Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 1:18-25                                       Plans St. Luke’s, Catskill   It was not the happiest day of his life, the day he found out his beloved was pregnant.   It was supposed to be, but it was not.   We tried for months – my wife and me.   Throwing away all of those negative tests.   Piles of disappointing plastic.   And feeling defeated.   And sad.   And so Jen’s grandmother, now of blessed memory, told us to book a trip.   So that we would have to think about something else.     And so, out of ideas, and trusting an older wisdom, we did.   We booked a vacation to Italy – a trip with enough detail and nervousness to occupy, or rather distract, our frazzled minds.   ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 45:1-15   Pit, Prison, Palace: Joseph and the Salvation Story   The brothers were speechless because they were afraid.   They were afraid because standing before them was a ghost, a ghost that they created.   A ghost that had haunted them for years, pursued them in their dreams and in their nightmares.   But only in dreams and nightmares, until now.   Now this one they could not forget was weeping before them.   Joseph: he finally caught them – and they could not escape because they could not wake up because this was not a dream.      It had to be true; every word, every tear: it had to be true.   No one in Egypt knew their secret.   No one else in the world, not even their own father, knew the true story.   They never told anyone.   The real truth was too terrible to speak, what they had done – and to their own baby brother.   They had lived with that lie...

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,...