Queerying 20th after Pentecost C

Suzannah Porter and Brooke McLain musically queery the RCL readings.

How does God reassure us in the midst of difficulty?

How have you witnessed God moving mountains?

What leads us to the crown of faithfulness?

How does money connect and separate us?

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River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Joel 2:23-32
O children of Zion, be glad,
Rejoice in the Becoming One your God.
For Xe has given you the early rain in kindness,
Now Xe makes the rain fall as formerly—
The early rain and the late—
And threshing floors shall be piled with grain,
And vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.
“I will repay you for the years
Consumed by swarms and hoppers,
By grubs and locusts,
The great army I let loose against you.
And you shall eat your fill
and praise the name of the Becoming One your God
who dealt so wondrously with you—
my people shall be shamed no more.
And you shall know
That I am in the midst of Israel:
That I the Becoming One am your God
And there is no other.
And My people shall be shamed no more.”
After that,I will pour out My spirit on all flesh;
Your children of many genders shall prophesy;
Your old people shall dream dreams,
And your young ones shall see visions.
I will even pour out My spirit
Upon slaves of all genders in those days.
Before the great and terrible day of the Becoming One comes,
I will set warning signs in the sky and on earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke;
The sun shall turn into darkness
And the moon into blood.
But everyone who invokes the name of the Becoming One shall escape;
for there shall be a remnant on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
as the Becoming One promised. Anyone who invokes the Becoming One
will be among the survivors.

Queeries for the text:
What rain do we need?
Where do we need rain?
Who do we trust for provision?
Who dreams today? When do we look for visions?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
⁹Jesus also told this riddle to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous while despising others: ¹⁰“Two people went up to the temple to pray, one a religious leader and the other an Empire collaborator.

¹¹The religious leader, standing to himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: those who exploit others, those who are corrupt in their relationships, those who cheat, or even like this Empire collaborator. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my possessions.’

¹³But the Empire collaborator, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

¹⁴I tell you, on the way home, this one is justified alongside that one; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Queeries for the text:
Who trusts in themselves to be righteous?
Who despises others?
How is comparison helpful? Unhelpful?
How is gratitude called for?
How do you seek to atone for your sins?
Who justifies whom? 

What are your queeries?



 

Queerying 16th after Pentecost C

Suzannah Porter and Brooke McLain musically queery the RCL readings.

 What have you learned about trusting in God through trials and tribulations?

In whom as God shown up when you have faced turbulence?

What treasures do we store up when we set our hopes on God?

How does God invite us to join in flipping the script?

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River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Becoming One in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the prison compound attached to the palace of the king of Judah.For King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him, saying, “How dare you prophesy."

[...]

Jeremiah said: The word of the Becoming One came to me:
Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, will come to you and say, “Buy my land in Anathoth, for you are next in succession to redeem it by purchase.”

And just as the Becoming One said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the prison compound and said to me, “Please buy my land in Anathoth, in the territory of Benjamin; for the right of succession is yours, and you have the duty of redemption. Buy it.”

Then I knew that it was indeed the word of the Becoming One. So I bought the land in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel. I weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. I wrote a deed, sealed it, and had it witnessed; and I weighed out the silver on a balance. I took the deed of purchase, the sealed text and the open one according to rule and law, and gave the deed to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah in the presence of my kindred Hanamel, of the witnesses who were named in the deed, and all the Judeans who were sitting in the prison compound.

In their presence I charged Baruch as follows:
Thus said the The Becoming One, ruler of angel armies, the God of Israel: “Take these documents, this deed of purchase, the sealed text and the open one, and put them into an earthen jar, so that they may last a long time.” For thus said the Becoming One, Ruler of angel armies, the God of Israel: “Houses, fields, and vineyards shall again be purchased in this land.”

Queeries for the text:
Who is stuck in the prison compound?
What is missing from this passage?
How do we value land?
How do we redeem?
What does it mean to be a kindred?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 16:19-31
Jesus said:
¹⁹“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²²The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.

