Queerying 3rd after Epiphany C

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Nehemiah 8:1-3,[4,]5-6,[7,]8-10
The entire people assembled as one human in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the scroll of the Teaching of Moses with which the Becoming One had charged Israel.

On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Teaching before the congregation, people of many genders and all who could listen with understanding.

He read from it, facing the square before the Water Gate, from the first light until midday, to all the people and those who could understand; the ears of all the people were given to the scroll of the Teaching.

[Ezra the scribe stood upon a wooden tower made for the purpose, and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah at his right, and at his left Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, Meshullam.] Ezra opened the scroll in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people; as he opened it, all the people stood up. Ezra blessed the Becoming One, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” with hands upraised. Then they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the Becoming One with their faces to the ground.

[Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites explained the Teaching to the people, while the people stood in their places.] They read from the scroll of the Teaching of God, translating it and giving the sense; so they understood the reading. Nehemiah the Tirshatha, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were explaining to the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Becoming One your God: you must not mourn or weep,” for all the people were weeping as they listened to the words of the Teaching. He further said to them, “Go, eat choice foods and drink sweet drinks and send portions to whoever has nothing prepared, for the day is holy to our sovereign. Do not be sad, for your rejoicing in the Becoming One is the source of your strength.”

Queeries for the text:
Who interprets the texts today?
Who keeps people safe when reading the Teaching?
Why are we eating choice foods this week?
Why are Teachings good?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 4:14-21
¹⁴Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

¹⁶When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ¹⁸“The Spirit of God is upon me, because She has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. She has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of God’s favor.”

²⁰And Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then Jesus began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Queeries for the text:
Where did Jesus return from?
How long did it take to unroll the scroll?
What is good news to the poor?
What can release to the captives look like?
What kind of sight do the blind have?
How do the oppressed go free?
What is the year of the God's favor? 

What are your queeries?

 

Queerying Lent 5B

River Needham, MA queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 31:31-34

Look, the time will come, the Becoming One said, 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 adopted them - says 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. For I will forgive their iniquities, and remember their sins no more. 

Queeries for the text:
What is a covenant?
What covenants are important today?
Where do Jewish People write God's teaching?
What does it mean to remember sin?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

 

Gospel: John 12:20-33 

²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Mister, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 

²³Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Human One to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for everlasting life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Holy Parent will honor.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Holy Parent, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸Holy Parent, glorify your name.” 

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 

²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Jesus.” 

³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. 

Queeries for the text:

Which festival?

Who knew the game of telephone dated back to pre-electricity?

How does wheat grow?  How does it die?

What does it mean to hate?

Who has hope to be saved? Whose hour?

When has God glorified Zer name?

What does God sound like?

What did Jesus' drawing look like?

 

What are your queeries?

 

 

Queerying Advent 4B

River Needham, MA queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

When the king was settled in his palace and the Becoming One had granted him safety from all the enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan: “Here I am dwelling in a house of cedar, while the Ark of the Becoming One abides in a tent!”

Nathan said to the king, “Go and do whatever you have in mind, for the Becoming One is with you.” 

 

But that same night the Becoming one came and said to Nathan: “Go and say to My servant David: The Becoming One told me: Are you the one to build a house for Me to dwell in? From the day that I brought the people of Israel out of Egypt to this day I have not lived in a house, but have moved about in tent and tabernacle. As I moved about wherever the Israelites went, did I ever reproach any of the tribal leaders whom I appointed to care for My people Israel: Why have you not built Me a house of cedar? 

 

“Further, say to My servant David: The Becoming God of Angel Armies said: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be ruler of My people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut down all your enemies before you. Moreover, I will give you great renown like that of the greatest people on earth. I will establish a home for My people Israel and will plant them firm, so that they shall dwell secure and shall tremble no more. Evil people shall not oppress them any more as in the past, ever since I appointed chieftains over My people Israel. I will give you safety from all your enemies. 

 

“The Becoming One declares to you that She, the Becoming One, will establish a house for you.”

Queeries for the text:
Is safety ongoing? Why or why not?
What does it mean to be live in a tent?
Why choose to live in a tent? Who suffers when living in a tent?

What do angel armies have to do with the situation?
What is missing?
What has become of David's House?

