Queerying 10th after Pentecost C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 12:49-56
Jesus said:
⁴⁹“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! ⁵¹Do you think that I have come to remove conflict from the earth? No, I tell you, but rather to engage the conflict already present! ⁵²From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; ⁵³they will be divided: parent against child and child against parent, elder against youth and youth against elder, in-laws against newlyweds and newlyweds against in-laws.”

⁵⁴Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. ⁵⁵And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. ⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Queeries for the text:
What comes with fire?
What can conflict lead to?
How are generations divided?
How accurate are weather predictions?
What is the present time?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 2nd after Pentecost C

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Isaiah 65:1-9
I responded to those who did not ask,
I was at hand to those who did not seek Me;
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
To a nation that did not invoke My name.
I constantly spread out My hands
To a disloyal people,
Who walk the way that is not good,
Following their own designs;
The people who provoke My anger,
Who continually, to My very face,
Sacrifice in gardens and burn incense on tiles;
Who sit inside tombs
And pass the night in secret places;
Who eat the flesh of swine,
With broth of unclean things in their bowls;
Who say, “Keep your distance! Don’t come closer!
For I would render you consecrated.”
Such things make My anger rage,
Like fire blazing all day long.
See, this is recorded before Me;
I will not stand idly by, but will repay,
deliver their sins into their bosom,
and the sins of their fathers as well
—said the Becoming One—
For they made offerings upon the mountains
And affronted Me upon the hills.
I will count out their recompense in full,
Into their bosoms.
Thus said the Becoming One:
As, when new wine is present in the cluster,
One says, “Don’t destroy it; there’s good in it,”
So will I do for the sake of My servants,
And not destroy everything.
I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
From Judah heirs to My mountains;
My chosen ones shall take possession,
My servants shall dwell thereon.

Queeries for the text:
Who is speaking in this passage?
What does it mean to say "Here, I am"?
Who does/does not have agency?
Why does God DARVO? Who else does?
Where does this fall in the cycle of abuse?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 8:26-39
²⁶Then Jesus and his chosen family arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷As Jesus stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had gone naked, and he did not live in a house but in the graveyard. ²⁸When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Child of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— ²⁹for Jesus had commanded the contaminated spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; the community kept him under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but breaking the imprisonment, the demon would drive him into the unpopulated areas.)

³⁰Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Brigade”; for many demons had entered him. ³¹They begged Jesus not to order them to go back into the abyss.

³²Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. ³³Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. ³⁶Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been restored.

³⁷Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned to Galilee.

³⁸The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with Jesus; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So the man went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Queeries for the text:
Who are the Gerasenes?
Who bears the shame of nudity?
Who else has been driven by a spirit into the uninhabited places?
How do communities harm those who react in unexpected ways?
What else is a brigade?
Why would swine be feeding?
Why does exorcising the Empire scare people?
Where are you called to declare what God has done?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Pentecost C

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Genesis 11:1-9
Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.”—Brick served them as stone, and asphalt served them as mortar.— And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; or else we shall be scattered all over the world.” The Becoming One came down to look at the city and tower that humanity had built, and the Becoming One said, “If, as one people with one language for all, this is how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out of their reach. Let us, then, go down and confuse their speech there, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech.” Thus the Becoming One scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there the Becoming One confused the speech of the whole earth; and from there scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Queeries for the text:
How many languages exist now?
How tall would Babel have needed to be to have its top in the sky?
What purpose does babel hold?
How did these languages evolve into today?
What else can we mourn today?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 14:8-17, [25-27]
⁸Philip said to Jesus, “Lover, show us the Caregiver, and we will be satisfied.”

⁹Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Caregiver. How can you say, ‘Show us the Caregiver’? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Caregiver and the Caregiver is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Caregiver who dwells in me does Xyr works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Caregiver and the Caregiver is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹²Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Caregiver. ¹³I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Caregiver may be glorified in the Beloved. ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

¹⁵”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Caregiver, and Xe will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Her nor knows Her. You know Her, because She abides with you, and She will be in you.
...

²⁵”I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Caregiver will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

Queeries for the text:
When is this conversation taking place?
Why does Philip want proof?
How do you show someone the divine?
What works is Jesus talking about?
What power is in a name?
Where is the Spirit of truth today?
Who needs an Advocate?
What's missing?
What does the Holy Spirit need to remind you of?
How does the world give peace?  How does Jesus give peace?

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Find previous queeries for the Acts text here.

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What are your queeries?

Queerying Lent 3B

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: John 2:13-22

¹³The Passover of the Jewish people was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. Jesus also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 

 

¹⁷Jesus' disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 

 

¹⁸The Judeans then said to Jesus, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 

 

¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 

 

²⁰The Jude then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 

 

²¹But Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After Jesus was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered that Jesus had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

 

Queeries for the text:

Why is this so early in John's gospel?

