Queerying Lent 4C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” ³So Jesus told them this parable:

[...]

^11b“There was a man who had two children. ¹²The younger of them said to their father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³A few days later the younger gathered all they had and traveled to a distant country, and there they squandered their property in dissolute living. ¹⁴When they had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and they began to be in need. ¹⁵So they went and hired themself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent them to hir fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶They would gladly have filled themself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave them anything. ¹⁷But when they came to themself they said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ ²⁰So they set off and went to their father. But while they were still far off, their father saw them and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around them and kissed them. ²¹Then the child said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your child.’ ²²But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on them; put a ring on their finger and sandals on their feet. ²³And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴for this child of mine was dead and is alive again; they were lost and are found!’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵“Now his elder was in the field; and when they came and approached the house, they heard music and dancing. ²⁶The elder called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.

²⁷She replied, ‘Your sibling has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got them back safe and sound.’ ²⁸Then they became angry and refused to go in. Their father came out and began to plead with them.

²⁹But they answered their father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this child of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for them!’

³¹Then the father said to them, ‘Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this sibling of yours was dead and has come to life; they were lost and have been found.’”

Queeries for the text:
What's missing?
What does the rest of the family think? The slaves? How do they feel?
How is property inherited?
Why did no one give the younger child anything?
Why was the younger child dead to the father?
How can a child work like a slave?
What does the elder actually know about the younger's activities? What is assumed?
What do sex workers do?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the Becoming One came upon me. She took me out by the spirit of the Becoming One and set me down in the valley. It was full of bones. She led me all around them; there were very many of them spread over the valley, and they were very dry. She said to me, “O mortal, can these bones live again?” 

I replied, “O Becoming God, only You know.” 

Then She said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Becoming One! Thus said the Becoming God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live again. I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with flesh, and form skin over you. I will put breath into you, and you shall live again. You shall know that I am the Becoming One!” 

I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, suddenly there was a sound of rattling, and the bones came together, bone to matching bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had grown, and skin had formed over them; but there was no breath in them. 

Then She said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, O mortal! Say to the breath: Thus said the Becoming God: Come, O breath, from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live again.” 

I prophesied as She commanded me. The breath entered them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast multitude. 

Then, She said to me, “O mortal, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.’ Prophesy, therefore, and say to them: Thus said the Becoming God: I am going to open your graves and lift you out of the graves, O My people, and bring you to the land of Israel. You shall know, O My people, that I am the Becoming One, when I have opened your graves and lifted you out of your graves. I will put My breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil. Then you shall know that I the Becoming One have spoken and have acted”—declares the Becoming One. 

Queeries for the text:
When does life begin? 

Who has access to life?
Who gets breath when they can't breathe? 

Do the bones get to respond to the prophecy? 

What happens when bones get dry?

How can doom become hope?  

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

 

 

First Reading: Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, Jesus' Chosen Family were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as She gave them ability. ⁵Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

⁷Amazed and astonished, the crowd asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jewish born and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”

¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

¹³But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “People of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your children of all genders shall prophesy, and your youth shall see visions, and your elders shall dream dreams. ¹⁸Even upon my slaves, of all genders, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. ²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Becoming One’s great and glorious day. ²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Becoming One shall be saved.’” 

 

Queeries for the text:

Who were all gathered in one place?

When else do violent winds show up?

What all kinds of fire?

How many languages?

How many nations? Who's missing?

What's happening to Native languages?

Who do we sneer at today?

What has flesh?
 

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Guest queerier, Pace Warfield-May, queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Jesus said to the Chosen Family:
^15:26"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Caretaker, the Breath of truth who comes from the Caretaker, She will testify on my behalf. ²⁷You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

^16:4b"I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. ⁵But now I am going to She who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. ⁷Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Her to you. ⁸And when She comes, She will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹about sin, because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Caretaker and you will see me no longer; ¹¹about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

¹²"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.¹³When the Breath of truth comes, She will guide you into all the truth; for She will not speak on Her own, but will speak whatever She hears, and She will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴She will glorify me, because She will take what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵All that the Caretaker has is mine. For this reason I said that She will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Queeries for the text:
On whose behalf will the Advocate testify?

What is missing from this passage? 

What is the ruler of the world? 

What is the Breath of truth taking and declaring to us? 

What does the Breath of truth look like?

What are your queeries?

 

 

 

 

Queerying Easter 5B

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

 

 

First Reading: Acts 8:26-40

²⁶Then an angel of the Becoming One said to Philip, “Get up and go up toward the south to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) ²⁷So Philip got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. Ey had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸and was returning home; seated in eir chariot, ey was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” ³⁰So Philip ran up to it and heard the Ethiopian reading the prophet Isaiah. 

