Queerying 16th after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom cries aloud in the streets,
raises her voice in the squares.

At the head of the busy streets she calls;
at the entrance of the gates, in the city, she speaks out:

“How long will you simple ones love simplicity,
you scoffers be eager to scoff, you willfully ignorant hate knowledge?

You are indifferent to my rebuke;
I will now speak my mind to you, and let you know my thoughts.

Since you refused me when I called,
and paid no heed when I extended my hand,

you spurned all my advice,
and would not hear my rebuke,

I will laugh at your calamity,
and mock when terror comes upon you,

When terror comes like a disaster, and calamity arrives like a whirlwind,
When trouble and distress come upon you.

Then they shall call me but I will not answer;
they shall seek me but not find me.

Because they hated knowledge,
and did not choose fear of the Becoming One;

They refused my advice,
and disdained all my rebukes,

They shall eat the fruit of their ways,
and have their fill of their own counsels.

The tranquillity of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of the willfully ignorant will destroy them.

But she who listens to me will dwell in safety,
untroubled by the terror of misfortune.”

Queeries for the text:
Who is Wisdom?
What advice and rebukes are being rejected and ignored?
What is the terror of misfortune?
Does God punish us?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Mark 8:27-38
²⁷Jesus went on with his chosen family to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his chosen family, “Who do people say that I am?”

²⁸And they answered Jesus, “John the Baptizer; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

²⁹Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”

³⁰And Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. ³¹Then Jesus began to teach them that the Human One must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the religious authorities, and the legal authorities, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him.

³³But turning and looking at his chosen family, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴Jesus called the crowd with his chosen family, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Human One will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Caregiver with the holy angels.”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
Why John the Baptizer, Elijah, or one of the prophets?
What is a messiah?
Who "must" undergo great suffering?
What does it mean to deny yourself and take up your cross?  What doesn't it mean?
Who gains the world to lose life?
What does it mean to be ashamed?  What doesn't it mean?

What are your queeries?

 

Queerying Lent 1A

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

Tanakh: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

The Becoming God took the human and placed them in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it. Then the Becoming God commanded the human, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you are free to eat; but as for the tree of knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat of it; for as soon as you eat of it, you shall die.” Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the Becoming God had made. The serpent said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths.

Queeries for the text:
How big would the garden of Eden need to be to support two humans today?
What are your favorite dangerous plants?
What gets omitted in this pericope?
How does this text speak to human biases in picking and translating texts?
Can serpents talk or reason?
How is good and bad decided?
What is wrong with being naked?
How are fig leaves sewn together?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards was famished. ³The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Child of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

⁴But Jesus answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶saying to him, “If you are the Child of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘God will command Their angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

⁷Jesus said to the tempter, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Becoming One your God to the test.’”

⁸Again, the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; ⁹and the devil said to Jesus, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Becoming One your God, and serve only Them.’” ¹¹Then the devil left Jesus, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Queeries for the text:
Why would the Spirit lead to temptation?
What comes from the mouth of God?
What is visible from the pinnacle today?
What would you trade for food?
What would you trade for proof?
What would you trade for power?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 23rd after Pentecost C - Isaiah

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Isaiah 65:17-25
¹⁷ For I am about to create new heavens
   and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
   or come to mind.
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice for ever
   in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
   and its people as a delight.
¹⁹ I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
   and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
   or the cry of distress.
²⁰ No more shall there be in it
   an infant that lives but a few days,
   or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
   and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them;
   they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They shall not build and another inhabit;
   they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
   and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
²³ They shall not labour in vain,
   or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Becoming One—
   and their descendants as well.
²⁴ Before they call I will answer,
   while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
   the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
   but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
   on all my holy mountain, says the Becoming One. 

Queeries for the text:
What former things will not come to mind?
What happens when people don't remember?
Which infants live but a few days?
Who doesn't live out a lifetime?
Who creates with their lives?
How must the powerful change to achieve the restoration of wolf and lamb?
How does the church hurt?

What are your queeries?


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The manuscript for the sermon I preached, rooted in these queeries, can be found on my other blog here.

Queerying 12th after Pentecost C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 2:4-13

Hear the word of the Becoming One, O House of Jacob, Every clan of the House of Israel!

Thus said the Becoming One: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they abandoned me and went after delusion and were deluded?

