Sermons

May 28, 2017

Ascension

This morning I bring you a report from my mission field. The last time I spoke to you here was June 19th of last year, the day before I embarked upon this mission. For the past year I have been a resident with Urban Teachers, a clinically based, masters degree program in education. Clinically based means that, for this school year, I have been teaching with a host teacher in a D.C. charter school classroom from 8 am until 3:15 pm every day, then attending graduate courses four evenings per week, 5:30 to 8:30, and doing a lot of homework every weekend. Plus lesson planning and preparation. In my sermon last year, I said this: “Can I really do this? Make such a huge career change – at my age? Can I get un-stuck from my habits of thought and action that consume so much time and energy? What will it be like to go to graduate school with a bunch of 22-year-olds, and work for employers young enough to be my children? . . . How can I give up my perfectionism, my attachments, . . . my compulsion to control my environment? Can I spend all day, every day, with people? I’m an introvert, for goodness sake. Can I really do this?”

The answer, one year later, is yes, I can do this, I have done it, am doing it, and, depending on grace, will continue to do it. And, yes, it’s intense, and difficult. I do it one day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time.

So, in my report this morning from the mission field, I’m going to tell you a few of my successes, a few of my failures, and what I depend on to keep going.

May 21, 2017

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Histories are not complete accounts of the billions of random past events. History is always a narrative, a set of selected events that, when put together, tell a particular story — for example the story of the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire or the story of the “Discovery” of America.”

The Palestinian and Israeli narratives are accounts of the same conflict. But, they are very different for two reasons. First, each is part of a much larger national history. And, for most of recorded history, the Jewish and Palestinian-Arab nations lived through very different experiences in very different places in the world. Second, the two narratives tell two different, but equally true, stories. One is the story of the colonization of Palestine by European Jews and the destruction of Arab Palestinian society that followed. The other is the story of the Jewish people’s return to their historic national homeland after many centuries of oppression in the Diaspora. Now hang on to your seats because in the next 15 minutes we are going to fly through two thousand years of history … twice!

May 14, 2017

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 7:55-60
1 Peter 2:2-10

It is wonderful to be here with you all today. Despite the infrequency of my visits, Seekers has become something akin to a second or third spiritual home for me – a place I know I will belong, as well as find beauty and rest. And it is one of a very small constellation of congregations that I will encourage my spiritually restless friends and acquaintances to visit; where I know they will be received with love and a hospitable curiosity concerning their lives. As a space frequently used by The Potter’s House and Interfaith Power and Light for retreats, Seekers has come to signify for me a set aside place for conversations about the things that matter most: our vision, our values, and the sacred and mundane means we will use to strive towards them. I want to thank you, too, for all of your continued support of our efforts on Columbia Road. It is difficult to express how much it means to me to receive a kind note and gift out of the blue, particularly during a period when I and we have felt stretched and challenged, sometimes to our limits.

May 7, 2017

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Several times each year, Seekers Church takes time out from its regular preaching schedule for a service of chant, prayer and reflection modeled on the worship of the Taizé Community in France. This Sunday was one such time. Repeating the chants together until they die away into the silence provides rest for our world-weary spirits as well as an opportunity for individual reflection on our faith journeys. As we joined in spirit with the monks at Taizé, we were nourished by their faithfulness as well as by their music.

April 30, 2017

Third Sunday of Easter

Good morning! I am so excited to be worshipping with you today.

I want to break down this story with you all and then dive into what it means to me. The first thing we have to do is put ourselves into the story. When I was in college, I was in a bible study/ministry group called Intervarsity. The most important thing I learned from that ministry was to put myself into the shoes of the people living the bible story. As 21^st century readers, it is really easy for us to pass judgement on bible characters. We tend to bring a moral superiority to the bible. Well we treat women better and would always understand Jesus’ teachings and would never doubt a promise from God. That is because we read the bible through the lens of the resurrection. We get to see the fulfillment of the promises in Jesus Christ! So before we tackle the gospel, it is wise to set aside some of those 21^st century ideals for a moment and just live into the reality of the disciples. As we go through the text, keep in mind that the disciples don’t have the resurrection goggles that we have.