25th after pentecost year b - mark

Mark 12:38-44
³⁸As Jesus taught, he said,

“Beware of the scribes,

who like to walk around in long robes,

and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces,

³⁹and to have the best seats

in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!

⁴⁰They devour widows’ houses

and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.

They will receive the greater condemnation.”

⁴¹Jesus sat down opposite the treasury,

and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury.

Many rich people put in large sums.

⁴²A poor widow came

and put in two small copper coins,

which are worth a penny.

⁴³Then Jesus called his disciples and said to them,

“Truly I tell you,

this poor widow has put in more

than all those who are contributing to the treasury.

⁴⁴For all of them have contributed out of their abundance;

but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had,

all she had to live on.”

Queeries for the text:
How does respectability politics factor into the actions of the scribes?
Who likes to have the best seats today?
What do we do for the sake of appearances today?
How would people react today if their giving were being watched?
How does first century Mark know how much a penny is worth?
Is it Widow Sunday this week on purpose?
What does Jesus have to say about class and wealth in this passage?
What about people who are neither the poor widow nor the rich people?
What would happen if the poor widow and the rich people befriended each other like Harry and Ron?

What are your queeries?

all saints day year b - john

 

John 11:32-44
³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him,

she knelt at his feet and said to him,

“Lord, if you had been here,

my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping,

and the Judeans who came with her also weeping,

he was greatly disturbed in spirit

and deeply moved.

³⁴Jesus said,

“Where have you laid him?”

They said to him,

“Lord, come and see.”

³⁵Jesus began to weep.
³⁶So the Judeans said,

“See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said,

“Could not the one

who opened the eyes of the blind man

have kept this man from dying?” 

³⁸Then Jesus,

again greatly disturbed,

came to the tomb.

It was a cave,

and a stone was lying against it.

³⁹Jesus said,

“Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of the dead man,

said to him,

“Lord, already there is a stench

because he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her,

“Did I not tell you that if you believed,

you would see the glory of God?”

⁴¹So they took away the stone.

And Jesus looked upward and said,

“Father, I thank you for having heard me.

⁴²I knew that you always hear me,

but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here,

so that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³When he had said this,

he cried with a loud voice,

“Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴The dead man came out,

his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth,

and his face wrapped in a cloth.

Jesus said to them,

“Unbind him,
and let him go.”

Queeries for the text:
Who is Jesus weeping for?
How did Jesus love Lazarus?
Why do they call Jesus Lord so many times?
How often are our prayers for the sake of the crowd? Can they be for us and the crowd?
Does Jesus know something about Lazarus that we don't?
How is the church bound?
What did Lazarus think about coming back from the dead?  What did he say?
How did the religious authorities respond to this?
How many saints have been killed by guns and hatred this year?

What are your queeries?

blessings abound beyond the binary

After the rally, I voted at the Urbandale Public Library.

Today, in addition to voting (go vote!) I was one of many speakers at Des Moines' Trans Rights Are Human Rights Rally.

You can find a video of the whole thing here.

If you just want a video of me, check it out here.

This is what I said:

I am Pastor Emily E. Ewing I use they/them pronouns and I am a nonbinary pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and currently serve as the Leadership Project Director for Downtown Disciples.

Me and two other members of Downtown Disciples after the rally.

Today we gather on land originally inhabited by the Ioway, or Báxoj'e, and the Sauk and Meskwaki peoples. People who were systematically targeted by white settler colonialism for extermination, and along with indigenous people throughout this land, their Two Spirit people, who frequently held places of honor and responsibility, were some of the first to be targeted and killed.  And so as we gather, it is important that we acknowledge this land and their history.

We are here to decry the cruel policies, practices, and plans of this administration and others who have and will speak are making that clear.  so I'm going to do what pastors do best and give a blessing.

To you, my fellow intersex, trans, gender expansive, gender nonconforming, and gender renegade beloveds:

You are not alone.

You carry with you a great cloud of witnesses--those Two Spirit, Third Gender, trans, intersex, gender renegades whose names we no longer know, and yet are held in love by the Source of Life.

You rest on the shoulders of the courageous ones like Marsha P. Johnson, Silvia Rivera, and Miss Major—they threw bricks and shoes and words decades ago, which continue to reverberate today.

In my tradition, we also look to Joseph in Genesis, whose beautiful dress bore the full diversity of rainbow colors and whose dreams stretched beyond their imagining, to bring you energy and empower your resistance to what this administration intended for harm.

We recognize that in Acts the Ethiopian Eunuch's gender and sex helped them break down binaries and break open the church’s barriers. May their spirit pour over you, breaking through every barrier that keeps you from wholeness.

We remember that in Genesis the very first of humanity—the intersex human from humus, the earthling from the earth—was made in the Divine image. May this one renew your connection not only to the dirt of the earth, but also to the stardust scattered throughout the cosmos, which join together to form you.  And may the Divine One, whose image you bear, breathe new life into you.

As a Christian I also recognize that the Word made flesh, who transgresses boundaries between human and divine, who we name as Jesus, was born of the woman Mary through the power of that high femme Holy Spirit, was incarcerated and executed by the state and yet prevailed, spurring us to action and nourishing us for the struggle to come.

May the One who created and creates you, who loves your whole self, who loves who you are and who you are becoming, who loves the power you hold to transform the broken world in which we all live—may this One wrap you in love that seeps to the deepest core of your being.

May you know the peace, the power, the love, the strength, and the solidarity of the one who loves you best—the one who is love and life, justice and peace, restoration and celebration of who you are and who you are becoming!