²³In Hades, where the no-longer-rich, dead man was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴He called out, ‘Daddy Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’

²⁵But Abraham said, ‘Little one, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. ²⁶Besides all this, between you and us a grand canyon has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

²⁷He said, ‘Then, Daddy, I beg you to send him to my Papa’s house— ²⁸for I have five brothers—that he may serve me and warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’

²⁹Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

³⁰He said, ‘No, Daddy Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

³¹Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip? How can it be good to skip?
Why is purple so special?
Who receives scraps from the table?
How do dogs comfort and heal?
How does the rich man's contempt continue after death?
How does God flip the script?
Where are grand canyons today?
What would startle you into repentance?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 15th after Pentecost C

Suzannah Porter and Brooke McLain musically queery the RCL readings.

For what sorrows and wounds are you calling out to God to soothe?

How will humans need redemption for blessings being squandered now?

How do you pray for people who abuse their power?

How does prioritizing financial security prevent faithful living?

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River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
When in grief I would seek comfort,
My heart is sick within me.
“Is the Becoming One in Zion?
Is not her Sovereign within her?
Why then did they anger Me with their images,
with alien futilities?”

Hark! The outcry of my poor people
from the land far and wide:
“Harvest is past,
summer is gone,
but we have not been saved.”
Because my people are shattered I am shattered;
I am dejected, seized by desolation.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Can no physician be found?
Why has healing not yet
come to my poor people?
Oh, that my head were water,
My eyes a fount of tears!
Then would I weep day and night
for the slain of my poor people.

Oh, to be in the desert,
at an encampment for wayfarers!
Oh, to leave my people,
to go away from them—
for they are all adulterers,
a band of rogues.

Queeries for the text:
Who is in mourning?
What is the outcry of "my poor people"?
What is the Balm in Gilead?
What is the physician doing?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 16:1-13
Then Jesus said to his chosen family, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and charges were brought to him that this steward was wasting his possessions. ²So the rich man summoned them and said to them, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your stewardship, because you cannot be my steward any longer.’

³Then the steward said to themself, ‘What will I do, now that my Proprietor is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to do unskilled labor, and I am ashamed to ask for what I need. ⁴I have decided what to do so that, when I am fired as steward, people may welcome me into their homes.’

⁵So, summoning their Proprietor’s debtors one by one, they asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my Proprietor?’

⁶The first answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’

They said to that one, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, remove the interest, and make it fifty.’

⁷Then they asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’

The other replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’

They said to that one, ‘Take your bill, remove the interest, and make it eighty.’

⁸And the Proprietor commended the corrupt steward because they had acted wisely; for the children of this age are more wise in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. ⁹And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of corrupt securities so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the everlasting homes.

¹⁰“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is corrupt in a very little is corrupt also in much. ¹¹If then you have not been faithful with the corrupt securities, who will entrust to you what is genuine? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³No domestic servant can serve two Proprietors; for they will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and securities.”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
When else was there a rich man?
Who stewards for the rich?
Who brought the charges against the steward?
Who is strong enough for unskilled labor?
Who changes debt?
What has corrupt securities?
How do you make friends?
What is another's?
What is your own?

What are your queeries?



 

Queerying 14th after Pentecost C

Suzannah Porter and Brooke McLain musically queery the RCL readings.

What do you pray for the wind of God to blow through and sweep away?

What are we running from when we engage in sin?

How does God's mercy released you from regrets?

How is God protecting you and searching for you, even in your lostness, waiting for you to come home?

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River Needham, MA ThM 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.

[...]

For My people are willfully ignorant,
they give Me no heed;
they are foolish children,
they are not intelligent.
They are clever at doing wrong,
but unable to do right.
I look at the earth,
it is unformed and void;
at the skies,
and 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 farm land is desert,
and all its towns are in ruin—
because of the Becoming One,
because of Xyr 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 above—
because I have spoken, I have planned,
and I will not relent or turn back from it.

