Tag Archives: joy

Hallelujah anyhow!

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Easter A
April 12, 2020

Jeremiah 31:1-6 I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Colossians 3:1-11 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed.
John 20:1-18 I have seen the Lord.

 O God of mystery and meaning 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.

Every Easter for the last dozen years, I’ve read the story of The Three Trees from the steps to the chancel, surrounded by children of many ages. As I weighed whether to read the story in our livestreamed service, I realized that sitting alone on the empty steps seemed truer to the Easter story than ever before. I imagine you who are watching and missing the physical experience of being together in a full and carried-away church are having mixed feelings much truer to the Easter story too. 

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Looking for Resurrection Joy

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Third Sunday of Easter, Year C, May 5, 2019.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 9:1-6(7-20).  Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen.
Revelation 5:11-14. And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’.
John 21:1-19. Come and have breakfast.

O God of Resurrection, 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 are going deep into the Great Fifty Days of Easter, the extended celebration of the Resurrection of the Dead. I’m always grateful that the Church calendar gives 40 days for Lent, but 50 days for Easter. Lent is easier for many of us – we can easily believe in the need for focus on penitence, prayer, study, and almsgiving. Many of you tell me that Lent is your favorite season. On the other hand, a season of increased focus on resurrection joy really trips people up. So the Church gives us extra time – an extension or sorts – to observe, to celebrate new life for what has seemed unredeemable, discarded, lost or dead! Some of you might be thinking that fifty days is not long enough. That’s okay – this is a group project, not an individual assignment, and every year we get another try.

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Prepare for the Peasant of Peasants!

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Third Sunday of Advent (C), December 16, 2018.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Zephaniah 3:14-20. I will change their shame into praise.
Philippians 4:4-7. Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
Luke 3:7-18.   What then should we do?
O God 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 third Sunday of Advent; we are barreling toward Christmas, and we haven’t really heard any biblical readings about peaceful preparation for the birth of the Christ child. It’s been more about bulldozing and less about receiving blankets. Our ancient narratives describe nations at war, raging seas, devastation and disaster, with plenty of blame to go around. The people are anxious and afraid; they are struggling. And just to be clear, we are talking about 28 centuries of struggle. The people Zephaniah was addressing were struggling in about 625 BCE. The people Paul and Luke were addressing were struggling in the latter half of the first century of the common era. And the people I’m addressing are struggling in the early years of the 21st century.
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Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (21B), September 30, 2018; The Rev. Susan Ackley

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther.
James 5:13-20 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
Mark 9:38-50 John said to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’

[I hold up one of the Hamsas.]

I know some of you know what this is and why it’s here, but I want to fill the rest of you in.

It’s a Hamsa, a symbol precious to many Jews and Muslims and middle-eastern Christians.

Among Jews it’s called the Hand of Miriam, among Muslims the Hand of Fatima (the Prophet’s favorite daughter), and for Christians, it’s the Hand of Mary.
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Sabbath Delight

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Second Sunday after Pentecost (4B), June 3, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

1 Samuel 3:1-20 The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
2 Corinthians 4:5-12 We have this treasure in clay jars…so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies…in our mortal flesh.
Mark 2:23-3:6 The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.

O God of our delight, 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.

Today Emmanuel Church is celebrating an abundant harvest, the ordinations yesterday of Helen McKinney to the permanent diaconate and Tamra Tucker to the transitional diaconate. Helen and Tamra were both sponsored for ordination by Emmanuel Church and so we are blessed and thrilled that they’re both able to be here today to worship with us in their new roles in the Episcopal Church. Following our service and a bit of refreshment, I invite those of you who are able and interested, to join in a conversation about the ordination process. Helen and her sweetheart, Rebecca are going to have to dash to catch a plane back to Albuquerque, but Tamra will have time to stay and talk – she’s staying in Boston!
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Daydream Believers

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Seventh Sunday after Easter, Year B, May 13, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26. ‘Lord, you know everyone’s heart.’
1 John 5:9-13. So that you may know that you have eternal life.”
John 17:6-19. So that they may have my joy made complete in themselves…Sanctify them in the truth.

