Preaching the Scriptures

The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Philippians 4:1-9   Worry in the World Grace, Cherry Valley   How could Paul say this?! And to you?!   Especially right now?!   “Do not worry about anything?”   Does he not understand that Fr. Kyle just retired?   And that you, Grace Church, also St. Mary’s, also a little bit St. John’s, just entered into a season of clergy transition?   As you know, I work with a lot of churches in transition.   And so I know that you know that I know transition time is an anxious time.   Paul telling you not to worry is probably not super helpful; it might not even be working.   Now in his defense, this morning in Cherry Valley, New York was likely not on Paul’s mind when he put ink to parchment almost two thousand years ago.   But it is still a striking phrase, of an impossible expectation – even after all these years.   It is difficult to imagine living in this world, in these times, with...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Philippians 1:3-11 Overflow I'm not sure in what year it happened, but I know it happened during the Great Vigil of Easter.   And so of course it was dark in the church.   Only the Pascal Candle lit the chancel – a single flame dancing in the font's metallic silver bowl. That night we would welcome into the Church a new Christian – a little person we would lay on the altar of Love.   As I prayed the baptismal prayer, recounting the ways in which we Christians track salvation history through water, I picked up the ewer, the liturgical pitcher, and started to pour.   And pour.   And pour.   It was so dark that I could not see that the font was growing quite full, each drop challenging capacity.   I did not realize just how full was the font until the water started to overflow – out of the font and all over the floor. It was messy.   It was a little dangerous, that baptismal water all over the floor...