Queeries for the text:
What is missing from this pericope?
What slurs can we eradicate from our language?
When else was the Earth unformed and void?
Who suffers when mountains quake?
What might the end of humanity look like?
Why won't the Becoming One relent or turn Xyr back from desolation?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. ²And the religious leaders were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners 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 sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

⁸“Or what woman having ten silver coins, a daily wage each, 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 gal pals, 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 sinner who repents.”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
What did tax collectors do?
Who are "sinners"?
Who grumbles today?
What would shepherds do?
How do we rejoice with others?
Which sheep repented? Which coin?
What prompts you to clean the house?
Who repents?

What are your queeries?



 

Queerying 13th after Pentecost C

Our newest segment: Suzannah Porter and Brooke McLain musically queery the RCL readings.

What does this week's lectionary tell us about what Jesus will do for our lives?

What changes, from God and from my own self, do I need to open myself up to?

What fearful and wonderful things about who you are has God been waiting, on the edge of Xyr seat with joy, for you to grow into?

What in our past can we now seek to make amends for? To whom can we reach out for reparation and reconciliation?

What things must we let go of in order to build a better life that honors ourselves, our community, and our God?

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River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 18:1-11
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Becoming One:
“Go down to the house of a potter, and there I will impart My words to you.”
So I went down to the house of a potter, and found her working at the wheel.
And if the vessel she was making was spoiled, as happens to clay in the potter’s
hands, she would make it into another vessel, such as the potter saw fit to make.

Then the word of the Becoming One came to me:
O House of Israel, can I not deal with you like this potter?—says the Becoming One. Just like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in My hands, O House of Israel!
At one moment I may decree that a nation or a state shall be uprooted and pulled down and destroyed; but if that nation against which I made the decree turns back from its wickedness, I change My mind concerning the punishment I planned to bring on it.
At another moment I may decree that a nation or a state shall be built and planted;
but if it does what is displeasing to Me and does not obey Me, then I change My mind concerning the good I planned to bestow upon it.

And now, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus said the Becoming One:
I am devising disaster for you and laying plans against you. Turn back, each of you,
from your wicked ways, and mend your ways and your actions!

Queeries for the text:
What do potters make today?
How can we make something new out of mistakes?
How have people mistreated the earth?
What hope is there to avoid disaster?

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While many of these are the same as were accidentally queeried last week, there are a few different queeries and a different translation to explore.

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when you have laid a foundation and are not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule you, ³⁰saying, ‘This one began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹Or what ruler, going out to wage war against another ruler, will not sit down first and consider whether they are able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against them with twenty thousand? ³²If they cannot, then, while the other is still far away, they send a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³So therefore, none of you can become my chosen family if you do not give up all your possessions.

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
Who hates family?
How are nonbinary people uniquely lovable?
Who hates life?
How do humans hate life?
How are building cost estimates inaccurate?
Who actually builds towers?
How is peace negotiated?
What harm does war cause?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 12th after Pentecost C

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 2:4-13

Hear the word of the Becoming One, O House of Jacob,
Every clan of the House of Israel!
Thus said the Becoming One:
What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they abandoned me
and went after delusion and were deluded?
They never asked themselves, “Where is the Becoming One,
Who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the wilderness,
A land of deserts and pits,
A land of drought and darkness,
A land no human had traversed,
Where no human being had dwelt?”

I brought you to this country of farm land
To enjoy its fruit and its bounty;
But you came and defiled my land,
you made my possession abhorrent.
The priests never asked themselves, “Where is the Becoming One?”
The guardians of the teaching ignored me;
The rulers rebelled against me,
and the prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed what can do no good.

Oh, I will go on accusing you
—declares the Becoming One—
and I will accuse your children’s children!
Just cross over to the isles of the Kittim and look,
Send to Kedar and observe carefully;
see if anything like this has ever happened:
Has any nation changed its gods
Even though they are no-gods?
But my people have exchanged their glory
for what can do no good.
Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be horrified, utterly dazed!
—says the Becoming One.

