Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 16:16-34   Paul and Silas Do Big Things St. Paul’s, Keeseville, NY   Life is full of surprises.   One never can tell what twists and turns might be just around the corner.   One morning, Paul and Silas set off in the direction of their place of prayer.   Nothing about that day’s journey was in any way noteworthy.   It was normal; something they did.   But on one particular morning, the one noted in our reading from Acts, something in their routine changed.   On the way, on that day, they met an enslaved girl.   And that too would be unremarkable except that she decided to make a scene.   Now, these things do happen; loud and obnoxious people do exist.   And they do sometimes make life uncomfortable.   But this meeting, it turns out, was more than that, more than a singular disturbance.   This meeting would forever change each individual life.   This meeting woul...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson I Corinthians 8:1-13   Knowledge, Love, and Meat St. John’s, Essex, NY   My dad didn’t have the opportunity to go to college.   He started working as a carpenter during high school and, by default, that became his career.   It was hard and punishing work.   And the pay was not commensurate with the effort it demanded.   While he was deeply committed to his work, and excellent at it, and some days even found it rewarding, in many ways my father’s vocation was a struggle.   And that struggle extended to the family’s financial stability.   Money comes in stops and starts for a free-lance construction worker.   And we never seemed to be able to get ahead.   It was a stressful way to live.   And so my dad was always clear that he did not want me, his first born, to live that same struggle.   He wanted me to be the first Williamson to earn a college degree.   He believed that k...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 9:1-20   The Conversion of Saul   Saul was not the kind of guy you want to know.   I’m not saying he didn’t have friends; he did.   You didn’t want to know them either.   Saul and his friends were the bad guys; the kind of guys who are fueled by hatred and the cruelest brand of prejudice; the kind of guys who believe the worst conspiracy theories and spread the vilest rumors.   Saul and his friends, on the road to Damascus, were a first century lynch mob, breathing threats and murder, gleefully terrorizing the early Church, men on the forefront of an attempted religious cleansing.   Hatred was their business, maybe even their chosen hobby.   Saul, the ringleader of this violent band, had a reputation – and it was not a good one.   Ananias, in today’s passage from Acts, shares with God what he has heard about Saul.   Saul, from Ananias’ lips to God’s ears, had done much evil to the sa...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24   Rejoice Always   Joy.   Joy is the theme of this Third Sunday of the Advent season.   This has long been the case in the Church.   On this very Sunday, at the mid-point of this season of anticipation, each year, the introit of the old Latin mass would break the penitential silence of western Christendom with the stirring cry of “Guadete,” rejoice.   Joy is the reason we don pink vestments today (vestments that we call rose-colored), on this third Sunday of Advent.   Joy is the reason we light a pink candle today (we call it rose-colored), on this third Sunday of the Advent season.   Joy is the reason this morning’s epistle lesson, taken from the end of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, is chosen for this particular Sunday – because it begins with the word that sets the tone: rejoice!     Rejoice!   Christmas is coming!   The angels are about to ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 16:16-34 Salvation Is this what salvation looks like?   As today’s story from Acts shifts and jumps, shakes and quakes, and the Holy Spirit of God working in the story does the same, it is this question that, repeatedly, at each twist, turn, pause, and break is begged.   Is this what salvation looks like? The passage begins innocently enough – if one can ever call the work of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts innocent.   And the vast number of apostolic arrests in this book suggests that maybe one cannot.   But it is the case that when Paul and his companions enter into the Macedonian city of Phillipi, they decide, blinders on, halos firmly affixed, to head straight for the place of prayer. They were not looking for any trouble. But trouble finds them.   In the guise of a slave girl – a slave girl who just happens to be possessed by a spirit – a spirit that takes a special interest in these men who are defi...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 9:1-20 Don’t Say It If you want a lesson, a takeaway from today’s sermon, I suppose it is this: If the Lord calls your name, do not, under any circumstance, respond, “Here I am, Lord.”   Just don’t do it.   Now you might be surprised to hear me say that.   Priests are supposed to encourage their members to listen for the voice of Jesus, to follow the great call of God.   But here’s the thing, I’ve read some Bible, quite a bit actually, and so I know how this goes down.   And, generally speaking, it’s not good. For example: Back in the book of Genesis, old father Abraham responds, “Here I am, Lord.”   And God tells him to kill his son.   Not good.   In the book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, Moses responds, “Here I am, Lord.”   You might remember that story, the story of the burning bush.   And God tells him to go back into Egypt, the land he had just fled, and confront the m...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 Taking the Loss St. Paul clearly possessed many tremendous talents and commendable gifts.   His list of accomplishments is stunning.   It is hard to imagine what might have become of Christianity without his witness and writings.   Without his drive to share the message with Gentiles, we might not even be here, in a church, worshiping Jesus.   He started churches.   He wrote a large chunk of the New Testament.   He traveled tirelessly to spread the Gospel.   Even his death as a martyr was a witness to the amazing power of God's love. Paul could have put together quite a resume.   Instead of all of those amazing accomplishments, however, he lists the following: beatings, imprisonments, and riots (I'm guessing caused, and not started) – all plural.   And then goes on to say of his team, “We are treated as impostors.”   It is not a list that inspires confidence.   And...