Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Micah 5:2-5a   A Prayer for Peace Trinity Church, Lansingburgh   Their prayer was a cry for all that had been lost and a longing for what had never been.   In that sense, Micah’s people didn’t ask for much except what seemed forever out of reach.   They didn’t pray for luxuries, like vast wealth or obscene riches.   They didn’t strive for power or influence.   They didn’t long for fame or glory.     They just wanted to be able to let their children play outside.   They wanted to walk carelessly though a park or daydream by a stream.   They wanted to fall asleep knowing they would wake up in the morning.   They didn’t pray for luxuries; they prayed for peace.   But they lived with war.   And so their children stayed indoors, shielded from the threat of Assyrian arrows.   The parks were battlegrounds, and the streams ran red.   And in place of day dreams t...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Zephaniah 3:14-20   Your Salvation Story St. Stephen’s, Schenectady, NY   The salvation story is long, rooted in a remote, distant past, as ancient as the first mysterious sparks of creation.   We encounter this old story in the waters of the Exodus, in the courage of Esther, on the road out of exile.   We encounter the story in the manger of Bethlehem and, especially, in the empty tomb of Easter.   They are stories transmitted in our holy book and proclaimed from countless pulpits; tales told and passed down through time and through families – all chapters of the greatest story ever told.     But that story is not confined to the past.   Though ancient it still calls us into the future.   The salvation story is also a vision, alive and active in the dynamic mind of God; it is a promise – a promise fulfilled somewhere in the fullness of time, a promise that fuels this season of Advent. ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 21:25-36   A hopeful perspective St. John’s, Cohoes, NY   My family has only rather recently started watching the Marvel movies.   These blockbuster superhero films have dominated the cineplex for more than a decade, but my boys were mere toddlers when the franchise was really hitting its stride.   Now that they are growing into their teenage years, we are slowly catching up.   And I must admit that watching the films more than a decade after their release does temper some of the tension.   One worries less about Tony Stark’s fate in the first Iron Man film, when Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3, featuring Tony Stark, have already been famously released.   You have a pretty strong sense that he will make it through the first round of danger when you know he stars in the sequels.     And that knowledge breeds hope.   When it looks like everything is hopeless, like the hero is facing im...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 18:33-37   You? Christ Church, Deposit   The king was exactly where you would expect to find him.   He was standing in the halls of power, in a palace, talking with the local governor – the conversation taking place on the way to his dressing room.   Soon, at the conclusion of the brief, but grave, dialogue, the kind powerful people have, the king would don the royal garments: a purple robe and a crown for his head.   And then, stand, as kings do, before the gathered crowds.   That is both exactly what happens in this Gospel and yet not what happens at all.   Because in this case, the king in our story is a condemned peasant.   Pilate, the local governor, was a busy man.   And now he is also an annoyed man.   It was bad enough that he was assigned to govern a population that refused to worship the Emperor.   Now there was a contingent at his gate asking him to personal...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Mark 13:1-8   When? St. Stephen’s, Schuylerville   Sometimes you just don’t know what to say to Jesus.   Have you ever had that experience?    Well, so did at least one of Jesus’ disciples.   And so he just blurted out, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!”   And probably the stones were large.   And certainly the Second Temple appeared quite large, especially to a citizen of the 1 st century, in the days before skyscrapers and NYC and the UAE.   But Jesus meets that awkward outburst with something much more serious.   And then, it seems, no one talks again until they get to the Mount of Olives.   But in the silence, the disciples’ minds were racing.   They were wondering.   Because once again, they could not make sense of Jesus.   Neither could they make sense of a world that can’t seem to help but fall apart.   The disciples: they a...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson 1 Kings 17:8-16   Desperate Strangers St. Timothy’s, Westford   The excitement was overwhelming…until it suddenly and decisively abated.   The hometown crowd had been buzzing about the return of their rising star.   Jesus was making a name for himself in the surrounding villages.   And now, he was coming home, to do his thing.     It started off strong.   Jesus was amazing.   They were impressed; it was impossible not to be impressed.   His beginnings were humble but you would never know that, the way he held the crowd, the way he exuded otherworldly wisdom.   They were hanging on his every word.   He was even better than they imagined.   Jesus should have quit while he was ahead – pulled a George Costanza and walked off on the high note.   But Jesus stood back up.   He played the encore.   After wowing the crowd, Jesus decided to add a little somet...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Mark 10:46-52   Mercy   Before sight, instead of money, his first request was for mercy.   Bartimaeus, the man we encounter in Mark’s Gospel today, was a blind beggar – two conditions that were, of course, in no way mutually exclusive.   He sat by the road in extraordinary need; that was obvious to everyone, and still is.   He was blind.   And so he was poor.   And, he was, based on the initial reaction of the crowd around him, something of a pariah or nuisance.   His temporal needs were vast.   But his first request, his primary plea, was for mercy.   On this particular day, the day recorded in our Gospel reading, Jesus was in Jericho.   And for the people of Jericho that was a really big deal.   It wasn’t every day that a miracle worker passed through town.   And so the buzz built and the crowds assembled.   They came to see Jesus.   And see Jesus they d...