Sermons

Recommitment Season

September 18, 2022

The morning after Pat Conover died, Peter woke up with the hymn that we just sang, It is Well With My Soul, and he said, “It felt like a message from Pat.” That same morning, I woke up from a dream of making a bed on the couch in our living room for Pat’s daughter, Samantha, who was apparently going to be staying with us for a time. It’s clear to me that Pat had a larger-than-life impact on us and, judging from the email tributes this week, on the wider Seekers community.

While this is not a memorial service for Pat, I do not want to ignore the importance of his presence, both in person and with his writing. Although he was a PhD sociologist and an ordained UCC minister, Pat was an ardent advocate for the priesthood of ALL believers and he often gave us language for what we were already doing to make that sustainable.

Recommitment Season

September 11, 2022

Twenty-one years ago today, the terrorist group Al Qaeda attacked the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon. That day is in my thoughts a lot whenever I lead a tour group to the Pentagon Memorial. Then I can see in my mind the side of the Pentagon that had a gaping hole six stories high, 40 yards wide, and about 40 yards deep. How many of you have been to the Pentagon Memorial? It’s easily accessible from the Pentagon and Pentagon City Metro stations.  

In this week’s lectionary Jeremiah’s prophecy predicted a Babylonian invasion that would overwhelm the kingdom of Judah. It would be God’s justice visited upon the people due to their faithlessness and injustice.  Jeremiah’s prophecy depicted a reversal of the creation story in Genesis, an un-creation in which the earth would revert to being a void without form, the heavens going dark without the light of the stars, the mountains shaken, humans gone, birds disappeared, the land desolate. Jeremiah intended his prophecy to create fear in the people of Judah – king, priests, and everyone else — to stir them to repent and renew their covenant with God.

Summer

September 4, 2022

Today is the final Sunday of our Summer season, and for the past six weeks we’ve been exploring the theme of “Faith in Hard Times.” Many of you have shared your reflections on this theme during our Gathering Circles and in various smaller-group meetings of Seekers.

Let us pray:

O God, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you are acquainted with all my ways.
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
I try to count them – they are more than the sand;
I come to the end – I am still with you.

Amen.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus continues a series of direct challenges to the people he meets as he travels toward Jerusalem, where he will face his death. In the chapters of Luke that we’ve been reading lately, he tells the parable of the Good Samaritan; he insults the religious scholars; says he has come to divide fathers against sons and mothers against daughters; and publicly breaks the law by healing on the Sabbath. Now, Jesus says that if we want to follow him we have to turn our backs on our families and our precious plans for our own lives, carry the cross, and give up all our possessions.

For insight on this gospel, I refer you to Marjory’s reflection for Inward/Outward, posted yesterday. (https://inwardoutward.org/clearing-space/) This morning, I’m going to turn our attention to the hymn we sang together a few minutes ago, and what it might tell us about faith in hard times.*

Summer

August 28, 2022

For several years, the New Story Leadership office has been housed at Seekers Church. Every year, NSL brings ten Palestinian and Israeli delegates under the age of 30 to the US from the contested land that is holy to Jews, Moslems, and Christians to learn from one another and to forge a new story of social change. This Sunday, Loia, a delegate from the Gaza Strip, told his own story of seven years of struggle just to get a visa in order to participate in this project, and of his passion for using soccer to help the children of Gaza learn the ways of peace.

There is no next available for this sermon at this time.

Summer

August 21, 2022

In March, Seekers Church entered into a partnership with CreatureKind, and the Stewards affirmed the call of our CreatureKind Ministry Team, which is supporting different initiatives to strengthen the part of our community commitment to caring for all of Creation.

CreatureKind is a nationwide ministry whose mission is to encourage Christians to recognize faith-based reasons for caring about the wellbeing of fellow animal creatures used for food, and to take practical action in response.

This morning, Aline Silva joined worship at Seekers Church to bring the Word. Aline serves as the co-Director of CreatureKind, Prior to coming to CreatureKind, Aline served for over a decade as a local parish pastor of rural and farming populations in Kansas, Missouri, and Colorado.