They never asked themselves, “Where is the Becoming One, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land no human had traversed, where no human being had dwelt?”

I brought you to this country of farmland to enjoy its fruit and its bounty; but you came and defiled my land, you made my possession abhorrent. The priests never asked themselves, “Where is the Becoming One?” The guardians of the teaching ignored me; the rulers rebelled against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed what can do no good.

Oh, I will go on accusing you —declares the Becoming One— And I will accuse your children’s children! Just cross over to the isles of the Kittim and look, send to Kedar and observe carefully; see if anything like this has ever happened: has any nation changed its gods even though they are not gods? But my people have exchanged their glory for what can do no good. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be horrified, utterly dazed! —says the Becoming One.

For my people have done a twofold wrong: they have forsaken me, the fount of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, which cannot even hold water.

Queeries for the text:
Why does God make this announcement?
Who is the voice of God?
How does the Becoming One deal with abandonment?
Where is the land no human had traversed and no human had dwelt?
How does land become defiled?
Who was Baal?
Why is the Becoming One accusing and commanding the heavens to be horrified?
How does the Becoming One justify Hir anger?
What is a cistern?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14
On one occasion
when Jesus was going to the house

of a leader of the Pharisees
to eat a meal on the sabbath,

they were watching him closely.

⁷When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor,

he told them a parable.
⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,

do not sit down at the place of honor,

in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host;

⁹and the host who invited both of you

may come and say to you,

‘Give this person your place,’

and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.

¹⁰But when you are invited,

go and sit down at the lowest place,

so that when your host comes,

your host may say to you,

‘Friend, move up higher’;

then you will be honored

in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

¹¹For all who exalt themselves will be humbled,

and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

¹²Jesus said also to the one who had invited him,

“When you give a luncheon or a dinner,

do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors,

in case they may invite you in return,

and you would be repaid.

¹³But when you give a banquet,

invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.

¹⁴And you will be blessed,

because they cannot repay you,

for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?  What's missing?
How often did Jesus eat with Pharisees?
Who were watching Jesus closely?
How was honor important?
How do we exalt ourselves?
How are relationships transactional?
Are the categories as simple as Jesus claims?  Is Jesus creating a false binary?
Is this a parable or advice?  How has Jesus' advice caused harm to poor and/or disabled people?
What about upward mobility?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Easter 7C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 16:16-34
¹⁶One day, as we were going to the place of prayer,

we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination

and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.

¹⁷While she followed Paul and us,

she would cry out,

“These ones are slaves of the Most High God,

who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”

¹⁸She kept doing this for many days.

But Paul, very much annoyed,

turned and said to the spirit,

“I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”

And it came out that very hour.

¹⁹But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone,

they seized Paul and Silas
and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

²⁰When they had brought them before the magistrates,

they said, “These men are disturbing our city;

they are Jewish ²¹and are advocating customs

that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.”

²²The crowd joined in attacking them,

and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing
and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

²³After they had given them a severe flogging,

they threw them into prison
and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.

²⁴Following these instructions,

he put them in the innermost cell
and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,

and the prisoners were listening to them.
²⁶Suddenly there was an earthquake,

so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken;

and immediately all the doors were opened
and everyone’s chains were unfastened.

²⁷When the jailer woke up
and saw the prison doors wide open,

he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,

since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice,

“Do not harm yourself,

for we are all here.”

²⁹The jailer called for lights,
and rushing in,

he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

³⁰Then he brought them outside and said,

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹They answered,

“Believe on the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved,

you and your household.”

³²They spoke the word of the Lord to him

and to all who were in his house.

³³At the same hour of the night

he took them and washed their wounds;

then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.

³⁴He brought them up into the house
and set food before them;

and he and his entire household rejoiced

that he had become a believer in God.

Queeries for the text:
Which place of prayer?  Where?
Why is telling the truth annoying to Paul?  What does the girl who is enslaved feel?
How do we profit off of slavery?
What agency does the girl who was enslaved have?  What happens to her when she is no longer "useful"?
Which customs were unlawful for Romans?
What happened to a fair trial?
Who else sings and prays in prison?
How do you believe "on" something or someone?
Did the others in the household also become believers?  Does it matter?
What ever happened to the girl?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 4th after Epiphany year C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 1:4-10
The word of the Becoming One came to me:

Before I created you in the womb, I selected you;

Before you were born, I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet concerning the nations.

