Queerying Palm/Passion C

 Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 19:28-40
²⁸After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of the disciples, ³⁰saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Becoming One needs it.’”

³²So those who were sent departed and found it as Jesus had told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴They said, “The Becoming One needs it.” ³⁵Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.

³⁶As Jesus rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. ³⁷As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the chosen family began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, ³⁸saying, “Blessed is the ruler who comes in the name of the Becoming One! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.”

⁴⁰Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

Queeries for the text:
After Jesus had said what?
Why a colt that has never been ridden?
Where are the palms?
Who benefits from silence? 

-----

Gospel: Luke 21:37-22:16
³⁷Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple, and at night he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives, as it was called. ³⁸And all the people would get up early in the morning to listen to him in the temple.

22Now the festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was near. ²The religious authorities were looking for a way to put Jesus to death, for they were afraid of the people. ³Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve; ⁴he went away and conferred with the religious authorites and officers of the temple police about how he might betray Jesus to them. ⁵They were greatly pleased and agreed to give him money. ⁶So he consented and began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus to them when no crowd was present.

⁷Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. ⁸So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it.”

⁹They asked Jesus, “Where do you want us to make preparations for it?”

¹⁰“Listen,” Jesus said to them, “when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow them into the house they enter ¹¹and say to the owner of the house, ‘The teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ ¹²The owner will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there.”

¹³So they went and found everything as Jesus had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. ¹⁴When the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table, and the chosen family with him. ¹⁵He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; ¹⁶for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the dominion of God.”

Queeries for the text:
What else happens in the temple?
What is Passover? What isn't it?
Who colludes with police? How is Satan at work?
How is antisemitism at play?
What kind of man carries water?
Who prepares room for unknown strangers?
How is it fulfilled? How is it not?

What are your queeries?


  
 

Queerying Lent 5C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ²There they gave a dinner for Jesus. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. ³Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴But Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' chosen family (the one who was about to betray him), said, ⁵“Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” ⁶(Judas said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)

⁷Jesus said, “Leave Mary alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. ⁸You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

Queeries for the text:
What is Passover?
Who is Jesus' chosen family? How does Jesus love them?
What does nard smell like?
What happens when fragrance fills a space?
When do we care about the poor? When don't we?
Who steals from the common purse?
How do we always have the poor with us? Why?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Christmas 1C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 2:41-52
⁴¹Now every year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. ⁴²And when Jesus was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. ⁴⁴Assuming that Jesus was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for Jesus among their relatives and friends.

⁴⁵When they did not find Jesus, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. ⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷And all who heard Jesus were beside themselves at his understanding and his answers.

⁴⁸When his parents saw him they were at a loss; and Jesus' mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your other caregiver and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”

⁴⁹Jesus said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Caregiver’s house?”

⁵⁰But they did not understand what Jesus said to them. ⁵¹Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵²And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

Queeries for the text:
What is the festival of Passover? When is it?
What is important about the age of 12?
How do you find a missing kid?
Where did Jesus sleep for those three days?
When else does Mary treasure something in her heart?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 9th after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: 2 Samuel 11:1-15
At the turn of the year, the season when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him, and they devastated Ammon and besieged Rabbah; David remained in Jerusalem.

Late one afternoon, David rose from his couch and strolled on the roof of the royal palace; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and the king sent a man to make inquiries about the woman. He reported, “She is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.” David sent messengers to fetch her; she came to him and he "lay" with her—she had just purified herself after her period—and she went back home.

The woman conceived, and she sent word to David, “I am pregnant.”

Then David sent a message to Joab, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me”; and Joab sent Uriah to David.

When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab and the troops were faring and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” When Uriah left the royal palace, a present from the king followed him.

But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace, along with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When David was told that Uriah had not gone down to his house, he said to Uriah, “You just came from a journey; why didn’t you go down to your house?”

Uriah answered David, “The Ark and Israel and Judah are located at Succoth, and my master Joab and your majesty’s men are camped in the open; how can I go home and eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As you live, by your very life, I will not do this!”

David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you off.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. The next day, David summoned him, and he ate and drank with him until he got him drunk; but in the evening, Uriah went out to sleep in the same place, with his lord’s officers; he did not go down to his home.

In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, which he sent with Uriah. He wrote in the letter as follows: “Place Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest; then fall back so that he may be killed.”

Queeries for the text:
What happened to Bathsheba?
How might she recover today?
Who were the Hittites?
Who else has died for another's sins?
How do these dynamics play out today?
Where is God in this?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 6:1-21
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. ²A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jewish people, was near. ⁵When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

⁷Philip answered Jesus, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”

⁸One of his chosen family, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹“There is a child here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. ¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²When they were satisfied, Jesus told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

¹³So the chosen family gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴When the people saw the sign that Jesus had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. ¹⁶When evening came, his chosen family went down to the sea, ¹⁷got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified.

