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.
“What Will It Take to Make My Life Sacred?” by Will Ramsey
December 2, 2018
The First Sunday of Advent
I would like to begin with a prayer which I borrowed from others who have come before us.
Lord, thank you for walking with us through the seasons of our lives.
For summer time, full of warmth and colour
And for autumn days as leaves fall to seed new growth.
For the advent season when we remember both the coming of Jesus
And all those who have come before us.
For the winter, when we are held safe in your arms through the darkness.
For the hope of spring, as we are filled with new promise and life.
You are always with us.
When I quieted my mind to find words for today’s sermon, I noticed that today is the first Sunday of advent. My feelings about Advent have radically changed since I was a boy. I grew up in a church which did not really put emphasis on the advent rituals so I didn’t pay it much attention.
A Sermon by Larry Rawlings
November 25, 2018
Twenty-seventh Sunday after Pentecost
The Reign of Christ
The text of this sermon is not yet available.
“Attending to Doomsday Decievers or….?” by Kolya Braun-Greiner
November 18, 2018
Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost
One biblical commentary I read gave today’s gospel text an intriguing if not alarming title: “Doomsday Deceivers.” The disciples have come with Jesus to Jerusalem – and when they see the magnificence of city they are mesmerized. “What large stones and what large buildings!” It’s as if a group of rural peasants landed in the midst of the glitz of New York City’s times square. But what seems most ironically humorous is that their experience immediately follows the story of the widow’s mite, who gives from her greatly from her heart of her meager wealth in contrast to the grand material wealth of the city. Ched Meyers points out the disparity here – the economic contrast of her poverty with the glorious buildings built by extracted wealth of both the Roman empire and temple power.
Jesus’ response to the disciple’s naiveté bursts the balloon of their misplaced attention: “not one of these stones will remain… All will be thrown down.” Jesus is pointing to both their own deception as well as warning them of “anyone who would deceive you” or “lead you astray.” We might remember that the Gospel of Mark was the earliest gospel was probably written about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70AD.
“Salvation Guidance for Political Action” by Pat Conover
November 11, 2018
Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Some of you may not be aware that the cloth napkins we use for Seekers prepared meals do not wash themselves. The main motive for choosing cloth napkins was to avoid using paper napkins. On the other environmental hand, a minute amount of more water is used to wash the napkins because individual Seekers wash them in regular laundry loads. My point is that Seekers actions have political, practical, and spiritual aspects.
How much does spiritual concern about the stewardship of nature matter for your practical, economic, and political motivations? How much of your spiritual concerns for nature is about deepening prayer practices by escaping for awhile from practical, economic, and political “worldly” concerns? Do we live on the natural Earth, or do we live in our garden world where we weed out invasive species. Caring in the context of environmental concerns is just one kind of caring and each kind of caring has spiritual, practical, economic, and political implications. How much does our Christian faith help us sort out and prioritize such complexity?
“Flooded with Hope” by Michele Frome
November 4, 2018
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
The last two weeks of September, I worked as a Disaster Spiritual Care volunteer for the American Red Cross following Hurricane Florence; Florence was the storm set tropical storm rainfall records in North and South Carolina, dumping 10 trillion gallons of water.
A little background: last year, with support from this congregation, I completed training in Clinical Pastoral Education and was approved for certification as a Clinical Chaplain. I signed up with the Red Cross hoping to get some more opportunity to practice what I’d learned. In September, the opportunity came.
I was based in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which was headquarters for District 3 of this particular Red Cross operation, covering 9 counties. There were several hundred Red Cross workers in district 3, but only 5 of us assigned to Spiritual Care. Each day, I was paired up with one or two other people and assigned several Red Cross emergency shelters to travel to by car. Each day, I spent several hours talking with people who were staying in these shelters.