 

Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 

 

³¹Ey replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And ey invited Philip to get in and sit beside em. ³²Now the passage of the scripture that ey was reading was this: “Like a sheep they were led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so they do not open their mouth. ³³In their humiliation justice was denied them. Who can describe their generation? For their life is taken away from the earth.” ³⁴The Ethiopian treasurer asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about themself or about someone else?” 

 

³⁵Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to em the good news about Jesus. ³⁶As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the Ethiopian eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” ³⁸Ey commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the Ethiopian, went down into the water, and Philip baptized em. 

 

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Becoming One snatched Philip away; ey saw him no more, and went on eir way rejoicing. ⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

 

Queeries for the text:

What had Philip been up to?

What is the role of education in faith?

Where in Isaiah is that passage?

From whom is justice denied? 

What else does Isaiah say? Who are they talking about?

What prevents people from being baptized?

Where all did Philip go?

 

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Guest queerier, Pace Warfield-May, queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: John 15:1-8
Jesus continued:
“I am the true vine, and my Caretaker is the gardener. ²Ze removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit Ze prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³You have already been pruned by the word that I have spoken to you.

⁴“Remain and dwell in me as I remain and dwell in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains and dwells in the vine, neither can you unless you remain and dwell in me. ⁵I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶Whoever does not remain and dwell in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷If you remain and dwell in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸My Caretaker is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Queeries for the text:
How do you bear fruit?
Why do branches stop bearing fruit?
How does pruning help things grow?
How does climate change affect vineyards and farming?
What do you wish for?

 

What are your queeries?

 

 

 

Queerying 13th after Pentecost A

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 16:21-28

²¹From that time on, Jesus began to show the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the religious and legal authorities, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 

²²And Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Guide! This must never happen to you.” 

²³But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

²⁴Then Jesus told the disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? 

²⁷“For the Human One is to come with the angels in the glory of the Parent, and then will repay everyone for what has been done. ²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Human One coming in Their reign.” 

Queeries for the text:
What's up with Jesus' rebuke?
What had Jesus told Peter right before this?
What are divine things? What are human things?
Who is expected to deny themselves?
What does it mean to take up my cross? What doesn't it mean?
Who is profiting from the whole world today? What are they forfeiting?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 11th after Pentecost A

 

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 15:[10-20]21-28

[¹⁰Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: ¹¹it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 

¹²Then the disciples approached and said to Jesus, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 

¹³Jesus answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Creator has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 

¹⁵But Peter said to Jesus, “Explain this parable to us.” 

¹⁶Then Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? ¹⁸But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. ¹⁹For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. ²⁰These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”]

²¹Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²²Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 

²³But Jesus did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 

²⁴Jesus answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 

²⁵But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 

²⁶Jesus answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 

²⁷She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 

²⁸Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Queeries for the text:
How are the first and second parts connected?
How is what Jesus says ableist? What kind of guides are blind people?
What comes from the heart? How do words defile?
Why is hand-washing important?
Who else are Canaanite women?
Who has privilege and power in this text?
Who else is called dog?
Who receives crumbs?
How do words empower and resist?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 3rd after Pentecost A

River Needham M.A. queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Genesis 21:8-21

The child grew up and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.

Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing.

She said to Abraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”

The matter distressed Abraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his.

But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed over the boy or your slave; whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be continued for you.

As for the son of the slave-woman, I will make a nation of him, too, for he is your seed.”

Early next morning Abraham took some bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her shoulder, together with the child, and sent her away. And she wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

When the water was gone from the skin, she left the child under one of the bushes,

and went and sat down at a distance, a bowshot away; for she thought, “Let me not look on as the child dies.” And sitting thus afar, she burst into tears.

God heard the cry of the boy, and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heeded the cry of the boy where he is.

Come, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink.

God was with the boy and he grew up; he dwelt in the wilderness and became a bowman.

He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Queeries for the text:
[Note: These questions are pointedly toward white people.]

What do the Midrashim say about Hagar?

How is this story important to Islam?

Who do you most relate to in this text? Why do you feel a connection with them?

Who do those outside of us say that we are?
Who do we cast out? How do we cast them out?

How are we our kindred's keeper?

Who dies from the temper tantrums of white women?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 10:24-39

Jesus said:

²⁴“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; ²⁵it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of the household!

²⁶“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. ²⁷What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. ²⁸Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰And even the hairs of your head are all counted. ³¹So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

³²“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; ³³but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

³⁴“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; ³⁶and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. ³⁷Whoever loves a parent more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves an offspring more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Queeries for the text:

What is the difference between teacher and master?

How is this text problematic?

What happens when people with power request secret keeping?

How many hairs are there to count?

From where do we get our value?

What sort of peace does Jesus resist?

How are family dynamics complicated?

