Preaching the Scriptures

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 4:1-11   Desert Days St. George’s, Clifton Park   The water was fine.   But the desert was calling.   There is no denying that the lush riverbank of the River Jordan was, in that moment, the place to be.   It was kinda like the first century version of Daytona Beach during Spring Break: alluring but overstimulating.   It’s a party but it can’t last forever.   Or so I’ve heard.   I mean, I spent my college spring breaks in Ohio eating cookies and playing video games.   So what do I know?   But the Gospel does tell us that those River Jordan crowds flocked from everywhere. “The people of Jerusalem, and all Judea” were there.   And all the people from the “region along the Jordan” were showing up.   There was something magnetic about that stretch of river.   Curiosity, skepticism, desperation, peer pressure, boredom, FOMO, sometimes even the Spirit: whatever the reason,...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Micah 6:1-8   Human Humans St. Andrew’s, Albany   The offerings of offerings grew increasingly absurd.   The possibilities: from plausible to impossible to preposterous.   One cannot decipher tone from the written words on a page, but “ten thousands of rivers of oil” does not feel like a serious offer.   It seems like hyperbolic at best, spiteful venom at worst.   The sixth chapter of the book of the prophet Micah begins mid-argument – an argument between frustrated mortals and the Immortal One.   And, by the time we reach the sixth verse, maybe it still is.   Displeased with the state of their world, the people call God out.   Life is hard, the world unfair, and God must be, at least partially, to blame.     This blame hurts God’s feelings – and elicits a mournful plea: “What have I done to you?”   And elicits then a strong defense.   In response to the people’s ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 4:12-23   Living Without a Net Not at St. Mary’s, Springfield Center   There were no high school guidance counselors in first century Palestine.   Andrew and Peter were not fishing for opportunities on LinkedIn.   They were fishing for fish in the Sea of Galilee.   That was their destiny.   And they likely never gave it a second thought.   They were born to be on the water: brothers in life, partners in a fishy business.   And there were no career fairs in first century Palestine.   James and John were not rubbing elbows with corporate leaders; they weren’t networking.   They were working on their tattered nets.   So that they could get back out there and catch some fish.   That was their destiny – one they likely never gave a second thought.   They were born into the family business.   One day they would captain Zebedee’s boats – and their sons would dra...

T he Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 10:34-43   Water St. James, Au Sable Forks   We live on a world of water.   Seventy-one percent of the surface of our planet is covered in the stuff.   And that water makes life possible.   The smallest to the largest lifeforms are teeming with liquid life.   Including us.   Each person, each human being, is mostly water: babies are almost 80% water weight; adults around 60%.   Water allows us to think (the brain is about ¾ water); to breathe (the lungs are more than 80% water); to pulse with life (the heart is about 75% water and our blood checks in around 90%).   We are a water people on a watery world.   And in this big world, we happen to live and minister in a diocese very much defined by water.   Our southern border is a mountain range named after a kill, a creek – the Catskill Mountains.   Our northern border is the St. Lawrence.   Not far from here, our eastern...

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 2:1-20   Beautifully Strange Cathedral of All Saints, Albany   The very first Christmas was tucked into, what might have been, the quietest corner of the world.   So quiet that it was almost like a little secret between God and a select few.   And the few were not social influencers or cultural heavy weights; they were not people positioned to start a buzz.   Instead, they were social pariahs, cultural leftovers: a young couple unmarried with child and some suspect nomads – people who didn’t matter.   And so, Christmas started as a whisper.   But, as you know, the secret got out.   Like a rumor that went viral.     And so tonight, from this pulpit, I feel like I am telling you something you already know: this timeless story of a peasant baby who became the Savior of the world.   You could likely recite the details of this Lukan account without notes, off the cuff – because the ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 1:18-25                                       Plans St. Luke’s, Catskill   It was not the happiest day of his life, the day he found out his beloved was pregnant.   It was supposed to be, but it was not.   We tried for months – my wife and me.   Throwing away all of those negative tests.   Piles of disappointing plastic.   And feeling defeated.   And sad.   And so Jen’s grandmother, now of blessed memory, told us to book a trip.   So that we would have to think about something else.     And so, out of ideas, and trusting an older wisdom, we did.   We booked a vacation to Italy – a trip with enough detail and nervousness to occupy, or rather distract, our frazzled minds.   ...