The Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 17, 2026
364 days ago, Jeanne Marcus stood in this pulpit and invited us on a journey. This invitation was, quote ”into a process and event that might encourage a period of Beginner’s Mind about our community. It’s an invitation into a conversation about ‘The Call—and the Future—of Seekers Church.’”
This process, what we now refer to as the Call to Evolve, began even before that sermon, when Jeanne had approached SLT, unaware that they had already been mulling over similar ideas for some time. They hatched the idea of a community-wide event, and with the Stewards’ blessing, Jeanne, John Morris, Ellie Benedict, and Mary Mehala started planning. In the process, they posed some questions to us as a community:
What have we created as a church that we want to hand down to the next generation of Seekers?
What is your sense of how God is calling Seekers TODAY to engage the people and communities around us? How do you envision us using our essential values and strengths to do this?
What concerns trouble you? What hopes surprise you?
We reflected on these questions throughout the summer. And then in September we met together at Wellspring, a beautiful property in Germantown that has belonged first to the Church of the Savior, then Seekers and its sister churches, since 1953. The setting itself reminded us of our roots and our history, as we spent the day dreaming about what the future may hold for us.
I think the majority of us who participated were really pleasantly surprised by the sense of passion, unity, and excitement we felt on that day. We were energized around a common cause: feeding and nourishing what is alive and life-giving about this community. It was a day full of gratitude. It was energizing, and hopeful, and I think most of us left Wellspring optimistic about the future!
….And then came the committees. I’m poking fun, because of course it was a natural next step for us to form groups around key elements of that discussion to take our vision and start to shape it into action. But I know I’m not the only one who thought, GAH, ANOTHER meeting?!? But we’re Seekers, and we know the work doesn’t get done unless someone shows up to do it.
And now here we are, eight months later. Some of us are frustrated that change is happening too slowly. Some of us are skeptical and concerned about changing at all. Some of us are confused. And, uh, some of us are feeling great?
I wasn’t sure what to say about all this, but when I looked at the gospel reading, this window in on Jesus’ prayer after he and the disciples leave the last supper and are on their way to the garden of Gethsemane, three phrases really stood out to me. Each of these phrases raised questions about the Call to Evolve.
The first: Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Let me start by saying that I don’t think “the only true God” means the Christian conception of God. Nor do I think that believing Jesus is God, or the son of God, or any other Christian doctrine is some magic entry button into the gates of heaven where we all sit around with the angels and eat bonbons. But I am intrigued by this definition that Jesus gives of “eternal life.” What Jesus says here is, eternal life is knowing God and knowing me. Not that knowing them leads to eternal life, but it is itself eternal life. Which makes me think, being in some kind of touch with Our Creator, and with our conception of Love in Action, somehow connects us to an ever-flowing source of life. This is really interesting to me. Because I would venture to say that many, if not most of us in this room would say, yeah, I think I know God and I think I know Jesus. Which means we have eternal life.
Well, I don’t know about the other groups, but in Group 2, one of the consistent refrains has been: who has the energy for this? Some of us are in our 90s, some of us are dealing with injury and illness, all of us are worn down by the constant barrage of greed, racism, oppression, malicious ignorance etc etc etc that we are living through. We are tired. And we have so little time. So this raises some questions for me: What does it mean to have eternal life when we are confronted with our own finitude? What does that ever-flowing source of life really mean when the work feels urgent and essential AND exhausting and maybe even impossible? I don’t believe that having eternal life and having boundaries are mutually exclusive, but where does that leave us? Where do we find balance?
The second phrase that stood out to me (and let me warn you that this one feels a bit pointed after the first one): Jesus prays I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.
God is glorified when we finish our homework. As a type-A personality, I just want to say, YESSSSSSSS, I KNEW IT! But as a member of this community thinking about all of the dreams that we’ve put on the to-do list over the last year, I feel verrrrrrry humbled.
Things get interesting, though, when I remember the context: Jesus says this on Thursday night, that is, BEFORE he is crucified and resurrected. Like, don’t get me wrong, the miracles and the community-building and the preaching were all great, but uh, there’s still some pretty significant work to come, if you know what I mean. So, again, questions: how are we to interpret what it means to “finish”? And furthermore, how do we “complete the work” when the work is an on-going process without a clear finish line? I know some of us see the 50th anniversary celebration this fall as a goal, but in my view, the work of renewing our vision as a community is a) SLOW, and b) maybe never going to have a moment where we sit back, brush off our hands, and say, Well, that’s it, we’ve done it! So how do we glorify God in this process?
And the final phrase that stuck out to me: …so that they may be one as we are one.
Jesus is talking about a connection, relationship, unity. He is asking for God to help us know the kind of deep union that exists between himself and God. I think many of us experienced a taste of that on September 14th. While we didn’t agree on all of the details, we felt unanimous in our love and gratitude for this community.
But the details have a way of sneaking back up on us. This winter we had a whole hour and a half meeting to consider extremely divergent opinions about what we do or do not put on the front window! How do we embrace our oneness when we have such different ideas? Especially when it comes down to things that get at our community identity – how do we hold the tension between those of us who feel very tied to our Church of the Savior roots and to Seeker’s own history, and those of us who feel limited by some aspects of that tradition?
I raise all of these hard questions today not to discourage us. On the contrary, I hope by naming out loud some of the questions that have been swirling quietly among us now that we’ve been at this for a while, that we will find the courage to carry on with the Call to Evolve.
And while I hope we all will get a chance to reflect on these questions as we continue this conversation today, here’s where I’m going to take advantage of being up here to share my own thoughts (unvetted by the Weave Team or SLT):
I think we are more likely to tap into that eternal life, to complete the work, and to experience union, if we don’t limit ourselves to the group structure and get a little more chaotic, like, in the good, Holy Spirit kind of way. Some of our groups are big and have enormous agendas – group 2 started off with 14 members trying to figure out how to bring more demographic diversity to our community. I think we’ve done some really good work together, we’ve built a solid foundation, but it’s not hard to see how you can get overwhelmed by the enormity of that task. You know what felt doable, to me though? Going out on a limb and telling Celebration Circle I wanted to try out a youth-friendly liturgy. I want demographic diversity, and as part of that I want families with children to feel welcome here, and for me, a part of that is trying to figure out how to integrate them into our whole service. So I tried it! Were there any youth here? Barely. Will it make a difference to how families with youth will show up in the future? Probably not! But it didn’t feel like a waste of my time. On the contrary! I want to try again, maybe with more feedback from the families we do have.
Anyway, I share this example to say: I think now is the time to get a little messy. I know we are all used to the Mission Group framework – We have a group! With a call! To do all the things, carefully considered and expertly planned! And that model serves us well in sustaining our shared life. But I’m not sure that alone can serve us in evolving. We already know that not everyone has the time or inclination to be in a group. So, I’ll just plant this seed: maybe you just have one little spark of an idea. Have coffee with one or two Seekers you trust to hear you out, ask you good questions, and maybe even help you get on your way? And maybe your idea fails miserably, and maybe it’s awesome, but I think regardless the Holy Spirit teaches us something along the way. That is my bias.
You may disagree with me on this, you may have other answers to these questions, and I hope to hear some of them over lunch, and in our discussion this afternoon, and in the days and weeks ahead. But however we consider these questions, and however we move forward with the Call to Evolve, may we all experience eternal life, may we glorify God in completing the work we have been given to do, and may we experience oneness just like Jesus did. That’s my prayer for us. Amen.