Queerying 5th after Epiphany C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ²he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishers had gone out of them and were washing their fishnets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

⁴When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

⁵Simon answered, “Leader, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. ⁷So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Liege, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”

¹¹When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
What if Simon had not allowed Jesus to board the boat? 
How many fish make a net break? Two nets?
When do we need to call partners because we are overwhelmed?
How does Jesus escalate from Leader to Liege?
What does it mean to be sinful?
What if we don't want to catch people?
Who got the fish they'd caught?

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 Transfiguration B

River Needham, MA queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: 2 Kings 2:1-12
When the Becoming One was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind,

Elijah and Elisha had set out from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the 

Becoming One has sent me on to Bethel.” 

 

“As the Becoming One lives and as you live,” said Elisha, “I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. 

 

Disciples of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Becoming One will take your teacher away from you today?” 

 

He replied, “I know it, too; be silent.” 

 

Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here, for the Becoming One has sent me on to Jericho.” 

 

“As the Becoming One lives and as you live,” said Elisha, “I will not leave you.” So they went on to Jericho. 

 

The disciples of the prophets who were at Jericho came over to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Becoming One will take your teacher away from you today?” 

 

He replied, “I know it, too; be silent.” 

 

Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the Becoming One has sent me on to the Jordan.” 

 

“As the Becoming One lives and as you live, I will not leave you,” he said, and the two of them went on. 

 

Fifty men of the disciples of the prophets followed and stood by at a distance from them as the two of them stopped at the Jordan. There, Elijah took his mantle and, rolling it up, he struck the water; it divided to the right and left, so that the two of them crossed over on dry land. As they were crossing, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” 

 

Elisha answered, “Let a double portion of your spirit pass on to me.” 

 

“You have asked a difficult thing,” he said. “If you see me as I am being taken from you, this will be granted to you; if not, it will not.” As they kept on walking and talking, a fiery chariot with fiery horses suddenly appeared and separated one from the other; and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “Oh, father, father! Israel’s chariots and horsemen!” When he could no longer see him, he grasped his garments and rent them in two.

Queeries for the text:
Where else are circuitous journies beneficial?

What does death look like when under oppressive rule?

Who are the people we mourn today? Who do you mourn?
How do people mourn? What practices help us mourn?

Who else did not leave when their teacher, parent, companion moved on?
 

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: Mark 9:2-9

²Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, ³and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. ⁴And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” ⁸Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

 

Queeries for the text:

Six days later than what?

What does it mean to be transfigured? 

What is as hard to achieve now as bleached white was then?

What is this voice echoing?

Why would Jesus want to keep it secret?

What is in need of transfiguring today?

 

What are your queeries?

 

 

 

 

Queerying Advent 2B

River Needham, MA queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Isaiah 40:1-11

God tells you to utterly comfort Her people. Speak to Jerusalem with tenderness and declare to her that her term is over and that her wrongdoing has been cleansed after the Becoming One charged her double for her sins.

A voice calls out: Clear a pathway for the Becoming One! Make flat and direct a highway for our God. Let every valley rise up and every hill and mountain bow down so that the rugged ground becomes level and the ridges are indistinguishable.
The presence of the Becoming One shall appear, and all humanity shall see it at once, for the Becoming One has declared it so.

Two voices dialogue:
"Proclaim!"

"What to Proclaim?"

"All flesh is grass and it's goodness fades like a field of flowers: grass withers, flower fade right at the breath of the Becoming One. Humanity is but grass: grass withers and flowers fade, but the word of the Becoming One is always with us."

Climb a high mountain to declare joy to Zion; raise your voice with power. Raise it fearlessly. Announce to the cities across Judah: Behold your God. Behold! The Becoming God comes in might, and Her arm wins his triumph. Her reward and recompense are with Her, and like a shepherd She pastures Her flock: She gathers the lambs in Her arms and carries them in Her bosom.

Queeries for the text:
Where is comfort today? What are we being comforted from?

How are punishments administered?
What paths are there for the Becoming One?

What shall all humanity see at once?

What does it mean to be grass and flowers?
Who is our God? Who can we announce Her to?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Child of God.

²As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way;
³the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Becoming One,
make Her paths straight,’”

⁴John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by John in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷John proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of this one's sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with water; but this one will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Queeries for the text:

What are other beginnings?

Who else's good news is proclaimed?

What does Isaiah actually say?

Why would anybody want anything straight?

Why are they gathering in crowds and not masking up?!

What do locusts and wild honey taste like?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Easter 6A

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 17:22-31
²²Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. ²³For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Leader of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, ²⁵nor are They served by human hands, as though They needed anything, since God Themself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. ²⁶From one ancestor They made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and God allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, ²⁷so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for Them and find Them—though indeed God is not far from each one of us. ²⁸For ‘In God we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are Their offspring.’ ²⁹Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. ³⁰While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now They command all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because God has fixed a day on which They will have the world judged in righteousness by a human whom They have appointed, and of this God has given assurance to all by raising Them from the dead.”

Queeries for the text:
What's the Areopagus?
What is it like to be extremely religious?
Does God need humanity?  Adoration?  Worship?
Which poets said we are God's offspring?
How are we God's offspring?
What do the art and imagination of mortals produce?
Where is judgment lacking?  Where is it needed?
How do people hold space for the unknown?

What are your queeries?