Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 2:1-11   Filled to the Brim St. Paul’s, Kinderhook   The servants stumbled into an awkward moment.   They were just going about their business: making sure the appetizers were circulating, the drinks poured, the dirty dishes cleared and cleaned.   They were running in the background so that the wedding reception would go smoothly, so that the guests had a good time.     They didn’t mean to walk into this family situation, this disagreement between a mother and her son.   The mother and son were talking about what everyone was talking about.   The servants already knew the situation was bleak.   Servers always know when something runs out; they live on the front lines of that disappointment; they are the ones who have to break the news.   And the wine giving out was big, bad news.   Wine was, obviously, an important ingredient in the celebration.   Sure, it made pe...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Isaiah 43:1-7   Love Song St. Matthew’s, Latham   This is a love song for a devastated people.   Isaiah is writing to a nation in exile, a nation that was traumatized, violated, and displaced; a nation of broken hearts and shattered lives.   The people felt lost and they had lost hope.   But in their darkest hour, it is this prophetic word that finds them.   “Do not fear.”   But they were afraid – of the nightmares in their past, of the painful present, and of the uncertain future.   They were afraid.   But God wasn’t.   And so this is where God started: Do not fear.   God understood that they were scared; God always knows.   And so like a Creator speaking a new reality into being, God whispered peace to their trembling souls; God held on tightly to their shaky hands, until they steadied.   Because God knew that a word of comfort and blessed assurance was what they ne...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 2:1-12   Wonder St. Mark’s, Hoosick Falls   As a child, I knew this story through the song.   We Three Kings is the only hymn from the Epiphany section of Hymnal 1982 that even Pentecostals sing.   And while I could not have pinpointed the Orient on a map or defined a moor, the song made sense to me; I could sense that there was something true about it.   Because it captured the very heart of this story from Matthew’s Gospel.   At the heart of this story is wonder.   While these travelers are described as wise, I don’t think it was wisdom that disjoined them from the comforts of home.   In fact, traditional wisdom might discourage one from chasing an untethered star through the pitfalls of strange lands and unknown territories, all while carrying expensive, and very stealable, cargo.   I think they were enticed by wonder.   This story is riddled with mystery; and it is ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Micah 5:2-5a   A Prayer for Peace Trinity Church, Lansingburgh   Their prayer was a cry for all that had been lost and a longing for what had never been.   In that sense, Micah’s people didn’t ask for much except what seemed forever out of reach.   They didn’t pray for luxuries, like vast wealth or obscene riches.   They didn’t strive for power or influence.   They didn’t long for fame or glory.     They just wanted to be able to let their children play outside.   They wanted to walk carelessly though a park or daydream by a stream.   They wanted to fall asleep knowing they would wake up in the morning.   They didn’t pray for luxuries; they prayed for peace.   But they lived with war.   And so their children stayed indoors, shielded from the threat of Assyrian arrows.   The parks were battlegrounds, and the streams ran red.   And in place of day dreams t...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Zephaniah 3:14-20   Your Salvation Story St. Stephen’s, Schenectady, NY   The salvation story is long, rooted in a remote, distant past, as ancient as the first mysterious sparks of creation.   We encounter this old story in the waters of the Exodus, in the courage of Esther, on the road out of exile.   We encounter the story in the manger of Bethlehem and, especially, in the empty tomb of Easter.   They are stories transmitted in our holy book and proclaimed from countless pulpits; tales told and passed down through time and through families – all chapters of the greatest story ever told.     But that story is not confined to the past.   Though ancient it still calls us into the future.   The salvation story is also a vision, alive and active in the dynamic mind of God; it is a promise – a promise fulfilled somewhere in the fullness of time, a promise that fuels this season of Advent. ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 21:25-36   A hopeful perspective St. John’s, Cohoes, NY   My family has only rather recently started watching the Marvel movies.   These blockbuster superhero films have dominated the cineplex for more than a decade, but my boys were mere toddlers when the franchise was really hitting its stride.   Now that they are growing into their teenage years, we are slowly catching up.   And I must admit that watching the films more than a decade after their release does temper some of the tension.   One worries less about Tony Stark’s fate in the first Iron Man film, when Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3, featuring Tony Stark, have already been famously released.   You have a pretty strong sense that he will make it through the first round of danger when you know he stars in the sequels.     And that knowledge breeds hope.   When it looks like everything is hopeless, like the hero is facing im...