Preaching the Scriptures

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Galatians 3:23-29   A Confirmation Sermon St. John, Massena   Tonight we celebrate the vibrant faith and deepening commitment of our brothers and sisters in Christ, these holy siblings who, moments from now, will bow their heads and open their hearts in expectation.   They are already baptized Christians, already called to ministry in the waters of baptism.   But tonight they are courageous enough to pray for a little more Holy Spirit power.   They are courageous enough to invite the wild influence of the Holy Spirit to undermine any chance they might have had to be ordinary, to be normal.   Instead, they are choosing to live life against the grain.   On this special occasion these precious children of God will reaffirm their allegiance to Jesus and to Jesus alone.   They have determined that their precious lives will be dictated by the demands of love, offered in service to others and in ministry to th...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 5:1-12   Brave to be Blessed Regional Confirmations 2025   You must be brave to be blessed.   Because it is no small thing to allow the beautifully dangerous words of Jesus into your heart and into your life.   The Beatitudes, what we call tonight’s Gospel passage, if you take them seriously, will set you at odds.   You will wear them like brilliant colors in a black and white world.   St. Oscar Romero said of this Gospel: “all the Beatitudes subvert what the world believes in, and they sow the seed of a transformation that we will not see finished until the kingdom of heaven…becomes reality.” [1]   And so you must be brave to be blessed.   Because Jesus is calling you to change an entrenched and stubborn world into the kingdom of heaven.              And to do so, to sow the seeds of transformation, to change the world in Jesus’ n...