarah M. Gay assisted Clara M. Carter, the Diocesan Deaconess, in managing the retreat at Fay Cottage for the first of 25 years to come.  See also history of Fay Farm.

  • The Students’ House was rented at 21-23 St. James Ave.  It housed about 20 young women and maintained a club for 150 others for more than a decade.
Club Room at Students House, 21-23 St. James Ave.

Club Room at Students House, 21-23 St. James Ave.