Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Exodus 33:12-23   Bold Prayers   If one find’s oneself in the presence of the British Monarch, one better behave appropriately.   In such rarified company, a guest is expected to arrive in advance of the monarch and leave before the royal exits the room.   In doing so, the guest must never turn their back to the monarch; such behavior is considered quite rude.   Do not initiate physical contact; that is not your place.   Shake only if shaken.   Do not speak unless spoken to; do not sit unless the monarch first sits; and do not eat unless you first witness food enter the mouth of the sovereign.   And ladies, if you curtsy, please remember to limit your curtsy to a short bob, “ keeping the back straight, hands by the side, dropping the knees slightly and bowing the head. ” [1]   Above all, be polite and civilized; you are meeting a royal after all.      Fortunately for him, Moses ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Exodus 32:1-14   Seen   They were afraid.   And they felt alone and abandoned.   They were stranded in that vast and hostile desert when Moses just walked away.   He left them.   And now, there was no one left to lead the way.   No one left to escort them to the Promised Land.   No one left to walk out in front, to hear and execute the divine navigation.   No one to rescue them from hot sands and parched skin, from this scorching purgatory.     They were shriveling in the sun, wasting away day by day, stuck in neutral.   They were miserable.   But it wasn’t their fault that Moses ditched or died.   It was just clear that Moses was out of the picture.   And so there was nothing to do, nothing to see.   And they desperately needed to catch a glimpse of something.   Aaron was the one Moses left in charge.   He was the backup, the placeholder. ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Exodus 17:1-7   Water in the desert   The desert was dry The anxiety sky high The question was: why?   Why did God rescue them from slavery in Egypt only to leave them to die a more terrible death: a death of thirst, parched mouths terrorized by the ubiquitous dust, lips broken, organs failing?   Why would Moses and his miraculous staff hatch a brilliant escape plan but not map out the vast wilderness?   Why did it have to end this way?   Egypt wasn’t good.   But also it wasn’t death.   There they were abused by their taskmasters.   They were slowly erased, ground into the sandy ground.   It was suffering but suffering with water and food and so suffering they could, at least, survive.   In Egypt, they cried out to God in desperation but not this desperate; out in that dry desert the sands of time poured through the hourglass much more quickly.   In Egypt, the future was bl...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 On Earth as it is in Heaven I remember vividly that moment on the morning of June 12, 2016. It was a Sunday morning and I was sitting in Room 211, upstairs, meeting with folks who were interested in our EfM program. And I felt my phone vibrate. It was a text message from my wife. She doesn't typically text me on Sunday mornings; she is aware that I am generally unable to check my phone; I have a lot going on and typically a lot of layers to navigate between hand and pocket. And so, I reasoned this must be important. I checked my phone; I wanted to be sure everything was OK. It wasn't. “Did you see?” The text read. “Largest mass shooting in US history, 50 people.” And I felt instantly sick – though, I have to admit, and I am embarrassed to say this, I was not quite as sick as when I heard about Sandy Hook. I excused myself from the class and went downstairs. My head spinning; my heart breaking...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Exodus 3:1-15 Burning Bush If you are hoping for a burning bush, remember: it was never enough. For the slaves suffering in Egypt, a fiery bush in the middle of the desert did nothing to ease their pain. It was just God at a distance. For Moses, God started as just a flame on the periphery, something one sees out of the corner of an eye. God as little more than a curiosity; I guess it is a good thing Moses was curious. On occasion, in the Scriptures, God makes a big splash – like splitting the sea in halves. On occasion, God makes a grand entrance – like a series of devastating plagues: frogs, locusts, and rivers of blood. But mostly we are Elijah waiting out the whirlwind and the earthquake and the firestorm desperately listening for the voice of God in the sheer silence. It is as confusing as it is frustrating as it is sometimes devastating. “ Who are you?” It seems like a fair question. Moses was raised in Egypt as an Egyptia...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Exodus 20:1-17 The Ten Commandments If I were inclined to guess, I would guess that the number one reason people reject the Christian religion is the Christians. We're a large group and some of the individual members are, ya know, crazy, strange, hateful.   And honestly all of us have bad days, days when the love of Christ in our lives is less than obvious.   So if one were looking for a reason to not follow Jesus, Jesus' followers offer many very solid reasons. But after the Christians, I suspect the next most prevalent reason to dismiss the faith is the impression that Christianity is all about rules, restrictions, judgment: Thou shalt not!    It's no surprise that some people think this; I mean, every time a Christian group wants to set up a monument in a public space, it is never the Beatitudes or the Fruits of the Spirit, it's always a big statue of the Ten Commandments – in King James' English, of course.   I...