Sermons

Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost

August 13, 2023

Street Sense offered the word this Sunday. Street Sense elevates voices on poverty issues and creates economic opportunities for people experiencing homelessness. With support from Roy Barber and Leslie Jacobson, a group of Street Sense vendors told their stories in song and spoken word. Street Sense is also a biweekly newspaper sold on the street by the vendors as a means of support.

Tenth Sunday After Pentecost

August 6, 2023

Matthew 14: 13-21

Our text for today begins with an odd sentence: “When Jesus heard this, he withdrew….”

Jesus has just been told that his beloved cousin, John, has been beheaded as a favor to Herod’s wife. Stunned, Jesus gets into a boat, needing a deserted place where he can be alone. Imagine what that news would mean to you. How you might feel  — and how welcome a needy crowd would be.  Or picture yourself as a member of the crowd, following a beloved teacher on foot — in the wake of his grief and your fears about what this means for the reform movement which was beginning to form around them.

This is NOT the mood we want to set for celebrating Emmy Lu’s 100^th birthday, and yet I want to honor the discipline of dealing with the gospel text assigned for today. And death, whatever form it takes, will come to all of us. It’s certainly waiting in the wings as we celebrate Emmy Lu’s 100^th birthday.  

Ninth Sunday After Pentecost

July 30, 2023

How do we connect with the transforming power of the Holy Spirit? This question was the subject of Jacqie Wallen’s sermon on Sunday, May 29 of this year. Among the different spiritual practices she shared, she highlighted the communion with nature. Just the day before I had returned from the mountains of West Virginia, where I was on a vision quest, so the sermon resonated deeply with my recent experience.

A “vision quest” is a rite of passage into nature. Its most visible phase is a solitary retreat of several days, in which you expose yourself as much as possible to the forces of nature, carrying only the essentials to survive and fasting. It is a journey to “the sacred mountain” in search of answers and guidance.

Eighth Sunday After Pentecost

July 23, 2023

Good Morning.  This sermon is about me, it’s why joining Seekers Church has made a significant change to my life and how I expect to live.  Please bear with me, because in preparing this message for today I faced my personal history, my work and how I have lived my life.  I could do this because I feel at home here.  You have given me nourishment for my spiritual life.  The Circle Time, the liturgy, the Word and the interests of the community in social justice — all are meaningful.  Let me explain how I am affected.

Seventh Sunday After Pentecost

July 16, 2023

Good morning,

Thank you for this invitation to share with you today. Preaching to the choir – I have been inspired by your Racial & Ethnic Justice Ministry Team- commitment to racial justice and your continued weekly vigil. I hope we can continue to learn from one another.

I thought I would start with a little of who we are, Faith and Money Network, (FMN) and what we do. Most of you know and have supported our ministry over the years and a few of you were around when the original call was sounded by Don McClanen and others. Don recognized the relationship between money and fear and anger, and he realized that few people addressed these problems from the perspective of their faith.