Tag Archives: spiritual journey

Preparing for Easter

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Lent 1C, March 9, 2025.  The Very Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Deuteronomy 26:1-11. Now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.
Romans 10:8b-13. The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.
Luke 4:1-13. It is written…it is written…it is said.

O God of hope, 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.

I’m feeling relieved that it’s finally Lent. We’ve had a longer wait than usual because this year Easter is almost as late as it can ever be, but the calendar hasn’t been the only thing making these last weeks feel unbearably long. While I’ve waited, I’ve felt keenly aware of our need for penitence and healing, for a quarantine of almsgiving, prayer, fasting, and meditating on Holy Scripture. I’ve felt our need to get right with God, in the midst of the socio-economic collapse and exiles of all kinds that are happening in our world.

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The story isn’t finished.

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Christmas 1B, 31 December 2023. The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

  • Isaiah 61:10-62:3. You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.
  • Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7. So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
  • John 1:1-18. No one has ever seen God.

O God of our sacred story, 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.

First a poem by Irish theologian Padraig O Tuama, called “Narrative Theology #1”.  [1]

And I said to him
Are there answers to all of this?
And he said
The answer is in a story
and the story is being told.

And I said
But there is so much pain
And she answered, plainly,
Pain will happen.

Then I said
Will I ever find meaning?
And they said
You will find meaning
Where you give meaning.

The answer is in the story
And the story isn’t finished. Continue reading →

Welcome our new expressive-arts interns!

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Wan-li

I am Wanyi, a second-year graduate student studying Art Therapy at Lesley University. Having grown up in Taiwan, I had the chance to learn fine art for my bachelor’s degree and was fortunate to have lived and taught in three different countries. During those time periods, I found the therapeutic power of art through leading art-making sessions in my communities. To further my knowledge in using art as a therapeutic medium, I came to the US to learn from the best.

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Wishing to See Jesus

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Lent 5B, March 21, 2021.  The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Jeremiah 31:31-34. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts.
Hebrews 5:5-10. So also Christ did not glorify himself.
John 12:20-33. We wish to see Jesus.

O God of our help, 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.

A season of time has passed since our reading from the Gospel of John last Sunday. Suddenly, we are only four days away from Jesus’ crucifixion. The context for our reading today is that Jesus has spent the last several years darting in and out of hiding, but has come into Jerusalem very publicly for the last time. Jesus has just ridden up to Jerusalem on a donkey, with huge crowds waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna (which means help, please or save, please). Some irritated and fearful colleagues of Jesus’ have muttered to one another about Jesus, “You see, you can do nothing. Look the world has gone over to him.”
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Reminders of Healing Power & Promise

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Lent 4B, March 14, 2021

Numbers 21:4-9. Moses prayed for the people.
Ephesians 2:1-10. This is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
John 3:14-21. Those who do what is true come to the light.

O God of Grace, 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. Amen.

One of the many joys of grandparenting for me is watching Sesame Street! I know I don’t have to have grandchildren to watch it, but they’re a good excuse! Some of you might remember a Sesame Street song called “One of these things is not like the other.” That is an apt song for our Hebrew Scripture passage this morning wedged into a Sunday series of covenant stories during Lent. Remember we started Lent with the story of God’s promise to Noah and then the story of God’s promise to Abraham. Then the promise from God that when (and whenever) we are loving God, we won’t behave in ways that do damage to one another and to ourselves. Next week we will hear the story of God’s promise to write God’s love on the hearts of people so that no one will have to be taught about God, everyone will already know God – by heart. But this week, we have one of those things which is not like the others. We have this peculiar little story from the Book of Numbers.
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And the story isn’t finished.

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First Sunday after Christmas, Proper 1B, December 31, 2017; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz.

Isaiah 61:10-62:3. For the sake of Zion I will not be silent. For the sake of Jerusalem I will not rest.
Galatians 3:23-25, 4:4-7. So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
John 1:1-18. And the Word became flesh and lived among us.

O God of our story, 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.

First, a poem by Padraig O Tuama, called “Narrative Theology”.  [1]

And I said to him

Are there questions to all of this?

And he said

The answer is in a story

and the story is being told.

 

And I said

But there is so much pain

And she answered, plainly,

Pain will happen.

 

Then I said

Will I ever find meaning?

And they said

You will find meaning

Where you give meaning.

 

The answer is in the story

And the story isn’t finished.

Continue reading →

Spiritual Infrastructure

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All Saints’ Day (with alt second reading), November 1, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9 The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God
Revelation 7:9-17 Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!
John 11:32-44 Come out!…Unbind him and let him go.

O God of all, 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.

Some days on the church calendar are really big – Christmas Eve, Easter Day, Pentecost and All Saints are generally the four biggest for us. Today is the great Feast of All Saints; it’s a day to celebrate the saints, known and unknown. Tomorrow is All Souls’ Day – the day set aside in the church calendar for commemoration of all those who have departed this life, whether they were saints or sinners or both. So this is a Sunday to remember the present as well as the past – to honor all those who go and have gone before us – all saints and all souls. Continue reading →

It is I.

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The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 12B, July 26, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz

2 Samuel 11:1-15. In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle…David [stayed home].
Ephesians 3:14-21. The power to comprehend…what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ.
John 6:1-21.  Ego eimi mey phobeisthe.

O God of Wonder, 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 have, for our edification this morning, two fantastic stories, so famous that you certainly don’t have to be a Christian to know them – stories of abundance out of scarcity in the loaves and fishes and of walking on water in some rough weather. The stories get larger and more profound with each iteration in the four Gospels. By the time that the Gospel of John was written, the hunger of the crowds and the threatening storm have become less problems to be solved by Jesus and more lessons to be taught by Jesus, who knew all along, according to John, what he was going to do to try to impress on his followers the meaning of the presence, the power, and the promise of God. The Gospel of John has the biggest fish story of all! Continue reading →