How do we define people? How do we define God?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Easter 6A

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 17:22-31
²²Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. ²³For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Leader of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, ²⁵nor are They served by human hands, as though They needed anything, since God Themself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. ²⁶From one ancestor They made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and God allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, ²⁷so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for Them and find Them—though indeed God is not far from each one of us. ²⁸For ‘In God we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are Their offspring.’ ²⁹Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. ³⁰While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now They command all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because God has fixed a day on which They will have the world judged in righteousness by a human whom They have appointed, and of this God has given assurance to all by raising Them from the dead.”

Queeries for the text:
What's the Areopagus?
What is it like to be extremely religious?
Does God need humanity?  Adoration?  Worship?
Which poets said we are God's offspring?
How are we God's offspring?
What do the art and imagination of mortals produce?
Where is judgment lacking?  Where is it needed?
How do people hold space for the unknown?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 6th after Epiphany year C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 17:5-10

Thus says the Becoming One:

Cursed is the one that trusts in a human,

and makes flesh their arm,

and whose heart departs from the Becoming One.

For they shall be like a tamarisk in the desert,

and shall not see when good comes;

but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,

a salt land and not inhabited.

Blessed is the one that trusts in the Becoming One,

and whose trust the Becoming One is.

For they shall be as a tree planted by the waters,

that spreads out its roots by the river,

that shall not see when heat comes,

and its foliage will be luxurious;

it shall not be anxious in the year of drought,

Neither will it cease from yielding fruit.

The heart is deceitful above all things,

and it is exceedingly weak—who can know it?

I the Becoming One search the heart,

I try the reins,

even to give every one according to their ways,

according to the fruit of their doings.

Queeries for the text:
What does it mean to be cursed? What curses follow us today?
Is the text pointing back to Judges? Does Hosea point back here? What do our hearts lust after today?
What is a tamarisk? Does it show up elsewhere in the Tanakh?
Is good a person? How does good come?
What is a blessing? Who is blessed? How many are there?
What is luxurious foilage? How could we reinterpret this metaphor for today?
How is the heart weak and deceitful?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 6:17-26
¹⁷Jesus came down with the twelve

and stood on a level place,

with a great crowd of his disciples

and a great multitude of people

from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon.

¹⁸They had come to hear Jesus

and to be healed of their diseases;

and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured.

¹⁹And all in the crowd were trying to touch Jesus,

for power came out from him and healed all of them.

²⁰Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the dominion of God.

²¹“Blessed are you who are hungry now,

for you will be filled.

“Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

²²“Blessed are you when people hate you,

and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you

on account of the Human One.

²³Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,

for surely your reward is great in heaven;

for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

²⁴“But woe to you who are rich,

for you have received your consolation.

²⁵“Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry.

“Woe to you who are laughing now,

for you will mourn and weep.

²⁶“Woe to you when all speak well of you,

for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets."

Queeries for the text:
Where did Jesus come down from?
How does power come out from a person to heal?
Who are poor?  Hungry?
Who weeps?
Who is hated, excluded, reviled, and defamed?
What do our ancestors do to the prophets?
Who are rich?  Full?  Laughing?
How do we speak well?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Advent 4 Year C

Our reading from the Tanakh is queeried by periodic queerier River Needham.

Micah 5:2-5a
And you, O Bethlehem of Ephrath, least among the clans of Judah, from you one shall come forth to rule Israel for me—one whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Truly, ze will leave them helpless until she who is to bear has borne; then the rest of hir countryfolk shall return to the children of Israel. Ze shall stand and shepherd by the might of the Becoming One, by the power of the name of the Becoming One hir God, and they shall dwell secure. For lo, ze shall wax great to the ends of the earth; and that shall afford safety.

Queeries for the text:
What does it mean to be least or most?
Who rules the days? What is happening to these days during this time?
Who rules Israel? Why does the ruler need to be replaced?
Who is the ancient one? Who bears hir?
Why does the ruler leave them helpless?
Who is divine in this text? Where does it change through the passage?
How does a ruler make people safe?
Where are the ends of the earth? Where else do they come up in Tanakh?
How do Jewish people respond to Christian appropriation of this text?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeried the gospel reading.

Luke 1:39-45[46-55]
³⁹In those days Mary set out

and went with haste to a Judean town

in the hill country,

⁴⁰where she entered the house of Zechariah

and greeted Elizabeth.

⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,

the child leaped in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit

⁴²and exclaimed with a loud cry,

“Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

⁴³And why has this happened to me,

that the mother of my Lord comes to me?

⁴⁴For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting,

the child in my womb leaped for joy.

⁴⁵And blessed is she

who believed that what the Becoming One said to her

would be accomplished!”

⁴⁶And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Becoming One,

⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

⁴⁸who has looked with favor on me,

a lowly servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is God's name.

