Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 9:35-38     Remember Your “Why” Cathedral of All Saints and St. Thomas, Tupper Lake   In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus never once checks his email.   And I think we all know what that means: he is going to fall hopelessly behind – and then have to spend the rest of the week desperately trying to catch up.     Of course, I am only kidding: no one ever catches up on email, not even Jesus.   Because they just keep coming – always and forever.     The expectations of ministry have certainly changed over the centuries.   Priests and deacons of the past would never have imagined the shape and demands of ordained life in the 21 st century.   And it is not just your inbox.   Administrative expectations and mundane tasks constantly clog up our to-do lists.   You have to fill out the parochial report.   And beg someone to serve on the vestry.   And proo...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew’s Passion [26:14-27:66]   A Reflection on the Passion Gospel St. Thomas, Tupper Lake   Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?   Today we heard a story of unfathomable tragedy.   It is the story of an innocent man captured by the tremendous momentum of human violence.   It is the story of the one Roman crucifixion that is still worn around our necks.   And it occurred so long ago.   And so you, of course, were not there.   Because this tale transpired almost two thousand years ago, in a place far from here, a place still too familiar with violence and death.   The events of our Gospel took place long before St. Thomas Episcopal Church was founded.   Long before the Episcopal Church held its first Convention.  ...

T he Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 3:1-17   Lifted Up: Snakes and Salvation on the Journey Home Christ Church, Duanesburg   There is no place like home…and that is what they missed.   They missed having a place to call home – a place where you can hang your clothes, where the kids can roam the neighborhood with their friends, where the crops you plant are the ones you harvest.   And they did not have that, any of that.   Because they were lost in the wilderness – somewhere between what was and what they desperately hoped would be.   Their patience was thin to the point of threadbare.   And yet Moses decided they should take the scenic route…again.   The people, those tired and tattered wilderness people, did not respond well to that suggestion.   In fact, they lose it.   They lose the little bit of patience they still had.   They lose all self-control.   They lose their sense of decorum.   And they lose...