Sermons

All Saints Day

November 1, 2026

I am starting with a confession that All Saints Day was not a day of celebration in the Presbyterian church, in the small Quaker town of Swarthmore where I grew up. I had heard of the day, but it was the Catholic church folks who celebrated not the Protestant churches in this small town. So..I thought that besides myself, maybe there were others here at Seekers that wondered about what All Saints Day was all about.

I want to start with a short story about a little boy and his mother. I found this story on the internet as I was reading and did some simple adapting:

“One day a mother was walking through a beautiful church building with her 4-year-old son.

As they walked, the young boy looked around.

The little boy stopped and was curious about the stained-glass windows that looked so beautiful with their bright colors.

As he looked at the windows, he asked: “Who are all these people in the windows, Mommy?”

“They are the saints,” said the mother.

“What are saints, Mommy?”

The Mother was stuck.

How was she going to explain who saints are to a 4-year-old boy?

As the boy was still looking up at the windows and as the Mother was still wondering how she would explain who saints are, the young boy shouted out:

“I know who saints are. They are people that the light shines through.”

The 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

October 25, 2026

May the love between us be strong.
May the trust between us be whole,
And may the words between us be true
May our eyes see one another,
May our ears hear one another,
May our hearts touch one another’s,
And may our souls hold one another

From The Anasazi Book of Chants

So, what brought me to Seekers and when? It is the founding pastor of Covenant Christian Community, Rev Lola Johnson Singletary. She is responsible for introducing several of Covenant members to the Church of the Savior where I heard Gordon Cosby preach, but I got to know him better through Elizabeth O’Connor ‘s writings. This was followed by a visit to Seekers Church on Carroll Avenue. I think she had the foresight to know that one day I might have to make a choice.

What prepared me for Seekers was my Catholicism, and after coming to the States, I was exposed to other religions. In Philadelphia, I learnt, lived and worked with Quakers whose practice of non violence in pursuit of social justice greatly appealed to me. I lived in an activist community and had ample opportunity to learn new ways of being. While still in Philadelphia, my late husband and I attended a Covenant Christian Community sponsored retreat through the friendship of Ed and Wilhelmina Cook. I consider these my stepping stones to life at Seekers.

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 30^th 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?

The 20th Sunday after Pentecost

October 11, 2026

“Before I start, I want to say that I am feeling hopeful this morning – there are some things that came up at work this week. I used to feel afraid, always thinking that “conflict with others” was the big bad boogeyman, mostly because of how I grew up and how we handled conflict: fighting, withdrawing, and isolating. And now, through and because of God, I have options, a way forward, a better way.”

Good morning, Seekers. I am so happy to be sharing this morning, so I am going to jump right in. As I reflected on this week’s scriptures, I think Paul offers us a place to begin. In Philippians 4:8, we read, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

The title of today’s message is “Think on These Things.” This message is the fourth in a five-part series on commitment. Next week, on October 18, many of us will decide to commit or recommit to another year of doing life together in Christ as we understand it. To me, recommitment season is an opportunity to reflect and to find resolve, and this morning I want to think out loud with you.

The 19th Sunday after Pentecost

October 4, 2026

We are humans and along with other creatures of God’s creation – we are always learning.  We witness this most greatly in the early years of children, as they learn at an astonishing rate how to move their bodies, how to talk, how to share, and how to experience the world around them. Even as we grow older, we still have opportunities for learning and growing as we adjust to other changing conditions – of our bodies, of our capacities or opportunities for new and deeper awareness or creative expression. We can choose to be life-long learners. 

The benefits of life-long learning are many – expanding our understanding of spiritual teachings, deepening our connection and solidarity with marginalized communities, and adapting our social justice actions to a quickly changing political climate.

If we get stuck in a rut of thinking, world view, or self-image out of sync with our call, we can become stuck or spiritually bereft. Or as Wendell Berry puts it more bluntly in an essay by Parker Palmer, “We’re always beginning, or we’re dead.” This came to me through the class in the School for Christian Growth that Marjory Bankson is teaching, “What is My Call Now?” Our individual call and our collective call are integrally connected to what we are learning, about ourselves, about others, and our feelings and responses to life, through being in community and with the wider world.