 

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And Gabriel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Becoming One is with you.” 

 

²⁹But Mary was much perplexed by Gabriel's words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 

 

³⁰The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a child, and you will name the child Jesus. ³²The child will be great, and will be called the Child of the Most High, and the Becoming God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. ³³The child will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his reign there will be no end.” 

 

³⁴Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 

 

³⁵The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Child of God. ³⁶And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a child; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God.” 

 

³⁸Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Becoming One; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

 

Queeries for the text:

When is God perplexing?

What is there to be afraid of?

When do we question God?

What is virginity?

How is gender at play in this text?

Who else conceived in old age? What happened with Elizabeth and Zechariah?

Where is consent?

Who believes Mary?

 

What are your queeries?

 

 

 

 

Queerying New Year's

River Needham, MA, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13

A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven:
a time for being born and a time for dying, a time for planting and a time for uprooting the planted;
a time for slaying and a time for healing, a time for tearing down and a time for building up;
a time for weeping and a time for laughing, a time for wailing and a time for dancing;
a time for throwing stones and a time for gathering stones,
a time for embracing and a time for shunning embraces;
a time for seeking and a time for losing, a time for keeping and a time for discarding;
a time for ripping and a time for sewing, a time for silence and a time for speaking;
a time for loving and a time for hating; a time for war and a time for peace.

What value, then, can the businesswoman get from what she earns? I have observed the business that God gave woman to be concerned with: She brings everything to pass precisely at its time; God also puts eternity in their mind, but without woman ever guessing, from first to last, all the things that God brings to pass. Thus I realized that the only worthwhile thing there is for them is to enjoy themselves and do what is good in their lifetime; also, that whenever a woman does eat and drink and get enjoyment out of all her wealth, it is a gift of God.

Queeries for the text:
What is time?
What has been born in your life this year? What has died?
What season is it in your community's or family's life?
What season is it in your life?
What is eternity?
Where do you find pleasure?
What things do you want to explore in the new year?
What gifts of God do you treasure?

What are your queeries?


 

Queerying Christmas 1A

River Needham queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Isaiah 63:7-9

I will recount the kind acts of the Becoming One, the praises of the Becoming One— for all that the Becoming One has wrought for us, the vast bounty to the house of Israel that She bestowed upon them according to Her mercy and Her great kindness. She thought: surely they are my people, children who will not play false. So She was their deliverer. In all their troubles She was troubled, and the angel of Her presence delivered them. In Her love and pity She Herself redeemed them, raised them, and exalted them all the days of old.

Queeries for the text:
What are kind acts?
What kind acts has the Becoming One done?
What kind acts has the Becoming One done?
Who plays false?
What's a location of trouble in our world?
Where and how is there deliverance from this trouble in our world? How does God participate?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 2:13-23

¹³Now after the magi had left, an angel of the Becoming One appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and their mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy them.” ¹⁴Then Joseph got up, took the child and their mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Becoming One through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my child.”

¹⁶When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi. ¹⁷Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
  ¹⁸“A voice was heard in Ramah,
    wailing and loud lamentation,
   Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

¹⁹When Herod died, an angel of the Becoming One suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ²⁰“Get up, take the child and their mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” ²¹Then Joseph got up, took the child and their mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. ²³There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “They will be called a Nazorean.”

Queeries for the text:
What if Joseph had warned the other families with young children?
What children are being killed today?
How are we weeping with Rachel?
Which came first: Joseph's decision or God's affirmation of it?
How do dreams work on us?
Why does Matthew care so much about making sure "that what had been spoken through the prophet(s) might be fulfilled"?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 19th after Pentecost C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 31:27-34

See, a time is coming—declares the Becoming One—when I will sow the House of Israel and the House of Judah with seed of humans and seed of cattle;  and just as I was watchful over them to uproot and to pull down, to overthrow and to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will be watchful over them to build and to plant—declares the Becoming One. In those days, they shall no longer say, “Parents have eaten sour grapes and children’s teeth are blunted.” But every one shall die for their own sins: whoever eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be blunted.  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. For I will forgive their iniquities, and remember their sins no more.