⁵⁰God's mercy is for those who fear Them

from generation to generation.

⁵¹God's arm is filled with strength,

scattering the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

⁵²God has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

⁵³God has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

⁵⁴God has helped Their servant Israel,

in remembrance of mercy,

⁵⁵according to the promise God made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Queeries for the text:
Where does Mary's song come from?
Why was Mary in such a hurry?
Who is Elizabeth?
What happens in a person's body when the fetus is in the sixth month?
Why do Elizabeth's words sound so familiar?
Who is the she who is blessed and believed?
Which powerful need to be brought down?  When?
How does God lift up the lowly?
Who are Abraham's descendants?
Where is Love?

What are your queeries?

19th after pentecost year b - mark

Mark 9:38-50
³⁸John said to Jesus,
     “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name,
     and we tried to stop them,
          because they were not following us.”
³⁹But Jesus said,
     “Do not stop them;
          for no one who does a deed of power in my name
               will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.
          ⁴⁰Whoever is not against us is for us.
     ⁴¹For truly I tell you,
          whoever gives you a cup of water to drink
               because you bear the name of Christ
                    will by no means lose the reward.

⁴²“If any of you put a stumbling block
     before one of these little ones who believe in me,
          it would be better for you
               if a great millstone were hung around your neck
               and you were thrown into the sea.
⁴³If your hand causes you to stumble,
     cut it off;
          it is better for you to enter life maimed
               than to have two hands
               and to go to hell,
                    to the unquenchable fire.  
⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to stumble,
     cut it off;
          it is better for you to enter life lame
               than to have two feet
               and to be thrown into hell.  
⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to stumble,
     tear it out;
          it is better for you to enter the dominion of God with one eye
               than to have two eyes
               and to be thrown into hell,
                    ⁴⁸where their worm never dies,
                    and the fire is never quenched.

⁴⁹“For everyone will be salted with fire.
     ⁵⁰Salt is good;
          but if salt has lost its saltiness,
               how can you season it?
          Have salt in yourselves,
               and be at peace with one another.”

Queeries for the text:
Who else have disciples tried to stop from doing ministry in Jesus' name?
What is the reward?
What are today's stumbling blocks?
Who is placing the stumbling blocks?
How are Jesus' hyperboles harmful to others?
What does this have to do with what's going on today?
What hell is Jesus talking about?
Is being at peace with ourselves a prerequisite to being at peace with one another?
Does salt only work when it's angry?
If bodies are mostly water, what's our salt content?

What are your queeries?

16th after pentecost year b - mark

Special thanks this week to collaboration from River Needham and Remy!

Mark 7:24-37
²⁴Jesus set out
     and went away to the region of Tyre.
Jesus entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there.
     Yet he could not escape notice,
          ²⁵but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit
               immediately heard about him,
               and she came and bowed down at his feet.
                    ²⁶Now the woman was a Gentile,
                         of Syrophoenician origin.
               She begged Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter.
²⁷Jesus said to her,
     “Let the children be fed first,
          for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”  
²⁸But she answered him,
     “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  
²⁹Then Jesus said to her,
     “For saying that,
          you may go—
               the demon has left your daughter.”
          ³⁰So she went home,
               found the child lying on the bed,
                    and the demon gone.

³¹Then Jesus returned from the region of Tyre,
     and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee,
          in the region of the Decapolis.
     ³²They brought to him a deaf man
          who had an impediment in his speech;
     and they begged Jesus to lay his hand on him.
³³Jesus took him aside in private,
     away from the crowd,
     and put his fingers into his ears,
     and he spat and touched his tongue.
          ³⁴Then looking up to heaven,
               Jesus sighed and said to him,
                    “Ephphatha,”
                         that is, “Be opened.”
               ³⁵And immediately his ears were opened,
               his tongue was released,
               and he spoke plainly.  
³⁶Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one;
     but the more he ordered them,
          the more zealously they proclaimed it.
               ³⁷They were astounded beyond measure, saying,
                    “He has done everything well;
                         he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Queeries for the text:
How do you escape notice *inside a house*??
Why does it matter that she was a Gentile?
Are there any lengths to which a parent won't go for their child?
What "children" is Jesus talking about?
What did Jesus just call her?!?!?!
How quick-witted do you have to be to come up with such a subversive comeback?
What impact did this woman have on Jesus?
Who is the they?  Family?  Community?  People who don't know how to open up their community to other ways of communicating?
How do we make a spectacle in inappropriate ways?
What did the man actually want? 
How do we need to be opened?
Are they outing Jesus without his consent?
What could possibly have been done "well" in calling this woman a dog?
What would society be like if people didn't have to be "healed" in order to be included?
What did the man say when he began to speak?

What are your queeries?