Sermons

February 2, 2020

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Some of you might remember the Twilight Zone hosted by Rod Serling several decades ago. One episode in particular stuck with me all these years. It opened up with a man sitting in a chair talking about how nervous he was about the soon-to-be removal of his bandages over both his eyes. The doctors said the new surgical procedure would allow him to be able to see perfectly that next day. All his hopes rested on the successful unraveling of those bandages. The next day arrived to find him busting out with excited anticipation of the long-awaited day. The doctors told the nurses to pull down the blinds as the street lights might be a little too bright at the beginning. The doctors slowly unfurled bandages around his head. The man then gently and slowly opened his eyes.  He began to see shapes. Then definitions. Then colors. He began to connect long time voices with people’s faces. He thought his whole life had just changed because he could now see. As family and hospital staff gave him privacy in the room, he walked around reverently touching everything he could. Life now had meaning to him, he thought. Although the doctors warned him not to go to the window, his impatience got the best of him. He eventually went there eagerly wanting to experience everything beyond the felt world. He lifted the blinds to find a beautiful, colorful, exciting, delicious world out there. As he longed for what was beyond his reach, all of a sudden everything went dark. He couldn’t, wouldn’t believe it. He was enraged! He screamed, “It didn’t work! It’s a sham! It wasn’t worth it! It didn’t work!” Sadly, he became so despondent that he threw himself out the window to his ugly death. Little did he know, however, that after only a minute the city-wide lights came back on after the short blackout. Little did he know probably he was looking outside of himself for fulfillment rather than right around himself for reality.

It’s a sad and kinda weird story. After all, it’s the Twilight Zone! But it rings true for me. About three months ago, if you recall, after communion and during the reflection time I spoke up saying that I was frustrated how communion was experienced that morning. I was somewhat angry and probably underneath more a sadness that communion had on that day appeared to be taken as a frivolous act as if to appease the gods that month. It said to me we were not taking it seriously or applying the words of Jesus to our lives. In other words, I was being a very good Pharisee!

February 1, 2020

Dave Lloyd, one of the original members of Seekers Church, was asked to speak at a Church of the Saviour gathering in memory of Fred Taylor, who founded Seekers along with Sonya Dyer in 1976.

I knew Fred for more than 40 years, from the early 1970s before the New Lands process that led to the creation of Seekers Church. When Sharon and I switched from attending the Church of the Saviour’s second service to the earlier one we got to know Fred and his family, and also Sonya Dyer and her family, Muriel Lipp and her family, and others who became the founding members of Seekers Church. Many of these were involved in For Love of Children (FLOC). I had always been interested in helping children, at first through tutoring a boy while in college and then teaching in the Peace Corps. In the early 1970s I was attending Georgetown University Law Center, and, in the spring of 1974, I took the juvenile justice class, learning about the legal rights of abused, neglected, and delinquent children. FLOC’s name came up as one of the best programs for foster care, child advocacy, and learning center programs in the area. I began to seek Fred out for mentoring, especially in 1975-76, when I was a supervised law student representing abused children in D.C. Superior Court.

January 26, 2020

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

When Celebration Circle decided to invite the mission groups of Seekers Church to bring the Word to worship during this Epiphany season, we knew that would require us to bring a Word some Sunday about our own call and how we support the call of the mission group to “… energize and structure the worship life of the Seekers Church, and provide a place for spiritual accountability and growth for each other.”

We didn’t review all the Scripture lessons for the season before settling on this date, but when I did that later, I thought the Psalm for today harmonizes with our vision for worship here:

One thing I asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent: he will set me high on a rock. Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! [Psalm 27:4-7]

January 19, 2020

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany

Yesterday, there was a fine memorial service for Fred Taylor at St. Marks Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill. We will not try to repeat that here. The first Washington Post obituary, which is posted on the bulletin board in the hallway, made much of his role as Executive Director of FLOC (For Love of Children), but it made no mention of Seekers, and there was barely a mention of Church of the Saviour, so I will try to fill in some of those details. A second obituary did mention that he “co-pastored Seekers.” That’s the story I want to share with you today.

Starting with our practice of sharing the worship leadership every Sunday, Fred had a profound influence on who we are today. In Fred’s own words, from his book Roll Away the Stone, FLOC began with prayer: One of the clergy at Selma was Gordon Cosby, founder of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washingotn, DC. When he returned from Selma, he committed an hour a day to meditate on both the Bible and the newspaper in order to discern a direction for himself in the freedom movement. (p. 100)

January 12, 2020

The First Sunday after the Epiphany

We believe that the Holy One continues to speak to us, and that sharing what we have heard with one another enriches our common understanding of the divine voice. In this season between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday, Celebration Circle has invited several of the Seekers mission groups to share their sense of call and ministry. Last week, we heard from Kolya on behalf of the new Earth and Spirit mission group. Today, the Time and Space mission group has offered to preach.

Time and Space grew out of Seekers’ decision to buy and renovate this building. The conversation about moving from the Church of the Saviour headquarters near Dupont Circle—commonly referred to “2025” from its address on Massachusetts Avenue—to a building of our own started around 1996 with Gordon’s insistence that all of the CofS communities should separately incorporate. After several years of searching, we bought this run-down, unloved building, hired an architect, and our friends at Manna’s for-profit affiliate, Providence Construction, agreed to serve as general contractor. Over the next two years, Peter, Keith, Glen, and I met with the project supervisor every Friday morning at 7am to help keep the long, complicated renovation process on track. Finally, on June 20, 2004, the whole congregation gathered to bless our new home here at 276 Carroll Street NW.