I replied: Ah, Becoming GOD!

I don’t know how to speak, for I am still a boy.

And the Becoming One said to me: Do not say, “I am still a boy,”

but go wherever I send you and speak whatever I command you.

Have no fear of them, For I am with you to deliver you —declares the Becoming One.

The Becoming One put out Faer hand and touched my mouth, and the Becoming One said to me:

Here I put My words into your mouth.

See, I appoint you this day over nations and kingdoms:

to uproot and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant.

Queeries for the text:
Who and what else is consecrated?
Who is the Becoming GOD? How is Fae different from the Becoming One? What might this difference signify?
Who are the nations for Jeremiah? Who are they today?
What would a prophet to the nations say today?
Who else struggles with words?
Where in the Tanakh is the first boy? What does Islam teach about him? What is the significance of these first two boys? What does it say about God?
Where else do we see God's finger?
What is the significance of the triad of pairs at the end?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 4:21-30
²¹Then Jesus began to say to all in the synagogue of Nazareth,

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

²²All spoke well of Jesus

and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They said,

    “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

²³Jesus said to them,

“Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb,

‘Doctor, cure yourself!’

And you will say,

‘Do here also in your hometown

the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’”

²⁴And Jesus said,

“Truly I tell you,

no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.

²⁵But the truth is,

there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah,

when the heaven was shut up three years and six months,

and there was a severe famine over all the land;

²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them

except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel

in the time of the prophet Elisha,

and none of them was cleansed

except Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸When they heard this,

all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

²⁹They got up,

drove Jesus out of the town,

and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built,

so that they might hurl him off the cliff.

³⁰But Jesus passed through the midst of them

and went on his way.

Queeries for the text:
What happened before this?
Why is Jesus offended at their amazement?
What does Joseph have to do with Jesus' proclamation?
Where is Zaraphath?  What happened to the widow?
How was Namaan cleansed?
Why were they filled with rage?
Was it a hill or a cliff?
What does the brow of a hill look like?
How did Jesus pass through the midst of them?
When does Jesus pass through the midst of us to go on his way?

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?

We Are Church Confessing

On Sunday, an ecumenical group called We Are Church Confessing gathered at Cowles Commons in Des Moines to confess together the ways that we as the church, particularly the predominantly white churches, have not responded adequately to the injustices being perpetrated in the united states.  You can find the video of our gathering here.  This gathering occurs the first Sunday of the month at 1pm.
 

The Lutherans hosted this event and I wrote the liturgy with collaboration from Rev. Minna Bothwell and periodic contributor River Needham.  Below is the liturgy as it was written, designed for about a 20 minute service.  Each person received a large paper that was a bulletin on one side and had space to write a confession and a prayer on the other, so that is referenced during the liturgy.  Communal responses are in bold.

If you are interested in using or adapting this liturgy, please comment on the blog or contact me directly.

Gathering

If you haven’t done so already, please write out a confession specific to you around power or privilege and a prayer specific to you for the world as it could be.  Liturgy is the work of the people and the work in this liturgy is complicated, heavy, and important.  As we work through this liturgy, you may find yourself to be among those who are oppressed by what we are confessing.  When that is the case, use your discretion to participate or refrain as appropriate.  

For those who hold identities of privilege and power, especially as relates to different points of confession, even if you don’t think you have specifically done what we are confessing, I invite you to recall not only active ways you may have oppressed others, but also the ways that you may not be aware of, by which you have contributed to others’ oppression and in that sense, please join in on the responses to confess our sins as a whole church.

Confession

People of faith, we gather on land originally inhabited by the Báxoj'e, or Ioway Nation, and the Sauk and Meskwaki peoples. People who were systematically targeted by white settler colonialism for extermination.  In the 1800s, through treaties, some of which were fraudulent and all of which were made under duress, the united states government took all of the Ioway and Sauk and Meskwaki lands and forced the tribes onto reservations.