For my people have done a twofold wrong:
They have forsaken me, the fount of living waters,
and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns,
which cannot even hold water.

Queeries for the text:
Who abandoned whom?
What does the power analysis say?
Where are Kittim and Kedar?
Where else are living waters?

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ETA: There was a mix-up this week and next week's gospel was queeried this week! Hopefully it didn't mess too many people up.
Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶“Whoever comes to me and does not hate parents, spouse and children, siblings, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when you have laid a foundation and are not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule you, ³⁰saying, ‘This one began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹Or what ruler, going out to wage war against another ruler, will not sit down first and consider whether they are able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against them with twenty thousand? ³²If they cannot, then, while the other is still far away, they send a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³So therefore, none of you can become my chosen family if you do not give up all your possessions.

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
Who hates family?
Who hates life?
How do humans hate life?
How are building cost estimates inaccurate?
Who actually builds towers?
How is peace negotiated?
What harm does war cause?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Reign of Christ the Queen B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: 2 Samuel 23:1-7

These are the last words of David:

The utterance of David son of Jesse,
The utterance of the man set on high,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
The favorite of the songs of Israel:

The spirit of the Becoming One has spoken through me,
Femmes message is on my tongue;
The God of Israel has spoken,
The Rock of Israel said concerning me:
“He who rules justly,
He who rules in awe of God
Is like the light of morning at sunrise,
A morning without clouds—
Through sunshine and rain
Bringing vegetation out of the earth.”
Is not my House established before God?
For Femme has granted me an eternal pact,
Drawn up in full and secured.
Will Femme not cause all my success
And my every desire to blossom?
But the wicked shall all
Be raked aside like thorns;
For no one will take them in their hand.
Whoever touches them
Must arm themself with iron
And the shaft of a spear;
And they must be burned up on the spot.

Queeries for the text:
What narratives from this year brought out David's complicatedness?
How does this narrative fit with God choosing David?
What are songs of Israel?
How is God Just?
Who was David's successor?
How was David's reign remembered?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 18:33-37
³³Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the Ruler of the Jews?”

³⁴Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”

³⁵Pilate replied, “I am not Jewish, am I? Your own nation and its elites have handed you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶Jesus answered, “My reign is not from this world. If my reign were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over. But as it is, my reign is not from here.”

³⁷Pilate asked Jesus, “So you are a ruler?”

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a ruler. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Queeries for the text:
When did Pilate enter the headquarters before?
Who is Ruler of the Jewish people?
When is gossip good?
Who else is handed over by their own government and elites?
Who is responsible for harm? 
What is the relationship between truth and power?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 22nd after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Job 42:1-6, 10-17
Job said in reply to the Becoming One:
I know that You can do everything,
That nothing You propose is impossible for You.
Who is this who obscures counsel without knowledge?
Indeed, I spoke without understanding
Of things beyond me, which I did not know.
Hear now, and I will speak;
I will ask, and You will inform me.
I had heard You with my ears,
But now I see You with my eyes;
Therefore, I recant and relent,
Being but dust and ashes.

[...]

The Becoming One restored Job’s fortunes when he prayed on behalf of his friends, and the Becoming One gave Job twice what he had before. All his brothers and sisters and all his former friends came to him and had a meal with him in his house. They consoled and comforted him for all the misfortune that the Becoming One had brought upon him. Each gave him some money and each one gold ring. Thus the Becoming One blessed the latter years of Job’s life more than the former. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand she-asses. He also had seven sons and three daughters. The first he named Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. Nowhere in the land were women as beautiful as Job’s daughters to be found. Their father gave them estates together with their brothers. Afterward, Job lived one hundred and forty years to see four generations of children and grandchildren. So Job died old and contented.