Amen

reformation - john

John 8:31-36
³¹Then Jesus said to the Judeans who had believed in him,

“If you continue in my word,

you are truly my disciples;

³²and you will know the truth,

and the truth will make you free.”

³³They answered Jesus,

“We are descendants of Abraham

and have never been slaves to anyone.

What do you mean by saying,

‘You will be made free’?”

³⁴Jesus answered them,

“Very truly, I tell you,

everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

³⁵The slave does not have a permanent place in the household;

the son has a place there forever.

³⁶So if the Son makes you free,

you will be free indeed. 

Queeries for the text:
Which word from the Word are we supposed to continue in?
When does truth make you free?
When does truth make you captive?
How do we re-write our own histories?
How has John's gospel been used for antisemitic and anti-Judaic purposes?
What sins am I a slave to?
Do we want a permanent place in a household that continues slavery?

What are your queeries?

a blessing for those beyond the binary

At the beginning of October, I was in Chicago for our Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries in-person board meeting.  After the meeting, I stayed in Chicago for a few extra days to visit friends.  One of the stores I went to had two free items:

When I picked them out I had no idea how life-giving they would become in just a few weeks.

This last month has been filled with complicated feelings from the joys and struggles of Coming Out Day to the administration’s racist and transphobic policies, plans, and actions, and yet this sticker and this button bring me back to the love of the One who loves me best and remind me of the importance of blessings and affirmation.  So, I have a blessing for my fellow beloveds.

-----

To you beloved children of God who are intersex, trans, gender expansive, and gender nonconforming:

May the Holy One who celebrates the gifts of Joseph, whose beautiful dress bore the full diversity of rainbow colors and whose dreams stretched beyond their imagining, bring you energy and empower your resistance to what this administration intended for harm.

May the Spirit who poured Herself out on the Ethiopian Eunuch, whose gender and sex helped them break down binaries and break open the church’s barriers, pour over you, breaking through every barrier that keeps you from wholeness.

May the Divine One who brought into being the very first of humanity—the intersex human from humus, the earthling from the earth—renew your connection not only to the dirt of the earth, but also to the stardust scattered throughout the cosmos, which join together to form you.  May this Divine One, whose image you bear, breathe new life into you.

May the Word made flesh, who transgresses boundaries between human and divine, who comes to us as Jesus, born of the woman Mary through the power of that high femme Holy Spirit, spur you to action and nourish you for the struggle to come.

May the One who created and creates you, who loves your whole self, who loves who you are and who you are becoming, who loves the power you hold to transform the broken world in which we all live—may this One wrap you in love that seeps to the deepest core of your being.

23rd after pentecost year b - mark

Mark 10:46-52
⁴⁶As Jesus and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho,

Bartimaeus son of Timaeus,

a blind beggar,

was sitting by the roadside.

⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth,

Bartimaeus began to shout out and say,

“Jesus, Son of David,

have mercy on me!”

⁴⁸Many sternly ordered Bartimaeus to be quiet,

but he cried out even more loudly,

“Son of David, have mercy on me!”

⁴⁹Jesus stood still and said,

“Call him here.”

And they called the blind man,

saying to him,

“Take heart;

get up,

he is calling you.”

⁵⁰So throwing off his cloak,

he sprang up

and came to Jesus.

⁵¹Then Jesus said to him,

“What do you want me to do for you?”

The blind man said to him,

“My teacher, let me see again.”

⁵²Jesus said to him,

“Go;

your faith has made you well.”

Immediately he regained his sight

and followed Jesus on the way.

Queeries for the text:
Why do names matter?
What does mercy look like today?
Who is sternly ordering others to be quiet today?  Who is crying out today?
How do personhood and identity interact?
Does Bartimaeus have a flare for the dramatic?  Did he miss his calling to theater?
What would Jesus do if Bartimaeus had wanted others to create more accessible spaces instead?
Why does Bartimaeus get to keep following Jesus when others couldn't?
How much faith is needed to make our world well?

What are your queeries?

22nd after pentecost year b - mark

The sons of Thunder!!!  (or just the cause)

Mark 10:35-45
³⁵James and John,

the sons of Zebedee,

came forward to Jesus and said to him,

“Teacher,

we want you to do for us

whatever we ask of you.”

³⁶And Jesus said to them,

“What is it you want me to do for you?”

³⁷And they said to Jesus,

“Grant us to sit,

one at your right hand and one at your left,

in your glory.”

³⁸But Jesus said to them,

“You do not know what you are asking.

Are you able to drink the cup that I drink,

or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

³⁹They replied,

“We are able.”

Then Jesus said to them,

“The cup that I drink you will drink;

and with the baptism with which I am baptized,

you will be baptized;

⁴⁰but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant,

but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

⁴¹When the ten heard this,

they began to be angry with James and John.

⁴²So Jesus called them and said to them,

“You know that among the Gentiles

those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them,

and their great ones are tyrants over them.

⁴³But it is not so among you;

but whoever wishes to become great among you

must be your servant,

⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.

⁴⁵For the Human One came not to be served but to serve,

and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Queeries for the text:
What have we skipped since last week?
What does thunder have to do with this?
Will the disciples *EVER* get it?
How much more entitled could the Sons of Thunder be?
Which baptism was Jesus baptized with?
For whom have those special seats been prepared?
How do rulers today lord their power over others?
Who are the servants among us?  Who are those legally enslaved in the u.s. today?
What does it mean to ransom others?
How is Jesus rejecting the false binaries of ruler/servant and powerful/powerless?

What are your queeries?



If you're interested in checking out the sermon that came out of this queery, you can find a brief description of the sermon and the image here!