Seekers recognizes that any member of the community may be called upon by God to give us the Word, and thus we have an open pulpit with a different preacher each week. Sermons preached at Seekers, as well as sermons preached by Seekers at other churches or events, are posted here, beginning with the most recent.
Click here for an archive of our sermons.
Feel free to use what is helpful from these sermons. We only ask that when substantial portions are abstracted or used in a written work, please credit Seekers Church and the author, and cite the URL.
“Imagining Transfiguration” by Deborah Sokolove
Transfiguration Sunday
February 19, 2023
It seems to me that lately we’ve been having a long run of very serious sermons, mostly drawn from every crisis that we hear about in the news. It makes my head swim just to remember the latest crisis. Particularly for the last couple weeks, I’ve barely been able to listen to the news or read the newspaper. I’ve been too distracted with what is right here in front of me. And while I applaud and cheer for all of you who are filled with passion to address these very real and very important issues, I confess that a lot of time I want to just run away to some other place or some other time where I can pretend that every day, and every way the world is getting better and better. I don’t get to pretend that, but that’s what I want.
Thoughts on Remembering the Dead, Black History, and Show-and-Tell by Larry Rawlings and others
The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
February 12, 2023
In bringing the Word today, Larry remembered Lisa Null and Merwyn Austin Nunes, asked a number of people to join him in reflecting on Black History Month, and invited the children into a brief show-and-tell. What follows is the automatic transcript from zoom of what was said, lightly edited for clarity
Larry: Thanks for that. So I always start off by saying, if you remember one thing that’s said today I’ve done my job. And I’m going to to start this sermon off just like I did 5 years ago.
I’m going to say, like 5 years ago, root for the Eagles.Yeah.
I’ve got a picture that I wanted to be on the screen, but it couldn’t be on the screen [holds up picture] This is my good friend Elizabeth Noll. She died on July nineteenth. I worked for her for 15 years. This woman and I was taking care of the lawn. It was the perfect job, because she didn’t want the managed look, she would have me. She would buy hundreds of dollars’ worth of bulbs, and I put them deep in the ground in the squirrels and the deer and the rabbits to dig them out and eat them. She didn’t care. She would just buy more, to love nature. She loved life, and so you know, so!
I was sad to see her go. She was a part of the Folklore Society here, you know, and she was a part of the Folk festival. She was Jewish, so she didn’t come to Carroll Cafe that often. But she did come one time, maybe once or twice, but it is their Sabbath, so mostly she wouldn’t do that. I actually asked her husband to come talk to the group today, he’s an orthodox Jew. And so throughout my years, working for them, I knew about the Jewish holidays because she would tell them to me, but I could never repeat them back to her. I didn’t understand the pronunciation, and I’m sorry.
Michelle knew her also, from the Hebrew home. Michele helped take care of this woman for the last 5 or 6 months or she was alive, so I asked Michele say a few words.
“What Does Following Jesus Mean When Social Change Fails?” by Ron Kraybill
The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
February 5, 2023
Good people agree that we should seek peace, justice, and harmony in the world. But what should we do when our efforts fail? When carefully planned and executed strategies for change don’t work? When standing up for the right thing makes us a target of those in power? When rulers and privileged people clearly care about nothing other than staying in power at any cost? When social change movements falter and fail?
What does Christian faith say to these questions?
“God who is merciful and comforting” by Sandra Miller
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
January 29, 2023
Holy One, Holy Wisdom, Holy Spirit, I trust that you guided my heart, head and hands as I wrote this offering, and pray you to be my guide as I offer it to my community. May the words I speak be received in love and curiosity by open minds and hearts, all in your name. Amen
Marjory reminded us a few weeks ago that epiphany means a sudden insight or flash of intuitive understanding, I hope we can always be open to such experiences.
Barry Lopez wrote: “I think when you’re young you want to learn the names of everything… But it’s the syntax that you really are after. Anybody can develop the vocabulary. It’s the relationships that are important.” Lopez’s quote feels like an invitation to working with the relationships in the Beatitudes, especially in a time that calls us all to be open to epiphanies that enlarge our vision and our part in God’s creation.
“Bokamoso in 2023” by Jim Cawley and Connie Sullivan
The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 22, 2023
We were very disappointed that visa problems made it impossible for the young people from Bokamoso to visit us in person as they have done so many times in the past. Instead, Jim Cawley and Connie Sullivan, the Vice President and President of the Bokamoso Foundation, respectively, spoke to us about their own involvement with the program and their perceptions of how things are going. We also showed several videos of the young people singing, dancing, and speaking to us.