Queeries for the text:
What is missing from this text?
If nothing is impossible, what is possible?
What does it mean to be dust and ashes?
How much money did they give? What does the book of Job say about suffering?
Why is Job's Daughter's appearances important?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Mark 10:46-52
⁴⁶They came to Jericho. As Jesus and his chosen family and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷When Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Descendant of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸Many sternly ordered Bartimaeus to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Descendant of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹Jesus stood still and said, “Call that one here.”

And they called the blind one, saying to Bartimaeus, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”

⁵⁰So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.

⁵¹Then Jesus said to Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind one said to Jesus, “My teacher, let me see again.”

⁵²Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately Bartimaeus regained his sight and followed Jesus on the way.

Queeries for the text:
What else happened in Jericho?
Why is Jesus named the Descendant of David?
Who do we order to be quiet?
What do we throw off to encounter Jesus?
Why did Jesus ask Bartimaeus what he wanted?
What makes us well?

What are your queeries?


 

Queerying 19th after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Job 1:1, 2:1-10
There was a man in the land of Uz named Job. That man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

[...]

One day the divine beings presented themselves before the Becoming One. The Adversary came along with them to present himself before the Becoming One. The Becoming One said to the Adversary, “Where have you been?”

The Adversary answered the Becoming One, “I have been roaming all over the earth.”

The Becoming One said to the Adversary, “Have you noticed My servant Job? There is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. He still keeps his integrity; so you have incited me against him to destroy him for no good reason.”

The Adversary answered the Becomig One, "Skin for skin—all that a human man has he will give up for his life. But lay a hand on his bones and his flesh, and he will surely blaspheme You to Your face.”

So the Becoming One said to the Adversary, “See, Job is in your power; only spare his life.”

The Adversary departed from the presence of the Becomig One and inflicted a severe inflammation on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. He took a potsherd to scratch himself as he sat in ashes.

His wife said to him, “You still keep your integrity! Blaspheme God and die!”

But he said to her, “You talk as any shameless woman might talk! Should we accept only good from God and not accept evil?” For all that, Job said nothing sinful.

Queeries for the text:
What is missing from the text?
How is theodicy apparent?
What does shameless mean?
Where else is shameless used in the Tanakh?
How is shameless a good thing?
How is this text problematic?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Mark 10:2-16
²Some religious authorities came, and to test Jesus they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

³Jesus answered them, “What did Moses command you?”

⁴They said, “Moses allowed a human man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.”

⁵But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses wrote this commandment for you. ⁶But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made humanity with many and no genders.’ ⁷‘For this reason a person shall leave their parents and be joined to their spouse, ⁸and they shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer distinct persons, but one flesh. ⁹Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

¹⁰Then in the house the disciples asked Jesus again about this matter. ¹¹He said to them, “Whichever husband divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹²and if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

¹³People were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the reign of God belongs. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the reign of God like a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And Jesus took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Queeries for the text:
Where were they?
Why do we test Jesus?
What's the difference between what is lawful and what is right?
Where is the power?
What happens with divorce?
What counts as adultery? What doesn't?
How do children receive the reign of God?
How have children been discarded?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 18th after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
So the king and Haman came to feast with Queen Esther.

On the second day, the king again asked Esther at the wine feast, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to half the kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.”

Queen Esther replied: “If Your Majesty will do me the favor, and if it pleases Your Majesty, let my life be granted me as my wish, and my people as my request. For we have been sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, massacred, and exterminated. Had we only been sold as bondspeople, I would have kept silent; for the adversary is not worthy of the king’s trouble.”

Thereupon King Ahasuerus demanded of Queen Esther, “Who is he and where is he who dared to do this?”

“The adversary and enemy,” replied Esther, “is this evil Haman!” And Haman cringed in terror before the king and the queen.

[...]

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “What is more, a stake is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai—the man whose words saved the king.” “Impale him on it!” the king ordered.

So they impaled Haman on the stake which he had put up for Mordecai, and the king’s fury abated.

[...]

