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 an enslaved girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her enslavers a great deal of money by fortune-telling. ¹⁷While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men 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 officers, 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 officers 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 holding vigil, 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 assumed 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 Lover Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³²They spoke the word of the Lover 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. ³⁴The jailer 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:
Where are they?
[When] do owners work?
Why was Paul annoyed at truth-telling?
What happened to the girl after this?
How does faith disturb empire?
Who else did Roman authorities flog?
What happens when jailed?
How do we keep vigil?
What happens when incarceration is unnecessary?
When despairing, what can we do besides un-aliving ourselves?
What do jailers need saving from?
Which word of the Lover did they speak?
How does faith humanize? How does faith dehumanize?

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

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
“Holy shit, y’all: I am coming soon and my reward is with me, to give the reward away according to everyone’s work. ¹³I am the A and the Z, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

¹⁴Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates.

¹⁶“It’s me, Jesus, who has sent my angel to testify to y’all these things in the churches. I am the source and the descendent of David, the radiant morning star.

¹⁷The Spirit and her fiancé say, “Come,”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come,”
And let everyone who is parched come.
Let anyone who wishes to take the water of life have free and unlimited access.

²⁰The one who testifies to these things say, “Surely I am coming soon.” Truly– Come, Lover Jesus. ²¹The grace of our Lover, Jesus the Anointed One, be with all those who have been set apart, the holy. Amen.

Queeries for the text:

What is missing from this text?
What is the importance of a morning star?
Why are those who wash their robes blessed?
What does it mean to testify?
Who is the Spirit’s fiancé?

What are your queeries?

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 Easter 5C

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

Revelation 21:1-6
Then I saw a new sky and a new ground; for the first sky and the first ground had passed away, and the sea was no more. ²And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of the sky from the Becoming One, decorated as a banquet hall for a wedding. ³And I heard a loud voice from the judges’ bench saying, "See, the home of the Becoming One has been placed among mortals. Xe will dwell with them as their God; they will be Xyr peoples, and God Xymself will be with them; ⁴Xe will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for they have passed away." ⁵And the One who was seated on the judges’ bench said, "See, I am making all things new. Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." ⁶Then Xe said to me, "It is done! I am the A and the Z, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the parched I will give away clean, neverending water from the spring of the water of life.

Queeries for the text:
What do you envision the new sky and the new ground to be like?
Why did the old ground pass away and the sea become no more?
How do we comfort and build community through times of grief?
Why is clean water so important?

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Find previous queeries for the Acts text here.

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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?



 

Queerying Easter 3C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 9:1-6[7-20]
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lover, went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, of any gender, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³Now as Saul was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

⁵Saul asked, “Who are you, Lover?”

The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are targeting. ⁶But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

[⁷The people who were traveling with Saul stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

⁹For three days Saul was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lover said to Ananias in a vision, “Ananias.”

He answered, “Here I am, Lover.”

¹¹The Lover said to Ananias, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, ¹²and he has seen in a vision one named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”

¹³But Ananias answered, “Lover, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; ¹⁴and here he has authority from the community leaders to bind all who invoke your name.”

¹⁵But the Lover said to Ananias, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and rulers and before the people of Israel; ¹⁶I myself will show Saul how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

¹⁷So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lover Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸And immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and his sight was restored. Then Saul got up and was baptized, ¹⁹and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, ²⁰and immediately Saul began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “They are the Descendant of God.”]

Queeries for the text:
How can light harm?
Why is Saul persecuting the followers of the Way?
How is Saul dependent on others? How are we interdependent?
Why would anyone want to go to the street called Straight?
How do harmful actions disconnect us?
What scales need to fall for us to proclaim Jesus?
How do conversions usually happen? 

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

Revelation 5:11-14
¹¹Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the ancestors; they numbered tens of thousands of tens of thousands and thousands of thousands, ¹²singing with full voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!"

¹³Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, "To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" ¹⁴And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the ancestors fell down and worshiped.

Queries for the text:
How does one hear by looking?
Who are the ancestors? What are the four creatures?
What comes from suffering?
What does an entire planet singing sound like?

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Find previous queeries for the John text.

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What are your queeries?

Queerying Easter 2C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Gospel: Acts 5:27-32
²⁷When the captain and police had brought the Sent Ones, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, ²⁸saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this person’s blood on us.”

²⁹But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. ³⁰The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. ³¹God exalted Them at Xyr right hand as Lover and Savior that They might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³²And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Xem.”

Queeries for the text:
Why were the captain and police bringing the Sent Ones?
How do Christians bring Jesus' blood on Jewish people?
What is of God?
What happens when someone is hung on a tree?
Who actually hung Jesus on a tree?
How are religious and community leaders complicit in oppression?
Who needs repentance and forgiveness?
What is the Holy Spirit up to?

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

Revelation 1:4-8
⁴John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from Them who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before Their throne, ⁵and from Jesus the Anointed, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the Sovereign of the monarchs and leaders of the earth. To Them who loves us and freed us from our harm and harm to others by Their blood, ⁶and made us to be a kin-dom, priests serving Their God/ess and Parent, to Them be glory and authority forever and ever. Amen.

⁷Look! They are coming with the clouds; every eye will see Them, even those who pierced Them; and on Their account all the peoples of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. ⁸"I am the A (the Alpha, the First) and the Z (the Omega, the last)," says the God/ess, who is and who was and who is to come, the Supreme.

