Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 5:43-48   This beautiful, messy us   There are things that I cannot say to members of my own extended family, topics I do not broach, conversations I do not have.   I suppose part of it is that I don’t love conflict. I put up with it, it is, at times, an occupational hazard, but I don’t enjoy it.   And if I am being honest, I guess that is part of the reason why I avoid certain subject matter.   But more than that, it seems to me that we no longer speak the same language. And of course we don’t.   Because while we live in the same nation, we inhabit different worlds.   The clever algorithms and curated feeds and news media are intentionally designed to reinforce our echoing silos and limit our perspectives.   The lines drawn cut through cities and neighborhoods and churches and families and friendships.   And people drift into clans codified by shared stories, mythologies, and, of course, ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Colossians 1:1-14 A Simple Love Letter Today I thought I would be preaching on either the Good Samaritan parable, a classic passage from Luke’s Gospel, or that deliciously provocative passage from the book of Amos.   I did not think I would be talking about the opening of the Paul’s letter to the Church in Colossae.   Because, why would I?   It is an excerpt from an old correspondence.   It has none of the subversive intrigue of Jesus’ story; neither does it have the sassy retort of the Old Testament lesson.   It’s just the beginning of a letter. And yet as I sat with these lessons, it was Paul’s simple love letter that spoke to the heart of this pastor, at this point in my ministry with you. Honestly, the first half of this month has been difficult.   Last week, I watched as a 5-month long emotional roller-coaster of a curate search, one that included two cancellations and two site visits that ended in disap...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 3:8-15 The One Thing that is Not Good In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the Earth, God declared the creation good.   Each new day, something new; each new day, something good: light and darkness, Sun and Moon, the planets in their courses, animals and plants, and a human being – all created by God, all given the ultimate seal of approval.   And at the end of the work, God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good. Well, almost everything. After taking some time to look things over, to double-check the work, God caught one aspect of the creation that could not be called good, one oversight in an otherwise flawless creation.   In the second chapter of Genesis, God observes and declares, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” And so God creates one more thing: a community.   God sees that it is not good for a person to be alone; and so God blesses the first person w...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 1:1-2:4a Living the Trinity If one did desire to understand the doctrine of the Trinity, and went to our treasured Book of Common Prayer, and found their way to An Outline of the Faith, commonly called the Catechism, they would end the search in the section entitled, “ The Creeds ” .   The final question in the section reads: What is the Trinity?   The question is followed by the answer: The Trinity is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That answer is not wrong.   It is, however, a bit basic – like answering the question, “ What is the ocean? ” by saying “ the ocean is a lot of water ” .   That's t rue but hardly comprehensive.   A lot has been said about the Trinity over the centuries.   Almost all of it more complicated than what you will find in the catechism.   And probably most of what has been said has been declared heretical by someone or many, many someones.   So it is understan...