Queerying 2nd after Pentecost A

River Needham M.A., queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Genesis 18:1-15

The Becoming One appeared to Abraham by the terebinths of Mamre; Abraham was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground, he said, “My lords, if it please you, do not go on past your servant. Let a little water be brought; bathe your feet and recline under the tree. And let me fetch a morsel of bread that you may refresh yourselves; then go on—seeing that you have come your servant’s way.” They replied, “Do as you have said.” Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quick, three seahs of choice flour! Knead and make cakes!” Then Abraham ran to the herd, took a calf, tender and choice, and gave it to a servant-boy, who hastened to prepare it. He took curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared and set these before them; and he waited on them under the tree as they ate. They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he replied, “There, in the tent.”

Then one said, “I will return to you next year, and your wife Sarah shall have a son!”

Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years; Sarah had stopped menstruation. 

Then, Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “Now that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment—with my husband so old?”

Then the Becoming One said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I in truth bear a child, old as I am?’ Is anything too wondrous for the Becoming One? I will return to you at the same season next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was frightened.

But The Becoming One replied, “You did laugh.”

Queeries for the text:

What are the terebinths of Mamre?
What is the purpose of Abraham's greeting?

Where do the men end up going? Why?

How do these characters challenge misogyny?

Who menstruates?
Why does the Becoming One put words in Sarah's Mouth?
How is laughter life giving?
How does laughter kill?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 9:35-10:8[9-23]

³⁵Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the reign, and curing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, Jesus had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to the disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore ask the Head of the harvest to send out laborers into xyr harvest.”

10:1Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. ²These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The reign of heaven has come near.’ ⁸Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. [⁹Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, ¹⁰no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. ¹¹Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. ¹²As you enter the house, greet it. ¹³If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. ¹⁴If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

¹⁶“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; ¹⁸and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; ²⁰for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Provider speaking through you. ²¹Sibling will betray sibling to death, and a parent xyr child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; ²²and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Human One comes.]

Queeries for the text:

Who is harassed today?  Who is helpless?

What authority does Jesus give?

Who is sent to their own people?

How do we create peace? What does peace not look like?

Why were Sodom and Gomorrah judged?

Who are wise as serpents?  Who are innocent as doves?  Who are both?

How does the Spirit speak through you?  Through others?

Who is hated because of Jesus' name?

What are your queeries?

from queerying to preaching: the 4th after pentecost year b

For a while now I've been sermonizing and preaching in a new way.  Now that I feel like I have a bit of a pattern to it, I thought I'd update you on the whole process.  

When I first preached this way, it was by accident and because the Holy Spirit made me do it (like she does).  Since then, I have preached several sermons with a similar sermonizing style as what that first one ended up being.

My sermons begin, about a week before preaching, with queerying the text.  This is a process I developed, after a fabulously queer text study (some might call it the queerest text study ever) with a friend, Rev. Caleb Crainer, at our annual Proclaim Gathering.  Queerying the text developed as a way for me to continue to engage devotionally with the lectionary, even as I was no longer preaching as regularly, and as a resource for others who were preaching or wanting to engage more deeply with one or more texts for the upcoming week.  

The heart of queerying is asking questions of the text, of us who engage with the text, and of the world, cosmos, and culture in which we live.  A lot of my queerying also comes with links that can problematize the text or the question, suggest answers, give examples, and more.  The particular perspectives I do my best to bring are a hermeneutic of suspicion, which I've learned from feminist theologians; a queer attention to those who are not heard and those who don't have power or names; and an attention to the intersectionality of identity, politics, power and liberation, learned from womanist, mujerista, and liberation theologians, among others.  

A lot of the time this involves google and more in-depth searches as well as cultivating from my ever growing list of resources and friends.  If you know of good connections (to resources or people) for me to make in my queeries, please let me know!  I try to do this Friday or Saturday a week before the reading(s) come up in the Revised Common Lectionary, but depending on the work (to pay the bills) that I have and other life events, sometimes it gets done and/or posted as late as Tuesday.  Sometimes I get more than one reading queeried, but many weeks it has just been one (lately, the gospel).

