Queerying 19th after Pentecost C

Suzannah Porter and Brooke McLain musically queery the RCL readings.

How does dealing with the past help to move into the future?

How can scripture strengthen against injustice?

How does proof-texting justify harm?

How do you persist for justice?  How does justice persist against you?

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Pace Warfield-May queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 31:27-34
²⁷The days are surely coming, says the Becoming One, when I will plant seeds of humans and animals in the two houses of my people, the houses of Israel and Judah.

²⁸And just as I've tended over them to pluck, break down, overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will continue to tend over them to build up and to plant, says the Becoming One.

²⁹In those days there will no longer be the saying, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, or the children must have the bad karma of their parents" ³⁰Rather, all shall die for their own harm, the bad apples will remain in the rotten tree that sprouted them."

³¹ The days are surely coming, says the Becoming One, when I will make a new covenant, a new unbreakable promise, with the houses of Israel and Judah. ³²It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I, like a gentle lover, held them by their hand to guide them out of the land of Egypt--a promise that they broke, though I was and remain their committed partner, says the Becoming One. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Becoming One: I will write my law within them, bind it to their DNA, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be God, their beloved, and they shall be my people, my beloveds. ³⁴No longer shall they have to teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Becoming One" for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Becoming One; for I will wipe away the barriers that separate them, and remember their harm no more."'

Queeries for the text:
What is the context for this passage?
What is karma?
What would this day to come look like?
What else is written in our DNA?
How does one cheat on God?
What does it mean for God to be your beloved partner?
What barriers separate us from one another?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told his chosen family a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³In that city there was a widow who kept coming to the judge and saying, ‘Avenge me against my adversary.’ ⁴For a while he refused; but later the judge said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵yet because this widow keeps coming at me, I will avenge her, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’” ⁶And the Leader said, “Listen to what the corrupt judge says. ⁷And will not God avenge her favorites who cry to her day and night? Will she delay long in having patience with them? ⁸I tell you, she will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Human One comes, will they find faith on earth?”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
Whose heart is being lost?
What do judges do?
Who neither fears God nor respects people?
Who annoys the powerful?
What happens when you continually come?
What is justice? Who cries to whom for justice? 

What are your queeries?



 

Queerying 7th after Pentecost C

Pace Warfield-May queeries the Tanakh reading.

Genesis 18:20-32
²⁰Then the Name said, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how serious their brokenness! I must go dwell with them and see whether they have done altogether according to the cries of the marginalized that have come to me; and if not, I will know." ²²So the company turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Name.

²³Then Abraham cuddled close to God and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the just with the unjust? ²⁴Suppose there are fifty who are good within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty just who are in it? ²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the just with the unjust, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the cosmos do what is just?"

²⁶And the Name said gently, "If I find at Sodom fifty who are just in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake."

Abraham answered, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Infinite, I who am but finite, dust and ashes.

²⁸Suppose five of the fifty of the just are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And Xe said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there."

²⁹Again Abraham spoke to the Infinite, "Suppose forty are found there." Xe answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it."

³⁰Then Abraham replied, "Oh do not let the Infinite be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there." Xe answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."

³¹Abraham asked, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Infinite. Suppose twenty are found there." Xe answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it."

³²Then he said, "Oh do not let the Infinite be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there." Xe answered gently, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it."

Queeries for the text:
Have you ever argued with God?
When has God changed Xyr mind before?
What is the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?
What does it mean to be just?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his chosen family said to him, “Leader, teach us to pray, as John taught his chosen family.”

²Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say something like: Mama, make your Name sacred. Enact your reign. ³Give us each day our necessary sustenance. ⁴And forgive us our wrongs, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the system of injustice.”

⁵And Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to them at midnight and say to them, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before her.’ ⁷And they answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the lights are out, and Stephen Colbert is already on; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸I tell you, even though they will not get up and give em anything because em is their friend, at least because of eir persistence they will get up and give em whatever ey needs.

⁹“So I say to you: ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Mama give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Xem!”

Queeries for the text:
How do you pray?
Who receives their necessary sustenance?
Who is indebted?
Who is in a system of injustice?
How do you provide hospitality?
Who else is persistent?
Who asks? Who searches? Who knocks?
What expectations exist regarding prayer? How are they (un)realistic?
How could a parent give a child a snake that is a fish? 

What are your queeries?

Queerying 11th after Pentecost B

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 6:35, 41-51
³⁵Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

[...]

⁴¹Then the Judeans began to complain about Jesus because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ⁴²They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’

⁴³Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Caregiver who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Caregiver comes to me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Caregiver except the one who is from God; this one has seen the Caregiver. ⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has everlasting life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

Queeries for the text:
What's missing?
What other bread came down from heaven?
What happens when we change?
How are we drawn by the Caregiver?
Where is it written in the prophets?
How do we not die?
How is flesh given?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 12th after Pentecost A

River Needham M.A., queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Exodus 1:8-2:10

A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph, and the king said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.”

So the Egyptians set taskmasters over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field.

The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, saying, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birthstool: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.”

The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, letting the boys live?”

The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.” 

 

God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and increased greatly. Since the midwives feared God, They established households for them. Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” 

A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. His sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it. When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on it and said, “This must be a Hebrew child.” 

 

Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child for you?” 

 

Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Yes.” 

 

So the girl went and called the child’s mother, and Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who made him her son. She named him Moses, explaining, “I drew him out of the water.”

Queeries for the text:
What did Joseph do for Pharaoh? (What did we miss last week?)
What are the rights of immigrants in the u.s.?

Who are the Shiprah's and Puah's of today? Who is Pharaoh in this analogy? What are the orders?
What life is found in the River today?

