Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson I Kings 19:15-16, 19-21   Next Christ Church, Walton   This was not exactly an appealing offer.   That is, if it was an offer at all.   It was more like a high-stakes game of tag.   And Elisha was now “it”.   Elisha was working the plow, sweating it out at the family farm.   Elijah, the prophet, the extremely controversial prophet, finds Elisha at work and, without a word, tosses his mantle, his vocational cloak, onto the younger man, who was probably sufficiently hot without an extra cloak.   Relieved of his mantle, the prophet just keeps walking.   No negotiation.   No sales pitch.   No carefully constructed succession plan. No explanation.   Just some thrown clothes.   But apparently the message was clear.   Elisha knew he was next.   Though I’m not quite sure Elisha fully understood what it meant to be next.   If he knew what he was really g...

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson I Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14   Succession Planning All Angels, Twilight Park   People still talk about his dad.   Star of David, City of David, Son of David.   The King David Hotel, and its five-star rating: it stands today in the center of the city the great ruler put on the map some 2900 years ago.   Tourists flock to see Michelangelo’s brilliant sculpture of his father’s nude form in Florence, Italy.   David looms large, still…and then…and always.   Solomon, his son, had a hard act to follow.   David overshadowed every king who ever sat on the throne, his throne, the one called, of course, the throne of David – called that no matter who was sitting on it at the time.   David’s predecessor, Saul, crumbled in his presence, became an historical footnote.   And every king who followed him, until the Babylonians paused his line in 587 BCE, were chilled by his long shadow, were measured aga...