Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 13:31-35 Love is Never Easy This is basically Jesus on his deathbed. And he asks just one thing of his followers: love one another. But love is never easy. It's just not. Being a naturally nice person doesn't make it easy. Being constantly surrounded by the most wonderful people doesn't make it easy. Being a good Christian boy or girl from a good Christian family doesn't make it easy. It isn't easy in a box; it isn't easy with a fox; it isn't here or there; it isn't easy anywhere. That Jesus, THE Jesus, gives us a bunch of love commandments in the Gospels doesn't make it easy either. There's that one time Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It's the second half of the greatest commandment, he said, the second part of the summary of the entire Law, he said. It's important. And it is not easy. Maybe a little easier than the first half of the greatest comma...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Revelation 7:9-17 No More Nightmares It turns out that that first Easter morning was not the end of the story. It wasn't the pretty bow on the top of the tidy box of salvation history. Now, that would have made sense; it would have been a great ending, a strong climax, end it all with the resurrection of Jesus – just like the end of Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ: you end it on the high note, then roll the credits. But alas, it was not the end. It is not even the end of Easter; it is actually the beginning of a new season in the life of the Church – and I mean that in every sense. But new does not mean tidy. Nothing in the post-Easter world was tidy. This has been evident in our Easter season Gospels. In a post-Easter world Jesus is still sporting open wounds, Mary Magadelene was still crying and confused, the disciples locked all their doors because they were so afraid, and Peter and his friends went back to their f...