Author: Ken Burton

2018 Telling the Story Lectionary: Grace is Enough

Ken Burton

TRINITY SUNDAY
May 27
Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm 29
Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17

June 3
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Psalm 81:1-10
2 Corinthians 4:5-12
Mark 2:23-3:6

June 10
Genesis 3:8-15
Psalm 130
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Mark 3:20-35

June 17
Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15
2 Corinthians 5:6-17
Mark 4:26-34

June 24
Job 38:1-11
Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Mark 4:35-41

July 1
Lamentations 3:22-33
Psalm 30
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Mark 5:21-43

July 8
Ezekiel 2:1-5
Psalm 123
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13

SUMMER
July 15
Amos 7:7-15
Psalm 85:8-13
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

Readings are available on the Internet at http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu .…

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“Why the Chimes Rang” by David Lloyd

Ken Burton

December 24, 2017

Christmas Eve

Tonight we gather here once again for our Seekers Christmas Eve potluck dinner and ceremony of lessons and carols,a tradition of Seekers Church for many years — long enough that our daughters, the Ogle boys, the seat girls, and the Dongo kids have all read various parts of the lessons when they were in our Sunday School.  And now almost all of them are adults!

When I was growing up our church had a Christmas tree up front near the pulpit and all of its decorations were Christian symbols.  Part of our church tradition was to explain those symbols to the children and youth each year. 
…

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“Do Not Be Afraid, for Nothing is Impossible with God” by Deborah Sokolove

Ken Burton

December 24, 2017

Fourth Sunday of Advent

slide 1: Unknown (Novgorod school), Annunciation, 12th century, tempera on panel Russian

Just a few days ago the winter solstice brought us the shortest day and longest night of the year. This morning, our part of the world has just begun to tilt towards the sun. We have gained one more minute of daylight since the solstice.

slide 2: Simone Martini, The Angel and the Annunciation, 1333, tempera on panel, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Tonight we will celebrate the coming of Christ into the world, 2000 years ago as a helpless infant, and at the end of time when God will dwell among us again.…

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“Who are You?” by Billy Amoss

Ken Burton

December 17, 2017

Third Sunday of Advent

Our reading for today from the Gospel of John contains these lines:

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

Who are you? Has anyone asked you that recently?  And when was the last time you put that question to someone?

In fact, if we pay attention to how our mind works, we will notice that we ask that question of everyone we encounter, whether aloud or silently, to see how they fit into the running narrative in our minds that shapes and makes sense of our reality.…

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“Why Can’t They Do It the Right Way, Like My Ancestors Did?” by Patricia Nemore, Oswaldo Montoya, Okima Bryant, Peter Bankson, Sandra Miller, David Lloyd

Ken Burton

December 10, 2017

Second  Sunday of Advent

Patricia Nemore: I’d like to start with a quote from the Boston Declaration of Christian religious leaders, a document endorsed by Seekers Church naming what we think Jesus’s teachings require of us in the 21st Century:

“We lament national boundaries that make our worries about security a pretext for destroying the lives of others. . .”

This is the time of year when we encounter the story of the family that arrived in town after a long trip too late to find lodging and so spent the night or a lot of nights in a barn, where their baby was born. …

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