Seattle Mennonite Church Sermons

Paul’s letter to the Philippians ends with words that are inspired, timeless and beneficial to everyone. In this reflection Janet Berg invites us into a journey of literal scripture reading using her own family as an example.

Preacher: Janet Berg

Philippians 4.1-9

Resources:

• pdf of Janet's sermon
• Image: by Tima Miroshnichenko on pexels

A Psalm that is an acrostic poem (each line begins with each of the 22 Hebrew letters, in alphabetical order) was surely written by a poet, a writer, a creative someone engaging in a writing exercise. And therefore: paradox belongs. Poetry is not systematic theology, nor is prayer. So the Psalmist can implore God to remember and to forget in the same breath. And I can assert with Octavia Butler that “God is change” in one breath, and in the next breath sing with Shirley Erena Murray “God always faithful, you do not change.” All of our prayers are welcome to God, including the paradoxical ones!

Preacher: Megan Ramer

Psalm 25

Resources:

• Octavia Butler, from Parable of the Sower: “All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth is Change. God is Change.”
• “God of the Bible,” text by Shirley Erena Murray (Aotearoa New Zealand), © 1996 Hope Publishing Company (420 in our hymnal, Voices Together).  🎶listen to a recording here
• image: https://basicsofthebible.org/projects/psalm25/ 

Jesus tells a story about day-laborers; a story in which day-laborers all receive a living wage and return home with both dignity and provision for the thriving of their families and communities. And Jesus says this is what God’s kin-dom is like. This is good news.

 Matthew 20: 1-16

Series: Fall

Sermon: Megan Ramer

Resources:

• “Seattle Hilton workers end strike after ‘tremendous wins’ in contract,” by Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, The Seattle Times, September 11, 2026.
• “WA ICE arrests reach new high, just-released data shows,” by Nina Shapiro, The Seattle Times, August 27, 2026.
• image: Photo by Javad Esmaeili on Unsplash

Joseph and his brothers are at an inflection point. Their father has died — maybe their only glue given the immense harm and hurt between them — and now they stand at a threshold, about to cross over into the rest of their lives. There was a “before,” and now begins an “after.” What comes next for them? Most of us have stood at similar monumental thresholds, having experienced harm and brokenness in our families or communities, faced with a similar question in our grief: “Now what?” Joseph’s choices shouldn’t be precisely prescriptive for our own, but the story is powerful and resonant. It is a story to hold in one’s heart as we face the sheer impossibilities of our own lives.

Genesis 50: 15-21

image: detail from art created by Dave Huth, in the The Peace Table: A Storybook Bible, Herald Press and Brethren Press (2023), 46-47.

What if everything really comes down to love? What if the only thing we are meant to do is to love, then love again, then love some more? Can it actually be that simple? (Albeit, not necessarily easy!) We aren’t meant to love in the precise way that Dolly or Wendell loved, and it isn’t ours to have the same size or scope or shape of impact of such public giants. But perhaps we could muster the boldness of the Psalmist and exhort God to show us the way(s) that we are meant to love, then love again, then love some more. 

Scripture: Psalm 119: 33-40

Resources:

• Romans 13.8-14 — excerpt: “Don’t be in debt to anyone, except for the obligation to love each other. Whoever loves another person has fulfilled the Law. The commandments…are all summed up in one word: You must love your neighbor as yourself. Love doesn’t do anything wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is what fulfills the Law.”
• Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, and article “How Dolly Parton helped the world - from children's books to supporting Covid vaccine,” by Tiffany Wertheimer, BBC, August 26, 2026.
• Wendell Berry, and a couple of his most well known and beloved poems: “The Peace of Wild Things” (audio recording of Berry reading his own poem), and “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” (featuring, among other wise and beautiful nuggets, the prophetic imperative to “Plant sequoias.” Which our friend Rachael Weasley turned into this beautiful song.)
• image: photos of Wendell and Dolly in their younger years!

