Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Isaiah 58:1-12 No Cheat Code The key is finding the shortcut, the cheat code. UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, B, A, Start. And...Heaven. Hacking God: that's the holy grail. We all want to know how much is truly required. I mean, what'll do it? Communion every Sunday? You're in? Seven Daily Hail Marys? In? Say the Sinner's Prayer? Jackpot? DVR all of Joel Osteen's, let's call them “motivational sermons”? Well, let's not push it. The question is: what is the least that I can do and still sneak into Paradise? Is there a minimum threshold to achieve maximum eternal rewards? It's an old question. In fact, it shows up in our reading from Isaiah today. The pious folks in the Old Testament lesson are pretty sure they have cracked the code. It's the fasting. Fasting is not that fun so it makes a pretty convincing shortcut. And when you are fasting it does feel like God s...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Easter 4B 4-26-2015 125 Years: A Love Letter The year was 1890.   And the Christians of Trinity Episcopal Church, in Toledo, Ohio, recognized a need in their city.   On the outskirts of town, over by the wagon wheel factory and the train tracks, was a neighborhood made up of immigrants and the working poor.   It was a place in need of some Good News. And so plans were set in motion: to establish a mission, to call together a worshiping community, to share the love of Jesus. On the afternoon of April 27, 1890, the fourth Sunday of the Easter season, the Rector of Trinity, their choirmaster and choir, and members of the congregation, carried their Prayer Books and hymnals all the way to the edge of the city to lead the very first Episcopal liturgy in the area then known as Auburndale.   God called and they responded.   They took a chance.   They planted a seed.   They called that seed St. Andrew's. ...