Queerying Narrative Lectionary 111

Pace Warfield-May queeries the Narrative Lectionary readings.

Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7; then Isaiah 2:1-4
^36:1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria rose up against all the defended cities of Judah and captured them all. ²The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish with a massive army to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He stood waiting by an entry to the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. ³And Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, all came out to him.

[…]

¹³Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, ‘Hear the words of the great king of Assyria! ¹⁴Thus says the king: “Do not let your lowly King Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you rely on the Becoming One by saying, The Becoming One will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹⁵Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: “Make your peace with me and come out to me; then every one of you will be free to eat the fruits of your labor and till your own land and drink your own water, ¹⁷until I colonize your land and take you instead to a land like your own land, but my land, but do not worry, it will still be abundant in fruit and fields and water. ¹⁸Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, the Becoming One will save us. Have any of the gods of the other nations I've colonized saved their land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰Who among all the gods of these countries have saved their countries and kept them out of my hand, that the Becoming One you worship should save Jerusalem out of my hand?”’

[…]

^37:1When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Becoming One, (which was a thing people apparently did in this time period to show humility before the Becoming One, like, this wasn't just Hezekiah having strange vibes). And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, all of them covered with their matching sackcloth aesthetic, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ³They said to him, ‘Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children are about to be born, and yet there is no strength leftover to raise them. ⁴It may be that the Becoming One the Divine heard the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Becoming One the Divine has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’
⁵When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, ⁶Isaiah said to them, ‘Say to your master, “Thus says the Becoming One: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. ⁷I myself will put a defeating spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and while there, I will cause him to be taken out by the sword in his own land.”’

[--]

^2:1The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

²In the days to come

the mountain of the Becoming One's house

shall be made to be the highest of all the mountains

and shall be raised above the hills,

and all the nations shall be like a river running toward it.

³Many people will come and say,

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Becoming One,

to the house of the God of Jacob, Rebecca, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah,

that Xe may teach us Xyr ways

and that we may journey along Xyr paths."

For the law shall flow out from Zion,

and the word of the Becoming One shall pour out from Jerusalem.

⁴The Divine shall judge between the nations,

and provide guidance between people for all disputes;

all people will beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning-hooks;

nation will no longer fight against nation,

and nations will learn war no more.

Queeries for the text:
What is this building on? What is missing from this passage? Why was it left out and why the strange ordering?
What is the companion text?
Where is this headed?
What does it mean for children to be born with no strength left to raise them?
How is water important for the future of Zion?
What would a future without war look like?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Easter 4C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 9:36-43
³⁶Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good action and generous giving. ³⁷At that time she became ill and died. When the community had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, the Sent Ones, who heard that Peter was there, sent two who were men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” ³⁹So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them.

⁴⁰Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. ⁴¹He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive. ⁴²This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lover.

⁴³Meanwhile Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

Queeries for the text:
Where is Joppa?
Why does Tabitha's Greek name matter?
What are good works and generous giving?
Of what did Tabitha die? Was she pregnant?
What was Peter doing in Lydda?
Who makes the clothing now?
Which "certain Simon"? How long does Peter stay?

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J. Pace Warfield-May queeries the Revelation reading.

Revelation 7:9-17
⁹After these things, I looked, and holy shit there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in Vantablack, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰They cried out in a loud voice, saying, "Salvation and an end to suffering belongs to the Becoming One who is seated on the judgment bench, and to the Lamb!”

¹¹ And all the angels stood around the throne and around the ancestors and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped the Becoming One, ¹²singing, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our Becoming One forever and ever! Amen.”

