Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Deuteronomy 10:17-21   True Story   I have a family story, as do you.   I suspect mine is neither better nor worse than your own.   Because my family story, like all family stories, is one of riches and poverty.   It is a story of both sorrow and beauty, of shame and pride, of love and pain.   I, at times, embrace this rugged history; and then, just as intensely, try to distance myself from the most dismal of its chapters.   But what I cannot deny is that the story is mine; it marks my soul in the best and worst ways.   It shapes me even as I hope to shape its destiny into something of which my children and my children’s children can be proud.   There is always a temptation to tell an edited version of our stories, to hide away the darkest and most devastating chapters.   But the power of a family story is found in our willingness to tell it as a true story – as painful and, at times, as embarra...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Deuteronomy 10:17-21 A Compassionate Nation It seems to me that no one loved the nation of the Hebrews more than Moses.   That guy was all in.   He risked his life to rescue them from slavery in Egypt.   He spent forty years wandering with them through desert wastelands.   He stuck with them after the golden calf, through the coup d’etats, and despite much, much murmuring.   And he didn’t do it for the perks.   Sure he was leader of the nation, something of a proto-king.   But the role really only offered the negatives associated with power.   And so he was subject to all the complaint and plenty of second-guessing.   He was embarrassed by the nation’s many missteps, which certainly reflected poorly on the one in charge.   He was expected to provide food in a food desert and water in an actual desert.   He knocked on God’s door to beg and plead for the people, on their behalf, countless t...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Deuteronomy 26:1-11 The Story of a Man The man’s eyes welled up with tears at the calming sound of the stream, not another mirage this time, but an actual stream.   The blue waters called out to him as if to say, “This place is nothing like the desert.”   The desert was all he had ever known.   He was born there: a wanderer from birth.   He grew up there, a there that was always changing and yet somehow always the same.   Food was scarce, water scarcer.   And they, his people, were always on the move, just walking through purgatory. But no longer; it was a miracle: to stand still.   And even more: to stand still on a patch of green.   The man, born in desolation, thought to himself, or was it out loud, “This must be what the Garden of Eden was like.”   And to have his own plot of land, after wandering for so long, a stranger in strange lands, it felt to him like the Promised Land.   And so his...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Deuteronomy 10:17-21 Freedom for Good Freedom is a good thing. I like freedom. I suspect you do too. Of course, you do. There is just something in the human soul that longs to experience freedom. In fact, one might go so far as to say that freedom is not just a good thing, but even a God thing. According to the biblical story, God has been about the work of freedom in this world since the very beginning – building it right into the system, granting Adam and Eve the freedom to violate God's will and break God's heart. And even after the Adam and Eve experiment failed, God stayed the course. God still blessed humankind with the freedom to choose even though that means a lot of poor choices. God created us with the urge to live free despite our propensity to wander. God gives us freedom and then foolishly hopes that one day we will surrender our freedom to become servants in the Kingdom of God. What can I say? God is a dreamer. ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Our Ancient God You heard those readings, right?   Did you notice how weird today's texts are?   That is what struck me as I read over this week’s texts: Every one is strange. That's right: the first Bible story we heard today is about a divinely-appointed charismatic oracle, one who channels the words of this God, a God the people had experienced only in smoke and fire.   God chooses an oracle because the people decided they could no longer bear to have God speak to them directly; they are afraid that God might consume them.   And they can trust that the words of the oracle are the words of God because if the prophet misspeaks the prophet will die.   And the second lesson, the one from 1 Corinthians, is all about idol meat.   You know, should we eat idol meat or not eat idol meat. And the Gospel reminds us that the very first act of Jesus' public ministry was an exorcism.   I...