Queerying Lent 2C

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 13:31-35
³¹At that very hour some religious authorities came and said to Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”

³²Jesus said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. ³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ ³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! ³⁵See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Becoming One.’”

Queeries for the text:
At what very hour and where?
Why did Herod want to kill Jesus?
Why tell a fox? How do foxes respond?
What is impossible?
Who is killing today?
How does a hen gather her brood?
When do we say "blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Becoming One"?

What are your queeries?


 

Queerying 14th after Pentecost C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
At that time, it shall be said concerning this people and Jerusalem:

The conduct of my poor people is like searing wind from the bare heights of the desert—

It will not serve to winnow or to fan. A full blast from them comes against me: Now I, in turn, will bring charges against them.
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For my people are stupid, they give me no heed; they are foolish children,  they are not intelligent. they are clever at doing wrong and unable to do right. I look at the earth, it is unformed and void; at the skies, their light is gone. I look at the mountains, they are quaking, and all the hills are rocking. I look: no human is left, and all the birds of the sky have fled. I look: the farmland is desert, and all its towns are in ruinó Because of the Becoming One, because of zir blazing anger. For thus said the Becoming One: the whole land shall be desolate, but I will not make an end of it. For this the earth mourns, and skies are dark aboveó because I have spoken, I have planned, and I will not relent or turn back from it.

Queeries for the text:
Where is the heat coming from? Why is it the humans' fault?
What charges might God bring against humans today?
What is missing from the assigned text?
Is the speaker justified in using ableist slurs? Why or why not?
Where else are white humans unable to do right?
What does it mean to be unformed and void?
Where did the humans go?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and "those people"

were coming near to listen to Jesus.
²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying,

“This fellow welcomes 'those people' and eats with them.”

³So Jesus told them this parable:

⁴“Which one of you,

having a hundred sheep and losing one of them,

does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness
and go after the one that is lost until you find it?

⁵When you have found it,

you lay it on your shoulders and rejoice.
⁶And when you come home,

you call together your friends and neighbors, saying to them,

‘Rejoice with me,

for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

⁷Just so, I tell you,

there will be more joy in heaven over one of 'those people' who repents

than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

⁸“Or what woman having ten silver coins,

if she loses one of them,

does not light a lamp,
sweep the house,
and search carefully until she finds it?

⁹When she has found it,

she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying,

‘Rejoice with me,

for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

¹⁰Just so, I tell you,

there is joy in the presence of the angels of God

over one of 'those people' who repents.”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?  What does the RCL have against salt?
What kind of nonsense is leaving 99 perfectly good sheep to find the one sheep that might already be killed and eaten?
Why would you throw a party costing more than the lost sheep?
Did the sheep repent? Or was it the shepherd?  Can sheep repent?  Can coins?
How much is a silver coin worth?  Who would search for the lost?
How do you lose one coin out of ten?
Why spend the found coin—and perhaps more—on a party?
How do we anthropomorphize what is not human or not alive?
Who is lost?  How?

What are your queeries?

Lent 2 year C

Periodic queerier, River Needham, and guest queerier, Jessica Davis, queery the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Genesis 15:1-12, [13-16], 17-18

Some time later, the word of the Becoming One came to Abram in a vision.
She said, “Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.”
Then Abram said, “O Becoming God, what can You give me,

seeing that I shall die childless,

and the one in charge of my household is Dammesek Eliezer!”

Abram continued, “Since You have granted me no offspring,

my steward will be my heir.”

The word of the Becoming One came to him in reply,

“That one shall not be your heir;

none but your very own issue shall be your heir.”

She took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars,

if you are able to count them.”

Then She added, “So shall your offspring be.”
And because he put his trust in the Becoming One, She reckoned it to his merit.
Then She said to him, “I am the Becoming One who brought you out

from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession.”

And he said, “O Becoming God, how shall I know that I am to possess it?”
She answered, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram,

a turtledove, and a young bird.”

He brought Her all these and cut them in two, placing each half opposite the other;

but he did not cut up the bird.

Birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great dark dread descended upon him.
[Then She said to Abram, “Know well that your offspring

shall be strangers  in a land not theirs, and

they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years;

but I will execute judgment on the nation

they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth.

As for you, You shall go to your ancestors in peace; You shall be buried

at a ripe old age.

And they shall return here in the fourth generation,

for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”]

When the sun set and it was very dark, there appeared a smoking oven,

and a flaming torch which passed between those pieces.

On that day the Becoming One made a covenant with Abram, saying,

“To your offspring I assign this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:..."

Queeries for the text:
Are the Becoming One and the Becoming God the same?
Who else is a steward? How do stewards exist today? What might justice look like for stewards?
What does it mean to count the stars?
What allows Abram to be so forward with demanding things of G-d?
How did Abram carry all the animals? Did he have a pickup truck?
Why was so much of the Becoming One's Covenant omitted from the pericope?
What does it mean for God to give humans land to possess? What does it mean to possess land?
Where did the smoking oven and flaming torch come from? What powers them?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 13:31-35
³¹At that very hour

some Pharisees came and said to Jesus,

“Get away from here,

for Herod wants to kill you.”

³²Jesus said to them,

“Go and tell that fox for me,

‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow,

and on the third day I finish my work.

³³Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way,

because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,

the city that kills the prophets

and stones those who are sent to it!

How often have I desired to gather your children together

as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,

and you were not willing!

³⁵See, your house is left to you.

And I tell you,

you will not see me until the time comes when you say,

‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Becoming One.’”

Queeries for the text:
At which hour?  Where was Herod?
Why were Pharisees warning Jesus?
Why would Jesus call Herod a fox?
Have prophets ever been killed outside Jerusalem?
Can Jesus the Hen actually protect the brood from a fox?
Who else is like a mother hen?
When will people say "Blessed is the one..."?  Why?
Why does Jesus leave the house to them?

What are your queeries?