How does God reassure us in the midst of difficulty?
How have you witnessed God moving mountains?
What leads us to the crown of faithfulness?
How does money connect and separate us?
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River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.
O children of Zion, be glad,
Rejoice in the Becoming One your God.
For Xe has given you the early rain in kindness,
Now Xe makes the rain fall as formerly—
The early rain and the late—
And threshing floors shall be piled with grain,
And vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
“I will repay you for the years
Consumed by swarms and hoppers,
By grubs and locusts,
The great army I let loose against you.
And you shall eat your fill
and praise the name of the Becoming One your God
who dealt so wondrously with you—
my people shall be shamed no more.
And you shall know
That I am in the midst of Israel:
That I the Becoming One am your God
And there is no other.
And My people shall be shamed no more.”
After that,I will pour out My spirit on all flesh;
Your children of many genders shall prophesy;
Your old people shall dream dreams,
And your young ones shall see visions.
I will even pour out My spirit
Upon slaves of all genders in those days.
Before the great and terrible day of the Becoming One comes,
I will set warning signs in the sky and on earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke;
The sun shall turn into darkness
And the moon into blood.
But everyone who invokes the name of the Becoming One shall escape;
for there shall be a remnant on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
as the Becoming One promised. Anyone who invokes the Becoming One
will be among the survivors.
Queeries for the text:
What rain do we need?
Where do we need rain?
Who do we trust for provision?
Who dreams today? When do we look for visions?
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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.
9Jesus also told this riddle to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous while despising others: 10“Two people went up to the temple to pray, one a religious leader and the other an Empire collaborator.
11The religious leader, standing to himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: those who exploit others, those who are corrupt in their relationships, those who cheat, or even like this Empire collaborator. 12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my possessions.’
13But the Empire collaborator, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14I tell you, on the way home, this one is justified alongside that one; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Queeries for the text:
Who trusts in themselves to be righteous?
Who despises others?
How is comparison helpful? Unhelpful?
How is gratitude called for?
How do you seek to atone for your sins?
Who justifies whom?
What are your queeries?
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