Creativity by Sandra Miller

The Third Sunday after Pentecost

June 14, 2026

Please pray with me. Holy Creator, once again You have brought us together in community to worship, to pray, and to listen for the words offered that speak to us individually and as one. May my own offering reflect what you have put in my heart to speak. Amen

It’s been some time since I stood at this pulpit. And for all that I offer you will be surprised that it’s not a long sermon. I ask for your indulgence should I falter, and I pray that the word that came to me speaks to all of you.

A part of today’s reading from Genesis 18:1-15, The call of Abraham and Sarah: The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

Maybe now you see what’s coming…

The Holy One appeared to Seekers in the trees by the Takoma Metro Station as they sat together in a time of “unripe fruitfulness”. Three among them appeared to stand together and the rest saw them and gave them food and water for the journey. I love that mirror image, and relish how the threshold crossed in our history has brought us to where we are today.

And again, a mirror to the scripture, where four Seekers and Mike and Elizabeth were gathered under the trees with falling acorns, joined by many Seekers, and food and water were brought to all for the work of intense engagement as we reimagined our future.

Since that September 14th gathering at Wellspring, we have been engaged in a process of “where we go from here”. Our wish to acknowledge our rich history, and the changes that time has wrought, have opened doors and paths that beckon us to stay relevant in an everchanging world, and even an ever-changing congregation. We are being changed something like Abraham and Sarah.

Those who wanted and could be involved more deeply in figuring out how we get to where we’re going from here have been meeting regularly in one or more of four groups, each with a specific focus as part of the whole, under the guidance of our amazing Weave Team of Jeanne and Ellie..

More recently, on May 17th many of us gathered for an extended worship service, and as we sat together many shared something from the past, or a dream for the future. Many had questions that gave more breath to the gathering. The word that kept tugging on my sleeve, and shouting in my ear was creative.

Creative: both an adjective and a noun – marked by the ability or power to create – given to creating. The word is invitational that as a noun describes virtually everyone in this community. Think about what each does in their daily lives, we are thinkers, poets, musicians, writers, activists, theologians, artists, gardeners, teachers, mentors, justice workers, rabble rousers, parents, grandparent, and more. In our relationships as friends, we are engaging in creativity. Prayer too is a creative endeavor. Making a difference in a world in need of whatever we can offer is creativity in action. We are a community of creatives.

I am not part of the Weave Team, though I am part of two working groups that are working to find language for our guides to members and those who inquire about what we offer, my point of view is my own. I offer it with as much humbleness as I can manage. I am, if nothing else, a creative.

In our family of faith some are “all in” with the Call to Evolve; some took a ticket at the door but are not sure if or where to deposit it; some have lives so consuming doing the work that is theirs and only theirs to do, they have faith in those engaged wholeheartedly to see this through; yet others might still be a bit skeptical of how some changes will change the integrity of the whole. But change is inevitable, and the spirit is working in us and through us, wherever we are in this process. We are in a period of creation that is in no hurry to create something brand new, nor in holding on to traditions that no longer feed the spirit of the whole community and those who we hope may find us as they seek a place where they belong. I do believe we are guided by the Holy Spirit.

This day, June 14th marks 9 months since we invited this process of re-creation into our midst, and we have not yet birthed the whole of what we started. Our incubation period is more like an elephant’s, which is nearly two years if you didn’t know. Female elephants range over vast savannahs, back and forth in search of water and food while gestating their young. It’s hard work this rebirth. In our travels thus far we have created boulevards, avenues, and by ways into a group think that asks us to value all our past, from the founding of Church of the Saviour to today. We also need to leave room to look as far into the future as possible that doesn’t close us off from change when called for. Creation doesn’t stop, and we will be called upon to keep up creatively to stay relevant.

Finally, I want to offer as many examples of where we are and have been creative that came to me in order to remind us of just how much we are capable. In no particular order other than how my aging brain works:

