Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Romans 8:22-27   An Ancient Song   This story, like most stories, starts in the beginning.   It starts in the deep silence of a formless void – the long, breathless pause of anticipation.   And then, just like that, everything happened: an eternity of silence shattered by a single, startling note.   The opening aria of the divine triune being, the God who created all things with a song.   And as the song played the Spirit, the holy Spirit, danced over the face of the deep, floated on the waves of the delicate melody.   At first alone, a solo act: God created a chorus.   And each newly made voice was invited to sing along, to layer rich, hauntingly beautiful harmonies beneath the ancient, timeless melody.   The howling planets and the rhythmic crash of plasma waves in interstellar space.   The rocking wash of the sea and the gentle babble of a brook.   The drone of the lurching earth ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 15:9-17   The One Thing that is So Hard to Do   Hours before he died, Jesus sat down for dinner with his disciples.   And that night, in the shadow of the terrible cross, he said to them, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”   It was such a simple statement, but also an impossibly huge ask.   Because, as I am sure you know, Jesus loved them very much.   The Gospel passage today is a portion of what Biblical scholars call Jesus’ farewell discourse.   Like the strained whispers from a death bed, these are the last words Jesus says to his disciples, to the disciples who will carry on in his absence, to the disciples who will stumble through the rest of their lives possessed by his restless Spirit.     Perhaps you have imagined the questions you will ask God when you get to Heaven, well this is the disciples getting that chance on earth.   There he...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 8:26-40   The Persistent Eunuch   Philip is basically an Avenger.   He’s a super hero powered by the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead.   He runs faster than a horse-drawn chariot.   He can teleport.   He is apparently a pedagogical genius.   And he is endowed with the sacramental authority to make new Christians.   It is all very impressive.   Philip is an impressive guy.   But I would argue that there is something far more miraculous than even teleportation happening in this story from the book of Acts.   The real miracle, the most amazing detail, is that this Ethiopian eunuch is still reading the Bible.   The eunuch had traveled all the way to Jerusalem to worship – not to tour the ancient sites, not for a few days of respite, but to merely stand in the House of God, to sway with the prayers of the congregation, to hear the Torah portion echo through ...