The kingdom of God - it should first be said - is NOT a kingdom. Jesus makes that pretty clear with his many dozens of “kingdom” parables eschewing crowns and rulers for seeds and bread. It was always a cheeky and politically provocative move for Jesus to use the language of “kingdom.” Some days we might lean into the subversiveness of cheeky kingly language, and some days (like today’s sermon) we decide to make plain that we’re talking about a KIN-dom of God, in which all our relations (all creation!) live in beloved kinship communities of justice, peace, interdependence, flourishing, and liberating love. The KIN-dom of God is like… a library, a quilt, watercolor paints or a drop of red dye, household dust and/or stardust, a jazz ensemble or perhaps more rightly a festival of jazz ensembles. And it is alive and within us now. We must imagine it to create it, and we need ALL the imaginations contributing to the collective collage that can only ever sniff at the wild and wooly and vastly all-encompassing dream of God.

Series: A Call to Christian Discipleship Amidst a Culture of Christian Nationalism

Scripture: Matthew 13.31-33

Resources:

• A Call to Christian Discipleship Amidst a Culture of Christian Nationalism, a resolution passed by the delegates to Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference (PNMC) in 2025
• Companion Worship Resource, created by a team from PNMC to accompany the 2025 resolution
• “The Kin-dom of Christ,” Melissa Florer-Bixler, Sojourners, November 20, 2018.
• “Freely Lent,” by Margaret Kearney, The Christian Century, October 20, 2021.
• “The Quilt We Make Together,” a poem written by Dwight J. Friesen following the 2026 Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference (PNMC) Annual Meeting, published in the PNMC e-Bulletin, July 20, 2026.
• Images: Quilt photo and Library photo by Megan Ramer; Jazz Ensemble photo by Jens Thekkeveettil on Unsplash; Stardust photo (detail) by David Babayan on Unsplash.

Jesus uses a parable about wheat and weeds to talk about good, evil, and the coming reign of God. But who is wheat, and who is weed, and how are we to tell the difference? In any case, God seems to be into farming for the long-term.

Preacher: Pam Russell

Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43

Resources:

• “Foreward” by David R. Swartz, to Radicals & Reformers: A Survey of Global Anabaptist History, Troy Osborne, Herald Press, Harrisonburg, VA, 2024.
• Image: by Mark Stebnicki on Pexels

Are we the soil, the seed or the sower? Traditional teachings of this parable often cast people as the soil and Christ as the seed. What if we are being called to be sowers? Extravagant sowers who do not need to be concerned with the quality of the soil. Join Beth Miller Kraybill as she reflects on how this parable relates to her calling.

Sermon begins at minute marker 3:52

Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23

Image by Dr Photographer on pexels

Join us as Tyler, Beth, Melissa, Ken and Deren share what happened at the annual PNMC meeting in Albany, Oregon. There was humor, financial reports, connections between generations and with Mennonites we only see once a year or so. There were workshops and inspiring services, shared meals and service.

Scripture:  Luke 6.17-31

Resources:

• A Call to Christian Discipleship Amidst a Culture of Christian Nationalism, a resolution passed by the delegates to Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference (PNMC) in 2025
• Companion Worship Resource, created by a team from PNMC to accompany the 2025 resolution
• Image: Melissa Kelly

Jesus says we shouldn’t store up earthly treasures. In the same breath, Jesus instructs us to store up heavenly treasures, and some of those heavenly treasures are also defiantly earthly. So go ahead and get yourselves the best treasures that earth and heaven can offer: treasures that may be truly groan-worthy, treasures that redistribute, treasures that are tended well and freely shared.

Sermon begins at minute marker 1:42

Scripture: Matthew 6.19-21

Resources:

• A Call to Christian Discipleship Amidst a Culture of Christian Nationalism, a resolution passed by the delegates to Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference (PNMC) in 2025
• Companion Worship Resource, created by a team from PNMC to accompany the 2025 resolution
• The House in the Cerulean Sea, by TJ Klune
• Stewardship “rust and moth” reflection, by Clara Berg
• Image: Photo by Pastor Megan, church courtyard, May 2026.