Preaching the Scriptures

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Galatians 3:23-29   A Confirmation Sermon St. John, Massena   Tonight we celebrate the vibrant faith and deepening commitment of our brothers and sisters in Christ, these holy siblings who, moments from now, will bow their heads and open their hearts in expectation.   They are already baptized Christians, already called to ministry in the waters of baptism.   But tonight they are courageous enough to pray for a little more Holy Spirit power.   They are courageous enough to invite the wild influence of the Holy Spirit to undermine any chance they might have had to be ordinary, to be normal.   Instead, they are choosing to live life against the grain.   On this special occasion these precious children of God will reaffirm their allegiance to Jesus and to Jesus alone.   They have determined that their precious lives will be dictated by the demands of love, offered in service to others and in ministry to th...

 T he Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 10:40-42   Welcome you, welcome me Trinity, Potsdam   Friends, you are all over this Gospel passage.   You play every part, like the star of a one-person show.   You are guest and host.   You are prophet and little one.   You are filling the glass and you are emptying it.   This entire tenth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel has been complex and encompassing.   It is a missionary commissioning; Jesus is sending his followers out of his shadow and into the world.   The exhortations volley between promise and warning, celebration and suffering.   Even last week in our Gospel we ran the gamut: biological families were at odds even as the household of God was coming together, life was lost and gained, words told in the dark found the light, whispers were shouted from the rooftops.   Life on the Gospel mission was hard, but every moment was held in the loving, attentive gaze of Go...

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7   How the Story Goes St. Luke the Physician, Saranac Lake   In the heat of the day, on the horizon of the desert, the distance is always out of focus.   The hottest heat bends and warps reality.   Abraham was trying to find a bit of relief, an occasional breeze, as the world around him was trying not to melt into a puddle of chaos.   It was hot in the desert.   Blazing hot.  One could smell the stale brine of the Dead Sea from Mamre.  And in that suffocating heat, one could also feel a hint of the death for which the sea was named.  It was not the most hospitable place.    And so, given the treacherous conditions, the patriarch was probably not expecting to see a traveling trio come into focus.   But there they were: three men walking in his general direction.  Abraham should have instantly kicked into threat assessment mode.   They were thre...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 28:16-20   Go! St. John, Delhi   Another week; another mountain.   The disciples have once again gathered at altitude to watch the resurrected Jesus leave.   It feels like we just did this.   Two Sundays ago, on the Seventh Sunday of Easter, on the Sunday after the Ascension, we heard of a similar scene, that time from Luke’s perspective, this time from Matthew’s.   And while the stories do bear a striking resemblance, there is an important distinction between these two goodbyes.   In the telling we heard two weeks ago, the disciples were told to huddle up in an upper room and prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit.   That is not the message of this Gospel passage, these final verses of Matthew’s Gospel.   In Acts, the disciples were directed to wait; here they are told to “GO”!   This “go” is famously how the Gospel of Matthew ends.   It is a stirring and memora...

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 2:1-21   Superpower St. John’s, Troy   It was April of 2023, and I was sitting in St. Michael’s Chapel at Christ the King for the first, but not the last, time.   Where the congregation typically sits were the members of the diocesan Profile and Search Committee.   Before the altar, on high, backless stools, were those in discernment, those prayerfully considering a new form of ministry.   I was on one of those stools.   And, along with my fellow candidates, I was answering questions pulled, if I am remembering correctly, randomly from a hat, or from some similar utilitarian receptacle.     The questions throughout this semi-finalist retreat had been probing and challenging and appropriately complex.   Those days we spent together were days of deep discernment.   The committee needed to leave that retreat with a slate of finalists to present to the public.   Each question alo...

T he Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 1:1-14   Hard to Believe Good Shepherd, Elizabethtown   It was hard to believe.   And they were standing right there, watching it happen.   They thought that Jesus might finally settle down, after everything, but instead he was going up.   And there was no stopping him.   Before their very eyes, he was lifted up, beyond their reach, beyond their words, beyond any feeble attempt to reason with him, or beg him to stay.   There was nothing they could do but watch him go.   And that is exactly what they did: they just stood there staring, stunned silent, mouths agape, angels lecturing and shouting instructions.   They likely arrived on the scene with some preconceived notion, some sense of expectation.   But they were not expecting this.   It was just so hard to believe.   But for the disciples, this was nothing new.   Not really.   Jesus had this tendency to surprise...