Two chapters later

Mordecai recorded these events. He sent dispatches to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, charging them to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, every year— the same days on which the Jews enjoyed relief from their foes and the same month which had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy. They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking, and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor.

Queeries for the text:
What is missing from this text?
Why did Haman want to kill the Jews?
How is this celebrated today?
When is genocide okay?
How are Jews oppressed today?

-----

Queerying Mark 9:38-50

What are your queeries?

Queerying 16th after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom cries aloud in the streets,
raises her voice in the squares.

At the head of the busy streets she calls;
at the entrance of the gates, in the city, she speaks out:

“How long will you simple ones love simplicity,
you scoffers be eager to scoff, you willfully ignorant hate knowledge?

You are indifferent to my rebuke;
I will now speak my mind to you, and let you know my thoughts.

Since you refused me when I called,
and paid no heed when I extended my hand,

you spurned all my advice,
and would not hear my rebuke,

I will laugh at your calamity,
and mock when terror comes upon you,

When terror comes like a disaster, and calamity arrives like a whirlwind,
When trouble and distress come upon you.

Then they shall call me but I will not answer;
they shall seek me but not find me.

Because they hated knowledge,
and did not choose fear of the Becoming One;

They refused my advice,
and disdained all my rebukes,

They shall eat the fruit of their ways,
and have their fill of their own counsels.

The tranquillity of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of the willfully ignorant will destroy them.

But she who listens to me will dwell in safety,
untroubled by the terror of misfortune.”

Queeries for the text:
Who is Wisdom?
What advice and rebukes are being rejected and ignored?
What is the terror of misfortune?
Does God punish us?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Mark 8:27-38
²⁷Jesus went on with his chosen family to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his chosen family, “Who do people say that I am?”

²⁸And they answered Jesus, “John the Baptizer; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

²⁹Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”

³⁰And Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. ³¹Then Jesus began to teach them that the Human One must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the religious authorities, and the legal authorities, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him.

³³But turning and looking at his chosen family, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴Jesus called the crowd with his chosen family, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Human One will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Caregiver with the holy angels.”

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
Why John the Baptizer, Elijah, or one of the prophets?
What is a messiah?
Who "must" undergo great suffering?
What does it mean to deny yourself and take up your cross?  What doesn't it mean?
Who gains the world to lose life?
What does it mean to be ashamed?  What doesn't it mean?

What are your queeries?

 

Queerying 15th after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Repute is preferable to great wealth,
Grace is better than silver and gold.

Rich human and poor human meet;
The Becoming One made them both.

[...]

The one who sows injustice shall reap misfortune;
Their rod of wrath shall fail.

The generous one is blessed,
For she gives of her bread to the poor.

[...]

Do not rob the wretched because ze is wretched;
Do not crush the poor human in the gate;

For the Becoming One will take up their cause
And despoil those who despoil them of life.

Queeries for the text:
What is missing? Why?
What is grace?
When will the rich and poor meet?
What does it mean to give bread to the poor?
Who are the poor and wretched?
What gates are crushing the poor?
What does it mean to despoil of life?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Mark 7:24-37
²⁴From there Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, ²⁵but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about Jesus, and she came and bowed down at his feet. ²⁶Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷Jesus said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁸But she answered Jesus, “Your Honor, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then Jesus said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

³¹Then Jesus returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. ³²The crowd brought to Jesus a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³Jesus took the man aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. ³⁴Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ³⁵And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

³⁶Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “Jesus has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Queeries for the text:
Who else cannot escape notice?
Who are syrophoenicians?
Who else are dogs?
Who bests whom in this battle of wits?
Who brought the deaf man to Jesus?
When do we need privacy?
When do we respond with challenge?
How is society responsible for ableism?
Who is stuck with crumbs today?

What are your queeries?