Queeries for the text:
Who is this message addressed to?
What does it mean to be firstborn of the dead?
What or who is Jesus witness to?
What does it mean to be a member of Jesus' kin-dom and a priest serving God/ess?
Why will the peoples of the earth wail?

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Find previous queeries for the John text.

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What are your queeries?

new year's eve year b sermon

For those of you who are curious about what a sermon born out of this sort of queerying might be like, below is the manuscript for my short sermon during a New Year's Eve lessons and carols service.  In addition to the two readings included below, I mention Genesis 1:1-5, 14-18 and Micah 5:2-5a, which were the other two readings for today.

To read other sermon manuscripts, check out my other blog: http://emmy-liz.blogspot.com/



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Revelation 21:1-6a

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth;

     for the first heaven 

     and the first earth had passed away,

          and the sea was no more.

²And I saw the holy city,

     the new Jerusalem,

          coming down out of heaven from God,

               prepared as a bride 

                    adorned for her husband.

³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

     “See, the home of God is among mortals.

          God will dwell with them as their God;

               they will be God’s peoples,

               and God’s own self will be with them;

          ⁴God will wipe every tear 

               from their eyes.

               Death will be no more;

               mourning and crying and pain 

                    will be no more,

                         for the first things 

                              have passed away.”

⁵And the one who was seated on the throne said,

     “See, I am making all things new.”

Also that one said,

     “Write this, 

          for these words are trustworthy and true.”

⁶Then the one said to me,

     “It is done!

          I am the Alpha and the Omega,

               the beginning and the end.”

The holy gospel according to John (1:1-14).

In the beginning was the Word,

     and the Word was with God,

     and the Word was God.

          ²The Word was in the beginning with God.

               ³All things came into being 

                    through the Word,

                    without whom 

                         not one thing came into being.

                    What has come into being 

                              ⁴in the Word was life,

                         and the life was the light 

                              of all people.

⁵The light shines in the darkness,

     and the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶There was a man sent from God,

     whose name was John.

          ⁷He came as a witness 

               to testify to the light,

               so that all might believe through him.

               ⁸John himself was not the light,

                    but he came to testify to the light.

⁹The true light,

     which enlightens everyone,

          was coming into the world.

     ¹⁰The light was in the world,

     and the world came into being 

          through the light;

               yet the world did not know the light.

     ¹¹The light came to what was their own,

          and their own people did not accept them.

               ¹²But to all who received the light,

                    who believed in the name,

                         the light gave power 

                          to become children of God,

                              ¹³who were born,

                                   not of blood

                                   or of the will of the flesh

                                   or of the will of a human,

                                        but of God.

¹⁴And the Word became flesh 

     and lived among us,

          and we have seen the glory of the Word,

              the glory as of a father’s only child,

                   full of grace and truth.

The gospel of the Lord.

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Today is a day of endings and beginnings.  As we end our calendar year, not only do we prepare to begin a new one, but we are already right in the middle of Christmas and the birth of God with us.  Add into that Advent being the beginning of our new church year, and we have a whole mess of beginnings and middles, even at this ending.

Our readings for today reflect this as well.  A story of beginning creation in Genesis, new hope for a Messiah to come in Micah, a hymn of beginning creation and the Word made flesh in John, and newness in Revelation.  The poetry of these readings pulls us into the mystery that comes with beginning and ending.

The vision laid out in Revelation feels magical, even, with the new heaven and new earth.  For me, especially having grown up in the mountains of Colorado, it’s like the day after a snowfall—this morning, for example.  Everything feels new and bright as the sunlight twinkles like glitter off the new flakes of snow blanketing everything.  It’s not a complete restart, but it feels new enough to be one.

Maybe that’s the real truth of all of these readings—that beginnings and endings are never only one or the other, but instead encompass so much more.  While we frequently think about the world in binaries—beginning and end, dark and light, dog and cat—that has not always been the worldview. 

My favorite Hebrew poetry technique, called a merism, actually shows up all over the place in our readings, especially the reading from Revelation.  A merism names two things typically understood as being at opposite ends of a spectrum or idea, like heaven and earth or male and female, dark and light, as a kind of shorthand to include everything in between.

So when we hear or read about God creating the heavens and the earth, we can think about the creation of the whole cosmos.  And when the One on the throne in Revelation says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end,” we know it means not only the alpha and the omega, but also the beta, gamma, delta, epsilon—the beginning, middle, end, and every new beginning.

The God who comes to us as the Word made flesh isn’t just with us at the beginnings of birth and baptism and the endings of funerals, but instead the Word made flesh is with us in every moment of our fleshy lives.

The incarnation, which we celebrate particularly at Christmas, is God choosing humanity with so much enthusiasm that God takes it all on—the joy and the sorrow.  God takes on our graduations, new jobs, relationships, sobriety and recovery, as well as the layoffs, failed tests, broken relationships, and royal mess-ups. 

God is with us in all of that and each week as we celebrate communion, we receive a tangible reminder of that love and grace that chooses to be with us for it all.  In the bread and wine, which are the body and blood of Christ, Jesus, the Word made flesh, joins in our flesh and journeys with us throughout the week—at every Table, bedside, and bus stop.  

Jesus sticks with us no matter what, so that at the end of all things, we are not surprised to find God with us for what may not be an ending, but just the middle or even another beginning.

Thanks be to God.