Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 3:1-12   The Moral Code of Scrooge Grace, Waterford   ‘Tis the season…of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.   At this point in history, it is, I believe, scientifically impossible to avoid the basic framework of the beloved 1843 novella during the month of December.   The story of Scrooge and his ghosts has been endlessly re-told and adapted.   In addition to the printed page, Old Scrooge has been on the screen since 1901, in what I can only imagine, was a highly ambitious, significantly condensed, six-minute retelling of the story.   Since then, there have been dozens of additional adaptations – all longer than six minutes.   You can watch versions featuring Bill Murray, George C. Scott, Mr. Magoo, Mickey Mouse (my own nostalgic favorite), Bugs Bunny, the Flintstones, Dr. Who, the animated Ghostbusters, Barbie, Dolly Parton, Mr. Belvedere, and, of course, the Muppets – to name just a few. ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Isaiah 2:1-5   Dream Bigger St. Paul’s, Greenwich   Once again we welcome the advent of a new year.   This sanctified new year comes with considerably less fanfare than the one that will begin on January first.   We celebrate this new year around an altar instead of a television, at a respectable hour, not in the middle of the night.   This morning, we lit a single candle instead of dropping a gaudy, luminous ball.   Moments from now, we will drink consecrated wine rather than bubbly champagne.   And I am the only person who dared to wear a festive, pointy hat at this New Year’s celebration.     A short month from now, when the ball does drop, we will muster up our courage and make our resolutions: new dreams to wrap around our old lives.   But today, at this dawning, we do something a little different.   Recognizing that our resolve is always and forever a bit too thin, we dar...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 23:33-43   The Sign Calvary, Burnt Hills, NY   The sign is a joke.   Not a funny joke; not a joke that brings joy or happiness to the world.   It is, instead, one of those “clever” jokes, like a cartoon in the New Yorker. Maybe it doesn’t make you laugh out loud, but if you get it, if you can untangle the irony, you smile a little and feel smart.   The sign was that kind of joke.   And the joke, this joke, it is on us.   Because we clearly don’t get it, don’t get the clever irony.   We take the sign, nailed as it was just above the head of Jesus, literally.   As if that sign was an informative museum plaque.   And that is a strange stance to take, given the circumstance, in light of the terrible events of this Gospel story.       Most everyone in the story was in on the joke.   The leaders riffed on it, for the entertainment of the crowd, stand-up in ...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 21:5-19   When Will This Be? St. Paul’s, Schenectady (Rotterdam)   I woke up late on that Saturday morning – just in time to watch my Saturday morning favorites: NBA Inside Stuff, Saved by the Bell, and Looney Tunes.   But on this particular Saturday, something wasn’t quite right.   I could sense it almost immediately.   Instead of bustle, the house was eerily silent.   No one was milling about.   The television screen was a powerless dull grey.   Every room I explored revealed the same unsettling discovery: nothing.     I have two parents and two younger siblings, and so the silence, and absence, was notable.   I was a child in the days before cell phones and so my investigative options were limited.   You might remember that back in those days if someone wasn’t at home, by their landline, or right beside you, there was no way to reach them.   It was as if they...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 20:27-38   Resurrection Certainty St. Christopher’s, Cobleskill   They could have come to Jesus to be touched well.   They could have sat at his feet and drank from the well of his wisdom.   They could have simply breathed in the same breath that, in the beginning, separated the water from the dry land.   Or just stood still in his loving gaze.   But instead, they came to embarrass Jesus in front of this crowd.   Because of course they did.   These Sadducees, we are told, did not believe in the resurrection.   And so this was not an earnest or honest question.   Their question was devised to prove to Jesus, and anyone who would listen, that they were right: more well-read, more devoted, more righteous.   And that Jesus was wrong.   Because of their carefully crafted question everyone would see that they knew the Bible better.   And unlike Jesus, they actually res...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 18:9-14   Surprise All Saints, Round Lake   Are you shocked?   Are you stunned?     When Jesus hit that wild, twist of an ending, did you discover that your mouth was left agape, your eyes bulging wide?   Or, were you not surprised at all by the surprise at the end of this parable?   Did you even realize that you were supposed to be surprised?   The truth is: The Sixth Sense or Planet of the Apes are not shocking movies on the twentieth viewing.   Or after a series of spoilers.   The endings are not as twisty when you see them coming.   A surprise doesn’t feel jarring if it is not a surprise to its audience.   If you already know the identity of Luke’s father, “Luke, I am your father” doesn’t take your breath away; it just registers as a dramatically delivered mundane fact.   This Gospel reading is old news – about 2000 years old, to be almost exact. And it i...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 32:22-31   Heel Turn Christ Church, Cooperstown   Jacob was a heel.   It was right there in his name.   He was branded a bad guy at birth.   It’s not that he was evil, per say, but he did have a history of morally questionable behavior.   And it started in the womb.   It can be hard to outrun a name.   Or overcome a first impression.   Jacob struggled with both.   Because his name was the first impression.   And it stuck.   It could have been a cute story of how twins like to stick together.   But that is not how his parents, or the Bible, told the birth story.   When mom and dad, Rebekah and Isaac, saw Jacob’s little hand gripping the heel of his slightly older brother, they decided that the younger one would always be scheming to supplant the older one.   The name Jacob in Hebrew is related to the word for “heel,” and the phrase “one who grasps the...