Preaching the Scriptures

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Romans 8:26-39   Nothing Transfiguration, Blue Mountain Lake   This is a sermon about “nothing.”   Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, I have heard many sermons about nothing.   Well, that may be the case.   But this sermon is about a very specific “nothing.”   You see, for all the words spilled about the Christian faith over the centuries, “nothing” matters.   In a world populated by billions of diverse and different, beautiful and broken people, “nothing” matters.   Amidst the unfathomable vastness of creation, “nothing” matters.   When you leave this place today, I hope you leave with “nothing.”   Because this “nothing” I have in mind means everything.   We Church people have a long history of complicating and obfuscating the Gospel.   But it is really quite simple.   We tend to qualify and nullify the power of the Christian message, as if our human ingenuity could some...

  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 Acts 17:22-31 In God I walked past the two masked men and into the open door.   As soon as I entered, I was reacquainted with that holy scent – a scent that feels like family, a scent that, I think, will linger on the stone and wood well into eternity.   I allowed my spirit to soak in that beautiful perfume before proceeding down the south aisle, toward the chapel.   I’m not sure why, but the lights of the chapel were on.   I: like a moth to a flame.   My eyes were drawn not to the blessed Mother with her holy child, but to the corner, to a box, to yet another open door.   And there, at the back of chapel, I stopped and stared.   My spirit stirred in a manner beyond easy words.   It was so obviously empty; its stark white insides exposed to our pandemic world.   The aumbry, the place in which I have come to expect God to dwell in earthly elements, was showing me a startling absence. I felt like...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23 God with us It is still Christmas.   But the plot has twisted, has grown twisted.   The angels did not declare the terror that would come so early in the life of the baby Christ.   The shepherds did not offer this news to his parents.   Mary did not treasure in her heart the hard destiny of her newborn son.   It was supposed to be a time of celebration; Mary and Joseph were new parents; their baby was healthy, thanks be to God; Mary's life was preserved through the pain and anxiety of child-birth.   The struggles were supposed to be those common to new parents: enduring sleepless nights, coaxing a successful and productive latch, helping mom recover from the physical trauma of child-birth, enduring whatever postpartum symptoms might occur in the weeks following.   It was supposed to be the normal new normal. Certainly, Joseph, a common laborer, a man from a village in the hills,...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Isaiah 40:21-31   Where is God? Have you not known?   Have you not heard?   Have you not been told?   Have you not understood?   When you understand that the questions are rhetorical, you get that this is a confrontation.    A prophet confronting his nation.   A believer questioning the doubters.   But is it too much?   Surely the people have reason to doubt.   Just before the confrontational questions, the prophet made them a promise – God's promise through the prophet's mouth.   But the promise was an unbelievable promise – with no supporting evidence.   Isaiah promised the people that God would have the last word, that they would experience salvation, that things were about to be set right. But they were not alright.   Nothing was OK.   They were living in exile and had been there for decades – crushed under the weight of oppression, dominated by an unstoppab...