Sermons

September 6, 2020

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

It has been a chaotic summer. Avoiding the pandemic has isolated us from each other, giving us more time alone to worry and more pent up energy to react. Rising confrontation over racial injustice has stoked fear and concern. And the acceleration of election campaign combat is souring the media, leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. The tension has infected our lives in many ways. For most of us, this opens the gate to denial, depression, and disconnection.

These ARE the times that try one’s soul. In some cases, though, all this negativity has given us fleeting opportunities for deeper reflection and new action. We have shared some of those deeper reflections in different ways here in Seekers. Several recent sermons went very deep and have been received with open hearts.

This is not the first time that the human species has been in chaos. But so far we have found our way through. Our Hebrew Scripture reading for this week, the story of the beginning of the Passover, is a good example of how a people came together, committed themselves to God and each other, moved into an unknown future and found new stability. I know, none of these journeys of metamorphosis have been perfect. But cultures have survived and continue to grow as we find new ways to center in God.

August 30, 2020

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

In K-12 schools of the Onondaga people, every day starts with a prayer of thanksgiving, which begins:

Today we have gathered and when we look upon the faces around us we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now let us bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People. Now our minds are one.

And I offer this as well: Let us pray that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be of value to you, Holy One, ground of our being who opens the path to our personal and communal salvation.  Amen

Each time I preach, I say to myself afterwards, “that’s the last time.” Yet, sometimes the call is also felt as a need. Each in our various ways must raise our voices in response to the times we find ourselves in, to speak truth to power just as Jesus did. The sermon you are about to hear is not the sermon I had in mind when I said yes to the opportunity, as both the call and the inner need changed, day by day, if not minute by minute.

August 23, 2020

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Last week, our Hebrew Scripture reading ended with the dramatic reunion between Joseph and the older brothers who had sold him to some passing traders when he was 17. By that time, Joseph had become an important official in the court of the Pharaoh, as the king of Egypt was called. The Pharaoh wisely decided to listen to Joseph’s advice about how to prepare for the coming natural disaster, and put this 30-year-old foreign expert in charge of storing up a lot of grain during the years of plenty so that the people would not starve during the years of drought.

As you may recall, the brothers were there because the famine had spread to the place they were living in Canaan, and the only place to buy grain for themselves and their livestock was in Egypt. Joseph sends his brothers back to Canaan to fetch their father, Jacob, plus nearly 70 members of his family, and all of their livestock and other possessions. Grateful for Joseph’s help, Pharaoh tells this small tribe to settle in a part of Egypt called Goshen, where the family grows and becomes wealthy. Genesis ends with the death of Joseph at the age of 110, after a life filled with riches, honor, and the gratitude of the Pharaoh.

But time passed, and the next book, which we call Exodus, begins with what one of my seminary professors called the scariest line in the entire Bible: “A new Pharaoh—one who did not know Joseph—came to power in Egypt.”

August 16, 2020

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

I have read the story of Joseph probably a hundred times, but this time something really stood out for me. At the very end of the scripture lesson for this Sunday, after Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and they cry and hug each other the scripture says, “and then he and his brothers talked.”

Now wouldn’t that have been an interesting conversation to have overheard? Imagine all the catching up they would have had to do! Who had gotten married, how many children they all had, Israel’s health, and of course about that little incident when they sold Joseph into slavery.

Joseph was betrayed by his brothers. For most of his life he was in danger, imprisoned and used abominably before he was finally noticed and his gifts recognized. Isolated and alone, Joseph must have had many bitter thoughts against his brothers. In the chapters proceeding our scripture for today, Joseph tests his brothers, putting gold and jewels in their sacks, sending them home to get Benjamin and then trying to keep Benjamin hostage. And then in this chapter something changes and he decides to forgive his brothers. So what changed his heart and mind?  What was it that made him decide to reveal himself to his brothers? What made him decide to be merciful?

August 9, 2020

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

I love the story of Peter walking on water.  I picked this date to preach because I wanted to preach about that story even though I’m in Learners and Teachers Mission Group and our traditional time to preach is during the Recommitment Season when Seekers are asked to examine, and hopefully reconfirm, their commitment to Seekers.  Recommitment Season begins in September and this is the beginning of August, so I ask you to consider me as a sort of a John the Baptist.  Remember how he came ahead of Jesus to pave the way?  You can think of me as coming ahead of Recommitment Season to pave the way for the Recommitment Season sermons.  And I will end this sermon by saying a few inspiring things about recommitment.