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.
“Trinity Sunday” by Marjory Bankson
June 7, 2020
Trinity
This week, our pandemic isolation has been upended by massive protests against systemic racism in this country. It feels like Pentecost to me. Something new is being born.
During the day, the slow-moving walks have been largely peaceful – a powerful demonstration of our First Amendment Rights by people who still trust that our legal structures will survive this President. At night, there has been some vandalism and violent clashes with police, but I also hear new strength in local leaders like DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and Bishop Marianne Budde. Something new is being born.
“Going Forward Together, With Thankfulness and Hope” by Trish Nemore
May 17, 2020
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Our five previous sermons of the Easter season, it seems to me, are all of a piece, offering us tools and ways of thinking that we need to continue to live and move forward in the age of the corona virus pandemic. From Marjory: Don’t be afraid and Follow your call; from Erica: Be radically honest; from Dave: Notice that Jesus might be walking right beside you; from Mark: Wail loudly about the hurts and injustices that you and the world experience and expect to be listened to, and, from Brenda: Remember that the Body of Christ is us – mismatched, flawed, throw away stones that we are.
This morning, I’d like to continue the conversation about moving forward, a phrase the importance of which came to me one morning about a month ago when I, too, realized that “going back” or “returning to normal” was not something that any of us should aspire to.
“Living Stones: Building a New World” by Brenda Seat
May 10, 2020
Fifth Sunday of Easter
We are in the midst of a pandemic. . . . Just sit with that for a moment.
Every morning I wake up and in those first few seconds, sometimes even minutes, I think about the day ahead, the things I need to do, and then all of a sudden this realization will flood over me. We are living in a different time and in a different reality.
Recently Laurie Garrett, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, a Harvard Fellow and author of the book The Coming Plague, has been making the rounds on the news and in print media. Often called the “prophet” or “Cassandra” of this epidemic, she foretold what is happening right now . . . in 1994. In a recent interview[1] when asked what she sees coming next, she said that her best case scenario – to find a vaccine, to ramp up production and then vaccinate the entire world – would take 36 months. Thirty-six months if nothing goes wrong.
“Lament: From Illness to Wellness” by Mark Greiner
May 3, 2020
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Two weeks ago, Erika Lloyd’s excellent sermon called us to radical honesty. Psalm 38 gives us a template for radical honesty. It’s a psalm of lament.
Before we get to Lament, though, radical honesty calls for a word of gratitude. Thank you for praying for me and my family (Kolya and Sage) before I went to Nepal. When you prayed for us, you gave us each a stole. I’m wearing it now.
And when I arrived in Nepal, I was met with another welcoming stole at the airport…which is a Nepali tradition. I was sent well and was met well! …A kind of hand off from the Americans praying for me to the Nepalis who were.
There is a Nepali saying “The Guest is God.” Nepalis practice a profound hospitality. I am so thankful for going to Nepal on a medical mission with the Acupuncture Relief Project. The three weeks in Nepal were three of the very best weeks of my life…profound and heart opening. An astonishing Model of primary health care.
“Finding Hope in Emmaus” by Dave Lloyd
April 26, 2020
Third Sunday of Easter
Two followers of Jesus – we know one is a man but the other could have been a woman, and if so, probably his wife — were walking on Easter day from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. In Luke’s gospel the distance is about 11 kilometers or 7 miles. They were talking about what happened during Holy Week. With that distance, they had more than two hours of walking to think about and talk over how their hopes had died with Jesus’ death. They had thought, they had KNOWN, that Jesus was the Messiah they had longed for, the one who would get rid of the Romans, bring justice to the people, bring an end to the pain and suffering that was everywhere, would usher in a new golden age of prosperity and God’s blessing. And then Jesus had been killed, crucified as a rebel to the Roman Empire, and with that all their hopes had died, crushed. They would have to wait some more. There would be no political independence for Jews, continued oppression, injustice, pain, and suffering, no sign of God’s blessing. But the danger remained: maybe the Romans were now looking for them.