Seattle Mennonite Church Sermons SMC preachers

Creation itself, the morning stars and divine beings and whatnot – they were celebrating the foundations of the world itself before humans were even a thing. God and nature itself celebrated and called things good before human beings were even here. There’s a bigger picture here that requires removing ourselves from the center of our small, individual universes, and calls us to listen. So this sermon is about the work, challenge, and delight of listening to creation and to o...

Cultures and traditions - including religions - all have multiple creation stories. Today we hear one from our scriptures told in Genesis, and our sermon shares another one - in the form of the children’s book “Big Momma Makes the World” by Phyllis Root.Sermon begins at minute marker 8:32Genesis 1:1-2:4aResourcesImage: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/big-momma-makes-the-world_phyllis-root/780964/#edition=3554170&idiq=4077937 Big Momma Makes the World by Phyllis RootHymn: Voices Togeth...

Paul binds the physical body with resurrection, a holistic change from life as we have structured and understood it to that which is eternal as Jesus' life, death and resurrection gifted us. Our faith is intricately tied to a belief in the unbelievable while living and loving as Jesus did, attending to the needs of bodies in the here and now. Bodies matter now and in a future we can not know or understand - for now. Sermon begins at minute marker 6:03I Corinthians 15:1-26, 51-57ResourcesBelie...

There is one church for every prisoner in Washington State. Chris Hoke from One Parish One Prisoner brings reflections on the challenges and blessings of working with churches and prisoners.Sermon begins at minute marker 4:16John 11:33-44ResourcesOne Parish One PrisonerImage: Christ standing on the gates of hellHymn: Voices Together, 348 Come Ye Faithful Raise the Strain, Text: John of Damascus, "First Ode of Canon for the Sunday after Easter," 8th c.; trans. John Mason Neale (England), ...

Relationships are a primary nourishment and fuel for a transformed community. Paul wrote letters only AFTER he engaged in relationship making. His work was able to flourish because he seeded intentional relationships with people that developed trust. How might we choose to nourish relationships in our lives, with our neighbors, with our community? How might we use Paul as an example to develop good trust in our relationships?Sermon begins at minute marker 4:28Acts 18:1-8Imag...

Just as the Jewish community at Thessalonica was disrupted by the arrival and teachings of Paul and Silas, so, too, are we disrupted by things we often don’t feel prepared for. What does it mean to look disruption in the eye and experience it as an opening for Jesus to enter our lives anew?Sermon begins at 5:03Acts 17:1-9Hymn: Voices Together, 553, How Many Times We Start Again. Text: Thomas H. Troeger (USA), © 2009 Oxford University Press. Music: Scottish traditional, The Scottish Mins...