Queerying Ash Wednesday

River Needham, MA queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17

“Blow a horn in Zion, sound an alarm on my holy mount! Let all dwellers on earth tremble, for the day of the Becoming One has come! It is close—a day of darkness and gloom, a day of densest cloud spread like soot over the hills. A vast, enormous horde — nothing like it has ever happened, and it shall never happen again through the years and ages. 

[...]

“Yet even now”—says the Becoming One— “Turn back to me with all your hearts, and with fasting, weeping, and lamenting.” Rend your hearts rather than your garments, and turn back to the Becoming One your God. For Ze is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, and renouncing punishment. Who knows but Ze may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind for meal offering and drink offering to the Becoming One your God? Blow a horn in Zion, solemnize a fast, proclaim an assembly! Gather the people, bid the congregation purify themselves. Bring together the old, gather the babes and breastfeeding children; let the bridegroom come out of his chamber, the bride from her canopied couch. Between the portico and the altar, let the priests, the Becoming One's ministers, weep and say: “Oh, spare Your people, Becoming One! Let not Your possession become a mockery, to be taunted by nations! Let not the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’”

Queeries for the text:

What is missing from this text?
What is the day of the Becoming One?

Who's getting married now?

How do we turn back our hearts?

What do we turn back our hearts from?

What methods are less helpful today?

What is the portico, and what does it do?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

 

Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Jesus said:

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Parent in heaven. 

 

²“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁶“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Queeries for the text:

What's missing?

What does it look like to practice piety

Who prays at street corners? What is their reward?

How is fasting helpful? Harmful?

What treasures are stored up?

Where do you want your heart to go?

 

What are your queeries?