Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Genesis 28:10-19a   The God of our Ancestors   I never met Lemuel Menear.   And I never will.   Because he died a long time ago.   He died far away from home and family.   He died in Andersonville, Georgia, in Camp Sumter.   Lemuel was one of 13,000 Union soldiers, prisoners of a civil war, who died surrounded by unbearable human suffering, amidst sickness and starvation.   He died in a prison historians have called “hell on earth.”   He was fifty-five years old.   Lemuel left behind his wife and daughters and all he loved.   To fight.   For his nation?   For unity?   For the ideals of freedom and equality?   For the future?   Because he had no other choice?   I’ll never know his reasons.   But I do know that he departed the rugged mountains of West Virginia never to return.   I never met Lemuel, but when his great-grandson died, I wept. ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Deuteronomy 10:17-21   True Story   I have a family story, as do you.   I suspect mine is neither better nor worse than your own.   Because my family story, like all family stories, is one of riches and poverty.   It is a story of both sorrow and beauty, of shame and pride, of love and pain.   I, at times, embrace this rugged history; and then, just as intensely, try to distance myself from the most dismal of its chapters.   But what I cannot deny is that the story is mine; it marks my soul in the best and worst ways.   It shapes me even as I hope to shape its destiny into something of which my children and my children’s children can be proud.   There is always a temptation to tell an edited version of our stories, to hide away the darkest and most devastating chapters.   But the power of a family story is found in our willingness to tell it as a true story – as painful and, at times, as embarra...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 15:9-17 The Price of Love When we first started dating, because I was super charming, every time Jen asked me to do something I would say, “I do what I want, ‘cause I’m sweet.”   I’m sure she found that very endearing.   I mean, she still married me, so… But I have a confession to make: that wasn’t entirely true.   I mean, I am sweet, obviously.   But I did not do whatever I wanted.   Because that’s just not how love works.   And I love her. Because of my love for Jen, my life changed.   Love changed me.   I made compromises that I would not have otherwise made, and that I would not have made for anyone else.   I altered my patterns and routines.   I changed behaviors and attitudes.   I spent my time and money differently.   I pretended to be interested in stuff she liked.   I followed her to India for three weeks, because she asked me if I was interested, I was not interes...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John's Passion Family Very few noticed.   But she was there.   In front of her, they chose Barabbas.   In front of her, they struck her son repeatedly.   In front of her, they mocked him.   In front of her, they yelled, “ Crucify him! ”   All in front of her. What unique brand of pain must it be to witness one's child receive the death penalty?   I can't imagine.   Jesus, her son, was condemned for treason.   But he was killed because of the transgressive love he showed.   She was a parent; her son grew up to be the man she hoped he would be – loving and good.   For what more could a parent hope?   It is what I pray for my sons – that they are loving and good. But it was that same love, that he displayed so freely, that brought her to the cross – the mother of the condemned.   It is not an enviable position. If you think people judge you when your child acts up in publ...