Colonizers selected Two Spirit people, who were oftentimes held in places of high esteem within their tribes, as the first targets for extermination.  White settler colonialism still celebrates “Columbus Day” and calls Turtle Island the “new world.”   The genocide perpetrated against Native Peoples and their forced removal to reservations, justified by the Church’s Doctrine of Discovery, was a model for Hitler in the Holocaust.  We continue to destroy this land out of greed for oil, money, and power.  We join in Indigenous struggles for sovereignty only after we recognize how eminent domain abuse harms us.  

We pretend to celebrate Native peoples through hypersexualized costumes of Pocahontas who was kidnapped, raped, and died in another land at the age of 21.  We do not teach the history of the lands we live and worship on.  We do not acknowledge, let alone honor, respect, or learn from, the original inhabitants of this land we now occupy, pollute, and exploit.

These are sins of the Church. 

So, dear people,

do you confess? 

We confess that we have supported settler colonialism and native erasure by what we have done and by what we have failed to do. We are sorry for the harm this has caused and we repent.

People of faith, many of us trace our faith traditions back to the Protestant Reformation and, especially for Lutherans, Martin Luther.  Antisemitism and anti-Judaism are a part of our histories we would prefer to deny or excuse.  Martin Luther was antisemitic.  Churches have participated in and actively supported pogroms and the Holocaust, and the Inquisition and Crusades before that.  In Christianity’s push for power, we allied ourselves with Empires and remain tethered to our places of power. 

When we read Jesus into the Hebrew Bible, our supersessionism harms and undermines the faith of Jewish people.  When we set Jesus against faithful Jewish people, maligning Pharisees and Jewish leaders, we hide and yet reinforce our anti-Judaism.  When we refuse to honor the holy days of other faiths, allowing Christian holidays to be the standard for elected officials, school systems, and government schedules, our Christian supremacy harms and marginalizes people of every other faith and no faith—all in exchange for power and privilege.

The attack on the Tree of Life congregation in Pittsburgh and the vandalism that has taken place at synagogues before and since are our responsibility to atone for as the Church. 

These are sins of the Church. 

So, dear people,

do you confess? 

We confess that we have supported antisemitism, anti-Judaism and Christian supremacy by what we have done and by what we have failed to do. We are sorry for the harm this has caused and we repent.

People of faith, the same doors to church buildings that welcomed and were built by our immigrant ancestors now close and lock themselves off from immigrants whose skin is darker, whose language is different, who haven’t met the recent, unrealistic standards for official u.s. documentation.  

We eat and drink from what immigrants grow and harvest, yet we will not share a Table together.  We take mission trips to places we say we love and then demonize people from those same countries when they come here seeking a better life, fleeing violence, often a result of military dictatorships propped up by our own government.  

We lift up Jesus and the Holy Family as refugees and immigrants in Egypt, pretending our churches have never turned away immigrants or looked down on those from different cultures than our own.  We refuse to acknowledge our connections to people of other cultures and faiths, and by our silence we allow the demonization and encourage harmful stereotypes of Muslims from this country and around the world as well as immigrants from throughout the colonized parts of this world.

These are sins of the Church. 

So, dear people,

do you confess? 

We confess that we have supported xenophobia and Islamophobia by what we have done and by what we have failed to do. We are sorry for the harm this has caused and we repent.

People of faith, the Church legitimized slavery, institutionalizing racism in this country.  The church abused sacred scriptures to keep people of color, particularly people of African descent, as well as Native peoples oppressed and enslaved.  The church has worshiped whiteness and power instead of the God of the Oppressed.  We have whispered #BlackLivesMatter, if we’ve said anything at all.   

We have not stopped racist policing.  We remain oblivious to the ways whiteness makes life easier.  We do not put forth the effort to pronounce Laquan or Juliana that we do Dvořák.  We assume people of color are not from here.  We allow classism and racism to divide all who need economic justice from each other.  We reproduce images of God and Jesus as white and lift up whiteness as purity and cleanliness while calling darkness dirty and scary.  We perpetuate racism.

These are sins of the Church. 

So, dear people,

do you confess? 

We confess that we have supported racism and white supremacy by what we have done and by what we have failed to do. We are sorry for the harm this has caused and we repent.

People of faith, Christianity has created and enforced transphobia and cisheteronormativity as standard and “faithful.”  The church has and continues to persecute queer people throughout the world, both actively with violence and through more subtle means.  Churches support conversion therapy, bathroom bills, and book burnings.

