Seekers recognizes that any member of the community may be called upon by God to give us the Word. Our Guidelines for Preaching help us prepare sermons. This section collects for study and reflection drafts of sermons that happen to have been prepared in electronic form. The most recent sermon is on the top of the page.
We have an interesting set of texts to work with this morning:
Over the past weeks of Advent and through to this Second Sunday in Epiphany, I have been noticing how many blessings have appeared in our lection readings.
We have heard the blessing of Hagar, of Mary, of Abraham and Sarah, Elizabeth’s blessing of Mary when she comes to visit; the blessing of Hannah, Mary blessing God in the Magnificat,…
Today we celebrate Epiphany with the story of three wise men who came with their gifts to honor a new king of the Jews. It’s a simple story, perfect for the finale of a Christmas pageant.
My favorite image of Epiphany is this carving of a fish which I bought from a street vendor in Guatemala. It shows three well-dressed women with increasingly-large halos as they approach a gold-domed church and a very bright star overhead. On the other side, common people carry baskets of food toward the same gold-domed church.…
For most of the world, Christmas is over. All the presents have been opened, and whether we are delighted or disappointed by the gifts we have or have not received, many of us feel a kind of let-down. After all the tidings of comfort and joy, after all the familiar feasting of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, the twelve days of Christmastide seem to fall a little flat. Here on the altar, the Christ child is in the manger and the wise men are still making their way from the East to Bethlehem, but the angels and shepherds seem to have fallen silent.…
Appear to us today.
Come, Lord Jesus.
We long for peace.
We long for love.
We rise each day in hope.
We wait for you.
You are the bringer of hope.
You are the bringer of love.
You are peace.
Come to us, Lord Jesus.
Amen
During this Advent season our scripture readings have come from a different lectionary from the Revised Common Lectionary, which we generally use. The lectionary we’ve been using for these four weeks is titled A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, compiled by the Rev.…
It has been at least five years (or since I joined Seekers) since we last examined our domestic and international giving principles and guidelines. During that time, the REJMT was created, and we conducted a whole season, examining racism and white supremacy during Lent this year. As part of that ongoing liturgy, I preached a sermon on reparations, and called for us to have a conversation on how Seekers considers institutional racism and reparations in our giving programs.…