Queerying Easter 4A

Photo Credit: Dana Rademacher Hansen

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 2:42-47
⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Becoming One added to their number those who were being saved.

Queeries for the text:
Is this a fairy tale?
What wonders and signs were being done?  What wonders and signs are being done?  What wonders and signs are we waiting for?
Who is "everyone"?
What does it mean to have all things in common?  What are "all things"?
What are today's needs?
How are needs being met?
What is it like to break bread at home?
Who has the goodwill of people?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Easter 3A

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 2:14a, 36-41
¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd,

³⁶“Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made Them both Leader and Anointed, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 


³⁷Now when the crowd heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Kindred, what should we do?”

³⁸Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Becoming One our God calls to Them.” ⁴⁰And Peter testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” ⁴¹So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

Queeries for the text:
What is missing?
Who is leading today?
What happens when hearts are cut?
Who are your kindred?
What is the promise?
Who is far away?
What in this generation is (not) corrupt?  ...Anything?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Easter 2A

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 2:14a, 22-32
¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd in Jerusalem,

²²“You people of Israel, listen to what I have to say:
Jesus of Nazareth, one attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— ²³this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. ²⁴But God raised them up, having freed them from death, because it was impossible for them to be held in its power. ²⁵For David says concerning them, ‘I saw the Becoming One always before me, for They are at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; ²⁶therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope. ²⁷For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your Holy One experience corruption. ²⁸You have made known to me the ways of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

²⁹“You people and kindred, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that They would put one of his descendants on the throne. ³¹Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, ‘They were not abandoned to Sheol, nor did their flesh experience corruption.’ ³²This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. ...

Queeries for the text:
What's missing?
When is this taking place?
How does God's "definite plan and foreknowledge" of the crucifixion comfort?  How does it disturb?
How might antisemitism be read into this text?  How does Peter's second naming of the crowd challenge that interpretation?
What is the difference between Sheol and Hades?
Is David saying the same thing two different ways?
Whose hands are outside the law?

What are your queeries?

Queerying the Easter Vigil

 
Queerier River Needham, MA queeries the Tanakh readings of the Easter Vigil.

Tanakh 1: Genesis 1:1-2:4a


Queeries for the text:
Who is the main character in this story?
Why was this creation narrative chosen?
Where is human's responsibility today?

Tanakh 2: Exodus 14:10-31, 15:1b-13, 17-18, 20-21


Queeries for the text:
What visceral feelings emerge when you hear this text?
Does this text show certain character(s) as unquestionably good?  How can different viewpoints complicate that?
Could you sing the song of Moses after seeing so many people die?
What horrifies you about this story?

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Tanakh 3: Isaiah 55:1-11


Queeries for the text:
How does this utopian vision feel in an era of social distancing and CoViD-19?
What parts of our economic system do you want to change after reading this?
Does God care about the people who cannot afford to eat?
How are God's people remedying that?

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Tanakh 4: Ezekiel 37:1-14


Queeries for the text:
How can bones hear?
How can bones breathe?
How can hope emerge from despair?
How can the dead live again?

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Tanakh 5: Daniel 3:1-29



Queeries for the text:
How hot was the fire to kill people outside of it?
What kind of spiritual development does Nebuchadnezzar show in this text, if any?
Who went along and didn't ask questions or create difficulties for Nebuchadnezzar?  What might the parallels to today be?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel readings of the Easter.

Gospel 1: Matthew 28:1-10


Queeries for the text:
How does the world feel unstable today?
What is as shocking as lightning to us?
What happened to the guards after this?
What is with Jesus and Their feet?
What's going to happen in Galilee?

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Gospel 2: John 20:1-18


Queeries for the text:
How does Mary's fear about Jesus' body resonate in our context?
Who rolls up linen wrappings?
How are belief and understanding different?
What is the power of Naming?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Palm Sunday A

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Palm Processional Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11

When Jesus, the disciples, and the crowd had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Commander needs them.’ And they will send them immediately.”

⁴This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, ⁵“Tell the daughter of Zion, look, your ruler is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” ⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; ⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.

⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of Jesus and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Child of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Becoming One! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

¹⁰When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”

¹¹The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Queeries for the text:
Who else was entering Jerusalem at that time?
How did Jesus ride on both a donkey and a colt at the same time?  Is that what everybody remembered happening?
When else do palm branches show up?
Why do we shout Hosanna?
What other kinds of palms are there?
What happens to the prophets?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Lent 5A

River Needham M.A., queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the Becoming One came upon me. They took me out by the spirit of the Becoming One and set me down in the valley. It was full of bones. They led me all around them; there were very many of them spread over the valley, and they were very dry. They said to me, “O mortal, can these bones live again?”

I replied, “O Becoming God, only you know.”

Then, They said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Becoming One! Thus said the Becoming God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live again. I will lay sinews upon you, and cover you with flesh, and form skin over you. I will put breath into you, and you shall live again. Then, you shall know that I am the Becoming One!” I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, suddenly there was a sound of rattling, and the bones came together, bone to matching bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had grown, and skin had formed over them; but there was no breath in them.

Then They said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, O mortal! Say to the breath: Thus said the Becoming God: Come, O breath, from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live again.” I prophesied as They commanded me. The breath entered them, and they came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast multitude.