• Celebration Circle
  • With our deep gratitude for their Liturgies, Altars, Special Services both holy and secular, and holding us all in their sacred call to bring relevant and engaging weekly and holy day worship; open of course to the wider community
• Learners and Teachers
  • School of Christian Growth; open to the wider community
  • Semi-Secret Secrets of Seekers
  • Poetry Nights; open to the wider community
• Eyes to See, Ears to Hear Peace Prayer Mission Group
  • Third Thursday Quiet Reflection Gatherings: open to the wider community
  • Vote Forward Letter Writing Nights open to the wider community; Support from inception to fruition to currently for the Museum of the Palestinian People;
  • Sponsorship of space usage by community groups working for peace and justice; often open to the wider community
• Senior Pioneers
  • A special place for our elders to hold one another in their unique place in life and community
• Earth & Spirit Mission Group
  • Hosts hikes and stream clean up mornings; open to the wider community
  • Keeping us in touch with our environment in various ways
  • Holding the sacredness of indigenous peoples, and bringing that integrity to us all
• Servant Leadership Team
  • With reverence for those in need, they find ways to navigate challenges, sometimes intense, and offer needed assistance with integrity and caring;
  • They identify issues that affect the whole community and find the path forward, bringing issues to Stewards when necessary;
  • They hold the calendar and agenda of Stewards
• Stewards
  • Those in the community who work to keep all the cogs and wheels moving in accordance with government regulations, our own bylaws and, with the diligence of the Finance Committee, keeps our church finances healthy
• Racial & Ethnic Justice Ministry Team
  • Hosts and shows up for the Friday Rush Hour Vigil for Peace and Justice during Daylight Savings Time; open to the wider community
    Offer classes in the School for Christian Growth
    Cross over collaboration with Earth and Spirit in engaging with our indigenous neighbor
• Living Water
  • Holds our elders in esteem and caring
    Brings us sessions on engaging with The Five Wishes to help us all in our eldering
• Mission Support Group
  • Administers the Holy Spirit Fund with care to help members as we engage with our growing edges of exploration and creativity
• Time & Space
  • Keeps our sacred space as a welcome space to us, and to the many users that find space to do what is theirs to do in the community and world
• Monthly Singalong
  • Glen’s commitment to bring music, joy, and comradery into our lives; open to the wider community
• Carroll Café
  • Brought music and joy to Seekers and the wider community, and offered musicians a platform and a fair wage to bring their gifts that was nurturing and welcoming, and fun
• Sunday Coffee Hour and Holiday Pot Lucks – now ad hoc by a mere few in
  our community
  • -My plug is that we could use more generous volunteers to get involved – remember bring water and food to the three or more…
• Martha’s Mob
  • Takes care of our building by doing what needs to be done outside what our wonderful cleaning crew does
    Decorating our building for Christmas
• Art Gallery
  • Offering to the congregation and the wider community the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of a wide variety of artists, often highlighting other cultures and peace and justice issue awareness
• Takoma Holiday Gift Market
  • A Seeker member hosted opportunity offering space to creatives in ours and the wider community to display and sell their wares more widely than many could do on their own
• Spiritual Companions Group
  • A monthly gathering of those who serve as spirit guides to people in the congregation, to process the challenges of being a spirit guide; to explore and learn new skills; and provide companionship to one another
• The Domestic and International Giving Committees
  • Work within our annual budgets to make as many financial assistance grants to as many peace and justice organizations where we have feet on the ground as possible

If I’ve left anything out, I apologize, but we offer so much. In looking at what we do and have done, we are given a vista of the framework that invites us to examine what still feeds and will feed our spirits.

The Holy One is still appearing to Seekers in the trees by the Takoma Metro Station. There are more than three standing together now, for which we must be grateful. Especially to the Holy One. All are invited to bring food and water for the continuing journey as we are able. You are all truly invited to expand into your own creativity, and bring yourself to the work of the present and future

I leave you with a poem that arrived in my inbox as I worked on this sermon. It seems like an invitation to move forward with a measure of, hmm, wild abandon, and the sense that we never know what the end will be.

At the End of a Good Week, the Van Broke Down
by Mary Ardery

The closest building was a church’s
                    youth ministry annex. The pastor

invited us inside to wait, said
                    to help ourselves to the bathroom,

the pinball machine, the pop cans in the fridge,
                    then left to run errands.

All that week, backpacking in the Pisgah,
                    we’d been exploring notions of a Higher Power.

None of us seemed to know exactly what
                    we believed, and we joked it was a sign

from God, the car trouble, how it led us here
                    to lounge in beanbag chairs. The women

giddy from pop they hadn’t tasted for months 
                    in rehab. Because I was in charge,

I suggested maybe one per person
                    but most were already chugging 

their second can of Mountain Dew
                    and who was I to refuse them?

I’d had no easy answers about God
                    so I’d offered Rilke:

Live the questions.  Maybe 
                    that was enough for me, too.

Though when the pastor returned 
                    with enough Taco Bell for all of us—

quesadillas, burritos, Crunchwrap Supremes—
                    everyone was a convert.

“At the End of a Good Week, the Van Broke Down” by Mary Ardery from LEVEL WATCH © 2025 Mary Ardery. Used by permission of June Road Press.

*Sandra adds that the poem is used with permission and blessing of the author