Queerying Christmas 2C

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Disrupt Worship's take on Christmas 2

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Queerying 5th after Epiphany B

 

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: Mark 1:29-39

²⁹As soon as Jesus and the disciples left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her at once. ³¹Jesus came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

 

³²That evening, at sundown, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And Jesus cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 

 

³⁵In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷When they found Jesus, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 

 

³⁸Jesus answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 

 

³⁹And Jesus went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

 

Queeries for the text:

How are Simon and Andrew related?

Who and what else is lifted up?

Why does work start so quickly again?

How big was the whole city?

What are the gifts of deserted places?

Who hunts? Who else is hunted?

How did Jesus come out? What does Jesus proclaim?

Who is cast out?

What secrets is Jesus keeping?

 

What are your queeries?

 

 

Queerying 3rd after Epiphany B

River Needham, MA queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jonah 3:1-5, 10

The word of the Becoming One came to Jonah a second time: “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city of mine, and preach to it.” Jonah went at once to Nineveh in accordance with the Becoming One’s command. Nineveh was an enormously large city a three days’ walk across. Jonah started out and made his way into the city the distance of one day’s walk, and proclaimed: “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” The people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast, and great and small alike put on sackcloth.

[...]

God saw what they did, how they were turning back from their evil ways. Then, God renounced the punishment She had planned to bring upon them, and did not carry it out.

Queeries for the text:
What does God's word sound like?
What does preaching look like?
Does God speak Hebrew? What does a Hebrew command look like?

Why are cities enormously large?

What is missing from this passage?

How can we turn from our evil ways?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

 

Gospel: Mark 1:14-20

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the reign of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” 

 

¹⁶As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishers. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and followed Jesus. 

 

¹⁹As Jesus went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰Immediately Jesus called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.  

Queeries for the text:

Why was John arrested?  What happened to him?

What does it look like to repent?

When a fisher catches fish, what happens to the fish?

Who are the Sons of Thunder?

How do you mend nets?

How did Zebedee feel?

 

What are your queeries?

 

 

 

Queerying 5th after Pentecost A

River Needham M.A. queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

“I am Abraham’s servant,” Eliezer began. “The Becoming One has greatly blessed my employer, and he has become rich: Xe has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, servants of many genders, camels and asses. And Sarah, my employer’s wife, bore my employer a son in her old age, and he has assigned to him everything he owns. Now my employer made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell; but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’
[...]
“I came today to the spring, and I said: O Becoming One, God of my employer Abraham, if You would indeed grant success to the errand on which I am engaged! As I stand by the spring of water, let the young woman who comes out to draw and to whom I say, ‘Please, let me drink a little water from your jar,’ and who answers, ‘You may drink, and I will also draw for your camels’—let her be the wife whom the Becoming One has decreed for my employer’s son.’ I had scarcely finished praying in my heart, when Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew. And I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ She quickly lowered her jar and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. I inquired of her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ And I put the ring on her nose and the bands on her arms. Then I bowed low in homage to the Becoming One and blessed the Becoming One, the God of my employer Abraham, who led me on the right way to get the daughter of my employer’s brother for his son. And now, if you mean to treat my employer with true kindness, tell me; and if not, tell me also, that I may turn right or left.”
[...]
They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will.” So they sent off their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “O sister! May you grow into thousands of myriads; May your offspring seize the gates of their foes.” Then Rebekah and her maids arose, mounted the camels, and followed the man. so the servant took Rebekah and went his way. Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi, for he was settled in the region of the Negeb. Isaac went out walking in the field toward evening and, looking up, he saw camels approaching. Raising her eyes, Rebekah saw Isaac. She alighted from the camel and said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field toward us?” And the servant said, “That is my employer.” So she took her veil and covered herself. The servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Isaac then brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother’s death.

Queeries for the text:

What's missing?

What parts of this pericope might be objected to today? Why?

What's wrong with the women of Canaan?

What kinds of labor are valued or devalued?

What is the significance of a nose ring?
How is consent valued?
Why does he take Rebekah to Sarah's tent?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing and River Needham, M.A. queery the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Jesus said:

¹⁶“But to what will I compare this generation? It is like young ones sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, ¹⁷‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ ¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; ¹⁹the Human One came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

²⁰Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. ²¹“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. ²²But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ²³And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. ²⁴But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.”

²⁵At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Parent, Boss of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; ²⁶yes, Parent, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷All things have been handed over to me by my Parent; and no one knows the Child except the Parent, and no one knows the Parent except the Child and anyone to whom the Child chooses to reveal Xem.

²⁸“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Queeries for the text:

What's missing?

What are young ones doing without response today?

How are behaviors being policed?

What literary and rhetorical devices are at play in the woes?

What are the sins of Sodom?

What does rest feel like?

Who calls us to rest today?

What are your queeries?

Palm Sunday year C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 19:28-40
²⁸Jesus 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 Lord needs it.’”

³²So those who were sent departed

and found it as he had told them.

³³As they were untying the colt,

its owners asked them,

“Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴They said, “The Lord needs it.”

³⁵Then they brought the colt 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 Jesus was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives,

the whole multitude of the disciples 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 Sovereign!

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:
Of whom did Jesus go on ahead?
What else happens at the Mount of Olives?
Which two disciples?  What does it mean to be sent?
Why would the colt's owner let anybody walk away with it?
What condition was the road in?  What condition were the cloaks in?
Where are the palms?  Why cloaks?
For what do we praise God joyfully and with a loud voice?
What else was going on in Jerusalem?
What are stones shouting out today?

What are your queeries?