Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Zephaniah 3:14-20   Your Salvation Story St. Stephen’s, Schenectady, NY   The salvation story is long, rooted in a remote, distant past, as ancient as the first mysterious sparks of creation.   We encounter this old story in the waters of the Exodus, in the courage of Esther, on the road out of exile.   We encounter the story in the manger of Bethlehem and, especially, in the empty tomb of Easter.   They are stories transmitted in our holy book and proclaimed from countless pulpits; tales told and passed down through time and through families – all chapters of the greatest story ever told.     But that story is not confined to the past.   Though ancient it still calls us into the future.   The salvation story is also a vision, alive and active in the dynamic mind of God; it is a promise – a promise fulfilled somewhere in the fullness of time, a promise that fuels this season of Advent. ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Isaiah 2:1-5   Hope. In these times.   If I had to describe hope, I might say that it is like a ghost. Caught in glances but never really caught And that it appears much more fragile than everything around it And that when I most need to hold it tight against my soul Against my body My arms feel emptier than I wish they would.   It always feels like there is less of it than there should be. But especially this week. When a news report about our shooting Is interrupted by a news report about a city in Virginia A shooting in Virginia That, in time, will be interrupted by another shooting and another Wounds upon wounds More dead.   Too many. Tremors of grief and the terrible aftershocks that threaten to throw the world off its axis. This world haunted by violence. And despair. And death. But not hope.   What will come of this Advent? This new season? What will it bring?   ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4   What are you waiting for?   What is he waiting for?   What is this ancient prophet, with his unusual name, waiting for?   What is this holy man, standing at his watch post, shouting from his tattered soul, praying from his deepest depths: what exactly is he waiting for?     Because nothing good is on the horizon; nothing good is coming his way.   Destruction and violence are before him.   Is he waiting for them to finally arrive?   Strife and contention are on the rise.   Is he waiting for them to reach their full stature?   A foreign army is at the gate, eager to seize dwellings that are not their own.   Is he waiting to hand over his keys?   The enemy is on a mission to gather captives like one might gather up the sand of a vast desert.   Is he waiting to be swept up and carried away?   What is he waiting for?   The prophet and h...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Hosea 1:2-10 Bad Names At the tail-end of our Gospel reading today, Jesus extols the basic decency that is inherent in your average, run-of-the-mill parent.   Admittedly, it is a fairly low bar that he sets.   He takes for granted that the parents in that 1 st century crowd, when their children are hungry, when they ask for dinner, do not place on their little ones’ plates live, venomous creatures – not even when those children are acting very naughty.   Jesus assumes that the typical parent basically wants good things for his or her children.   And I do think that most children of most parents would agree with Jesus’ rather milquetoast statement.   But I can think of three children who might legitimately contend with Christ.   The three kids that I have in mind have a father named Hosea and a mother who apparently had very little say in the naming process. There are many reasons the Old Testament passage fr...