Preaching the Scriptures

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson John 20:1-18   Jesus: There and Here   Mary was in the dark.   Early on the first day of the week, while the world was still shrouded in darkness, Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb.   After the shock of Friday and the overwhelming grief of that empty Saturday, she was finally ready to confront what she knew but still could not believe: Jesus was dead.   The one who loved her and healed her and saved her was lying dead in a cold, stone tomb.   It was dark that morning but, during her bitter walk, her eyes had just enough time to adjust to the lack of light and she could see that the tomb, sealed on Friday, was standing wide open.   Her heart dropped further, if that was even possible.   It was yet another bad twist in her waking nightmare.   It was Easter Sunday and things just kept getting worse.   Mary was in the dark; she was devastated and spiraling.   The stone was rolled aw...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Good Friday 2023   The Body Burden   Jesus’ hands were tied.   In the garden, where they found him, they bound him, bound his wrists.   So much happens to Jesus’ body in this Good Friday story – so much pain, so much trauma, so much horror, even death.   But the first thing that happened to that body, on Thursday night, was that it was bound.     Those who hated Jesus, and those who simply needed the work, took hold and control of his body – a humble body in which dwelt, mostly unknown, the fullness of God; they tamed his bones; they subdued his muscles; they stopped his precious hands – from movement and miracle.   Before everything that happened on Good Friday, before the crown and the nails, they bound him.   But we know the Good Friday story and so we know that wasn’t enough.   It wasn’t enough to simply stop him; they wanted to punish, punish that body that encroached on their ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson I Samuel 16:1-13   A New Beginning   This is a story of new beginnings: a new beginning for a young shepherd boy; a new beginning for a nation; a new beginning for an old weathered prophet; even a new beginning for God.   But in this story, like in most stories, new beginnings don’t come easy.   They are shadowed by endings.   And they rarely emerge from anything other than at least a touch of grief.   It was Samuel who had, years earlier, anointed a gangly kid from the tribe of Benjamin.   Saul was tall and handsome – so he had the look – but he was from a poor family, and a bit awkward, certainly not the most obvious royal choice.   But he was the one God chose.   And Samuel was in the business of hearing and doing God’s word and so he anointing him as king – the first king of Israel.   And so you can perhaps understand that the prophet, Samuel, was invested.   Long before he m...

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Psalm 121   Pilgrim Psalm   The journey was dangerous.   And the way was not safe.   So common and pervasive was the peril that it served as the backdrop for the well-known Parable of the Good Samaritan.   That story, told by Jesus in Luke’s Gospel, begins with an unnamed traveler being stripped and beaten by robbers.   The man is left for dead on the side of the road, the road that leads to Jerusalem.   Psalm 121 is one of the best known psalms in the entire poetic collection.   It has for centuries lived in the hearts and souls of the people of God.   It is a song that instills comfort and confidence.   For centuries it has been prayed in moments of anxiety and insecurity and has been a remarkably effective conveyor of peace and tranquility.   The psalm is one of fifteen psalms grouped and categorized as Songs of Ascent, part of a collection within the larger collection.   These ...

  The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson Matthew 4:1-11   Stones   I did not make bread.   Not out of stones.   And not during quarantine.   I, of course, have nothing against bread.   Three out of the four members of my family eat a lot of bread.   I enjoy it in most of its many forms.   Loaf, stick, pizza crust, host: all good.   Pretzels, pita, banana, naan: delicious.   But I did not make bread.   Not out of stones.   And not during quarantine.   But I know a lot of people did make bread when COVID incarcerated them in their homes.   I know that because the TV told me constantly that people were making bread.   But I did not.   Instead, I made videos: Bible Study videos, Morning Prayer videos, sermon videos, videos of my littlest son eating unexpected foods.   So many videos…   But again, I did not make bread.   But maybe you did.   And so, on the first Sunday in this most pe...

Together   You don’t need the ashes that will be left on your forehead today.   You do not need to wear the charred remains of burnt palm leaves on your face.   You do not need to showcase my dusty thumbprint for your co-workers or for the other parents in the school pick-up line.   You don’t need these ashes.   These ashes, they only say what is already known.   To some they will say that you are strange; people probably already know that, probably already think that.   To some they will say you are religious, a Christian; hopefully people don’t need ashes to know that.   And while these ashes might remind others that you are strange and religious, that is not the point of this Lenten exercise.   These ashes are nothing more than a sign of your frailty: of the mistakes you make, of the comings of which you fall short, and of the death you will someday die.   They are for you, but you do not need them.   I suspect you do n...