Sermons

The 4th Sunday in Lent

March 27, 2022

It is now the fourth Sunday in Lent, more than half way through this season that leads inexorably to the last meal that Jesus had with his disciples, his crucifixion at the hands of an occupying empire, and the improbable discovery of his resurrection three days later. This season is traditionally one of revisiting the founding stories of our faith, of learning again to trust God in every aspect of our lives.

And so, for the past three weeks the lectionary readings from the Hebrew scriptures have reviewed the experience of the Israelites as they escaped from slavery in Egypt and arrived in a land “flowing with milk and honey”; God’s covenant with Abram that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars and would possess all the land “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates….”; and the haunting invitation to everyone who thirsts to “come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy … wine and milk without money and without price” as God makes clear that the covenant that is not really about land, but about relationship, about trusting God to love us, no matter what.

Today’s reading returns to the aftermath of the escape from Egypt with a pun about a place called Gilgal (the word means something like a wheel or a circle or something that rolls) where, it is written, “The Holy One said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” The rolling away of the stone of disgrace meant there were big changes in store for the people, because “The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.” And, I suspect, even though the people had earlier rebelled against eating manna night and day, not trusting in the miraculous food that God had provided, now they were equally resistant to the idea of yet another change to their diet.

Meanwhile, the Gospels have reminded us about Jesus being tempted to trust the devil rather than God; his insistence on going to Jerusalem, even though he will probably be killed there; and his warning to the Pharisees that they needed to change their ways. Finally, in today’s reading, we have story about a wayward young person who ran away and then came back, trusting in forgiving love; another young person whose trust and love gave way to bitterness and resentment; and their parent’s unfailing commitment to love and trust them both.

The 3rd Sunday in Lent

March 20, 2022

Good morning, it is such a joy to be with you all. I’d like to read these words again from Isaiah 55:

Ho, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and you that have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
³ Incline your ear, and come to me;
    listen, so that you may live.

In this time of Lent, as we hunger to trust God more deeply…I’d like to work with the question – what helps us heal from “spending for that which is not bread, from laboring for that which does not satisfy…”

The 2nd Sunday in Lent

March 13, 2022

As we journey through a chaotic season of Lent this year, Celebration Circle has invited us to contemplate what it means to trust in God as we wait.

The Word I bring this morning grows out of one I offered in 2004 on this second Sunday in Lent. Eighteen years ago, as we waited for our move to Carroll Street, the wider world was engulfed in the war in Iraq. It was a time of chaotic violence that felt in some ways like our world today … without the painful complications of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Today we are called to wait in in the face of many challenges – the pandemic, a war in Ukraine, civil unrest over government health mandates, gun violence, and loss of hope. How can we make it through these trying times? How can we trust in God as we wait?   

The 1st Sunday in Lent

March 6, 2022

Greetings Seekers community,

This morning I open with a quote from of our Call statement which states “Seekers Church is committed to participation by persons of all ages.  We see children, youth & adults of all ages as valuable & valued parts of our community, and desire their inclusion in our care, our ministry, and our life together”.  (Revised May 1991)

Many of us follow Howard Thurman, a professor of spiritual resources and mystic.  A quote of his in Gil Bailie’s book Violence Unveiled” really speaks to me –

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs.  Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Transfiguration

February 27, 2022

Connie Sullivan and Jim Cawley offered an update on the activities of the Bokamoso Life Centre, a community center in Winterveldt, South Africa. For many years, young people from the Centre have come to be with Seekers at this time of year, but the pandemic has made that impossible since their last visit in 2020. Connie and Jim are, respectively, President and Vice President of the Bokamoso Youth Foundation, a US-based organization which supports the Centre and are in close touch with the leadership and the young people that they serve. More information about the Centre and the Foundation are available at https://bokamosoyouth.org/.