Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Jeremiah 18:1-11   A Crozier Story St. John’s, Johnstown   The prophet Jeremiah went down to the potter’s house.   And in the house he found, no surprise, a potter.   The potter was working at his wheel, spinning clay into earthen vessels.   Or at least trying to turn clay into earthen vessels.   Sometimes the clay did not quite cooperate.   And so Jeremiah watched as the potter took a deep breath, slowed the wheel, wrapped some messy fingers around the awkward lump, and started again.   Until that lump of clay became what the potter dreamed it would be.   Tuesday is the two-year anniversary of my election as your bishop.   Election day was a wild day.   The family woke up early – because mountain time zone – unsure if everything or nothing in our lives would change.   A few hours later, it was everything.   The election thrust us, suddenly, into a season of total tra...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16   Image of God St. John’s, Massena, NY   In the beginning, after chaos was ordered, after the light was divided from the darkness, after the planets were rounded into balls, after waves crashed, birds chirped, and cattle grazed, God reached into the ground to form one final creature.   On the sixth day, the day before the creation of rest, God formed a human.   And all the good was declared very good.   Before people, the earth was already teeming with life.   The water brought forth swarms of living creatures: some too small to see, some large enough to boggle the mind.   The skies were animated with winged birds: levitating hummingbirds, soaring eagles, and sparrows that cut through the air.   The soil vibrated with the movement of creeping things: worms burrowed and spiders webbed and grasshoppers hopped on grass.   And, of course, the wild beasts, the Bible love...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 5:1-12   Brave to be Blessed Regional Confirmations 2025   You must be brave to be blessed.   Because it is no small thing to allow the beautifully dangerous words of Jesus into your heart and into your life.   The Beatitudes, what we call tonight’s Gospel passage, if you take them seriously, will set you at odds.   You will wear them like brilliant colors in a black and white world.   St. Oscar Romero said of this Gospel: “all the Beatitudes subvert what the world believes in, and they sow the seed of a transformation that we will not see finished until the kingdom of heaven…becomes reality.” [1]   And so you must be brave to be blessed.   Because Jesus is calling you to change an entrenched and stubborn world into the kingdom of heaven.              And to do so, to sow the seeds of transformation, to change the world in Jesus’ n...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Isaiah 58:9b-14 & Prayer attributed to St. Francis   Life of Prayer St. Francis Mission, Albany   Sometimes a prayer is spoken.   Sometimes a prayer travels from the head to the heart to the heavens, ascends in silence.   Sometimes a prayer takes on our flesh in lives in our streets.   Because, at our best, our lives are the prayer, offered to God for the sake of this world.   Ten years ago, this community, the St. Francis Mission, was born for that purpose: To love the Lord and to love your neighbors through prayer, worship, and service.   It is a purpose you continue to live daily – a prayer spoken, breathed, and lived in this community, in this place, in this neighborhood, a neighborhood desperate to bask in the light of Christ.     Ten years ago, this community, took the name of St. Francis.   Also you claimed his prayer.   And that prayer became part of, not only y...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 12:49-56   Healing Flames St. Eustice, Lake Placid   The dog defiantly held an empty raisin box in his mouth.   What we did not know was whether the dog discovered an empty raisin box, or whether the dog emptied the raisin box.   And the dog, being a dog, wasn’t talking.   But the answer to the question was important.   In fact, it carried life and death implications.     My wife quickly called the emergency line and was instructed to hastily head to the store for the medicine – in this case, hydrogen peroxide: to make the dog, the dog with the raisin box, vomit.   It was immediately and abundantly clear: this would not be the relaxing evening we had planned.   I am sure the dog, quite pleased with himself for finding that box, was puzzled by the concerned looks and panicked energy in the house.   Little did he know: his happy evening of box chewing and attention was a...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Isaiah 1:1, 10-20   More than Motions St. Peter’s-by-the-lake, Old Forge   Generally speaking, God likes the idea of incense.   Incense was even God’s idea.   Back in Exodus, the second book of the Bible, God commanded the people to build a special altar just for incense.   And Aaron, the first priest, was directed to offer incense on that altar every morning – and not just for a few days, or for a particular season, but “throughout your generations.”   That is a lot of incense, wafting throughout history.   Because God liked it.     But God did not like this incense; God did not like their incense.   Generally speaking, God likes the idea of festivals.   Festivals were even God’s idea.   Back in Exodus, the second book of the Bible, and then in the Leviticus, the third book of the Bible, God moonlighted as a party planner.   God created a calendar of commemoratio...