Sermons

October 29, 2017

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

I’ve had a couple of months to think about what I want to lift up in this sermon and I’ve changed my mind several times. Deborah began her sermon earlier this month with a list of her concerns about some of the bad things happening since Trump became President. It caught my attention. Some additional comments within our mission group, and some of our prayers, have steered me to look for the good news of salvation in our current disheartening context.

I follow Elizabeth in seeing Matthew’s gospel in the context of the exile narrative in Hebrew Scripture. This sermon picks up the exile theme, but differs from Hebrew Scripture in an important way. This sermon is about exile in place, not exile in a foreign land, not much focused on land ownership in general.

I confess I feel alienated from Trump, and have constructed enemy pictures of the people who still support Trump, but I am not about to give up my hopeful vision of the United States. I’m not about to step aside from the challenges Trump poses and moan about my powerlessness. I offer just a taste of my alienation from Trump by drawing upon Aristotle’s Book One of Nichomachean Ethics, a book referenced for the current School for Christian Growth Class on virtue ethics. Aristotle describes a man named Sardanapullus, a man in a high place, as an example of the most vulgar type of men, men who prefer a life suitable to beasts, men who focuses on being entertained as the highest good. I did not do all that was mine to do to stop Trump and I accept some of the guilt for the results. And let me clear. I would have felt guilty in a different way if Hilary Clinton had won.

October 22, 2017

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Hear again the beginning of our reading today from Isaiah:

45:1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him– and the gates shall not be closed:
45:2 I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron,
45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.

Now I’d like you each to find a partner – the person sitting next to you, or maybe in front of you or behind you. When I say go, talk with your partner about what this phrase might mean: “treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places.” After you’ve all had a couple of minutes to discuss the question, I’m going to ask a few of you to share out.

Some examples from the sharing:

“Making the soil that sustains us.”

“My faith.”

“Entering recovery as a tunnel leading to centering prayer.”

“Some people speak easily about deep experience. Others, who are silent, might experience even more deeply.”

“Treasures of ultimate consciousness.”

Darkness itself is a treasure.”

October 15, 2017

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Text: Matthew 22:1-14

Today is Recommitment Sunday. You’ve already heard the children, members, and Stewards make their commitment to Christ through this church, and you probably noticed some of the differences in what they promised.

The children agreed to grow in their care for the earth, for family members and those at the margins, and to say “yes” to God as they grow. They have been preparing for this commitment in Sunday School, so they speak with some understanding. It’s a great place to start!

Membership in Seekers is open to anyone willing to be intentional about their spiritual growth while sharing their gifts and resources with others in Seekers Church. Basically, membership means that we are willing to engage others who are also drawn to build community around Christ’s call here.

Stewards make an additional commitment to God as Triune being; to spiritual practices that include tithing our time and money, and we promise to care for the whole community, rather than just the work of our mission group.

October 8, 2017

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture: Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalm 80:7-15, Philippians 3:4b-14, Matthew 21:33-46

Hurricane! Wildfire! Earthquake! War! Genocide! Mass murder! Random deportation! Species extinction! And that’s just the last week’s news. Add in the threats to affordable health insurance, protections for the Dreamers, discrimination against transgender persons, and innumerable other threats to basic human decency, and it’s enough to make me want to—well, what? Read scripture?

Today’s reading from Isaiah is what is often called the Song of the Vineyard. Here, God is portrayed as a farmer who has a vineyard, planting the best vines in fertile soil and lovingly caring for them. Somehow, though, instead of the big, juicy grapes that the farmer had every reason to expect, what showed up at the harvest were hard, bitter, wild grapes; or, as some translators suggest, maybe even poisonous berries. The farmer is understandably frustrated, ready to abandon the vineyard to briers and thorns and break down the fences that had proved useless in distinguishing it from the surrounding desert.

October 1, 2017

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Today it is almost Recommitment Sunday.  It is a week after we remembered Muriel Lipp for her strength and commitment in building the Church of the Saviour and shaping Seekers as it emerged 40 years ago.  It is the time of year each of us considers why we want and need a community of Christians and not a more typical church where you can attend or be absent and no one notices, or where you don’t have to choose to put down your roots and dive deeply, as we do here.

I need Seekers.  I searched for a church which struggles over the words and actions we commit to and which also makes room for those who find that some of our words pinch too tight and some promises are too big or too vague.  I found Seekers to be a  community which thinks hard and also sees the grays and blacks in life, tensions in words, policies and situations, and understands that we all bring backgrounds, past experiences and different paradigms to look at the decisions and policies we make.