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.
“Witnessing the Spirit” by Jacqie Wallen
May 23, 2021
I’m going to tell you a story I told once before, once before, quite a few years ago, when I preached on Pentecost. When I was in college, I had a Pentecost-like experience. I was at a party. It was late at night and I had not slept at all the night before. I had been up all night writing a paper and I had that combination of jitters and exhaustion you get when you’ve stayed up all night with the help of amphetamines. I’d also had drunk a lot of beer at the party so I was a little drunk, perhaps even on the edge of being hallucinatory because of the combination of beer and residual speed. I was lying on the floor with my bookbag under my head, half awake and half asleep. Some friends of mine were playing guitars and banjos and singing. They sang the song “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream,” the song we just heard. As I listened to the song, I was in such an alternative reality that it felt as if the words were true, as if all of the world’s leaders really had gotten together in a big room and put an end to war. I was celebrating with the people in the streets below, dancing round and round. I can’t tell you how much joy I felt. It only lasted a moment, though, and then I realized that it was just a song—it hadn’t really happened. I was crushed—what a disappointment! But I’d had that taste of heaven. I had experienced the end of war. And I have never forgotten how that felt.
“Undivided” by Larry Rawlings
May 16, 2021
The following is a transcript of the sermon given by Larry Rawlings, who invited three Seekers children to join him. The names of the children have been anonymized for their privacy.
LARRY: Good morning everyone. A couple of years ago, we were fortunate to have an amazing little fellow join our congregation for a while named DS – his nickname I believe is Parsley – and DS is here with us today. DS is going to be ringing the chime for me as I have some other children assist me today. So can we put DS on the screen and have him ring the chime for the first time? Good boy.
“Harmony in the Key of Compassion” by Peter Bankson
May 9, 2021
During the Easter season this year Celebration Circle has invited us to focus on witnesses, asking us what it means to be witnesses to the Resurrection in these chaotic times. This question got me pondering not only what we are witnessing, but what difference how we witness makes.
The lectionary readings for this week led me to reflect on the Resurrection as an expression of God’s love for this Creation, how we recognize the love of God, how we witness to it, and how we can contribute to its health and growth. Three questions came to mind for me:
- How does the resurrection of Jesus as the Christ reveal the presence of divine love? (He lay down his life as a model of reaching for inclusive harmony.)
- How can we testify effectively as we share with others what we’re experiencing? (We can look for moments of resonance and help tune ourselves and others to nurture divine harmony.)
- How might we help open a path to deeper harmony, modeling our commitment to being creative, inclusive as we work for peace and justice? (We can help create memorable tunes in the key of compassion, tunes that stick in the brains of others who hear them.)
A Sermon about Christ House by Jayme Epstein and Micheal J
May 2, 2021
The Fifth Sunday of Easter
Jayme Epstein is the volunteer coordinator at Christ House, one of the ministries that grew out of the Church of the Saviour. Micheal J is a member of the Kairos permanent housing program.
Good morning, and thank you for inviting us to join you this morning. Micheal and I are delighted to have the opportunity to share the Christ House story with you.
Our Director of Development shares a story that captures the essence of Christ House: one morning, she greeted one of the patients, saying, “It’s nice to see you today!” And he responded, “It’s nice to be seen.”
Seeing the full humanity of each person who walks through our doors and doing all we can to assist them in being all that they can be is the simple goal of everyone who works at Christ House. When asked the highlight of their work with Christ House, staff and volunteers alike often reply, “Witnessing the transformation of individuals who come to us sick and experiencing homelessness.”
“The Good Shepherd” by Erica Lloyd
April 25, 2021
The Fourth Sunday of Easter
Those of you with whom I’ve discussed preaching know that I preach once every few months because it generally takes me that long to write a sermon. I’ve been working on a sermon about today’s epistle passage since late February. I’ve been wrestling with issues around giving, and John’s question really got me: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a neighbor in need and yet refuses to help?” It hit me in gut in the way that for me has only come to mean I need to sign up to preach, because I need to dedicate time and effort to the wrestling match between my heart and scripture.
This sermon was particularly slow in coming together, in part because I’m still really struggling with how to apply some of the insights I’ve gained to a very real situation in my life.
But it’s possible that the sermon wasn’t coming together because the Holy Spirit decided we had other plans. Earlier this week, I decided to shelve that sermon. Because I have this pulpit on this particular Sunday, I need to talk about the police.