Queeries for the text:
Who is the House of Israel?
Are humans and cows planted?
What are sour grapes?
How are teeth blunted?
How might we have our hearts inscribed?
How do we do the work of forgiveness?
Does God forget when ze forgives?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.
 

Gospel: Luke 18:1-8

Then Jesus told the disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ²Jesus said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³In that city there was a widow who kept coming to the judge and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’  

⁴For a while the judge refused; but later said to zirself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’”

⁶And the Powerful One said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God grant justice to Faer chosen ones who cry to Fae day and night? Will Fae delay long in helping them? ⁸I tell you, Fae will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Human One comes, will Ze find faith on earth?”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
What kind of judge are we talking about?
What if the widow had not been just in her request?
How do we wear out the unjust?
Who is more God-like: the widow or the judge?
Where does the after explanation come from?
What does it take for the widow to get justice? 

What are your queeries?

Queerying Advent 2 Year C

This week all three Advent queeries are gathered in one spot!

Today's text from the Tanakh was queeried by periodic queerier River Needham.

 

 
Tanakh - Malachi 3:1-4
Behold, I am sending my messenger to clear the way before me, and the ruler whom you seek shall come to faer Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenant that you desire, they are already coming. But who can endure the day of faer coming, and who can hold out when fae appears? For fae is like a smelter’s fire and like fuller’s lye. Fae shall act like a smelter and purger of silver; and fae shall purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they shall present offerings in righteousness. Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Becoming One as in the days of yore and in the years of old.

Queeries for the text:
Who is the ruler this text seeks?
What is an angel of the covenant?
What covenant? Who desires it?
Where else is silver in the Minor Prophets?
Why just Levi's descendants?
Why are Judah and Jerusalem placed in opposition?
Why is it important to separate Jesus from this text?

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Today's special guest queery of Philippians is brought to you by Katy Wallace with collaboration from Rev. Emily Ewing.

Philippians 1:3-11
³I thank my God every time I remember you, ⁴constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, ⁵because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
⁷It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God’s grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. ⁸For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

⁹And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight ¹⁰to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, ¹¹having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Queeries for the text:
What does sharing in the gospel look like?
What is the good work brought to completion and who began it?
How does imprisonment impact grace?
What is God witnessing in Paul's longing?  What does God witness in us?
How does God's compassion show up throughout the bible?
What does it mean to share in the defense and confirmation of the gospel?  How does it relate to love and longing?
How does love overflow with knowledge?
What does it mean to be pure and blameless?
What does a harvest of righteousness look like?

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Today's queery from the Gospel is brought to you by Rev. Emily E. Ewing.

Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius,

when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,

and Herod was ruler of Galilee,

and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis,

and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,

²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,

the word of God came to John

son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

³John went into all the region around the Jordan,

proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,

⁴as it is written

in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out

in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Becoming One,

make straight the paths of God.

⁵Every valley shall be filled,

and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall be made straight,

and the rough ways made smooth;

⁶and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

Queeries for the text:
Why does Luke care so much about the people in power?
Who else was John son of?
What did Zechariah have to say about his son?
What was John already doing in the wilderness?
Why is the Jordan so important?
What public testimonies of repentance like John's baptism are happening now?
How is Isaiah calling us to increase accessibility in communities?
What if God doesn't want to be straight?  What if God is crooked?
What is the salvation of God like?
Where is Peace?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Advent 1 Year C - Jeremiah

This text was queeried by periodic queerier, River Needham

Tanakh - Jeremiah 33:14-16
See, days are coming—declares the Becoming One—when I will fulfill the promise that I made concerning the House of Israel and the House of Judah. In those days and at that time, I will raise up a true branch of David’s line, who shall do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah shall be delivered and Israel shall dwell secure. And this is what she shall be called: “The Becoming One is our Vindicator.”

Queeries for the text:
What is the context of this passage?
Where is the house of Israel/house of Judah?
What are we waiting for in this passage?
How do these promises come to be?
What does this text refer to in its original context?
What about modern day controversies?
What kind of tree is David's branch from?
What looks just and right in the land?
What is the Becoming One vindicating? What does it look or feel like?

What are your queeries?



If you want to check out the sermon that came in part from this queery, you can find it here!