Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 25:31-46 Sheep, Goats, or Something Else? Today’s Buzzfeed quiz is brought to you by the Gospel of Matthew: “BAA or MAA!?: Are you a super sheep or a ghastly goat?” Answer just six simple questions to find out! It is quite a quiz too. It has that essential element that really makes an on-line quiz pop: the element of surprise. Everyone seems very surprised by their results. And to keep it interesting, the stakes are shockingly high – not like “what will my facebook friends think of my results?” high. But still pretty high, like eternal punishment or eternal life. Today is Christ the King Sunday and the final Sunday of the Church year. And a month of very challenging Kingdom of God parables from Matthew’s Gospel has led us to this dramatic climax: the apocalyptic tale of the sheep and the goats – the final story Jesus tells the people before his arrest and crucifixion. This is the last song in the set list. In some ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 25:14-30 Scary Talented There are a number of scary texts in the Bible – tales of the Devil, demon possession, of weeping and gnashing of teeth, and people thrown into the outer darkness. And there are others: there's that time when people offered the wrong kind of incense and were consumed by fire from heaven – which is why I have the acolytes prepare the incense, just in case. There is the part about everything you do in private being made public – which is especially scary for teenagers and politicians. There is pretty much everything in the book of Revelation. And there is that thing where the one perfect, sinless person who loves everybody gets nailed to a cross – which tells me that no one is safe. And yet, growing up, there was no more terrifying story than this parable about the talents. Let me explain: When I was a child, I was pretty shy. I didn't like to draw attention to myself, didn't like to be in fron...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Revelation 7:9-17 All Saints' Day: baptism and burial All Saints' Day seems as if it should hold the answers. And yet instead it is like struggling to find the opening in a curtain that has no opening. Tangled up and twisted, desperate to glimpse the mysteries of the other side, to find answers to the questions that vex us, questions of life and death, of time and eternity. Here we are so close and yet no closer. What brings us here? To this place? To this day? To this place – equal parts baptism and burial. To this day – equal parts baptism and burial. What brings us here? Is there something we seek? And if so where might that something be found? In the wood of the pews – wood that wears a million fingerprints, worn into shape by a million worshipers, the living and the dead, who sit and stand and sit again and kneel and sit again, wood that holds cards and pencils but also decades of prayers whispered into the ...