Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Exodus 3:1-15 Burning Bush If you are hoping for a burning bush, remember: it was never enough. For the slaves suffering in Egypt, a fiery bush in the middle of the desert did nothing to ease their pain. It was just God at a distance. For Moses, God started as just a flame on the periphery, something one sees out of the corner of an eye. God as little more than a curiosity; I guess it is a good thing Moses was curious. On occasion, in the Scriptures, God makes a big splash – like splitting the sea in halves. On occasion, God makes a grand entrance – like a series of devastating plagues: frogs, locusts, and rivers of blood. But mostly we are Elijah waiting out the whirlwind and the earthquake and the firestorm desperately listening for the voice of God in the sheer silence. It is as confusing as it is frustrating as it is sometimes devastating. “ Who are you?” It seems like a fair question. Moses was raised in Egypt as an Egyptia...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Absurd Hope I wonder if the first step was the hardest. Or if it was the next. Or the next. Maybe every step felt hard. Each step toward hope was also loss. Each step in pursuit of the promise meant an old dream had to die. Each step created more distance between him and everything upon which he had come to rely. Each step was a step he would never get back. He was leaving his homeland; he was leaving his family; he was leaving the protection and provision of his father's house. And for what? Because he heard the voice of a God? Is that enough? Abram had nowhere to go. He just went. The first words God whispered to Abram in the book of Genesis dismantled the patriarch's life: “Leave your land, your family, and your father's household for the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation and will bless you.” And he went. Now, let's be clear: the offer sounds appealing, to be th...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 4:1-13 At the Crossroads I'm not sure why, but recently I've been thinking about beginnings. And here we are today, at the beginning of a new Church season, standing with Jesus at the beginning of his journey, standing with Jesus at the crossroads. After leaving John and the Jordan River and the voice from Heaven, Jesus finds himself in the desert. His ministry has not yet begun, but it soon will. And the path he chooses in that desert will not only define his public ministry, it will shape his destiny. But not just that, it will shape the course of history. So, no pressure. Jesus was thirty years old when he entered the wilderness. And while we know the story of his miraculous birth, how he was born of a virgin, how the angels filled the Bethlehem skies with song, how kings trembled and shepherds rejoiced, he is still just the son of a common laborer from a small town in the hills – nothing of his adult life before h...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 Impressions I suspect that there are many great ways to make a good first impression.   But instead, today, on this, my first day as your new priest, I am going to look directly in your eyes and remind you that you are going to die.   For many of you, these will be the first words I personally say to you.   I will then wipe black ashes on your face and send you back to your pew.   Perhaps it goes without saying: this is not typically one of the many great ways in which one might make a good impression. But it is how we begin this new Church season of Lent together.   We begin the season with this strange ritual.   And we place this strange ritual – being marked with very noticeable ashes – alongside a Gospel reading in which Jesus says, “ Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them. ”   We place this strange ritual – wearing ashes on our faces – along...