Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Isaiah 6:1-8   In the Presence of a Mystery The very stuff of God was spilling out of heaven – transgressing the assumed boundaries.   God's robe was filling the Temple – within the grasp of the earnest worshipers, in the presence of those desperate to touch the divine, within the reach of unclean human hands.   God's glory was flooding the earth – Heaven saturating the common stuff of life.   And while God was breaking the borders, so was a prophet, a man named Isaiah – a man of unclean lips in the land of holiness. It was like walking through the wardrobe or falling down the rabbit hole.   It was as if someone slipped him the red pill.   In an instant Isaiah was transported – his eyes seeing the unseen, his ears hearing the unheard.   He is an unwitting intruder in a world not his own – a world that exists outside of time, a world previous thought to be inaccessible to mortals. “Overwhelming” is probably the only way to desc

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 2:1-21 Dreaming Through the End of Days It must have felt like the end of days.   The labor pains: they were growing more and more intense.   And whatever was coming would change their lives, would change the world, forever.   The signs were all there – one paradigm-altering event after another.   First the crucifixion, all black skies and earthquakes and the Temple veil torn in two.   Then the resurrection – the most impossible event in the history of the world.   The nail holes and the pierced side and that moment Jesus gave up his spirit: all of that happened.   But then they saw him, after the crucifixion, and he was alive again; they saw the wounds; they heard his voice.   He lived with them for forty days of unimaginable bliss, and then, like being roused from the perfect dream, Ascension Day came, and he just floated out of sight.   And after Jesus, because things were not quite surreal enough, there were angels – which is why the

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 1:15-17, 21-26   Ordinary People It might have ended before it even started.   Because there was this massive hole; perhaps more accurately, there was a gaping wound.   And it wasn't a numbers thing.   Sure twelve is a nice number; it is divisible; it has biblical significance; and it is the number of disciples Jesus chose to support his earthly ministry.   But the hole wasn't a numbers thing. It wasn't as if the by-laws required twelve apostles.   It was more complicated than simply filling an unexpired vestry term, for example.   It is not as if Judas had to move for work or had to leave to be with a dying parent.   He did not abandon the twelve because he and Peter disagreed on the organizational mission statement.   In the verses that are omitted from today's reading from the first chapter of Acts, the text tells us that Judas left the group because he died; he died   in the field he purchased with his reward; he