Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson I Samuel 16:1-13   A New Beginning   This is a story of new beginnings: a new beginning for a young shepherd boy; a new beginning for a nation; a new beginning for an old weathered prophet; even a new beginning for God.   But in this story, like in most stories, new beginnings don’t come easy.   They are shadowed by endings.   And they rarely emerge from anything other than at least a touch of grief.   It was Samuel who had, years earlier, anointed a gangly kid from the tribe of Benjamin.   Saul was tall and handsome – so he had the look – but he was from a poor family, and a bit awkward, certainly not the most obvious royal choice.   But he was the one God chose.   And Samuel was in the business of hearing and doing God’s word and so he anointing him as king – the first king of Israel.   And so you can perhaps understand that the prophet, Samuel, was invested.   Long before he m...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson 1 Samuel 1:4-20 Hearts on the Altar The flickering flames of the holy place gave her away.   The way they exposed her silently moving lips, the way they caught their reflection in the tears that she could not control.   She wasn’t looking for an audience; she wasn’t trying to attract the attention of the cynical priest.   The flickering flames did that.   She was simply there to pour out her heart before God.   On this day, in her pain, that was the truest offering she could bring.   The silently moving lips, the tear stained face, they were part of that offering.   They were signs of the prayer that rose up from the deepest well of Hannah’s soul: both complaint and vow, lamentation, tinged with as much hope a shattered woman could muster.   You don’t show up if you don’t believe at least a little bit.   It wasn’t just that her pride was bruised by the constant taunts of the other wife in the h...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson I Samuel 15:34-16:13 Seeds of Hope I feel like I don’t even know him anymore.   I’m thrown.   Samuel: he used to be so brave.   But now, his tears and jitters even got God’s all-seeing x-ray eyes rolling.   If this reading from I Samuel started just a few verses earlier, you would certainly understand and share my surprise. See, before the tears and the reluctance, Samuel was standing tall.   No tears.   No fears.   In fact in the verses immediately preceding today’s passage, Samuel quite literally hacked the king of Amalek into pieces with his sword.   He did that and then just turned around and walked away without saying another word.   Crazy stuff; not for the timid or the faint of heart.   That does not seem like a dude who would get nervous about a trip to Bethlehem.   Just before cutting up the foreign king, Samuel cut his own king down to size – not with a sword, but with his w...