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.
“Resurrection Now?” by Marjory Bankson
Easter Sunday
April 9, 2023
Did you notice the full moon this week? Remember that Easter falls on the first Sunday — after the first full moon — after the Spring Equinox? Unlike Christmas or the 4th of July, Easter moves around with the moon, calling us toward earth and its seasons. Out at Dayspring, the fields are mowed flat and Lake of the Saints is full, waiting for a gaggle of geese to swoop in and nest there. The land seems poised and waiting, pregnant with possibility and new life – but it’s not in full bloom yet.
At home, the news is grim. Full of gun violence, racial tension and climate disasters. Destruction and despair haunt the headlines, and yet we gather this morning to celebrate the possibility of resurrection, not just for Jesus long ago, but for us and for all living creatures on this earth.
“It is Finished” by David Lloyd
Palm/Passion Sunday
April 2, 2023
I first heard of Jesus in Galilee. People were talking about this man who was healing people who were lame, or blind, or had leprosy. When he met people possessed by demons, he commanded the demons inside them to leave. And the demons obeyed him!
So, I had to see for myself, and I tell you, it was amazing. There was something about him I’d never seen or heard before. He healed people and he told stories that made you think. When you did, you’d see a new way of living, like he was opening your mind and heart.
So, I took a leap of faith, left my work behind, and joined the small group that went with Jesus everywhere. When we’d come into a village or town a lot of people wanting to be healed and a lot of people who just wanted to hear his stories would show up. Jesus performed miracles so amazing if I told you about them you wouldn’t believe me. Groups of Pharisees would come to debate him, but Jesus knew Torah so well that sometimes he just left the Pharisees stunned into silence. I have no idea how everyone got fed, but somehow there was always enough. We always found a place to sleep, either on the floor in people’s homes or in a stable. We were living by faith in Jesus, and it was good.
“Death and Resurrection, Here and Now” by Elizabeth Gelfeld
The Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 26, 2023
In the final chapter of his book The God We Never Knew, theologian Marcus Borg traces the meaning of salvation in the Bible. Borg titled this chapter “Salvation: What on Earth Do We Mean?” to make the point that the primary biblical understanding of salvation has to do with our present life – not with an afterlife. In the Hebrew scriptures, a belief in life after death is not clearly stated until the book of Daniel, only about 165 years before the birth of Jesus. The Christian scriptures also affirm the belief in an afterlife, but that’s not what salvation means. Borg says, “
An initial clue is provided by the linguistic root of the English word. Salvation comes from the same root as ‘salve,’ a healing ointment. Salvation thus has to do with healing the wounds of existence. This is no small matter, for the wounds of existence are many and deep. Some of these wounds are inflicted on us, some are the result of our own doing, and some we inflict on others.[1]
The scriptures use many images for salvation, Borg says, in terms of both God’s actions with us and our experience. Images like liberation from bondage – think of the Exodus; reconciliation after being separated from a person or a community to which we belong – this is the Exile and return. Other images are salvation as forgiveness; as knowing God directly, the way one knows a person in relationship; and salvation as the kingdom of God, the image Jesus used most often, which is both a vision of a future society and a powerful reality, already present here and now.
“The Gift of Sight” by Jacqie Wallen
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 19, 2023
Deborah asked me to preach today, and I did my best to respond joyfully (as we commit to doing in Seekers) even though I had no idea what the lectionary readings were going to be. I feared they would be difficult or confusing or completely mystifying but I was pleasantly surprised to find them so rich that I immediately had a lot of ideas about where to go with them. Especially the story of Jesus healing the blind man, which contains a wonderful interplay of so many possible ways of seeing and being blind. I’m not going to go into all of them here—it would take all day—but let me name four major categories:
- Physical sight
- Psychological sight
- Social sight
- Spiritual sight
“Living Water” by Glen Yakushiji
The Third Sunday in Lent
March 12, 2023
As our Lenten theme this year Celebration Circle has chosen It Depends on Faith. I like that idea. I am thinking of faith as the foundation of my spiritual life. Like the foundation under a building faith has to be rock solid.
Traditionally, Lent is a season of preparation for the celebration of Easter. These two liturgical seasons track the natural seasons of the northern hemisphere, winter becomes spring; the time to preserve energy for the next season of growth.
In the gospel scripture, when Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well he asks for a drink of water. As they talk she realizes who she is speaking to, and Jesus offers her living water with which she would never thirst again. Jesus then begins to tell her about her past, and she, amazed runs off to share the news. Jesus never gets the glass of water.