Seekers recognizes that any member of the community may be called upon by God to give us the Word, and thus we have an open pulpit with a different preacher each week. Sermons preached at Seekers, as well as sermons preached by Seekers at other churches or events, are posted here, beginning with the most recent.
Click here for an archive of our sermons.
Feel free to use what is helpful from these sermons. We only ask that when substantial portions are abstracted or used in a written work, please credit Seekers Church and the author, and cite the URL.
“To Mourn, and to Act” by Elizabeth Gelfeld
June 19, 2016
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
This is a day of mourning. We mourn the dead in Orlando and their shattered loved ones, the victims of Omar Mateen. We also mourn again the deaths and shattered lives of Emanuel African American Episcopal Church in Charleston, one year ago. I did a Google search on mass shootings, and the first site I went to was a report from the PBS Newshour, published shortly after the San Bernardino, California, shooting, which took place last year on December 2nd. The report called this massacre by Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik “the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 15, 2012, killing 26 children and adults.”
But the point of the report was that PBS Newshour had updated its map documenting all the mass shootings in the United States during the year 2015. When I scrolled down to the map, what I saw stopped my heart. The data source defines mass shootings as incidents when at least four people are killed or wounded, including the gun bearer. The map was covered with 355 red dots representing the mass shootings that year to date, at the beginning of December. Much of the eastern half of the country was practically solid red with all the dots. There was one in Washington, D.C., on October 25th. Five people were shot and wounded, none killed.
What if Omar Mateen had succeeded in shooting only five people, and none of them died? Would our horror be as great? Would we even have heard about it?
“From Elijah to Jesus” by Pat Conover
June 12, 2016
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
[This is a much improved revision for written distribution, June 14, 2016.]
Based on story of Naboth’s Vineyard in I Kings 21
Those of you shared the theology class with me on learning to think and feel theologically may be interested in the progression of reframed concepts and images in this sermon. My guide to the sequential reframing is consideration and reconsideration of what matters and what matters most in the story of Naboth’s Vineyard.
On its face, Naboth’s Vineyard is a straightforward story of corruption and manipulated murder. King Ahab is presented as a weak petulant king and Jezebel is presented as the conniving murderous woman behind the throne. Naboth as victim and Elijah as the heroic prosecuting attorney and judge complete the human voices in the story.
If you want to keep it simple that’s it. Do good according to the guidance of religious authorities.
If you want to understand and appreciate what “good” is, what is valuable in the guidance, and why one might honor religious authorities, perhaps this sermon will help.
“New Story Leadership” by Paul Costello
June 5, 2016 Third Sunday after Pentecost Paul Costello is the founder and director of New Story Leadership. He shared some of his own story as well as that of NSL and the remarkable students from Israel and Palestine that ib brings together each summer in Washington, DC, for an intenseive probram of workshops, conferences, seminars, professional work exposure, cultural immersion and team training. Their perspective is Change the World? Change the Story! The full text of Paul’s remarks is not available, but more infromation about NSL can be found on its website: http://www.newstoryleadership.org/ . /
Worshipping in the Style of Taizé
May 29, 2016
Second Sunday after Pentecost
Several times each year, Seekers Church takes time out from its regular preaching schedule for a service of chant, prayer and reflection modeled on the worship of the Taizé Community in France. This Sunday was one such time. Repeating the chants together until they die away into the silence provides rest for our world-weary spirits as well as an opportunity for individual reflection on our faith journeys. As we joined in spirit with the monks at Taizé, we were nourished by their faithfulness as well as by their music.
“8th Anniversary of the Interfaith Sacred Conversation on Race & Diversity” by Sandra Miller, Trish Nemore, and Rev. Maybelle Taylor Bennett
May 22, 2016
Trinity Sunday
Sandra Miller
Good morning. As I always do, as did Kate Cudlipp, and in her honor for the years she was part of the Sacred Conversation, let me start with this prayer from Psalm 19:
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Holy One, my rock and my redeemer”
Today is Trinity Sunday, and so it is rather humorous that there is a trio of intrepid travelers bringing you the Word as we have heard it. Maybelle, Trish and I comprise the current makeup of the Interfaith Sacred Conversation on Race & Diversity Planning Committee. (We would happy to welcome other committed members. Talk to one or all of us.)
On May 18th, 2008 I stood here for the public initiation of the Sacred Conversation, and introduced you to Maybelle Taylor Bennett, now Rev. Bennett, and Rev. Paulette Imani, who so graciously shared part of their personal stories around issues of racism. That was 8 years ago. It was the start of an incredibly rich journey that began with my answering an opportunity Pat offered to Seekers in response to one that the United Church of Christ issued to its churches, in turn a response to Obama’s March 18th, 2008 campaign speech on race that he delivered in Philadelphia, to be community, to talk with each other.