Queerying Advent 3C

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Zephaniah 3:14-20
Shout for joy, fair Zion,
cry aloud, O Israel!
Rejoice and be glad with all your heart,
fair Jerusalem!
The Becoming One has annulled the judgment against you,
She has swept away your foes.
Israel’s Sovereign, the Becoming One, is within you;
you need fear misfortune no more.
In that day,
this shall be said to Jerusalem:
Have no fear, O Zion;
let not your hands droop!
Your God the Becoming One is in your midst,
a warrior who brings triumph.
She will rejoice over you and be glad,
She will shout over you with jubilation.
She will soothe with Her love
those long disconsolate.
I will take away from you the woe
over which you endured mockery.
At that time I will make an end
of all who afflicted you.
And I will rescue the crippled sheep
and gather the strayed;
and I will exchange their disgrace
for fame and renown in all the earth.
At that time I will gather you,
and at that time I will bring you home;
for I will make you renowned and famous
among all the peoples on earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before their very eyes
—said the Becoming One.

Queeries for the text:
What is crip?
What about crip joy?
How does God love?
How can fame end?
Why must fortunes be restored?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 3:7-18
⁷John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Hagar and Sarah. ⁹Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰And the crowds asked John, “What then should we do?”

¹¹In reply John said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”

¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³John said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”

¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?”

John said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of that one's sandals. The one who is coming will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷The winnowing fork is in hand, to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into the granary; but the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire.” ¹⁸So, with many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people.

Queeries for the text:
What's a brood of vipers?
What else comes from stones?
What happens to trees in fire?
Who has two coats? Who has none? How many coats do you have?
Who takes economic advantage today?
What other questions make their home in the heart?
What kind of sandals?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 4th after Epiphany B

River Needham, MA queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Moses continued:
The Becoming One your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your own people, like myself; hir you shall heed. This is just what you asked of the Becoming One your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear the voice of the Becoming One my God any longer or see this wondrous fire any more, lest I die.” 

Then the Becoming One said to me, “They have done well in speaking this. I will raise up a prophet for them from among their own people, like yourself: I will put My words in hirs mouth and xe will speak to them all that I command hir; and if anybody fails to heed the words xe speaks in My name, I Myself will call hir to account. But any prophet who presumes to speak in My name an oracle that I did not command hir to utter, or who speaks in the name of other gods—that prophet shall die.”

Queeries for the text:
Who are the prophets of our day?

Where are the prophetesses?

Where is Horeb?

Why did the people not want to hear from The Becoming One anymore?
Does death seem an appropriate penalty? Why or why not?

 

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

 

Gospel: Mark 1:21-28

²¹Jesus, Simon, Andrew, James, and John went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. ²²The crowd was astounded at his teaching, for Jesus taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 

 

²³Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, ²⁴and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 

 

²⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 

 

²⁶And the unclean spirit, convulsing the man and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! This one commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” ²⁸At once Jesus' fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

 

Queeries for the text:

What is authority? Who has it?

Why do names matter? How?

How does fame impact people?

What is unclean?

What happens on the sabbath today?

Who destroys? What is saved?

 

What are your queeries?