Queerying 14th after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Hark! My beloved! There she comes, leaping over mountains, bounding over hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or like a young stag. There she stands behind our wall, gazing through the window, peering through the lattice. My beloved spoke thus to me, “Arise, my darling; my fair one, come away! For now the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The blossoms have appeared in the land, the time of pruning has come; the song of the turtledove is heard in our land. The green figs form on the fig tree, the vines in blossom give off fragrance. Arise, my darling; my fair one, come away!

Queeries for the text:
Who is my beloved?
Who speaks in this text?
What blossoms are we waiting for?
What are green figs?
What's going on?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Now when the religious authorities and lawyers who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, ²they noticed that some of Jesus' chosen family were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³(For the religious authorities, and all the Jewish people, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the ancestors; ⁴and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) ⁵So the religious authorities and lawyers asked Jesus, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the ancestors, but eat with defiled hands?”

⁶Jesus said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
⁷in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

⁸You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” 

[...]

¹⁴Then Jesus called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”

[...]

²¹For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: immoral sex, theft, murder, ²²adultery, greed and extortion, wickedness, deceit, shameless excess, envy, slander, pride, folly. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Queeries for the text:
What's missing?  How is it problematic?
What kind of handwashing is traditional?
How is washing good?
Why is Jesus so reactive towards these religious authorities? When else is Jesus reactive?
Which human traditions have taken over God's commands?
When else is defilement addressed?
What does immoral sex consist of?  Shameless excess?  Envy?
What else defiles from within?

What are your queeries?


 

Queerying 13th after Pentecost B

River Needham, MA ThM queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: 1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Becoming One in the presence of the whole community of Israel; he spread the palms of his hands toward heaven and said, “O Becoming God of Israel, in the heavens above and on the earth below there is no god like You, who keep Your gracious covenant with Your servants when they walk before You in wholehearted devotion; You who have kept the promises You made to Your servant, my father David, fulfilling with deeds the promise You made—as is now the case. And now, O Becoming God of Israel, keep the further promise that You made to Your servant, my father David: ‘Your line on the throne of Israel shall never end, if only your descendants will look to their way and walk before Me as you have walked before Me.’ Now, therefore, O God of Israel, let the promise that You made to Your servant my father David be fulfilled.

“But will God really dwell on earth? Even the heavens to their uttermost reaches cannot contain You, how much less this House that I have built! Yet turn, O Becoming One my God, to the prayer and supplication of Your servant, and hear the cry and prayer which Your servant offers before You this day. May Your eyes be open day and night toward this House, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall abide there’; may You heed the prayers which Your servant will offer toward this place. And when You hear the supplications which Your servant and Your people Israel offer toward this place, give heed in Your heavenly abode—give heed and pardon.
[...]
“Or if a foreigner who is not of Your people Israel comes from a distant land for the sake of Your name— for they shall hear about Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm—when he comes to pray toward this House, oh, hear in Your heavenly abode and grant all that the foreigner asks You for. Thus all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and revere You, as does Your people Israel; and they will recognize that Your name is attached to this House that I have built.

Queeries for the text:
What's missing?
What house does this text talk about?
What is home?
How long did this temple stand?
Does this home exist today?
Where do you find home? How is it constructed?
How do we care for our home?

-----

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 6:56-69
Jesus continued:
⁵⁶“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Caregiver sent me, and I live because of the Caregiver, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

⁶⁰When many of Jesus' community heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”

⁶¹But Jesus, being aware that his community was complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²Then what if you were to see the One Born of Woman ascending to where They were before? ⁶³It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. ⁶⁵And Jesus said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Caregiver.”

⁶⁶Because of this many of Jesus' community turned back and no longer went about with him. ⁶⁷So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”

⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, “Leader, to whom can we go? You have the words of everlasting life. ⁶⁹We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Queeries for the text:
How do we eat people?
How do we drink blood?
What teaching is difficult for you?
Does cannibalism offend you?
How is flesh useful?
What doesn't Jesus know?
From what are you tempted to turn back?
To whom can we go?
What does Jesus taste like?

What are your queeries?