Seattle Mennonite Church Sermons

The prophet Isaiah writes poetry: to express deep love between God and God’s beloveds, to convey heartache, to cleverly and poignantly pierce through word play, to evoke hope and catalyze action, to faithfully proclaim the truest nature of God. If poetry is good enough for Isaiah, pastor Megan suggests, it might just be good enough for us. We hear of sacred love, heartbreak, longing, and convictio...

Tom Sine encourages us to create neighborhood empowerment projects that young generations could join in, without requiring church attendance or membership. He talks about the value of examining Pew Research profiles of generations in order to predict action areas of common interest. His challenge to us is to think about the future like city planners. Sermon begins at minute marker 3:42 Matthew 13:...

Much could be said of the exaggerated and hyperbolic showmanship of this contest Elijah sets up between himself and the prophets of Baal. But step back from the spectacle, and I want to know why the people remembered this story, told it over and over, and eventually wrote it down? Might it have to do with the quiet way that Elijah calls the people to remember who (and whose) they are. “Come closer...

Amidst political maneuvers, power grabs, conditional allegiances, threats, oppression, and terrible advice, a king is crowned and a kingdom divided. And precisely NOone comes out looking like a saint. We too live in violent and divided times, and while Mennonites haven’t traditionally recognized the big “S” Saints of other Christian traditions, following in the Way of Jesus does mean seeking to li...

Is God a megalomaniac who needs our praise? Or do we praise God because WE need it? And what about those of us who struggle with “praise” given our religious histories? Or those of us who quite simply value being thoughtful, critical, reasonable, and intelligent creatures not prone to the frenetic religious fanaticism we might associate with “praise” of God? Even if we can find our way to a meanin...

Christine Sine explores a variety of practices to increase our experience of gratitude. In this overstimulating, stressful world gratitude is an active way to push back on the negative and highlight the positive. This service ended in a St Francis Day blessing for our animals, those that God brings into our life and we sometimes forget to regard with gratitude. Sermon begins at minute marker 6:08...

 A whole bevy of women choose to creatively subvert the powers of death, risking their own lives, for the sake of choosing life. Shiprah and Puah - the midwives who bravely deliver life in defiance of the king, Jochabed - the mother and master basket-weaver who becomes a nursemaid to her own child, a sister protectrix who craftily executes a brilliant family-saving plan, a daughter of a king who s...

Rita and Vija explore what it meant for Jacob, and for the disciples in the storm, to wrestle. How have other people struggled with their consciences, and their internal and external obstacles? How do you wrestle? Sermon begins at minute marker 8:18 Genesis 32.22-30, Luke 8.22-25 Resources Annie Dillard’s quote comes from her book Teaching a Stone to Talk Quote from Meister Eckhart: “The eye throu...

We have all laughed at and with Sarah for as long as we've heard the story. An 80 year old woman giving birth!?! Pastor Megan challenges us to consider laughter. What impossible things do we laugh at? An end to hunger? Reconciliation between settlers and indigenous peoples? A green and just economy? Healing for addiction? What have we laughed at that we should maybe consider a calling into im...

Pastor Amy shares moments and memories of God's love and favor over the 18 years of her ministry at Seattle Mennonite. Sermon begins at 5:28 Luke 1.46-55, 4.14-22 Resources Pokemon and Christian discipleship Youth play super giant dutch blitz Image: Artwork by Amy Epp Hymn: 549, Be Thou My Vision. Irish Traditional Mary Elizabeth Byrne trans. Martin Shaw harmony. Permission to podcast the mus...

 A Psalm of praise becomes a Psalm of lament as the City of Seattle cites and fines our congregation for the humans who have found refuge on our property after relentlessly being swept from public parks and lands. As our friend Rachael Weasley so poignantly sings, “How can our anger give life?” Of the many names for God, right now I need these most of all: God is Warrior Protectrix. God is shelter...

Joy & Justice are the twin children of Jubilee. They go together like (love and marriage?) a horse and carriage… “You can’t have one without the other!” As we seek to be God’s Jubilee people for one another and the world, may we continuously form one another in the ways of joy and of justice. Sermon begins at minute marker 4:12 Psalm 146 Resources “ Ella’s Song ,” written by Bernice Johnson Re...

“I implore you to exercise your power to help a friend (me!) to end this war. It matters to me.” When Sue spoke these words to a room full of Mennonites gathered to learn more about the (forgotten) Korean War near the 70 year anniversary of armistice, which paused the fighting but kept the war alive, Pastor Megan knew she’d been called in. She had been called in to bear witness to Sue’s bold truth...