How long does it take to make a whip of cords?

When is a sanctuary a marketplace?

Where is it written?

Which temple is Jesus talking about?

When was the Temple constructed?

How does memory spark belief?

 

What are your queeries?

 

 

 

Queerying Lent 2B

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: Mark 8:31-38

³¹Then Jesus began to teach them that the One Born of Woman must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²Jesus said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴Jesus called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the One Born of Woman will also be ashamed when they come in the glory of their Father with the holy angels.”

Queeries for the text:

Who is the One Born of Woman?

Who are the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes today?

Who is killing Jesus today?

Who needs rebuke today?

What does it mean to deny myself?  What does it NOT mean?

Who's profiting from the whole world?

What do we give in return for our life? Who do we give in return for our life?

What is the role of shame?

 

What are your queeries?

 

 

Queerying 19th after Pentecost A

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14

Once more Jesus spoke to the religious leaders and elders in parables, saying: ²“The reign of heaven may be compared to a president who gave a wedding banquet for his child. ³He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 

⁴Again the president sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ ⁵But they made light of it and went away, one to their farm, another to their business, ⁶while the rest seized the slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. ⁷The president was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 

⁸Then the president said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. ⁹Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ ¹⁰Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

¹¹“But when the president came in to see the guests, he noticed a person there who was not wearing a wedding robe, ¹²and he said to them, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And the person was speechless. ¹³Then the president said to the attendants, ‘Bind them hand and foot, and throw them into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Queeries for the text:
To whom do we compare the reign of God?
Who would the president invite?
Who wouldn't show up? 
Who disregards the president?
Where are troops being sent? How are they destroying?
What happens when a ruler invites you somewhere?
Where is life?
What would happen if the people from the streets didn't want to go to the president's banquet?
Where is choice?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 13th after Pentecost A

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 16:21-28

²¹From that time on, Jesus began to show the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the religious and legal authorities, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 

²²And Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Guide! This must never happen to you.” 

²³But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

²⁴Then Jesus told the disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? 

²⁷“For the Human One is to come with the angels in the glory of the Parent, and then will repay everyone for what has been done. ²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Human One coming in Their reign.” 

Queeries for the text:
What's up with Jesus' rebuke?
What had Jesus told Peter right before this?
What are divine things? What are human things?
Who is expected to deny themselves?
What does it mean to take up my cross? What doesn't it mean?
Who is profiting from the whole world today? What are they forfeiting?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 23rd after Pentecost C - Isaiah

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Isaiah 65:17-25
¹⁷ For I am about to create new heavens
   and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
   or come to mind.
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice for ever
   in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
   and its people as a delight.
¹⁹ I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
   and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
   or the cry of distress.
²⁰ No more shall there be in it
   an infant that lives but a few days,
   or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
   and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them;
   they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They shall not build and another inhabit;
   they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
   and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
²³ They shall not labour in vain,
   or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Becoming One—
   and their descendants as well.
²⁴ Before they call I will answer,
   while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
   the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
   but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain, says the Becoming One. 

Queeries for the text:
What former things will not come to mind?
What happens when people don't remember?
Which infants live but a few days?
Who doesn't live out a lifetime?
Who creates with their lives?
How must the powerful change to achieve the restoration of wolf and lamb?
How does the church hurt?

What are your queeries?


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The manuscript for the sermon I preached, rooted in these queeries, can be found on my other blog here.

Queerying 17th after Pentecost C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Lamentations 1:1-5

Alas! Lonely sits the city that was once great with people! She that was great among nations has become like a widow. The princess among states has become a thrall. Bitterly she weeps in the night, her cheek wet with tears. There is none to comfort her of all her friends. All her allies have betrayed her; they have become her foes. Judah has gone into exile because of misery and harsh oppression; When she settled among the nations, she found no rest; all her pursuers overtook her in the narrow places. Zion's roads are in mourning, empty of festival pilgrims; all her gates are deserted. Her priests sigh, her maidens are unhappy—she is utterly disconsolate! Her enemies are now the masters, her foes are at ease, because the Becoming One has afflicted her for her many transgressions; her infants have gone into captivity before the enemy.

Queeries for the text:
What cities were once great with people?
Who weeps bitterly in the night? Why?
Who has been betrayed?
Who is in exile?
Where are there roads in mourning?
Where are the gates deserted?
Who is disconsolate?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 17:5-10
⁵The apostles said to the Powerful One, “Increase our faith!”

⁶The Powerful One replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

⁷“Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? ⁸Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? ⁹Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip? Why might that be?
How does someone go about increasing someone else's faith?
What does Jesus' question imply about slavery?
(How) is slavery (in)compatible with following Jesus?
What sort of environment do mulberry trees need to grow?
Who among us has slaves?
Who does and who doesn't get a place at the table?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 13th after Pentecost C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 18:1-11
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Becoming One:

“Go down to the house of a potter, and there I will impart my words to you.”

