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.
“Waking Up to Life” by Peter Bankson
Advent 3
December 11, 2022
Christ climbed down
from His bare Tree
this year
and softly stole away into
some anonymous Mary’s womb again
where in the darkest night
of everybody’s anonymous soul
He awaits again
an unimaginable
and impossibly
Immaculate Reconception
the very craziest
of Second Comings
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “Christ Climbed Down” from A Coney Island of the Mind
This Advent season, we’ve been invited to focus on waiting for the birth of Jesus from a slightly different perspective: “Waking Up.” That perspective, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s reference to “an unimaginable and impossibly Immaculate Re-conception” have led me to look at the narrative of Jesus’ arrival, in each of us, as some unimaginable re-conception. If Christ comes again, but in some new way, what might we expect?
“Judgment and Hope” by Elizabeth Gelfeld
Advent 2
December 4, 2022
Here we are, in Advent, again. We were in Advent a year ago, and the year before that, and on and on through all the years past. Advent begins a new year in the Christian calendar, but to me it feels different from the new year on January 1st, or the start of the school year, or even the Jewish new year, celebrated on Rosh Hashanah in the fall. Those new years to me feel like the turning of a page, the end of something old and the start of something new and unknown. But Advent seems not so much a turning toward something new as a returning to something very old. For some of us, this is exciting and joyful, even if it involves a lot of work. For others, it’s a struggle, especially if we are grieving a loss – loss of a loved one, a job, a home, a sense of purpose, a dream, maybe even the loss of hope.
A Word from New Story Leadership
Advent 1
November 27, 2022
New Story Leadership for the Middle East has been connected to Seekers through the Eyes to See Ears to Hear mission group for many years. Two Seekers, Margreta and Ron, are members of their board of Directors. Caroline Mays, Executive Director of NS, introduced two of this summer’s participants, who spoke to us on Zoom from their homes. No text of what was said is available at this time.
“Christ the King” by Larry Rawlings
Jubilee
November 20, 2022
[The following is a transcript of Larry’s sermon]
Good morning. After Cynthia’s sermon a couple of weeks ago, I decided that I would pick my own memorial service picture. Not that I’m planning to be going anytime soon, but I want to pick my own picture. If Erica could put that up for everyone. [photo of Larry with his arms around two little children on screen]
Oh, that’s me! Me and my 2 little darlings! And so the little boy on the left. His name is Everett. I was actually just a dog walker for some younger parents. And so Everett was born. I remember Mark took him to the Potomac speaker meeting one day, in Bowie. He was 11 days old. Mark had to go to bathroom. He said, “you want to hold him?” and I hesitated. But I did take the little guy in my hand. I meant he was 11 days old. So he’ll be 10 this week. He called me Uncle Larry for a long, long, long time, until one day he started going to school—and I would never forget the hurt—well, he just called me Larry. Yeah. So he’s figured it out. If someone has told him something you know. He knows that I’m not his uncle.
And then Amelia came along. Amelia’s 7 now, but she was like 3 or 4 then. And since we saw some of Sandra’s art, I want to show you some of Amelia’s art. [holds up abstract collage].
“Incarceration Breaks Hearts” by Sandra Miller
Jubilee
November 13, 2022
O God, may you touch my mind, heart, and mouth, that the words I utter are the words you have put there for me to speak, and may you and those present hear well what I offer freely.
May it be so.
Both prayer and service to others reveal to us the tremendous truth that to be a person is to be a gift, and to give that gift is to receive the gift of being a person.”
-James Finley, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, p. 98 (Inward/Outward)
I’m not sure that this is where I want to start, but I was, and still am, at such a loss as to how to proceed. What I do know is that I strive to be both gift to others, and a grateful gift recipient, and trust all of you to bear with me knowing I am flawed in my striving.
I was going to forego any biblical reference in this sermon as I was blinded by my fierce emotions around the subject matter of incarceration. I couldn’t see that there was a glimmer in our readings that should in fact be sited. Yet I read to you a small portion from Isaiah 65:17-19:
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.