Preaching the Scriptures

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 2:1-20   Beautifully Strange Cathedral of All Saints, Albany   The very first Christmas was tucked into, what might have been, the quietest corner of the world.   So quiet that it was almost like a little secret between God and a select few.   And the few were not social influencers or cultural heavy weights; they were not people positioned to start a buzz.   Instead, they were social pariahs, cultural leftovers: a young couple unmarried with child and some suspect nomads – people who didn’t matter.   And so, Christmas started as a whisper.   But, as you know, the secret got out.   Like a rumor that went viral.     And so tonight, from this pulpit, I feel like I am telling you something you already know: this timeless story of a peasant baby who became the Savior of the world.   You could likely recite the details of this Lukan account without notes, off the cuff – because the ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Christmas Eve 2023 Luke 2:1-20   Emmanuel in a world that is not safe   What I remember most vividly of our first moments together are his perfectly round head and the clarion cry that belied the smallness of his body.   Isaiah, my youngest son, came into the world on a Sunday morning and, as he continues to do, made his presence known.   It snowed on Saturday night, the night preceding his birth – a thick, Spring snow.   And Jen went into labor, before we were ready, twenty-three days in advance of Isaiah’s Annunciation due date.     That Sunday evening we sat in our hospital room with our newborn baby.   And, in that strange mix of exhaustion and euphoria, we looked out the window, a few stories above the nearby park.   The oaks had not yet turned green.   It was early in the month of March and the snow still fell, though now gently.   Like in a snow globe, as it begins to se...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 2:1-20   Small God   The mystery of Christmas is found in the packaging.   I don’t mean white paper boxes and whimsical gift wrap – although anyone who has ever tried to wrap a basketball or a bicycle knows that gift wrapping can be one of the world’s great mysteries.   I mean instead the mystery of how a very big God can be wrapped up in the soft skin of a tiny baby.   The God who inhabited the formless void of the universe, who danced in space before the planets were set in their courses, Stretched out in the close confines of a young womb.   The God whose voice said, “Let there be light,” Struggled to squawk out a primal, wordless cry.   The very hands that pulled humanity from the dust of the earth, Small enough to wrap a fist around Joseph’s rough finger.   The lips that kissed life into Adam, Suckled furiously at Mary’s tender breasts.   The feet that walked ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 2:1-20   Immanuel   36 weeks and 4 days into Jen’s second pregnancy I returned home from a vestry retreat.   That night, as we slept, a snowstorm swept into Northwest Ohio and Jen, my wife, was awakened by contractions.   She gently and calmly roused me from my sleep to inform me that she was driving herself to the hospital, in the snowstorm.   I, of course, made a counter-offer, one that I thought was quite strong, one that she quickly and decisively rejected.   She was driving to the hospital convinced that she would return to our bed in a matter of hours with the diagnosis of false labor.   And I was to stay home with our two-year old because he was a terrible sleeper and why wake him for false labor pains.   And so, aware I was not winning this negotiation, I laid back down, phone in hand, resigned to await my wife’s promised return.   The contractions, it turned out, were not false; ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Luke 2:1-20 Nativity Every year, one simple family interrupts the entire whirling world – introduced each December, encased in an impossible porcelain innocence.   In the hustle and bustle of our Christmas chaos, there is something about that simple nativity scene that causes the swirling scramble of life to take pause, to take notice.  It is a simple scene that somehow carries a story so ancient and mysterious that it defies even time – a story at once steeped in cosmic grandeur but so intimate that it hugs your soul warm, if that makes sense to you.  So intimate that, on this special night, it feels like we might be able to cradle a miracle in our hands.   The scene is like a desert fairy tale preserved in snow globe preciousness.   There’s that beautiful baby face.  And the young mother with her shy smile.  And the new father, both nervous and proud.  And the curious animals that frame the scene....