Queerying All Saints B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Isaiah 25:6-9
The Becoming One of angel armies will make on this mount
For all the peoples
A banquet of rich foods,
A banquet of choice wines
Of rich foods seasoned with marrow,
Of choice wines well refined.
And E will destroy on this mount the shroud
That is drawn over the faces of all the peoples
And the covering that is spread
Over all the nations:
E will destroy death forever.
My Becoming God will wipe the tears away
From all faces
And will put an end to the reproach of Eir people
Over all the earth—
For it is the Becoming One who has spoken.
In that day they shall say:
This is our God;
We trusted in Em, and E delivered us.
This is the Becoming One, in whom we trusted;
Let us rejoice and exult in Eir deliverance!

Queeries for the text:
What rich food and fine wines are without guilt?
What is deliverance?
What is the feast referenced?
What is the final disposition of death?
For whom do we mourn?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 11:32-44
³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Teacher, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, “Where have you laid Lazarus?”

They said to Jesus, “Teacher, come and see.”

³⁵Jesus began to weep.

³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind one have kept this one from dying?”

³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to Jesus, “Teacher, already there is a stench because Lazarus has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Caregiver, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When he had said this, Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to those gathered, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Queeries for the text:
Why did Jesus come here?
Why were the Jews following Mary?
Why do we weep?
Where is the stench of death?
What do we say for the sake of others? 
Who else comes out? How does Lazarus come out?
What is bound? What needs binding?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 6th after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood. Long before now, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel in war; and the Becoming One said to you: You shall shepherd My people Israel; you shall be ruler of Israel.” All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a pact with them in Hebron before the Becoming One. They anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

[...]

David occupied the stronghold and renamed it the City of David; David also fortified the surrounding area, from the Millo inward. David kept growing stronger, for the Becoming One, the God of Angel Armies, was with him.

Queeries for the text:
Who else rules instead of the king/queen? 
What is missing from this text?
Who else has asked for a ruler?
Who is God with today?
Who rules over the u.s.?
Who wrote this text?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Mark 6:1-13
Jesus left that place and came to his hometown, and his chosen family followed him. ²On the sabbath Jesus began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! ³Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and sibling of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Jesus.

⁴Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” ⁵And Jesus could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then Jesus went about among the villages teaching. ⁷He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸Jesus ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; ⁹but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. ¹⁰He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. ¹¹If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” ¹²So the twelve went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Queeries for the text:
Where did Jesus leave?
Who takes offense at new wisdom?
What keeps us from deeds of power?
Who takes nothing today?
Who provides hospitality?
What happens when you shake off dust?
From what should we repent?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Holy Trinity B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Isaiah 6:1-8

In the year that King Uzziah died, I beheld my Queen seated on a high and lofty throne; and the skirts of Femmes robe filled the Temple. Seraphs provided Femme with service. Each of them had six wings: with two they covered her face, with two he covered their genitals, and with two she would fly. 

 

One would call to the other, “Holy, holy, holy! The Queen of Angel Armies! Femmes presence fills all the earth!” The doorposts would shake at the sound of the one who called, and the house kept filling with smoke. 

I cried, “Woe is me; I am lost! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my own eyes have beheld the Queen, God of Angel Armies.” 

Then one of the seraphs flew over to me with a live coal, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. They touched it to my lips and declared, “Now that this has touched your lips, Your guilt shall depart and your sin be purged away.” 

Then I heard the voice of my Queen saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” 

I said, “Here am I; send me.”

Queeries for the text:
Who is my Queen?
What does it mean to be high and lofty?

Who provides service?

What's filling the house with smoke?

How are our lips unclean?

What about our lips is unclean?

What sins must be purged?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

 

Gospel: John 3:1-17

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jewish people. ²He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” 

 

³Jesus answered Nicodemus, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the reign of God without being born from above.” 

 

⁴Nicodemus said to Jesus, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the parent’s womb and be born?” 

 

⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the reign of God without being born of water and breath. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the breath is breath. ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸The breath breathes where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the breath.” 

 

⁹Nicodemus said to Jesus, “How can these things be?” 

 

¹⁰Jesus answered Nicodemus, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? 

 

¹¹“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Human One. ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in that one may have eternal life. 

 

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that Femme gave Femmes only Child, so that everyone who believes in Them may not perish but may have everlasting life. 

 

¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Child into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Them.”

 

Queeries for the text:

Have we read this before?

Which signs does Jesus do?

What kind of biblical interpretation did Nicodemus do?

What is born of water?

What is breath, wind, and spirit?

Whose testimony is refused?

How might the world be saved?

What's the rest of the story? 

Why does today matter?

 

What are your queeries?