Our worship spaces and liturgies are not accessible.  Churches refuse to hire or call queer and trans people, especially women, femmes, and nonbinary folks, into leadership positions; support discriminatory organizations like Focus on the Family and Thrivent Financial; segregate bathrooms and groups according to the false gender binary; and make unclear statements of “all are welcome.”  These contribute to the erasure, oppression, and hatred queer people experience in the church.  

These are sins of the Church. 

So, dear people,

do you confess? 

We confess that we have supported transphobia and transmisogyny and cisgenderism by what we have done and by what we have failed to do. We are sorry for the harm this has caused and we repent.

As you gathered you took time to write your own individual confessions and prayers on the sheets of paper that you have. At this time I invite you to state your confession aloud and after each confession we will join together to respond with “we confess”.

Forgiveness

Dear people of God, we are all caught up in systems of oppression and violence. Our sins are both corporate and individual. Intentional and unintentional.  Yet God comes into the midst of it all with this good news: through the power of Christ, death, sin, violence, and oppression no longer have power over us. By the power of the Spirit, I now declare to you, the entire forgiveness of all your sins. 
Amen.

Song and Offering “There is More Love Somewhere” 

[Our offering went to Iowa's American Friends Service Committee, specifically to support DACA recipients as well as family reunification for families separated at the border] 

Renunciations

Drawing on the Lutheran baptismal tradition, we will now enter into a time of renunciation—naming that which opposes the God whom 1 John 4 calls Love and renouncing it, turning away from it and towards Love.  When asked, please respond: I renounce them. 

Evil manifests itself in many ways: implicit bias, harmful stereotypes, ignorant questions, comments, and expectations, fear and perceived scarcity, and active prejudice and violence against others.

Do you renounce these manifestations of evil and all the forces that defy the God who is Love?

I renounce them.

Evil is insidious and works within systems and institutions to oppress and marginalize.  Evil manifests itself in the ongoing legacy of colonialism, slavery, and queerphobia perpetrated by this country and the church.  These evils, along with xenophobia and Islamophobia have been encouraged through the current administration and strengthened in legislation, policies, and plans put forward in governments and churches throughout this country and world.

Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against the God who is Love?

I renounce them.

We understand sin as separation—from the Divine, from each other, and from Creation.  Sin keeps us focused inward on ourselves, ignoring or fearing any who we deem as “Other,” putting our wants before others’ needs, and isolating ourselves.

Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from the God who is Love?

I renounce them.

Prayers for Help

Creator God, your sacred nature is in all things.  Help us to honor, respect, and support the Native peoples of this land and protect the earth and all its inhabitants.

Help us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

Holy One, you are worthy of praise.  Help us to affirm, celebrate, and support people of all faiths, especially Jewish people and Muslims, challenging antisemitism and Islamophobia whenever we encounter it.

Help us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

Sojourning God, you come to us as the stranger and foreigner.  Help us to create sanctuary for immigrants, provide for those in need, and challenge the fears of ourselves and others.

Help us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

God of the Oppressed, you join with the oppressed in life and death.  Help us to recognize your image in Black and Brown bodies, confront racism, and destroy white supremacy.

Help us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

Transgressing God, you break binaries between human and Divine, sinner and saint.  Help us to celebrate queer and gender expansive understandings of scripture, protect the rights and existence of trans and gender expansive people, and challenge gender segregation in every space.

Help us, O God.  Your mercy is great.

Liberating God, we need you.  We need your help to live into your liberating power, into the vision you cast of a world free from oppression.  We now lift up our prayers, those we have written down and those on our hearts. At this time I invite you to state your prayers aloud, ending each prayer with “Help us, O God,” to which we will join together to respond with “Your mercy is great.”

[Leader will end the prayer time with the following] 
God of hope, may all you know is needed be done, we pray in your holy and precious name.  Amen.

Benediction (Blown byGod toward Newness by Walter Brueggemann)

The news is that God’s wind is blowing.

It may be a breeze that

cools and comforts.

It may be a gust that

summons you to notice.

It may be a storm that blows you where you have

never been before.

Whatever the wind is in your life,

pay attention to it…

…Go in peace.  Live into God’s liberation.

Thanks be to God.

