Queerying Reformation B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 30:31-34
See, a time is coming—declares the Becoming One—when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, though I espoused them—declares the Becoming One. But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares the Becoming One: I will put My teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No longer will they need to teach one another and say to one another, “Heed the Becoming One”; for all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall heed Me—declares the Becoming One.

Queeries for the text:
What possibilities for new covenants exist in the text?
What does it mean to inscribe on the heart?
Who are My people?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 8:31-36
³¹Then Jesus said to the Jewish people who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

³³They answered Jesus, “We are descendants of Abraham and Sarah and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is enslaved to sin. ³⁵The enslaved person does not have a permanent place in the household; the child has a place there forever. ³⁶So if the Child makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Queeries for the text:
What is Jesus' word?
How is history selective?
Who is enslaved today?
Which children don't have a permanent place in the household?
What could freedom look like?

What are your queeries?

 

Queerying Advent 4A

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeried the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25

¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When Jesus' mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a child, whom you are to name Jesus, for this one will save the people from their sins.”

²²All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by God through the prophet: ²³“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a child, whom they shall name Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of God commanded him; Joseph took Mary as his wife, ²⁵but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a child; and Joseph named the child Jesus.

Queeries for the text:
What does it mean to be righteous?
What would have happened if Joseph had dismissed Mary?
Why does verb tense matter?
What kind of name is Jesus?
What does virgin actually mean?
What did the prophet actually say?
How did Joseph take Mary?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 18th after Pentecost C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 29:1, [2-3], 4-7

This is the text of the letter which the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the priests, the prophets, the rest of the elders of the exile community, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon  

[after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and smiths had left Jerusalem. [The letter was sent] through Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom King Zedekiah of Judah had dispatched to Babylon, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.]

Thus said the Becoming God of Angel Armies, the God of Israel, to the whole community which I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, do not decrease. And seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the Becoming One on its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper.

Queeries for the text:
How might this text be sent today?
Is the omitted portion necessary? Why was it omitted?
Where were the Angel Armies before the exile?
Who can build houses?
Who are the acceptable family members?
Who is erased in this passage?
Why is multiplication important?
What is the advice of this text to the exiles? What advice would you give instead?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 17:11-19
¹¹On the way to Jerusalem

Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.

¹²As he entered a village,

ten people who had leprosy approached him.

Keeping their distance,

¹³they called out, saying,

“Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴When Jesus saw them, he said to them,

“Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

And as they went,

they were made clean.

¹⁵Then one of them,

when ze saw that ze was healed,

turned back,

praising God with a loud voice.

¹⁶Ze prostrated zirself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.

And ze was a Samaritan.

¹⁷Then Jesus asked,

“Were not ten made clean?

But the other nine, where are they?

¹⁸Was none of them found to return and give praise to God

except this foreigner?”

¹⁹Then Jesus said to zem,

“Get up and go on your way;

your faith has made you well.”

Queeries for the text:
How much does the number 10 matter?
Why did the one turn back?  Why didn't the 9?
Why does it matter that ze was a Samaritan?
In returning to Jesus, did the Samaritan come out about zir identity?
Where can we give praise to the Divine?
Who isn't a foreigner in the region between two places?
Why does praising the Samaritan's faith matter?
Who are foreigners?  Who have always lived in the place?



What are your queeries?