They said to me, “O mortal, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone; we are doomed.’ Prophesy, therefore, and say to them: Thus said the Becoming God: I am going to open your graves and lift you out of the graves, O my people, and bring you to the land of Israel. You shall know, O my people, that I am the Becoming One, when I have opened your graves and lifted you out of your graves. I will put my breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil. Then you shall know that I, the Becoming One, have spoken and have acted”—declares the Becoming One.

Queeries for the text:
What memories does this text bring up?
What time of year do we see bones in the United States?
How can bones hear?
How can bones breathe?
How can the dead live again?
What are the four winds?
Where are we doomed? Where is there hope?
What about the Becoming One allows them to do these things?
Why does the Becoming One speak in the third person?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 11:1-45
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²Mary was the one who anointed the Commander in Chief with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Commander in Chief, he whom you love is ill.”

⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Divine One may be glorified through it.” ⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

⁸The disciples said to Jesus, “Rabbi, the Judeans were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” ¹¹After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.”

¹²The disciples said to Jesus, “Commander in Chief, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” ¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.

¹⁴Then Jesus told the disciples plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹and many of the Judeans had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Commander, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of Them.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha said to Jesus, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷Martha said to Jesus, “Yes, Commander, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Divine One, the one coming into the world.” ²⁸When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to Jesus.

³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The Judeans who were with Mary in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Commander, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw Mary 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 Jesus, “Commander in Chief, come and see.”

³⁵Jesus began to weep.

³⁶So the Judeans said, “See how Jesus loved Lazarus!” 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.”

Mary, the sister of the dead man, said to Jesus, “Commander, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to Martha, “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, “Papa, 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 Jesus 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.”

⁴⁵Many of the Judeans therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Queeries for the text:
What sort of family dynamics are going on with three adult siblings living together?  Are they really "siblings", two sisters and a brother?
With whom does Thomas want to die?
How did Jesus love Lazarus?  What kind of love was it?
Who are the ones who believe in the resurrection?
What prompts weeping today?
How are we entombed?  How is this a tomb?  How might it be a womb?
What is in need of binding?  What is being bound?
What is in need of unbinding?  What is being unbound?
How can you come out?

What are your queeries?

Queerying Lent 4A

River Needham M.A., queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

And the Becoming One said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and set out; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have decided on one of his sons to be king.”

Samuel replied, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.”

The Becoming One answered, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Becoming One.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrificial feast, and then I will make known to you what you shall do; you shall anoint for me the one I point out to you.”

Samuel did what the Becoming One commanded. When he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city went out in alarm to meet him and said, “Do you come on a peaceful errand?”

"Yes,” he replied, “I have come to sacrifice to the Becoming One. Purify yourselves and join me in the sacrificial feast.” He also instructed Jesse and his sons to purify themselves and invited them to the sacrificial feast. When they arrived and he saw Eliab, he thought: “Surely the Becoming One’s anointed stands before Them.” But the Becoming One said to Samuel, “Pay no attention to his appearance or his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as man sees does the Becoming One see; man sees only what is visible, but the Becoming One sees into the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass before Samuel; but he said, “The Becoming One has not chosen this one either.” Next Jesse presented Shammah; and again he said, “The Becoming One has not chosen this one either.” Jesse presented seven of his sons before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Becoming One has not chosen any of these.” Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the boys you have?” He replied, “There is still the youngest; he is tending the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send someone to bring him, for we will not sit down to eat until he gets here.” So they sent and brought him. He was ruddy-cheeked, bright-eyed, and handsome. And the Becoming One said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Becoming One gripped David from that day on. Samuel then set out for Ramah.

Queeries for the text:
What do we fear?
Who do we ignore in society?
Who gets ignored, forgotten and canceled?
What work does society not value?
What is man?  What is human?
What external characteristics are valued by nature, or by humans?
What else happened in Ramah?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 9:1-41

As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²Jesus' disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. ⁴We must work the works of Them who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶When Jesus had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, ⁷saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then the man went and washed and came back able to see.
 
⁸The neighbors and those who had seen the man before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.”

The man kept saying, “I am the man.”

¹⁰But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”

¹¹He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.”

¹²They said to the man, “Where is he?”

He said, “I do not know.”

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened the man's eyes. ¹⁵Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “Jesus put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. ¹⁷So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man said, “Jesus is a prophet.”

¹⁸The Judeans did not believe that the man had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”

²⁰His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Judeans; for the Judeans had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”

²⁵He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

²⁶They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”

²⁸Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”

³⁰The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but They do listen to one who worships them and obeys their will. ³²Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found the man, he said, “Do you believe in the Human One?”

³⁶He answered, “And who are they, Captain? Tell me, so that I may believe in them.”

³⁷Jesus said to him, “You have seen them, and the one speaking with you is the one.”

³⁸He said, “Governor, I believe.” And he worshiped Jesus.

³⁹Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”

⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?”

⁴¹Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

Queeries for the text:
Why do people so often need someone to blame?
What happened when someone was isolated in that time?  What happens when someone is isolated today?
How are God's works revealed in the ones others cast off?
What is up with a pool named Sent?
Why won't the neighbors believe the truth?
What happens when people are afraid?
How might a disabled person understand this story?

What are your queeries?