Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 9:8-17 Wet Fear I am not a seafaring man.   I knew ponds and streams as a boy, but I knew hills and fields better.   On those rare occasions, when I would gaze over the vastness of Lake Erie – or even rarer still, the impossible expanse of the Atlantic Ocean – those bodies of water seemed to me strangers.   But not the kindly strangers, friends one has just not yet met, but dark and mysterious strangers.   I suspected, just below the surface, there was danger. I still shy away from any water that has not yet been domesticated.   I am very fond of the water that comes from a tap, that courses through the copper pipes of my house.   But I prefer to keep the water that fills lakes, rivers and oceans at an arm's length.   There is too much unknown.   Under the surface are creepy creatures that I cannot see, that I am pretty sure want to touch me or bite me.   There are currents that are trying to pull me under, as if that body o

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 I suspect that there are people who attend the Ash Wednesday liturgy year after year after year, quietly daring the preacher to attempt a passable explanation for why we in the Church read this lesson from Matthew’s Gospel right before we coat our visible foreheads with thick black ashes.   I am less convinced, but at least to some degree persuaded, that there are many Episcopalians, though none in this room of course, who have convinced themselves that this lesson from Matthew frees one from having to actually talk about Jesus in public.   This gospel passage is perhaps the reason why many Episcopalians invite only one friend to church each generation: one would not want to risk being too public with one's piety – not like those hypocrites with their loud trumpets and flashy displays. And so we must ask ourselves, what are we doing today?   What does it mean that the Gospel lesson seems to clash with the very lit