Sermons

Seekers recognizes that any member of the community may be called upon by God to give us the Word. Our Guidelines for Preaching help us prepare sermons. This section collects for study and reflection drafts of sermons that happen to have been prepared in electronic form. The most recent sermon is on the top of the page.

Seekers Church Talk

Ken Burton

Adam Greene

January 19, 2025

Third Sunday in Epiphany

So I haven’t given too many talks like this. And I tend to not want to do it reading. And so what’s going to come out? I’m not entirely sure, but there’s a lot of kind of different things floating around.

I have very present that we’re having an inauguration tomorrow. And incidentally, I spoke for Eighth Day, the day just before the election. So it seems like I’ve had the opportunity to be in a little bit of a crucible when giving these talks, and from a certain point of view, I could say that there’s a lot of complexity, there’s a lot of different things that I want to to say, but in a certain way, it feels like that complexity is a little bit of an illusion, in the sense that … I had an experience last night like, I’m like  waiting for it to sort of click right?…

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The Blessing

Ken Burton

Brenda Seat

January 12, 2025

Second Sunday in Epiphany

We have an interesting set of texts to work with this morning:

Over the past weeks of Advent and through to this Second Sunday in Epiphany, I have been noticing how many blessings have appeared in our lection readings.

We have heard the blessing of Hagar, of Mary, of Abraham and Sarah, Elizabeth’s blessing of Mary when she comes to visit; the blessing of Hannah, Mary blessing God in the Magnificat,…

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Home by Another Way

Ken Burton

Marjory Bankson

January 5, 2025

Epiphany Celebrated

Text: Matthew 2:1-12

Today we celebrate Epiphany with the story of three wise men who came with their gifts to honor a new king of the Jews. It’s a simple story, perfect for the finale of a Christmas pageant.

My favorite image of Epiphany is this carving of a fish which I bought from a street vendor in Guatemala. It shows three well-dressed women with increasingly-large halos as they approach a gold-domed church and a very bright star overhead. On the other side, common people carry baskets of food toward the same gold-domed church.…

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Hope for What we Cannot Yet See

Ken Burton

Deborah Sokolove

December 29, 2024

Christmastide

For most of the world, Christmas is over. All the presents have been opened, and whether we are delighted or disappointed by the gifts we have or have not received, many of us feel a kind of let-down. After all the tidings of comfort and joy, after all the familiar feasting of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, the twelve days of Christmastide seem to fall a little flat. Here on the altar, the Christ child is in the manger and the wise men are still making their way from the East to Bethlehem, but the angels and shepherds seem to have fallen silent.…

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Mothers of the Promise

Ken Burton

Elizabeth Gelfeld

December 22, 2024

Fourth Sunday of Advent

God of Grace,

Appear to us today.

Come, Lord Jesus.

We long for peace.

We long for love.

We rise each day in hope.

We wait for you.

You are the bringer of hope.

You are the bringer of love.

You are peace.

Come to us, Lord Jesus.

Amen

During this Advent season our scripture readings have come from a different lectionary from the Revised Common Lectionary, which we generally use. The lectionary we’ve been using for these four weeks is titled A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, compiled by the Rev.…

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