Tag Archives: resurrection

Covenantal Connectedness

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Last Sunday after the Epiphany, B, February 14, 2021, The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.

2 Kings 2:1-12. “Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.”
2 Corinthians 4:3-6. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Mark 9:2-10. He did not know what to say for they were terrified.

O God of Revelation, 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.

We have come to the end of the season of Epiphany, the season of celebrating sacred gifts and divine disclosures. In our Hebrew Bible lesson this morning we have the wonderful story from 2 Kings about how Elisha got the power and the authority to carry on Elijah’s work after Elijah was gone, after he was “taken up.” Elisha had been travelling with and learning from Elijah for many years. He had burned his farming equipment and slaughtered his oxen, thus destroying his means of income, his livelihood;  he had left his home so that he could travel with the prophet Elijah (much more dramatic than leaving the boats and nets with Zebedee and his hired hands to follow Jesus).

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Ready to love

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Second Sunday of Easter – A
April 19, 2020

Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Deeds of power, wonders, and signs.
1 Peter 1:3-9 So that the genuineness of your faith…may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
John 20:19-31 Peace be with you…Peace be with you.

O God of grace, 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’s Gospel reading is a little like watching episodes of a tv show where the story leaves off at the end of one episode and picks up a moment later the following week. This passage begins, “later on the same day” – the same day that the tomb was found empty, the same day that Mary had mistaken the risen Lord for the gardener. The same day Jesus made Mary Magdalene the apostles to the apostles. And the Gospel says that she did go and tell the others that Jesus had said these things to her. That didn’t seem to do anything to assuage their fears because later on the same day, the disciples were hiding behind locked doors because they were afraid. 

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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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Repent as a group!

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Second Sunday of Advent (A)
December 8, 2019

Isaiah 11:1-10 and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. (that’s some powerful bad breath!)
Romans 15:4-13 …on behalf of the truth of God.
Matthew 3:1-12 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

O God of hope 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.

Last week at Emmanuel Church, the musical through line of our worship service was Wachet Auf (or wake up). In our musical through line today we are calling on the Savior of the nations (or a little more rudely, Savior of the heathens) to come now! Do any of you worry about calling on the Divine so boldly? Do any of you think of Annie Dillard’s famous warning about how we should be wearing crash helmets when we blithely invoke the power of God,. She adds that church “ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense; or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.” It can and does happen.
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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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Discipline & Commitment

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Second Sunday of Easter, Year C
April 28, 2019

Acts 5:27-32 Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree.
Revelation 1:4-8 To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood.
John 20:19-31 Peace be to you…I send you…receive the spirit of holiness.

O God of life, 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 Gospel reading for today is a little like watching a prime-time serial program where the story leaves off at the end of one episode and picks up the next week only several hours later in the story. This passage begins, “being evening on that first day” – narratively, the same day that the women had found the tomb empty, the same day that Mary Magdalene had encountered the risen Lord. The disciples were hiding behind shut doors because they were afraid.
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Heaven

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Easter Sunday (C)
April 21, 2019

Isaiah 65:17-25 Be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Luke 24:1-12 Amazed at what had happened.

Good morning! I was hoping you’d be here. You look beautiful. Thank you for coming to Emmanuel Church to kick-off the festival of the Great Fifty Days of Easter. I think that the Church gives us 12 days of Christmas, 40 days of Lent and 50 days of Easter, because Easter is the hardest to grasp. I’m glad that you’re here whether you love this holiday, or you don’t so much. Maybe you are here because it matters to someone you love, or you are here for a sadder reason. I love to say, whether you have come for celebration or solace, whether you are energized or exhausted, excited or grumpy, whether you have skipped or stumbled into this sanctuary, my hope for all of you is that, you will leave here today knowing more deeply that you are loved – that even if (and maybe especially if) you don’t feel like you “fit in,” still, you belong here today. Emmanuel Church is a place where we actively practice belonging to one another no matter what. It’s not always easy, but it is always worth it. This is a place where we focus our efforts not on whether we (or anyone else) will get into heaven, but on whether any heaven will get into us.[1]

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Looking More Resurrected

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Second Sunday of Easter, Year B, April 8, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 4:32-35 There was not a needy person among them.
1 John 1:1-2:2 If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves.
John 20:19-31 Peace be with you.

O God of our wildest dreams, 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.

Today is the eighth day of Easter. Eight out of fifty of Easter – so it’s still early. The puppets from our grand first-day procession last week have been returned to their storage places, but the flowers are still pretty fresh, and there are still good Easter hymns left to be sung. We have a baptism to celebrate today. Emilia Julu Hudson Houge has brought together family and friends from near and far to join her Emmanuel Church peeps for a ceremony of Christian belonging. Thank you all for being here today. Almost any day in the church year is a good day for a baptism, as far as I’m concerned, and today is especially rich because the theological message for the second Sunday in Easter is always: “you should believe it whether or not you’ve seen it.” Because of Emi’s baptism, I’m reminded of what one of my seminary professors was fond of saying: “I believe in infant baptism, heck, I’ve seen it!” I want to make sure you know that you don’t have to have a baptism ceremony to belong here at Emmanuel Church, but why not give the community another reason to rejoice?
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It’s funny. Live in the along!

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Easter, Year B, April 1, 2018; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Acts 10:34-43 I truly understand that God shows no partiality.
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Also you are being saved.
John 20:1-18 I have seen the Lord.

O God of laughter, 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.

Happy April Fools’ Day everyone! I’m so glad you’re here. You look very beautiful (and that is no joke). Welcome to those of you who are here for the first time; welcome to those of you who have been here more times than you can count, and welcome to everyone in between!  Thank you for coming to Emmanuel Church to begin the festival of the Great Fifty Days of Easter.  You honor us with your presence this morning. We are glad that you’re here whether you love this holiday, or you don’t so much, but you are here because it matters to someone you love, or you are here for a sadder reason.  Maybe some of you don’t even quite know the reason you’re here – and I’m grateful that you’re here too!
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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 →