¹³Then one of the ancestors addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in Vantablack, and where have they come from?” ¹⁴I said to the ancestor, "Comrade, you are the one that knows." Then the ancestor said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them Vantablack in the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵For this reason they are before the throne of the Becoming One, and worship day and night within the temple, and the One who is seated on the judgment bench will keep them safe and protected. ¹⁶They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not burn them, nor any scorching heat; ¹⁷for the Lamb at the center of the judgment bench will be their shepherd, and They will guide them to springs of the water of life, and the Becoming One will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Queeries for the text:
What are these things John is referencing?
What would it be like to fear no more the heat of the sun?
What does the judgement bench have to do with salvation and an end to suffering?
What would it be like to have robes in Vantablack?

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What are your queeries?



 

A Litany for Reproductive Justice

With devastation all around and in our hearts, we come to you, Holy Protector.

Be with all who are caught up in despair today for when the draft statement becomes the opinion of the United States Supreme Court:

those experiencing emergency or risky pregnancies, who will not be able to terminate a pregnancy in order to save their own life.
those who miscarry and will face criminal investigations in the midst of their pain and loss.
those who are pregnant and feel financially chained to an abusive partner.
those who do not want to be pregnant for any reason and now wonder if it will be possible to end an unwanted pregnancy.

Comforting God, be with us in our despair

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Be with all who fear what is to come.

for the terrifying realities and increased danger for those who become pregnant.
for those who recognize this as one step of many in the erosion of rights for all people.

Be a courageous and caring presence especially for people with uteri, for women of all kinds, for trans and nonbinary people, for disabled people, for queer people, for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and especially for those with intersecting identities of oppression.  Give us faith to triumph over our fear.
Courageous God, be with us in our fear

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Our hearts grieve for the ways we have failed.  We repent for our inaction to protect the right to an abortion.  We repent for the ways we have remained silent and let fear outweigh our faith and commitment to reproductive justice.  We repent for the times when we did not speak and could have.  We repent for the education we did not share.  We repent that we let it come to this.  For those of us who are faith leaders, clergy, and politicians, we repent for the times when our pulpits were silent, when we feared for our jobs more than a future without safe abortion, when we didn't believe the warning signs, when we refused to risk our comfort for the sake of reproductive justice.  We repent for the ways we ignored the 1 in 4 people with uteri in our pews who have had abortions, adding to the stigma.
God of mercy, forgive us our sins.

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Protect the most vulnerable.  Keep those who seek and who provide abortions safe.  Pour your power into holistic reproductive health care, for all seeking to become pregnant, to end pregnancies, and everything between and beyond.  Protect those who have faced forced sterilization, that their wombs and bodies may be kept safe.  Protect those without the funds or access to seek abortion, especially in states where it is already nearly impossible to access reproductive health care.
God our refuge, protect us from all harm.

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Strengthen the support for abortion networks and those who are working to protect rights to reproductive justice.  Expand the work that is already being done to ensure access to safe, free abortions.  For the fights on the horizon, we pray for your strength and protection: for bodily integrity and autonomy of all kinds, including access to birth control, access to gender affirming health care, protection for transgender and queer children from legislated harm, the protection that marriages of many kinds provide.  Give us patience and care in the creation of a more expansive movement, that we would each be gentle with each other as we navigate our trauma collisions, to seek first to understand with love.
God our champion, lead us to justice.

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We give you thanks for all those who have been in this fight for decades and for those who today are filled with ferocity, fury, and fear.

for the work and protection that has been done so far.
for all who don’t know where to begin, and yet are burning with a fire for justice in the wake of this news.

Breathe your resting peace into those who have been fighting, that they carve out space to be gentle with themselves in the time to come.  Give us wisdom to follow those who are already doing this work.  Put your words in our mouths and on our hearts as we speak with state and national officials.  Prepare us for the long road ahead.
Maker of justice, breathe your liberating Spirit through us.

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Creative Spirit of consent and courage, we entrust all this and all that you know that we need into your loving presence.  We pray all this in your many names. Amen.

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If you would like to use this litany, please credit Suzannah Porter and Rev. Emily E. Ewing, diakonia.faith. The litany in graphic form, designed by Pace Warfield-May can be found here on the diakonia.faith Facebook page.