²⁰But Jesus said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” ²¹Then they wanted to take Jesus into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

Queeries for the text:
After what?
What and when is Passover?
Where don't we acquire bread for these people to eat?
How much is 6 months' wages?
What is food among so many people?
What is lost today?
Why twelve baskets?
How did the chosen family expect Jesus to catch up?
How does travel change?

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?

-----

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 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?

-----

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?

Maundy Thursday year C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14.
The Becoming One said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:

This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months;

it shall be the first of the months of the year for you.

Speak to the whole community of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month

each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household.

But if the household is too small for a lamb, let him share one with a neighbor who

dwells nearby in proportion to the number of persons: you shall contribute for

the lamb according to what each household will eat.

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male;

you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month;

and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight.

They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel

of the houses in which they are to eat it.

They shall eat the flesh that same night;

they shall eat it roasted over the fire,

with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs.

Do not eat any of it raw, or cooked in any way with water,

but roasted—head, legs, and entrails—over the fire.

You shall not leave any of it over until morning;

if any of it is left until morning, you shall burn it.

This is how you shall eat it:

your loins girded,

your sandals on your feet,

and your staff in your hand;

and you shall eat it hurriedly:

it is a passover offering to the Becoming One.
For that night I will go through the land of Egypt

and strike down every first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast;

and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt,

I the Becoming One.

And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you:

when I see the blood I will pass over you,

so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to

the Becoming One throughout the ages;

you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time.

Queeries for the text:
Does time rebegin in this text? How does time change in this text?
What do cooperative economics look like in this text? In different cultures? Today?
Why were the preparation instructions not a required part of the assigned reading?
Why is cooking it with water explicitly verboten?
Are there any meals we eat hurriedly today? Why do we hurry?
Who are the gods of Egypt? Why does the Becoming One need to mete out punishments to them? What do they do?
What is the significance of blood? Why does God upend the social structure, where Egyptians benefit from the slavery of the Israelites? What might this imply for our social structure today?
Are there any additional plagues? Does this complicate God's instruction? Who was Batyah? Why is she important?
What is the significance of passover to Christians?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Now before the festival of the Passover,

Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world

and go to the Loving Parent.

Having loved his own who were in the world,

Jesus loved them to the end.

²The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas

son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.

And during supper ³Jesus,

knowing that the Loving Parent had given all things into his hands,

and that he had come from God and was going to God,

⁴got up from the table,
took off his outer robe,
and tied a towel around himself.

⁵Then Jesus poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

⁶Jesus came to Simon Peter, who said to him,

“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷Jesus answered,

“You do not know now what I am doing,

but later you will understand.”

⁸Peter said to Jesus,

“You will never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered,

“Unless I wash you,

you have no share with me.”

⁹Simon Peter said to him,

“Master, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

¹⁰Jesus said to Simon Peter,

“One who has bathed does not need to wash,

except for the feet,

but is entirely clean.

And you are clean,

though not all of you.”

¹¹For Jesus knew who was to betray him;

for this reason he said,

“Not all of you are clean.”

¹²After Jesus had washed their feet,
had put on his robe,
and had returned to the table,
he said to them,

“Do you know what I have done to you?

¹³You call me Teacher and Master—and you are right,

for that is what I am.

¹⁴So if I, your Master and Teacher, have washed your feet,

you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

¹⁵For I have set you an example,

that you also should do as I have done to you.

¹⁶Very truly, I tell you,

slaves are not greater than their master,

nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.

¹⁷If you know these things,

you are blessed if you do them.”

³¹“Now the Human One has been glorified,

and God has been glorified in them.

³²If God has been glorified in the Human One,

God will also glorify the Human One in Godself
and will glorify them at once.

³³Little children,

I am with you only a little longer.

You will look for me;

and as I said to the Judeans so now I say to you,

‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

³⁴I give you a new commandment,

that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you,

you also should love one another.

³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,

if you have love for one another.”

Queeries for the text:
What's missing?
Why is John's gospel always hating on Judas?
What was under Jesus' outer robe?  How big was the towel?
Why would Jesus wash everyone's feet?
Do we ever really know what Jesus is doing?
What kind of master and slave are we talking about?  Was Jesus kinky?  A power bottom?
How has the Human One been glorified?  How is God glorified in humanity?
What can it look like to love one another?  What about those outside of the community?  How do we fail at Jesus' new commandment?

What are your queeries?