Sermons

December 25, 2016

Christmas Day

Texts: Isaiah 52:7-10, Psalm 98, Hebrews 1:1-12, John 1:1-14

It’s Christmas morning. Most of us were here a good portion of the day yesterday, sharing a delicious feast, singing carols, and re-telling the story of how Jesus was born in less-than-ideal conditions. Last night, we heard that Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary had to travel a long way from where they had been living because Caesar Augustus wanted to register everyone for a new tax. We heard about angels and shepherds, and Mary pondering everything that had happened in her heart. So what are we doing here this morning, getting ready to share Communion instead of still comfortably in our jammies, sipping cocoa and unwrapping the presents that someone left under our gaily-decorated trees?

December 24, 2016

Christmas Eve

As we read these Lessons and sing these Carols every year, I always feel like the story seems a little too neat and tidy.  Like the Christmas cards I get with the nativity scenes that always make the holy family look so serene, the words that we hear seem to gloss over all the difficult parts of this story.  For example, I always wonder how pregnant Mary must have felt on that swaying donkey, traveling to Bethlehem.  I am sure it gave morning sickness a whole new meaning!  Or I wonder about the anguish and uncertainty Joseph must have felt when he found out Mary was pregnant.  It cannot have been easy for him to accept a child that was not his, and maybe even more so when he found out that it was God’s promised one.  How was it that they ended up in a stable?  Why wasn’t there room for them in the inn?  Bethlehem was where Joseph’s family was from; surely there must have been relatives they could have stayed with.  Who helped Mary birth this baby?  And what about those shepherds crowding into the stable all noisy and dirty, with sheep baaing and threatening to wake the baby Mary had just fed and put to sleep.  No, the story of the nativity was far from neat and tidy.  It was chaotic and, if I am honest, it seems like God could have done a little bit better in the planning department!

December 18, 2016

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Text: Matthew 1: 18-25

If you’ve seen a Christmas pageant, the role of Joseph is probably the most boring of all. He just stands there, itching with straw dust, while Mary and the baby get all the attention from the other characters, including the sheep and camels.

When Joseph stands there with his staff, there is NOTHING to indicate the turmoil it must have taken him to be there; nothing about the question raised by today’s gospel reading: should he quietly dissolve the marriage agreement that he had with Mary? Or go ahead with their plans, even though she has apparently been unfaithful to him – because he KNOWS he’s not the father of this child. Can you imagine his feelings of betrayal? Of being used?

December 11, 2016 Third Sunday of Advent 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. As we wait in Advent, this Sunday seemed a particuarly appropriate 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.

December 4, 2016

Second Sunday of Advent

INTRODUCTION

This has been a turbulent month. The elections, with outcomes that surprised many of us, seem to have set the stage for changes that lots of us don’t understand. It took us by surprise, seeming to lop off hopes for quick changes that would transform us into a  society and culture on the way to becoming more “creative, inclusive, working for peace and justice” as the front window downstairs says, the one that introduces us to folks on the street.

Then, as we transitioned from Thanksgiving to our annual American season of Conspicuous Consumption, the intense focus shifted from choosing who will be in charge, to incessant invitations to buy stuff just to help us feel better no matter who is in charge. This annual shift toward consumption encourages me to turn down the volume on everything, even my inner journey, making it harder for me to wait with awareness for the incarnation, the coming – once again – of God into the world in a form I can relate to.