So I went down to the house of a potter, and found her working at the wheel. And if the vessel she was making was spoiled, as happens to clay in the potter’s hands, she would make it into another vessel, such as the potter saw fit to make.
Then the word of the Becoming One came to me:

O House of Israel, can I not deal with you like this potter?—says the Becoming One. Just like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in My hands, O House of Israel! At one moment I may decree that a nation or a kingdom shall be uprooted and pulled down and destroyed; but if that nation against which I made the decree turns back from its wickedness, I change my mind concerning the punishment I planned to bring on it. At another moment I may decree that a nation or a kingdom shall be built and planted; but if it does what is displeasing to me and does not obey me, then I change my mind concerning the good I planned to bestow upon it. And now, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus said the Becoming One: I am devising disaster for you and laying plans against you. Turn back, each of you, from your wicked ways, and mend your ways and your actions!

Queeries for the text:
Where else do potters show up in the Tanakh?
How do you make pottery?
How was pottery used during this time period?
Where else does God change hir mind?
Where today do we hear the message that change is possible?
How can we (white u.s.ians) repent of our past ways?
What do we (white u.s.ians) need to repent of in our ways and actions?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus;

and he turned and said to them,

²⁶“Whoever comes to me

and does not hate parents of all genders,
spouse and children,
siblings of any gender,
yes, and even life itself,

cannot be my disciple.

²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me

cannot be my disciple.

²⁸For which of you,

intending to build a tower,

does not first sit down and estimate the cost,

to see whether you have enough to complete it?

²⁹Otherwise, when you have laid a foundation
and are not able to finish,

all who see it will begin to ridicule you, ³⁰saying,

‘This person began to build and was not able to finish.’

³¹Or what king,

going out to wage war against another king,

will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand

to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?

³²If he cannot,

then, while the other is still far away,

he sends a delegation
and asks for the terms of peace.

³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple

if you do not give up all your possessions.

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
What does it mean to hate family?
What about Christian Family Values™?
What does it mean to carry the cross?  What does it not mean to carry the cross?
What happens when tariffs are imposed mid-build?
What is being built now?  Will it be finished?
What about seeking peace if we have the 20,000?
Is Jesus a socialist?
What can happen when you don't finish?


What are your queeries?

Queerying 8th after Pentecost C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Hosea 11:1-11
God Said:
I fell in love with Israel when he was still a child; I have called him my son ever since Egypt. Thus were they called, but they went their own way; they sacrifice to Ba'als and offer to carved images. I have pampered Ephraim, taking them in my arms; but they have ignored my healing care. I drew them with human ties, with cords of love; but I seemed to them as one who imposed a yoke on their jaws, though I was offering them food. No! They return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria is their king. Because they refuse to repent, a sword shall descend upon their towns and consume their limbs and devour them because of their designs. For my people persists in its defection from me; when it is summoned upward, it does not rise at all. How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah, render you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart, all my tenderness is stirred. I will not act on my wrath, will not turn to destroy Ephraim. For I am God, not human, the Holy One in your midst: I will not come in fury. The Becoming One will roar like a lion, and they shall march behind Hir; when Ze roars, Hir children shall come fluttering out of the west. They shall flutter from Egypt like sparrows, from the land of Assyria like doves; and I will settle them in their homes —declares the Becoming One

Queeries for the text:
Where else is God jealous?
What do we know about jealousy today?
How do religious expression and intimate partner violence interact?
Who can you turn to if you are experiencing intimate partner violence?
What happened to Admah and Zeboiim?
What cycle stages are happening toward the end of the passage?
What flutters?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
¹³Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,

“Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”

¹⁴But Jesus said to them,

“Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?”

¹⁵And Jesus said to the crowd,

“Take care!

Be on your guard against all kinds of greed;

for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”

¹⁶Then Jesus told them a parable:

“The land of a rich man produced abundantly.
¹⁷And he thought to himself,

‘What should I do,

for I have no place to store my crops?’

¹⁸Then the rich man said,

‘I will do this:

I will pull down my barns and build larger ones,

and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

¹⁹And I will say to my soul,

‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;

relax, eat, drink, be merry.’

²⁰But God said to the rich man,

‘You fool!
This very night your life is being demanded of you.

And the things you have prepared,

whose will they be?’

²¹So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves

but are not rich toward God.”

Queeries for the text:
Why would(n't) a sibling share the inheritance?
When do we set the wrong people up to be judge?
How many kinds of greed are there?
Why is it "his crops" when the land is the one to produce?
Is a famine coming?  Is the rich man planning for climate change?
Why does size matter to the rich man?  Is bigger actually better?
Can goods last for many years?
Why is the rich man talking to his own soul?  Is he Voldemort?
What is demanding his life?
Where do our treasures go?


What are your queeries?