Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Easter 4B 4-26-2015 125 Years: A Love Letter The year was 1890.   And the Christians of Trinity Episcopal Church, in Toledo, Ohio, recognized a need in their city.   On the outskirts of town, over by the wagon wheel factory and the train tracks, was a neighborhood made up of immigrants and the working poor.   It was a place in need of some Good News. And so plans were set in motion: to establish a mission, to call together a worshiping community, to share the love of Jesus. On the afternoon of April 27, 1890, the fourth Sunday of the Easter season, the Rector of Trinity, their choirmaster and choir, and members of the congregation, carried their Prayer Books and hymnals all the way to the edge of the city to lead the very first Episcopal liturgy in the area then known as Auburndale.   God called and they responded.   They took a chance.   They planted a seed.   They called that seed St. Andrew's. ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 24:36b-48 Doubt and Belief Life was simpler on Good Friday.   That is not to say that it was better; it wasn't.   It was just simpler.   Jesus died.   That was the end of the story.   It was a not a good ending; it was not a happy ending, but also it was not an open ending.   There was none of that uncomfortable ambiguity.   All of their grand fantasies disappeared; the possibilities dried up.   The dreams gave way to the starkness of the tragic final scene.   No longer were they the followers the charismatic Messiah destined for his royal throne.   Those romantic notions died on the cross, too.   They would now grieve and then they would go back – back to their old lives and their old jobs, back to their old destinies.   And Jesus and his promise and his cross would fade into memory – just a small chapter in a long-life – like the college years, or that summer you followed ar...