25th after pentecost year b - mark

Mark 12:38-44
³⁸As Jesus taught, he said,

“Beware of the scribes,

who like to walk around in long robes,

and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces,

³⁹and to have the best seats

in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!

⁴⁰They devour widows’ houses

and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.

They will receive the greater condemnation.”

⁴¹Jesus sat down opposite the treasury,

and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury.

Many rich people put in large sums.

⁴²A poor widow came

and put in two small copper coins,

which are worth a penny.

⁴³Then Jesus called his disciples and said to them,

“Truly I tell you,

this poor widow has put in more

than all those who are contributing to the treasury.

⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance;

but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had,

all she had to live on.”

Queeries for the text:
How does respectability politics factor into the actions of the scribes?
Who likes to have the best seats today?
What do we do for the sake of appearances today?
How would people react today if their giving were being watched?
How does first century Mark know how much a penny is worth?
Is it Widow Sunday this week on purpose?
What does Jesus have to say about class and wealth in this passage?
What about people who are neither the poor widow nor the rich people?
What would happen if the poor widow and the rich people befriended each other like Harry and Ron?

What are your queeries?

22nd after pentecost year b - mark

The sons of Thunder!!!  (or just the cause)

Mark 10:35-45
³⁵James and John,

the sons of Zebedee,

came forward to Jesus and said to him,

“Teacher,

we want you to do for us

whatever we ask of you.”

³⁶And Jesus said to them,

“What is it you want me to do for you?”

³⁷And they said to Jesus,

“Grant us to sit,

one at your right hand and one at your left,

in your glory.”

³⁸But Jesus said to them,

“You do not know what you are asking.

Are you able to drink the cup that I drink,

or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

³⁹They replied,

“We are able.”

Then Jesus said to them,

“The cup that I drink you will drink;

and with the baptism with which I am baptized,

you will be baptized;

⁴⁰but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant,

but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

⁴¹When the ten heard this,

they began to be angry with James and John.

⁴²So Jesus called them and said to them,

“You know that among the Gentiles

those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them,

and their great ones are tyrants over them.

⁴³But it is not so among you;

but whoever wishes to become great among you

must be your servant,

⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.

⁴⁵For the Human One came not to be served but to serve,

and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Queeries for the text:
What have we skipped since last week?
What does thunder have to do with this?
Will the disciples *EVER* get it?
How much more entitled could the Sons of Thunder be?
Which baptism was Jesus baptized with?
For whom have those special seats been prepared?
How do rulers today lord their power over others?
Who are the servants among us?  Who are those legally enslaved in the u.s. today?
What does it mean to ransom others?
How is Jesus rejecting the false binaries of ruler/servant and powerful/powerless?

What are your queeries?



If you're interested in checking out the sermon that came out of this queery, you can find a brief description of the sermon and the image here!

20th after pentecost year b - genesis

This queery is brought to you by our periodic contributor, River Needham.

Note: I translate this with influence from my understanding of the Hebrew; this includes some changes in pronouns. Of particular note is my choice to use ey/em/eirs/emself pronouns for the human one (Adam). Additionally, I extended the pericope by one verse to reach the end of the chapter. These both affirm my hope to increase the variation in the ways the texts are read.

Genesis 2:18-24[25]
¹⁸And the Becoming God said: “It is not good that the human should be alone; I will make a helpmeet for em.” ¹⁹And out of the ground the Becoming God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto the human to see what ey would call them; and whatsoever the human would call every living creature, that was to be the name they would be called. ²⁰And the human gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the human, there was not found a helpmeet for em. ²¹And the Becoming God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the human, and ey slept; and God took one of eir ribs and closed up the place with flesh instead thereof. ²²And from the rib, which the Becoming God had taken from the human, God made a woman and brought her unto the human. ²³And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” ²⁴Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cling unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. ²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they were not ashamed.

Queeries for the text
Why is this text foundational to the heterosexual contract

How does the way gender is constructed in this passage feel un/comfortable?

Why is the human the default, rather than the woman? What does this reflect about how we engage with the world?
Why were the animals not appropriate helpmeets?

How does this story impact our understanding of God's omniscience?

How does the rib coming from the human make the woman queer? What are the other ways these characters are queer?

Why has the chain of families become important to society?
Who else in the Bible clings to each other?
What does it mean to be naked and unashamed?

What are your queeries?