Sermons

September 8, 2024

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

It’s September, and we can feel the coolness of the coming Autumn season in the air this morning.  I love the promise of change that I always sense as Autumn approaches.  From Jeanne Marcus I understand you all are entering into a season of recommitment at Seekers, in a year with the theme of Being Opened.   

I take note that the phrase is “Being Opened” (not “Being Open).  However, I would like to add my perspective, which is that to really be opened and to take in that experience, consent is required.  Whatever internal resistance that may be present must yield. …

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September 1, 2024

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Albert Camus ends his essay, “The Myth of Sisyphus”, thus:

I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one’s burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. …

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August 25, 2024

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Let’s pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts make us closer to whom you mean us to be. Amen

I will start with a confession that’s hopefully not going to make you too worried about the next 15 minutes: for months, I’ve been struggling because scripture has felt stale to me. I’d been growing impatient every time I cracked open the Bible, only to find the same old words and same old stories. Even worse, I had the same old reactions, as if I, too, was growing stale.…

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August 18, 2024

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Text: John 6:51-58

What a rich season of sermons we’ve had in this series on becoming bread. First there was the feeding of 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish: a literal miracle of generosity apparently created by a child’s good example of sharing what he had. Then there was Elizabeth’s sermon on the crowd’s demand for more miracles and Jesus’ response: “the bread of God comes down from heaven and gives life to the world,” and when the people wanted that bread, Jesus told them “I am the bread of life.” If we were reading the Gospel of John in one sitting, chapter 6 would move us from literally sharing bread with hungry strangers to Jesus as the symbolic bread of life, to be chewed on and ingested in our daily lives.…

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August 11, 2024

Twelth Sunday after Pentecost

I have to admit that this sermon has been a real struggle. I’ve found myself resisting putting my thoughts down on paper, or claiming them as my own and, in fact, acting on them in deliberate and intentional ways. In other words, do I really believe what I’m actually thinking and saying? …

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