“Seekers 50th Birthday Celebration” by Marjory Bankson
The 21st Sunday after Pentecost
October 18, 2026
50 years ago today, on the third Sunday of October in 1976, Seekers Church was born. There were 19 core members who had been shaped by their earlier commitment as members of Church of the Saviour. They were attracted to Seekers rather than to one of the other five communities being birthed that same day, which was also the 30th birthday of Church of the Saviour.
The lectionary text for today seems singularly appropriate: Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and render unto God what belongs to God. Looking at a Roman coin with the Emperor’s visage on it, Jesus seemed to be saying “Pay your taxes for what the state provides, and give your energy for life and love to God’s realm here and now.”
Doesn’t that sound like a call to be a Body of Christ? To learn how to love one another as Jesus loved his disciples– calling them away from a life of getting and spending? Teaching them to drop their prejudices and welcome everyone – including children? Inviting them into deeper communion with one another AND with the least and the lonely at the margins of their world? Always stretching beyond their comfort zone to embody God’s love for all of it?