Seattle Mennonite Church Sermons

Acts tells us that as the community of disciples grew in number, “a dispute arose…” Not shocking for any of us who have ever been part of any human community: As numbers grow, disputes are surely to arise! This story of the early Jesus-following community trying to figure out how to organize themselves in the wake of Jesus’ death and resurrection, as their numbers are growing by the day, offers so...

The disciples on the road to Emmaus didn't recognize Jesus while he was walking with them. But like a flower that knows in its cells how to bloom, they knew in their bodies that to be disciples was to offer hospitality.  They had been at hundreds of tables with Jesus offering welcome to strangers and sinners.  Just like the disciples, we're living in a time of uncertainty, unsure of what...

We gather to celebrate the risen Christ with music, song and story. Children and their families bring their joy and creativity to the Easter story in a mini video-pageant and we conclude our worship with our tradition of belting out the Hallelujah Chorus (well, we hear ourselves singing from a couple years ago - but we belt along at home.) Alleluia! Christ is risen! Series: Narrative Lectionary -...

Jesus is always surprising the crowds around him with his attentions; sometimes offending with his attentions. To whom is Jesus drawn? How often Jesus walks his body to the edge of the crowd and speaks directly to the marginalized or stigmatized one; calling them by name, or asking what they want, or offering them healing of some kind, or going to their home for a shared meal. And the crowds are l...

Jesus keeps on telling stories about wealth and money.  Pastor Amy preaches on the rich man and Lazarus and the way, like the rich man in the parable, we are gatekeepers with wealth and resources.  Unlike the rich man, we still have the opportunity to open the gate instead of stepping past those hustling for crumbs.  [Sermon at 29:10] Scripture: Luke 16.19-31 Permission to podcast the music in thi...

Jesus’ parables contain an “excess of meaning” which makes preaching three of them on a single morning quite the challenge. What is one to do with the excess upon excess upon excess?? Instead of choosing just one sermon of the hundred variations a preacher might preach, Pastor Megan offers a whole series of vignettes, noticings, wonderings, sneak peeks of the sermons that might have been and might...

Summary: Jesus tells the truth about the violence his people were both experiencing and perpetrating. That truth-telling leads to lament: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” And only then, in the wake of truth-telling and collective lament, can people find their way to the imaginativ...

I make plans. I create checklists. Checking boxes on those checklists is one of my greatest joys. And I’m TOAST without my calendar and its checklists. But Luke’s gospel gives us two very familiar stories in a row (Jesus at the home of Martha & Mary, and the parable of the Samaritan that many call ‘good’), and when taken together, a thread emerges. A thread of invitation beyond the plans. Even...

A group has been meeting weekly for the past couple of months, going chapter-by-chapter through "Pursuing God's Will Together" by Ruth Haley Barton, a foundational text for the spiritual discerning we have done as church the past 7+ years. Jennifer Delanty was commissioned by the group to share with our congregation some of what they've been learning, wondering, and practicing...

We’ve got ourselves a BADnews - GOODnews situation with the pair of stories from Luke 7. Jesus is moved by a widow’s suffering to bring healing and a restoration of her wholeness in the community. Yet Jesus also brings healing to the “treasured” slave of a Roman military commander without liberating that slave from slavery. Additionally, Jesus calls that Roman military officer’s description of his...

We worship with Jesus in the field and in the synagogue.  Jesus debates with his fellow Jewish leaders about God's gift of the Sabbath.  The Pharisees and legal experts were trying to fence up the law, protecting it and their community. Jesus argued that the gift of rest and restoration for all of creation should not limit life and wholeness.  Sabbath should not prevent God's people from...

Today's Scripture reflections feature Jesus, a heap of fish, and pondering the BRAVERY of following.  That leads directly into Brenda Salter McNeil's powerful storytelling of clergy in Ferguson in 2014 being asked by the young generation of leaders who'd witnessed a lack of integrity in the church: "Are you coming or not?" It is brave to show up, brave to receive critique,...

Crowds. They can be riotous, violent, insurrectionist mobs, afraid of losing power and hellbent on throwing a prophet off a cliff. Or they can be boisterous, hope-filled, sleeves-rolled-up masses resolved to build a movement for liberation. We meet both kinds in Luke's gospel and in our nation, both past and present. Recalling Jesus' inaugural teaching in his hometown, and honoring the R...