What should we be looking out for as we work for freedom for the whole human family?

What parts of the story do we miss when we read in translation?

 

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20

¹³Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Human One is?” 

¹⁴And the disciples said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 

¹⁵Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Offspring of the living God.” 

¹⁷And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the dominion of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 

²⁰Then Jesus sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Queeries for the text:
Who do people say is human? 

Who do people say the Human One is?

Who is revealing humanity and divinity today?
Why are names important? How is naming powerful?

Why doesn't Jesus want the disciples to tell anyone? 

What are your queeries?

Queerying Holy Trinity A

River Needham, M.A. queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Genesis 1:1-2:4a

At the starting point, God formed the cosmos and the earth. The earth did not have shape; and darkness was upon the surface of the deep. God’s breath hovered over the waters on the earth.

God said: Let light be. Then God saw the light and that it was Good. God pulled apart the light and the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness Night. Dusk and Dawn were in there too. The first day came to be. Then, God wanted there to be an atmosphere between the waters. Let the atmosphere divide water from the water. So God made the sky and divided the waters under it from the waters above it. And so it was. God called the atmosphere heaven. There was dusk, then dawn. The second day.

Next, God said: Let the waters below gather together so dry land can appear. And so it was. God called the dry land earth and the gathered waters God called seas. God saw that all this was good. Later, God said: Let the earth produce grass, herbs with seeds, trees that bear fruit. And so it was. The earth produced grass, herbs with seed, trees that bore fruit. God saw that all this was good. There was dusk, and dawn. The third day.

Then, God said “Let the sky have lights to divide the day from the night. Let them move about and distinguish signs, seasons, days, and years. Let them be lights in the atmosphere of the heavens to give light to the earth.” And so it was. So, God made two big lights. The biggest one ruled over the day, and the smaller of the big lights ruled over the night and stars. God set these lights in the atmosphere of the heavens so they could give light to the earth, to rule over the day and the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that all this was good. There was dusk, then dawn. The fourth day.

Next, God said “Let the waters move with collections of living beings. Let birds fly above the earth in the open atmosphere of heaven.” So, God created the great sea creatures, and every creepy-crawly, and the waters were filled with motion; so was the atmosphere of heaven. God saw that all this was good, then God blessed the animals and said “ Be fruitful. Multiply. Fill the waters in the seas and let the birds multiply in the earth. There was dusk, then dawn. The Fifth day.

Then, God said “Let the earth create living creatures after it’s kind. Cattle, insects, and beasts of the earth after its own kind.” And so it was. God made living creatures on the ground after its kind, and every insect after its kind. God saw that all this was good. So, God said let us make a human in our image, just like us. Let them have responsibility over the fish of the sea, birds of the air. Over the cattle and all the things on the earth, even the insects. God created the human in their own image. In the image of God they created them. Male, female, between and beyond God created them. Then, God blessed them and said to them: Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and take responsibility for it, and for the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and for every living thing down to the smallest insect.

God said: Look – I have given you every herb yielding seed which lives anywhere on the earth, and every tree which produces seeds in its fruit. To you, these things are food. Likewise, to every animal on the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth with a lifeforce, I have given every green herb for food. And so it was.

God saw every thing that they had made, and Look! It was very good. Then there was dusk, and there was dawn. The sixth day.

So, the heaven and the earth were finished. The whole project. Then on the seventh day, God finished their work and they rested on the seventh day from all they had made. God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because in it they rested from all their work which God did in the course of creating.

These were the stories of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

Queeries for the text:

Who is the main character in this story?
Why was this creation narrative chosen?
Where is humanity’s responsibility today?
What queeries do you have for this text?
What does it mean for earth to have a start or a birthday?
Are there multiple starting points? What was present at this starting point?
What does it mean to be beyond or between gender?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷When they saw Jesus, they worshiped Them; and some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to the disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Provider and of the Prophet and of the Protest, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Queeries for the text:

Which mountain was it?

What are the characteristics of God?  How are our songs about the Spirit disconnected from scriptural references?

What is divine authority like?
How else can we understand the Trinity?

What does it mean for God to be Provider?

What does it mean for God to be Prophet?

What does it mean for God to be Protest?

How is Jesus' great commission problematic?

How is Jesus' great commission comforting?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 3rd after Epiphany A

River Needham, M.A., queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Isaiah 9:1-4

The people that walked in darkness have seen a brilliant light; on those who dwelt in a land of gloom light has dawned.
You have magnified that nation, have given it great joy; they have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at reaping time, as they exult when dividing spoil.
For the yoke that they bore and the stick on their back— the rod of their taskmaster— you have broken as on the day of Midian. Truly, all the boots put on to stamp with and all the garments donned in infamy have been fed to the flames, devoured by fire.

Queeries for the text:
How is this text different if the first verse reads, "The people who walked in light have seen a calming darkness; on those who dwelt in a land of brightness, dusk and fallen?"
Does light exist without darkness?
How do you magnify a nation?
Who rejoices at reaping time?
When did the rod of their taskmasters get broken?
What garments were donned in infamy?
Why are the garments devoured by fire?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.


Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23

¹²Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ¹⁵“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— ¹⁶the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” ¹⁷From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the reign of heaven has come near.”

¹⁸As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Queeries for the text:
Why was John arrested?
Why would Jesus withdraw?
Where have I heard "Repent, for the reign of heaven has come near"?
How much does Jesus like the oppor-tuna-ty to cast out puns?
Why would anyone leave home and family?
How do you cure the sickness of white supremacy?
How do you cure the sickness of capitalism?

What are your queeries?