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.
“Citizens of the Basilea of God” by Deborah Sokolove
March 17, 2019
The Second Sunday in Lent
Good morning. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve started a sermon with, “when I signed up to preach, I thought I was going to talk about [whatever it was] but it turns out that now I’m going to talk about this.” Today is another one of those times. I actually signed up to preach later in Lent, when I figured that my calendar would be a little less full. However, the person who had been signed up for today discovered a couple of weeks ago that they had to travel for work, so I offered to switch. Either way, I thought, since it was Lent, I would give a little history about the origins of the season and how it began as a way for the more seasoned members of the church to be in solidarity with the soon-to-be new Christians who were fasting, praying, and studying the basics of the faith as they prepared to be baptized during the pre-dawn service on Easter Sunday. I figured I could show you some pictures of 6th century baptismal fonts, and struggle to make that somehow fit with this morning’s difficult lectionary texts that seem to celebrate predestination, animal cruelty, invasion, conquest, land theft, and authoritarianism – and that’s just the Genesis reading!
“God’s Best vs the World’s Good” by Jim Dickerson
March 10, 2019
The First Sunday in Lent
This morning, Jim Dickerson, the founder of New Community Church and founder and CEO of Manna, a nonprofit developer of quality, affordable housing in the District of Columbia, spoke on the temptation to allow the world’s good to keep us from going for God’s best for us in Jesus through the spirit with help from each other.
The text for this sermon is not yet available.
“Transfiguration” by David Lloyd
March 3, 2019
Transfiguration Sunday
Today is Transfiguration Sunday, so my questions to you are, first, “Are you sleepy from keeping the vigil last night?” and second, “Did you bring the grapes or other fruit?” The Feast of the Transfiguration has been celebrated in the Western Catholic Church since the 9th century, Common Era. The date was set as August 6 in the Julian calendar, which is now August 19 in the Gregorian calendar that we follow. In the Eastern Orthodox churches, this Feast is marked by an all-night vigil the night before and by the bringing of grapes to be blessed after the liturgy is over. If grapes aren’t available, apples or other fruit may be brought to be blessed.
“Salvation Stories” by Pat Conover
February 17, 2019
The Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
When I’m at a party or social gathering with a lot of people I don’t know, and when Trish abandons me to go talk to someone else, I try hard to avoid small talk about he weather, or having a headache last week, or about a change in the garbage pickup schedule. My tactic is to ask one of two questions. If we haven’t shared names I’m likely to ask “What do you care about?” If we have shared names I’m likely to ask the person to “Tell me a story about yourself so that I have a chance to remember this conversation with you and just possibly might remember your name.” It surprises me, even sort of shocks me, that a fair number of people get stuck and can’t come up with a story, and instead say something like “I have two children” or “I work for the Federal Bureau of Imagination.”
“The Power of Prayer” by Jacqie Wallen
February 10, 2019
The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
This past year, my daughter and grandchildren and I spent Christmas in Florida. They drove. I flew. It works better that way. When I arrived at Dulles on my return flight, I went to the designated Arrivals gate to wait for the SuperShuttle, on which I had already reserved a seat. I had confirmed the seat with SuperShuttle by phone as I waited in line to leave the plane. When I confirmed, a recorded message suggested I download the phone app but I didn’t see the point of that since I had made my reservation on my home computer, not my phone. I assumed the phone app wouldn’t have a record of my reservation. Besides, having confirmed, I was all set.