For this week, queerying the text looked like this:

Mark 4:26-34

26Jesus also said,

    “The reign of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,

         27and would sleep and rise night and day,

              and the seed would sprout and grow,

                   the sower does not know how.

         28The earth produces of itself,

              first the stalk,

                   then the head,

                        then the full grain in the head.

              29But when the grain is ripe,

                   at once the sower goes in with a sickle,

                        because the harvest has come.”

30Jesus also said,

    “With what can we compare the reign of God,

         or what parable will we use for it?

         31It is like a mustard seed, which,

              when sown upon the ground,

                   is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;

              32yet when it is sown it grows up

                   and becomes the greatest of all shrubs,

                        and puts forth large branches,

                             so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them,

    as they were able to hear it;

         34Jesus did not speak to those around him except in parables,

              but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Queerying the text:
What does the first parable mean in light of scientific knowledge?
Are we so distanced from the harvest that most of us no longer know how the earth produces?
How is God's reign like a weed?
What does mustard look like fully grown?
Does Jesus just want us to stop getting in the way of the reign of God?
Why does Jesus use riddles so much?  Why are the disciples the only ones that get explanations?

What are your queeries?




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After queerying the text, I continued to sit with it as well as the other two readings for this weekend.  It percolated along with unfolding events and remembrances of recent history.  It simmered in conversations with others during the present Pride month of celebration, resistance, and rebellion.  It sparkled and shined as I looked ahead.

And then I began to sketch out the sermon—to really sermonize. This week I tried to be more intentional, so that I wouldn't end up redoing a "final" (read: colorful) sermon (but I redid it anyway, which is what I have done each of the past weeks).  

This was the draft I first sketched out.

Because I haven't figured out how to practice preaching out loud by myself, I then preached to my friend, River Needham, via Skype (as has become a delightful weekly occurrence for us both) for feedback and so that I could record a draft of my sermon.  This usually happens after my first colorful draft of my sermon, but this week it happened before.

This is what I had hoped would be my final draft, but was really just my first colorful one.

Following the brilliant practice of another friend, Rev. Corrine Haulotte, I have begun recording a sermon in draft form and then listening to it over and over again Saturday and Sunday to get the words and the flow into my head.  I used to hesitate about doing this, because with manuscripts I would tweak them the morning of preaching.  Once I started doing it, I realized that listening to them over and over again let me mentally tweak and realize where I wanted to change things, where it was good, and any other shifts I wanted to make.  This helped, rather than hindering, the sermonizing process.

This is the final visual for this week's sermon.

Receiving feedback and re-listening to my sermon inevitably leads to a new draft of the sermon.  This week's sermon is particularly visual, with images in addition to words and visual movement.  This week's sermon is also covered in glitter, much like the children's message.

There is an audio for this sermon, although I am recovering from a sinus infection, so you can tell that I'm not 100%, but I don't have a way to host the audio, because it requires so much, so if you're really interested in the audio, you'll have to comment or contact me and let me know.

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This is more or less the pattern I now use for sermonizing and preaching.  I no longer use a manuscript, though some of my favorite preachers definitely do.  Particularly as someone who does a lot of pulpit supply, where I don't know the congregation(s) as well, this is helpful, because it forces me to pay attention and respond to the congregation in more intentional ways.  I am more clued in on if they're clued in or spaced out (Speaking of spaced out, have you seen this version of the new pride flag??  It's awesome!!!).

I'd love your feedback if you have questions, comments, or concerns!  Let me know what you think.  Also, if you like my queerying (whether it's the text, music, or liturgy) and/or want it to be more frequent, click the button on the right towards the top of the blog and "buy me a coffee" to help financially support me and my work!

Thanks!!