Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 18:9-14 Honest Prayers and God’s Grace Now, you can say what you want about the Pharisee in today’s Gospel, but I’ll tell you this: the man is honest.   I have no doubt that he meant every word he prayed.   “God, I just, I just want to thank you…thank you…that I am not like other people.   Thank you for making me so much better than the rest of these disgusting humans – a collection of thieves, rogues, and adulterers.   And, you know, while I am offering you this beautiful prayer of thanksgiving, let me add this: Thank you for making me better than that guy, that guy over in the corner.   Amen.”   That is an honest prayer.   I mean, most people think stuff like that.   But not many people are bold enough and confident enough to pray that.   And so for all the flaws that the Pharisee does have, at least he is honest; his prayer is heart-felt. And what about that guy across the room, the one beating his breast in isolation?   Well, he’s a

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson 2 Timothy 2:8-15 Wrangling Over Words The great St. Francis, of Memorial Garden fountain fame, famously once might have said, “Preach the Gospel, and, if necessary, use words.”   It’s a catchy saying – short, punchy, memorable.   And it is a saying Episcopalians really want to believe a good saint actually did say because we like that it justifies us not talking to our friends about Jesus.   It’s like a saintly permission slip: St. Francis said we don’t have to talk about God.   When I hear a good, popular quote like this one, I sometimes wonder, “What inspired such a profound thought?”   Like, there had to be something.   I doubt St. Francis was just sitting at his desk one day brainstorming sassy catchphrases and this was his aha moment.   And so what was it; what inspired him?   At first I thought, well maybe, St. Francis was so impressed with the Christian deeds the Christians in his medieval village did that he felt like, “We act so muc

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Psalm 137 Hatreds and Hope There are parts of the Bible that are difficult to read.   There are scriptures that are difficult to read because they are confusing or obscure.   There are passages that are difficult to read because they are nothing more than a long list of unfamiliar, difficult-to-pronounce names.   And then there is Psalm 137 – a chapter of the Bible that is difficult to read because the writer says things in this psalm that most of us would never otherwise utter.   The writer paints a picture that is simply too gut-wrenching to imagine, to disturbing to envision. And it is a prayer.   A prayer that feels wrong; a prayer that causes one’s tongue to retreat from the poetry.   But not one’s mind and not one’s soul.   The soul, it seems, cannot help but puzzle over that disturbing final verse, forcing us to wrestle with the haunting question of why: why is this verse found in our sacred, holy scriptures. The psalm, though, be