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.
“Why I am Recommitting” by Brenda Seat
October 14, 2018
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
When we first arrived in DC in 1985, I was struggling with so many questions about God, what it meant to be a Christian, who Jesus was, and why any of it mattered. We had just gone through a complicated pregnancy, losing one baby while another, our oldest daughter Marian, lived. There were complicated questions about death and life, and why these things happen to good people like us. It was a complicated time, with Keith working long hours at a high-powered law firm and my choosing to stay at home with Marian. We heard about Church of the Saviour through the leadership in the church we attended in Kansas City. We had never read Elizabeth O’Connor’s books and had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when we just showed up one Sunday at 2025 Massachusetts Avenue.
“Jesus, Creation, and Us” by Elizabeth Gelfeld
October 7, 2018
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Last weekend I went on the Seekers Silent Retreat, at Dayspring. Dayspring is 210 acres in Germantown that the Church of the Saviour purchased in the 1950s, the very early days of the church, so that they could have a place to go for renewal and healing in nature. Dayspring has woods and meadows, lakes and streams, all lovingly maintained now by members of Dayspring Church.
Saturday was a perfect fall day, sunny and crisp. Shortly after sunrise I was walking down the path from the Lodge to the Inn for breakfast, and suddenly I saw, ahead and a little to my left, two enormous spiderwebs, one behind the other, each suspended between a pair of trees. The rising sun’s rays illuminated the webs in all their delicate detail, and the sight was amazing. I stopped, and breathed thanks — for the beauty, for the spiders, for the surpise of it, and for joy.
“Saying ‘Yes’ Again and Again” by Peter Bankson
September 30, 2018
Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost
INTRODUCTION
Here at Seekers Church we’re in the middle of our annual season of recommitment. Today we will have the membership log available in the Skylight Room. It has the signatures of each person who has made their annual commitment to this community each year since 1976, when we began our life together as a separate family of faith. We will have the membership log available each Sunday until Recommitment Sunday on October 21st.
Last week, Marjory reflected on the importance of our annual recommitment. She said:
“REcommitment was another surprise. Wasn’t a one-time commitment good enough? But after a while, I realized that yearly recommitment helps me stay conscious of how my relationship with God and this community has evolved over time.”
“Who’s the Greatest?” by Marjory Bankson
September 23, 2018
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
This is the season of REcommitment at Seekers, and so we might ask — What was the original commitment? Why yearly REcommitment? How is that related to our gospel reading for today? And finally, what can WE do about that?
Let me start with commitment.
When Peter and I arrived here at Seekers in 1976, we had already read about Church of the Saviour in Elizabeth O’Connor’s book, Call to Commitment. We already knew that the church required serious preparation for membership, but we really had no concept of the degree of commitment required for the inner work that would continue to unfold over the years. What we didn’t know then was that joining the church was not the end of our preparation. It was just the beginning!
“Down the Road” by Jacqueline Wallen
September 16, 2018
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Writing this sermon was quite challenging for me and I’ll explain why. I knew where I wanted to start it. I wanted to start it by talking about the lectionary readings for today. I also knew where I wanted to end up. I wanted to end up reminding you about the Down the Road project and encouraging you all to attend the third Sunday meeting we are holding after worship today. But how was I going to get from point A (the readings) to point B (the Down the Road project) through an orderly and compelling progression of ideas? That was my problem. This challenge was made additionally ….well … challenging…. by the fact that it was important to weave into the sermon the concept of commitment, or recommitment. This is Recommitment Season at Seekers and members of my Mission Group, Learners and Teachers, typically preach during this season and talk about the topic of commitment to Seekers.