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.

Today is a threshold Sunday, and I don’t just mean between the Sanctuary and the Chapel. Today is a threshold Sunday between the Feast of the Ascension and the Feast of Pentecost. Our readings this morning have something to say about standing on the cusp, standing in between the feelings of abandonment and feelings of inspiration. The curious story of the selection of a replacement apostle for Judas Iscariot comes right after the list of the eleven remaining, praying and waiting in Jerusalem along with “certain women,” including the mother of Jesus. Peter addresses an assembly of 120 and explains that the way he understood scripture, Judas’ betrayal and what happened afterwards was just like Psalms 69 and 109. (Incidentally, he doesn’t mention his own three denials of Jesus, or his remorse.)
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Enlarging the Circle

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Sixth Sunday after Easter, Year B, May 6, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 10:44-48 Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people?
1 John 5:1-6 And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is truth.
John 15:9-17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

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 are celebrating the baptism of a little boy with a big name. Samuel Dennis Warren, VII, also known as Micah. Maybe you recall that Micah is the name of the Biblical prophet, who famously reminded the people that what is required of us is only to do justice and to love kindness and to walk modestly or humbly with the Holy One. That might be the best description of what it looks like to love one another and love God in all of scripture.
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The Mighty Power of Love

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Third Sunday of Easter Year A, April 30, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 2:14a, 36-47 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away.
1 Peter 1:17-23 Love one another deeply from the heart.
Luke 24:13-35 Were not our hearts burning within us?

O God of our aching and burning hearts, may we have the wisdom, the strength, and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may and cost what it will.

This morning we hear the Easter story of two on the road to Emmaus – one named Cleopas and the other is unnamed, which gives me room to understand that the other was a woman. It’s a beautiful account of the art of resurrection, about how, even when we don’t understand it, we can’t imagine it, and we certainly are not looking for it, we can come to recognize that the Risen Lord can be walking along with us; the Risen Lord can be right in front of us without our knowing it. But before I go further down this Road to Emmaus, I must go back to our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Continue reading →

The Art of Resurrection

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Easter Year A, April 16, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 31:1-6 I have loved you with an everlasting love.
Colossians 3:1-4, 5-15 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Matthew 28:1-10 Go and tell.

O God of new life, grant us the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may and cost what it will.

I love the Gospel of Matthew’s account of the resurrection of Jesus. But before I get to it, I need to say something briefly about our readings from Jeremiah and Colossians. Many of you know that promoting Biblical literacy is one of my life projects, and so I don’t want to miss the opportunity to draw your attention to the God of Love represented in our First Testament (also known as the Old Testament) reading. In Jeremiah, God is saying to Jeremiah “In the days to come, I will be their God and they will be my people. [Remember] the people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness when they were returning homeward.” Then God says to those who are living in exile as captives of the Babylonian Empire, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you…I will build you up again and you’ll make music and dance, you will plant long-term crops and live to enjoy the fruit.” Continue reading →

Slow & Steady

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I just learned that one man finished the Boston Marathon at 5am Tuesday morning. He was the last one to cross the finish line. Maikel Melamed is from Venezuela and has severe muscular dystrophy. In watching video clips online of his crossing the finish line in the dark hours of early Tuesday morning, I was struck by Maikel’s sheer tenacity to finish but also by the group of walkers who stayed with him and walked painstakingly slowly alongside him. Step by step, they stayed clustered close to him and crossed the finish line with him. This gesture of support and solidarity with Maikel’s resolve to finish the Boston Marathon had me thinking about all the ways in which I get to slow down and walk with another at Emmanuel. I believe that many of my learning experiences have been shaped by times where the therapeutic presence needed in the moment necessitated slowing down. Continue reading →