Queerying Easter 6C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 16:9-15
⁹During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. ¹¹We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, ¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days.

¹³On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Becoming One opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.

¹⁵When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Becoming One, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.

Queeries for the text:
During which night?
What would Paul have done if the vision was of a woman?
What role do dreams play in faith and action?
What was this journey like?
Why focus on the women?
Why purple cloth? What is special about purple?
How does Lydia have a household?

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J. Pace Warfield-May queeries the reading from Revelation.

Revelation 21: 10, 22-22:5
¹⁰And the angel carried me away on a wind to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of the sky from God.

²²I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the supreme Becoming One and the Lamb. ²³And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its sunlight, and its night time candle is the Lamb. ²⁴The nations will walk by the city’s sunlight, and the rulers of the earth will bring their glory into it. ²⁵Its gates will never be shut during the day or night. ²⁶People will bring into the city the glory and the honor of the nations. ²⁷But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices lies or sets up false idols, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. ^22:1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³Nothing cursed or imperfect will be found there any more. But the judgment bench of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and Xe’s servants will worship Xem; ⁴they will see Xyr face, and Xyr name will be written on their foreheads. ⁵And night will no longer be perceived as bad or scary; they need no light of candles or sun, for the Becoming God will be their sun, and they will dwell there forever and ever.

Queeries for the text:
What is missing from the text?
How do you imagine God’s glory as the sunlight would look and feel?
What is the book of life?
What is the tree of life?
How do we challenge light and dark binaries in scripture? Why is it important?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Christmas 2

River Needham, MA queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 31:7-14

For thus said the Becoming One: cry out in joy for Jacob, shout at the crossroads of the nations! Sing aloud in praise, and say: Save, O Becoming One, Your people, the remnant of Israel. I will bring them in from the northland, gather them from the ends of the earth— the blind and the lame among them, those with child and those in labor— in a vast throng they shall return here. They shall come with weeping, with compassion will I guide them. I will lead them to streams of water, by a level road where they will not stumble. For I am ever a Parent to Israel, Ephraim is My first-born.

Hear the word of the Becoming One, O nations, tell it in the isles afar. Say: the one who scattered Israel will gather them, and will guard them as a shepherd their flock. For the Becoming One will ransom Jacob, redeem him from one too strong for him. They shall come and shout on the heights of Zion, radiant over the bounty of the Becoming One—over new grain and wine and oil, over sheep and cattle. They shall fare like a watered garden, they shall never languish again. Then shall maidens dance gaily, young men and old alike. I will turn their mourning to joy, I will comfort them and cheer them in their grief. I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and My people shall enjoy My full bounty —declares the Becoming One.

Queeries for the text:
Where is the crossroads of the nations?
How might disabled people receive and respond to this passage? How might different people receive and respond to this passage?

Why are level roads important?
Where else do watered gardens show up?
What does it mean to dance gaily?
How is fatness positive?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

 

Gospel: John 1:1-18

 

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The Word was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through Her, and without Her not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in the Word was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 

 

⁶There was a person sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷John came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through the light. ⁸John himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹The true light, which makes everyone vivid, was coming into the world. 

 

¹⁰The true light was in the world, and the world came into being through Faer; yet the world did not know Faer. ¹¹The light came to what was Faen own, and Faen own people did not accept Faer. ¹²But to all who received the light, who believed in Faen name, the light gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of a man, but of God. 

 

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and pitched Her tent among us, and we have seen the glory of the Word, the glory as of a parent’s only child, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵(John testified to the Word and cried out, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The One who comes after me ranks ahead of me because She was before me.’”) ¹⁶From the Word's fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Child, who is close to the Parent’s heart, who has made God known.

 

Queeries for the text:

Who is the Word?

How are light and darkness in conflict? How do they work together?

How can light be unaccepted?

What is the will of those who are not men?

What is a child's glory?

Why does John the Testifier like riddles so much?

Where is grace and truth in law?

 

What are your queeries?