Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Revelation 7:9-17   Hope from the Margins St. James, Oneonta   Everything changed in the fourth century.   Historians argue the details.   Christians debate the merits.   But what is undeniable is that during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Church was thrust into the Halls of Power for the first time in its history.   When the Emperor found Jesus, he made sure everyone else did too – whether they wanted to or not.   After centuries of exclusion, oppression, humiliation, and persecution, the sudden experience of comfort and influence was as dizzying as it was difficult to resist.   The enemy Empire of the book of Revelation, Rome, abruptly affixed the cross of Christ to its weapons of war and marched out to conquer the world.   And as the years passed, and the footprint grew, the Church and its leaders began to forget the little Church of the Book of Revelation.   That Church, s...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 9:1-20   Saul and Ananias Emmanuel, Little Falls   He was well within his rights and he was sure he was right.   Saul was a man possessed by a passion for law and order.   The law justified the order he intended to impose upon his world.   It was God’s work.   He was sure of that.   He was convinced that his mission – his mission to hunt down religious deviants and root out their bad theology – was divinely inspired, the commission of an exacting and merciless deity.   And so he marched proudly into the office of the high priest and demanded a blessing.   And he received that blessing.   He was formally deputized to rid the world of blasphemy.   This would be Saul’s legacy, how he was going to be remembered, why he would be known throughout the Empire: he was going to end the Way.     And that would make him a hero to both his religious authorities and their ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 20:19-31   Wounds Trinity, Gouverneur   The disciples needed to see the wounds.   They knew the stone was displaced and the tomb was empty – but that didn’t prove anything.   Some of the disciples, men in that very locked room, had even seen the discarded linen wrappings, but they did not see any life.   They had heard, and rejected, Mary’s startling testimony; she, they decided, was obviously sick with grief.   They could not deny that fantastical rumors were buzzing, but rumors are not evidence.   Impossible tales, unlikely explanations, were pestering their weary heads and their tender hearts – making things worse.   Their pain was fresh; their fear was real; they were trying to survive without Jesus – trying to get used to this sad, new normal.   They would not get their hopes up because high hopes crash hard.   And so, they decided to play it safe: they simply would not believ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 24:1-12   Followers Cathedral of All Saints   Unlike most preachers, Mary Magdalene was not worried about her Easter Sunday sermon.   Maybe she should have been, because, according to the Gospel, it was a flop.   But she wasn’t.   She had something else on her mind when she left the house early on Easter morning.   It had been a terrible weekend, the worst of her life.   And that is why she was dragging her listless body, her broken heart, and her satchel of spices down the barren road of a barren cemetery.   It was Easter Sunday and Mary wasn’t thinking about a sermon; she was thinking about death.   It was all she could think about.   Because what she saw on that Friday, she could never unsee.   That nightmare was burnt into her soul.   The immensity of the violence was overwhelming, of course, but the worst thing was that it was so personal.   Jesus was he...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Mark 10:35-45   Human   As I came to, I realized I was being cradled like a baby by Miss Deanna.   Deanna was a was a robust and refined black woman, probably 40 years my senior.   I noticed, supported by her gentle arms, that her round face looked concerned, and her cheeks glistened with tears.   It was a confusing moment.   Because I was not a baby; I was a thirty-five-year-old man being cradled like a baby and we were in the chancel of the chapel.   Why was she sweetly and tenderly holding me?   Why was she crying?   I shifted my gaze, still trying to make sense of the situation.   The small eight o’clock congregation looked a bit panicked.   Someone in the back was on the phone, calling the paramedics.   Lying in Miss Deanna’s lap, on the floor of the chapel, I started to piece things together.   The last thing I could remember was the Prayers of the People. ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18   Abram’s Doubt Trinity, Plattsburgh   This is not the first time Abram has heard this promise – the one we find in today’s Genesis reading.   He left his country and kindred to follow this very promise – a promise that he chased like a distant horizon.   Once upon a time, his life was normal, stable.   And then this mesmerizing, strange God changed his life – stole him away from his birthright, his plans, from the moon gods of his youth and his people.   This new God saw into his heart, spoke to his deepest longings.   And so, like the disciples on the beach, Abram left everything.   Through deserts and danger, he pursued the promise and yet still, beneath the big, starry sky, he seemed no closer to its fulfillment.   The visions kept happening.   But still there was no evidence.   Every month, with the moon, came a reminder that Sarai was again not preg...