Queerying Easter 6C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 16:9-15
⁹During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them. ¹¹We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, ¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days.

¹³On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Becoming One opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.

¹⁵When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Becoming One, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.

Queeries for the text:
During which night?
What would Paul have done if the vision was of a woman?
What role do dreams play in faith and action?
What was this journey like?
Why focus on the women?
Why purple cloth? What is special about purple?
How does Lydia have a household?

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J. Pace Warfield-May queeries the reading from Revelation.

Revelation 21: 10, 22-22:5
¹⁰And the angel carried me away on a wind to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of the sky from God.

²²I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the supreme Becoming One and the Lamb. ²³And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its sunlight, and its night time candle is the Lamb. ²⁴The nations will walk by the city’s sunlight, and the rulers of the earth will bring their glory into it. ²⁵Its gates will never be shut during the day or night. ²⁶People will bring into the city the glory and the honor of the nations. ²⁷But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices lies or sets up false idols, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. ^22:1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³Nothing cursed or imperfect will be found there any more. But the judgment bench of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and Xe’s servants will worship Xem; ⁴they will see Xyr face, and Xyr name will be written on their foreheads. ⁵And night will no longer be perceived as bad or scary; they need no light of candles or sun, for the Becoming God will be their sun, and they will dwell there forever and ever.

Queeries for the text:
What is missing from the text?
How do you imagine God’s glory as the sunlight would look and feel?
What is the book of life?
What is the tree of life?
How do we challenge light and dark binaries in scripture? Why is it important?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Reformation B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 30:31-34
See, a time is coming—declares the Becoming One—when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, though I espoused them—declares the Becoming One. But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares the Becoming One: I will put My teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No longer will they need to teach one another and say to one another, “Heed the Becoming One”; for all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall heed Me—declares the Becoming One.

Queeries for the text:
What possibilities for new covenants exist in the text?
What does it mean to inscribe on the heart?
Who are My people?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 8:31-36
³¹Then Jesus said to the Jewish people who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

³³They answered Jesus, “We are descendants of Abraham and Sarah and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is enslaved to sin. ³⁵The enslaved person does not have a permanent place in the household; the child has a place there forever. ³⁶So if the Child makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Queeries for the text:
What is Jesus' word?
How is history selective?
Who is enslaved today?
Which children don't have a permanent place in the household?
What could freedom look like?

What are your queeries?

 

Queerying 2nd after Pentecost B

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Mark 3:20-35
²⁰and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. ²¹When Jesus' family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” ²²And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”

²³And Jesus called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴If a reign is divided against itself, that reign cannot stand. ²⁵And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. ²⁷But no one can enter a strong person’s house and plunder their property without first tying up the strong person; then indeed the house can be plundered.

²⁸“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

³¹Then Jesus' mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him.

³²A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to Jesus, “Your mother and your siblings are outside, asking for you.”

³³And Jesus replied, “Who are my mother and my siblings?” ³⁴And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my siblings! ³⁵Whoever does the will of God is my sibling and mother.”

Queeries for the text:
When did the crowd come together before?
Who is out of their mind?  Who do we restrain?
By whom are demons cast out?
Who is divided?
What is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?
Why don't people come inside?
Who is family?

What are your queeries?