Queerying Christmas 2A

River Needham, queeries the Tanakh reading.

Tanakh: Jeremiah 31:7-14
 
For thus said the Becoming One: cry out in joy for Jacob, shout at the crossroads of the nations!
Sing aloud in praise and say: Save, O Becoming One, your people, the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them in from the northland, gather them from the ends of the earth —
   the blind and the lame among them, those with child and those in labor —
   in a vast throng they shall return here. They shall come with weeping,
and with compassion will I guide them. I will lead them to streams of water, by a level road
where they will not stumble. For I am ever a Parent to Israel, Ephraim is my first-born.
Hear the word of the Becoming One, O nations, and tell it in the isles afar.
Say: The one who scattered Israel will gather them, and will guard them as a shepherd her flock.
For the Becoming One will ransom Jacob, redeem him from one too strong for him.
They shall come and shout on the heights of Zion, radiant over the bounty of the Becoming One —
over new grain and wine and oil, and over sheep and cattle. They shall fare like a watered garden,
they shall never languish again. Then shall maidens dance gaily, young and old alike.
I will turn their mourning to joy, I will comfort them and cheer them in their grief.
I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall enjoy my full bounty —
declares the Becoming One.

Queeries for the text:
What is the crossroads of the nations?
Which remnant of Israel is Jeremiah talking about here?
How does the way we talk about people with disabilities matter?
Why are they weeping when they return?
Where else are Shepherds in the Prophets?
Where else does mourning turn to something joyful?
Why is fatness important? What connotations came with fatness?

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Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: John 1:[1-9] 10-18

[¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The Word was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through Them, and without Them not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in the Word was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
  ⁶There was a person sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸John himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.]
  ¹⁰The true light was in the world, and the world came into being through Them; yet the world did not know Them. ¹¹The light came to what was Their own, and Their own people did not accept Them. ¹²But to all who received the light, who believed in Their name, the light gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
  ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen the glory of the Word, the glory as of a parent’s only child, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵(John testified to the Word and cried out, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me ranks ahead of me because they were before me.’”) ¹⁶From the Word's fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Child, who is close to the Parent’s heart, who has made God known.

Queeries for the text:
Who is the Word?
How does Word become flesh?
What is true light?
What is the law?
How do we testify?

What are your queeries?