Preaching the Scriptures

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Acts 6:8-7:2a, 51c-60 Do it Anyway I suspect the prophet Jeremiah might take issue with today's collect. The collect for the Feast of St. Stephen, the feast we are observing today, begins: “We give you thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen.” First martyr, huh? First martyr of the Christian Church? Sure. But first martyr? Probably quiet a few of the prophets and sages, from Jeremiah to John the Baptist, who quite literally lost his head, would object to that unqualified first. Stephen was the first post-resurrection martyr, but he was not the first to suffer for his witness, neither was he the last. Stephen takes his place within the great throng of witnesses – of those who dared speak the word of God, who risked everything for the sake of the Truth. According to the biblical witness,, God has been speaking to and through human beings since the book of Genesis. Also the Bible shows us that those wor...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 15:10-28 Heart How dare Jesus talk to them like that? They were better than him. He was a nobody from nowhere. Sure, Jesus had a handful of followers and some popularity but pretty much anybody with some charisma can brainwash a few naïve peasants. To them, to the Pharisees, he was inferior. His father was a hillbilly carpenter – if that guy was even his dad. There were rumors that his mother was already knocked up when they got married – just another loose teenage girl with no morals. It's no surprise he shows his elders no respect. Just look at the kind of family he comes from. And that group he calls his disciples. What a joke. They are a shabby bunch; they don't even observe basic purity laws. Can you imagine: they don't wash their hands before they eat. And their leader has the chutzpah to walk around like he is expert on Torah? His disciples don't even follow Torah. Torah, the Law handed down from...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Romans 8:26-39 Nothing but Good News For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. If you have been wondering: what exactly is this Good News we're always talking about in church? What is this Gospel that we are called to share beyond those heavy doors? This is it. This is the Good News. This is the Gospel. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. There is nothing that can separate us, nothing that can separate me, nothing that can separate you, from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Noth...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Romans 8:1-11 Possessed Not every possession looks good on a movie screen. Not that folks are watching The Exorcist for the beautiful scenery or lovely depictions of childlike innocence but I think you get my point. The horror industry understandably tends to emphasize the more dramatic face of possession – preferably a face with glowing red eyes that is set on a swivel. In the movies possession looks like supernatural demonic beings inhabiting and controlling everything from humans to dolls to television sets – disembodied gremlins making mischief in the natural world. While the depictions are often over-the-top, not what one would expect to see in their own poorly lit bedroom, they do, I think, tap into a very common anxiety – and not just common but also utterly realistic. Probably why there are so many movies and television shows featuring possession is that it is a truly terrifying thought – one that feels a bit too possible, mayb...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 The God We Need His story began in the smoky confines of the Temple, or so the legend goes. His father struck mute by an angel of the Lord. His name was divinely appointed, long hidden in the mind of God; his purpose written into God's salvation story ages before he drew his first breath. His conception too was miraculous: a seed planted in impossible soil takes root by the grace of God. At his birth, the Holy Spirit possessed his father causing him to spew forth a jarring prophecy, his first words in months: “You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.” If that is how your life begins, the odds of that life being what we might think of as “normal” are slim. And so, of course, John, this man of miraculous birth and mystical origins, spends his adult life living in the desert and eating insects. Until one day he walks into the water and announc...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Deuteronomy 10:17-21 Freedom for Good Freedom is a good thing. I like freedom. I suspect you do too. Of course, you do. There is just something in the human soul that longs to experience freedom. In fact, one might go so far as to say that freedom is not just a good thing, but even a God thing. According to the biblical story, God has been about the work of freedom in this world since the very beginning – building it right into the system, granting Adam and Eve the freedom to violate God's will and break God's heart. And even after the Adam and Eve experiment failed, God stayed the course. God still blessed humankind with the freedom to choose even though that means a lot of poor choices. God created us with the urge to live free despite our propensity to wander. God gives us freedom and then foolishly hopes that one day we will surrender our freedom to become servants in the Kingdom of God. What can I say? God is a dreamer. ...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 10:24-39 The Threat of Love A man against his father, A daughter against her mother, A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; One's foes will be members of one's own household. Jesus and his disturbing vision of a dystopian future – a future in which division would bore its way even into the foundations of the family unit, a future in which generations would clash over allegiances and values. It is a grim fantasy indeed. Fortunately, two-thousand years of steady progress finds us in a 21 st century utopia in which such talk of division can scarcely be found in the news or on social media or around a family's dinner table. We, so many years removed from Jesus' words, are, I'm sure, relieved to find our selves in the comfortable role of voyeur, unaffected outsiders curiously glimpsing the struggles of the 1 st century faithful. It must have been hard. It is almost impossible for us to imagine, in ...