Join us as Bob Pauw uses stories from Luke and Acts to illuminate stories of the people he has known in his work. He shares his heartfelt conviction that he has been blessed to walk with a living Jesus. Bob is an immigration lawyer who works with the least of these and finds it a blessing to walk with them.  Sermon begins at minute marker 5:44 Luke 4:14-20; Luke 5:1-11; Luke 8:42-48; Luke 23:32-43...

The early Jesus Way community held resources in common and - in that sharing - were able to meet the needs of all. The book of Acts reports that the Holy One daily added to the numbers of this early Jesus Way community “those who were being saved”. Which causes us to wonder: Saved FROM what? And saved TO or FOR what? Sermon begins at minute marker 5:21 Matthew 15.29–39, Acts 2.43–47 Resources A Wo...

The Canaanite woman calls out Jesus for his exclusion and abusive language. He responds by changing his mind, offering her the healing that she seeks for her daughter. Throughout history, it has been the brave souls who make themselves vulnerable by calling out people in power who have changed minds and opened hearts to be more just and loving. How will we respond when we are called out? Who are t...

The Holy Spirit disrupts our plans, and she beautifully disrupted the sermon plan this morning! When honored guests from the Palouse tribe spoke so powerfully to us during our time of welcome and gathering, Pastor Megan knew the sermon had to shift. We heard how the Holy Spirit blesses our diversities, and grants understanding. The Holy Spirit draws us out of our comfort zones and empowers us to a...

Place-based watershed discipleship and the spiritual practice of reverence deepen our experience of kinship with all creation. Pastor Megan shares stories of learning to know mountains, learning to know neighbors and neighborhood, and learning to know our foremothers in the faith. To get more specific: she learns to love the contours of the Olympic Mountain range, the many neighbors who walk along...

Many of us are becoming comfortable with Mothering imagery for God - so long as that imagery is tender and comforting and caring. But what about a Mother who curses, judges and chastises. The feminine of God is as diverse and expansive as the other gendered understandings of the Divine. Deuteronomy's curse text warns the people of God that to not follow God's law will have dire consequen...

The message of Resurrection, remembered in this Easter season, is a message of apocalyptic proportions. The Good News of the community of Love springs to life and begins to spread as Dustin begins to say goodbye. Sermon begins at minute marker 6:03 John 5:25-29; Acts 5:12–16; 2 Corinthians 4:13–15 Hymn: 478, I Come with Joy. Music: American traditional (USA), Southern Harmony, 1854, alt. Text: Bri...

Sarah Augustine, our Just Peace Climate Justice speaker, discusses the uses and failures of Capitalism and calls us to engage in an Indigenous cosmology that prioritizes Community Wellbeing over individuals and profit. She deftly contrasts a world view that demands continued growth and increasing consumption against the basic reality that we exist in a closed system of mutual dependence. Sarah spe...

Pastor Megan inhabits the story found in John's gospel, of Mary Magdalene (Mary, THE Magdala; Mary the Tower) coming to the garden to find an empty tomb. Enter the story with her, listen for two bits of good news, and wonder where YOU are in this story... Sermon begins at minute marker 6:00 John 20.1-18 Resources “ Mary the Tower ” - a sermon by Pastor Megan, drawing on the research of Elizab...

John 3:16 is much loved by many & much detested by many others. This Laetare Sunday, Dustin looks beyond verse 16 to find a way to rejoice it. Sermon begins at minute marker 7:20 Song of Solomon 4.7-16; Psalm 135.1-16; 1 John 4.7-12; John 3.11-17 Resources A Woman’s Lectionary for the Whole Church (Year W): A Multi-Gospel Single-Year Lectionary , Wilda C. Gafney, Church Publishing Incorporated...

We are still in the Garden, beginning to see movement towards the Table. What does this origin story say about gender, and culture, and danger? If we start with Jesus, what do we see about that first curse and the real danger? Join Megan as she discusses the story and the wisdom brought by rabbis through Midrash and learn about the way things are, danger, and First Tears. Sermon begins at minute m...

Join Pastor Megan in a reflection on the story that begins with dirt in a garden. We've heard it so many times, through so many tellings and retellings. What table was set in that garden by a trickster and a very human Eve? Sermon begins at minute marker 4:41 Genesis 3:1-7; Matthew 7:15-20 Image: Photo by Rachel Claire: https://www.pexels.com/photo/table-set-on-lawn-in-forest-4992937/ Hymn: V...