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.
“You can’t Hate People and Love God at the Same Time” by Larry Rawlings
June 21, 2020
Third Sunday after Pentecost
[The following is a transcript from the recorded sermon]
Good morning, everyone. I’ll be glad when this is over. I have to say right now, but I want to start off. You know what Jesus said? Jesus said, “You can’t hate people and love God at the same time.” I believe that is absolutely true. And so right now, can everyone just kind of take a moment of silence so that everyone can lower their expectations of me today, because it is what it is.
I believe that my good friend, Father Michael, said to me, “Every congregation remembers one thing that you said during your sermon. You’ve done your job.” And I believe that is true. And so today, hopefully, I must say a number of things that you guys will remember.
I’m going to start off with something a little bit quirky, something I got off the Internet. I didn’t see it myself, but it did happen. And it was on a game show, “The Wheel of Fortune.” And I’m sure at some point time everyone has watched the game “Wheel of Fortune” where you put letters on the board. You win lots of money. And so the category was “occupation.” And so that’s the category. Here was the answer. The answer to the public puzzle was “clam digger.” You can see all the letters on the screen here. But when the final contestant got the board, there was one letter missing.
“Jesus is my Savior” by Pat Conover
June 14, 2020
Second Sunday after Pentecost
Jesus is my Savior. I’ll talk some theology this morning, but what matters most to me is my relationship with Jesus. Like Paul and the gospel writers I do not have any direct memories of Jesus and am dependent on what his close followers and then the authors thought was important.
I’m going to help you get to know Jesus a little better, but first I’m going to stop talking for a a moment so that you can think about some questions. What would you like to be saved for? What would you like to be saved from? Is Jesus your Savior? Do you feel like you know who Jesus was and why he could matter so much to you? What about Jesus turns you off? What might turn you on to Jesus?
“Trinity Sunday” by Marjory Bankson
June 7, 2020
Trinity
This week, our pandemic isolation has been upended by massive protests against systemic racism in this country. It feels like Pentecost to me. Something new is being born.
During the day, the slow-moving walks have been largely peaceful – a powerful demonstration of our First Amendment Rights by people who still trust that our legal structures will survive this President. At night, there has been some vandalism and violent clashes with police, but I also hear new strength in local leaders like DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Bishop Marianne Budde. Something new is being born.
“Going Forward Together, With Thankfulness and Hope” by Trish Nemore
May 17, 2020
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Our five previous sermons of the Easter season, it seems to me, are all of a piece, offering us tools and ways of thinking that we need to continue to live and move forward in the age of the corona virus pandemic. From Marjory: Don’t be afraid and Follow your call; from Erica: Be radically honest; from Dave: Notice that Jesus might be walking right beside you; from Mark: Wail loudly about the hurts and injustices that you and the world experience and expect to be listened to, and, from Brenda: Remember that the Body of Christ is us – mismatched, flawed, throw away stones that we are.
This morning, I’d like to continue the conversation about moving forward, a phrase the importance of which came to me one morning about a month ago when I, too, realized that “going back” or “returning to normal” was not something that any of us should aspire to.
“Living Stones: Building a New World” by Brenda Seat
May 10, 2020
Fifth Sunday of Easter
We are in the midst of a pandemic. . . . Just sit with that for a moment.
Every morning I wake up and in those first few seconds, sometimes even minutes, I think about the day ahead, the things I need to do, and then all of a sudden this realization will flood over me. We are living in a different time and in a different reality.
Recently Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, a Harvard Fellow and author of the book The Coming Plague, has been making the rounds on the news and in print media. Often called the “prophet” or “Cassandra” of this epidemic, she foretold what is happening right now . . . in 1994. In a recent interview[1] when asked what she sees coming next, she said that her best case scenario – to find a vaccine, to ramp up production and then vaccinate the entire world – would take 36 months. Thirty-six months if nothing goes wrong.