My words are stuck God Do I rage or do I weep? Wrap me in your grace “Haiku prayers” posted by John Stevens in Narrative Lectionary facebook group -- This week's images of white supremacy storming and occupying our Capitol have caused many of us to rage and weep. In short, to grieve. This was supposed to be a sermon about discerning paths, and in many ways it still is. Listen in as Pastor Meg...

Sarah Augustine preached on the story of the boy Jesus in the temple. We connected deeply with Mary, dealing with a shamelessly unapologetic pre-teen son. And then - firmly identifying with his parents - Sarah invited us to see the freedom and unencumbered way of youth as the gift that it can be and - indeed - is . Unsettling as it can be. We are often tempted to dismiss youth as naive, unrealisti...

The Holy Spirit is on the move! The prophets Anna and Simeon are channeled by our own resident prophet Rita Kowats, this first Sunday of Christmas.  The elders of Jerusalem wait, looking for the Spirit, ready to receive the infant Jesus and to declare the salvation of Israel.  We are encouraged by these beloved elders - in scripture and in our midst - to also be God-receivers.  Plus, Pastor Amy si...

This week in worship we continue to explore the rich and fertile darkness of Advent, hearing with Mary the invitation to partner with God in offering a home for God-with-us in her own body.  And  we  experience a pageant like we've never done it before! Our families rose to the challenge of enacting and dramatizing the Christmas story from their own homes, speaking and acting and creating som...

Seeds are germinated and nurtured in the deep dark black of soil. A newly liberated people draws on this rich metaphor in understanding how God's jubilee vision grows in them: from tender shoots of justice and praise, into oaks of righteousness. The prophet Isaiah helps proclaim God's release to these former captives, attending to their bodies and their cities, restoring both dignity and...

Anyone who has gone hiking or walking in the nighttime knows that darkness doesn't lead to not seeing; darkness leads to seeing differently . The prophet Joel writes that God's mothering, raven Spirit will be poured out on all flesh; causing children to prophesy, elders to dream dreams, and young ones to see visions. The nurturing embrace of darkness allows us to see differently so that...

In this worship we begin exploring in the dark.  So much of the time language and culture teachers that all that is good and right an beautiful is full of light and all that is evil and terrible is dark.  And thus that dark is something to fear and avoid.  As we enter Advent with Daniel in the den of lions, we too may feel entombed: the darkening days, the fear of COVID, unknowns in political lead...

The prophet Jeremiah records in a scroll God's words for God's people. The King, cozied up to a warming fire in his winter apartment, takes a penknife to the scrolls, excising and then burning God's words for God's people. But God's words have already been read in the hearing of all God's people; have already been inscribed on their hearts. So when God instructs Jerem...

As I've lived with Isaiah's bizarre, fantastical, and awe-some / terrifying vision, I began to experience it as a musical composition: Introduction - In the year that King Uzziah died... Movement 1 - The Skirts of God Movement 2 - Frankenstein Movement 3 - Hineni Coda - Prayer of the Seraphim: Holy, holy, holy Once through, I played with a musical variation of the whole composition for o...

Jonah is dramatically, laughably angry about God's mercy for the Ninevites, and carries on a stompy, pouty tantrum. Often I laugh at his expense; this week I relate. We also recall that God's mercy for Nineveh follows sincere repentance and reparation of harm on the part of the powerful; and that Jesus centered his life and ministry among those at the pointy end of the State's viole...

 We may be able to identify with the widow of Zarephath who, in a time of a devastating, nation-wide crisis feels ready to die.  In the midst of this certainty that she will not make it through, God provides a companion and the hope that each day she and her household will have just enough to make it.  Pastor Amy invites us to find hope in that idea that, though we will never be completely satisfi...

From the womb of wild nature, Pastor Jonathan reflects on King David, new to kingship and in love with his royal residence.  God too should have a divine place to dwell, David thinks! But God reminds David that the Divine has always dwelt with the people, roamed in the wilderness and been present in and through all things.  Pastor Jonathan reminds us that our indigenous relatives have always under...