Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 4:1-11   Stones   I did not make bread.   Not out of stones.   And not during quarantine.   I, of course, have nothing against bread.   Three out of the four members of my family eat a lot of bread.   I enjoy it in most of its many forms.   Loaf, stick, pizza crust, host: all good.   Pretzels, pita, banana, naan: delicious.   But I did not make bread.   Not out of stones.   And not during quarantine.   But I know a lot of people did make bread when COVID incarcerated them in their homes.   I know that because the TV told me constantly that people were making bread.   But I did not.   Instead, I made videos: Bible Study videos, Morning Prayer videos, sermon videos, videos of my littlest son eating unexpected foods.   So many videos…   But again, I did not make bread.   But maybe you did.   And so, on the first Sunday in this most penitential season, a season in which we will hear often of sin and confess often as well, I do want to as

Together   You don’t need the ashes that will be left on your forehead today.   You do not need to wear the charred remains of burnt palm leaves on your face.   You do not need to showcase my dusty thumbprint for your co-workers or for the other parents in the school pick-up line.   You don’t need these ashes.   These ashes, they only say what is already known.   To some they will say that you are strange; people probably already know that, probably already think that.   To some they will say you are religious, a Christian; hopefully people don’t need ashes to know that.   And while these ashes might remind others that you are strange and religious, that is not the point of this Lenten exercise.   These ashes are nothing more than a sign of your frailty: of the mistakes you make, of the comings of which you fall short, and of the death you will someday die.   They are for you, but you do not need them.   I suspect you do not need any more reminders of your mortality.   You al

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 5:21-37   You have heard that it was said…   You know, you read these teachings of Jesus, and honestly, it kinda makes sense that people turned on him.   I suspect he was easy enough to love, if you were one of those people who wasn’t used to being loved, but for most of the curious people in his burgeoning crowds, Jesus was probably not quite so easy to like.   I mean, you come for a free healing and he tells you to saw off your hand. Jesus never made things easy. In fact, he just always makes everything harder; he raises the bar to these impossible heights.   In today’s Gospel, an excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus does just that.   Probably the people in his audience were feeling pretty good about themselves – before Jesus started talking.   They were good, Law-abiding citizens; they took the Ten Commandments seriously.   People got under their skin, but they didn’t murder them.   Some folks were looking pretty good, but

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 5:13-20   The Light of the World   What are you, exactly?   What are we?   Jesus seems to have some thoughts.   In this portion of the Sermon on the Mount, he is name calling.   You are the salt of the earth.   You are the light of the world.   Maybe you are a lamp on a lampstand or a city on a hill.   If you play your cards right, live your days well, Jesus might even, one day, call you great in the kingdom of heaven.   Today is our Annual Meeting Sunday.   Each year, in the lead-up to the Annual Meeting, I spend a lot of time reflecting on the nature and identity of our church.   That big question: what are we?   I think about what we have done and who we have been.   I assess what we are doing and who we are.   And I wonder what God will call us to do next and who God will call us to be in the days that will make up our future.   Grace and St. Stephen’s is, this year, celebrating our 100 th year as a parish.   We’ve been arou