Tag Archives: creeds

Conspiring with God

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ccreedTrinity C, June 15, 2025.  The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Proverbs 8:1-4,22-31. Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? ….”To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.”

Romans 5:1-11.  We boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God…because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

John 16:12-15. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

O indescribable Holy One, 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.

For any who struggle with the Gospel of John, today’s Gospel reading is for you. It begins with an acknowledgement that, while there is much more to say, Jesus knows that you cannot bear it now. Perhaps this is recognition of saturation, of exhaustion, of grief, of the lack of additional capacity among Jesus’ followers. It seems like it might be compassionate or parental; or perhaps it was the confession or projection of a tired scribe. Whatever the case, I like to imagine it is a true statement in every age, that there are more things than we can hear or bear. (Just keep up with the news, and you’ll know what I mean.) I find it to be a hopeful idea that there is more wisdom and truth than are recorded in the scriptures. Wisdom and truth were not fully revealed in Jesus’ time; they are not completely revealed even yet. The revelation of the Divine is ongoing, continuing. “God is still speaking,” as the United Church of Christ’s banners proclaimed some years ago; and we are still listening. Continue reading →

Fruit That Will Last

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Easter 6B, 5 May 2024. The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Acts 10:44-48.  Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
  • 1 John 5:1-6.  The Spirit is the truth.
  • John 15:9-17. I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.

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.

You know, it’s still Easter, in the Church’s 50-day season for praising God and reveling in God’s grace so abundantly given, which transforms the horror of the crucifixion into the power of the Risen Lord. We’re still in that Great Fifty Days of celebration. I don’t know about you, but apart from worship at Emmanuel, often the details of my life and the details of the world weigh me down. I feel weighed-down by what looks like too much to do and not enough time, too much need and not enough resources being directed to the right places, news of people at war and of militaristic aggression at home and abroad, layer upon layers of damage done by white supremacy, corruption and famine, climate change, all kinds of oppression, and on and on. It all seems to conspire to keep me from reveling in the abiding love of God for more than a few hours on a Sunday. Today’s Gospel makes it clear to me that abiding in love and bearing fruit are part of the same thing: of reveling in God’s unearned and abundant grace. How can we celebrate Good News when we get so weighed down by bad news? Continue reading →