Good Shepherd New York • 10.3.21

[Music] [Music] good morning church i'm going to lead us in this call to worship come congregation let us bless the holy one with songs of thanksgiving we retell god's wondrous deeds we love the house in which god dwells and the place where god's glory shines forth proclaim god's name to all the world in the midst of the congregation we praise god's holy name let us sing together this morning one two one [Music] my feet are strong my eyes are clear i cannot see the way from here he knows the way and in your arms you keep me [Music] safe keep on watching [Music] see [Music] [Applause] they protect [Music] you give me rest you give me peace [Music] oh [Music] this tiny ship that carries me it is not yet but it will be [Music] [Music] keep on watching the right [Music] lord tell me [Music] [Music] [Applause] me [Music] [Music] keep on watching [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] the light of god's highway [Music] lord you made a way when there was no way [Music] my darkness [Music] [Music] [Music] take all your burdens [Music] that's when he is at his best if you just have faith he'll do the [Music] [Music] darkness [Music] [Music] lord you brought me [Music] take all your cares [Music] that's when he is [Music] [Music] [Music] me [Music] um [Music] [Music] [Music] but we made [Music] but i can see it good [Music] [Music] lord you brought me [Music] and now a reading from psalm 29 ascribe to the lord you heavenly beings ascribe to the lord glory and strength ascribe to the lord the glory do his name worship the lord and the splendor of his holiness the voice of the lord is over the waters the glory of god thunders the lord thunders over the mighty waters the voice of the lord is powerful the voice of the lord is majestic the voice of the lord breaks the cedars the lord breaks in pieces the cedars of lebanon he makes lebanon leak like a calf syrian like a young wild ox the voice of the lord strikes with flashes of lightning the voice of the lord shakes the desert the lord shakes the desert of kaddish the voice of the lord twists the oaks and strips the forest bare and in his temple all cry glory the lord sits enthroned over the flood the lord is enthroned as king forever the lord gives strength to his people the lord blesses his people with peace glory to the father the son and the holy spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever amen will we ever rise [Music] will we ever rise above the fear can we learn to see the need share humanity i can see another day [Music] as we laid down our weapons open up our hearts love is breaking us [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] as we laid down [Music] [Music] so we can see i can see another day [Music] [Music] broken people we can be [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] as we laid down our weapons [Music] is [Music] all are welcome at the table of god every man woman and child for christ brings peace to all tearing down every hostile wall so that the many may become one one heart one family one new humanity for god who is love and christ who is all and in all show no partiality and make no distinction so neither race nor class gender nor sexuality politics nor religion personality nor nationality count for us or against us the light of christ enlightens all christ the prisoner and the naked christ the hungry and the sick christ the thirsty and the stranger christ the other may god's spirit hover over our chaos our hatred and our indifference descend in our hearts with love and pleasure blows out into the world to listen and serve and set us a blaze to forgive and reconcile for all are welcome at the table of god every man woman and child [Music] isn't it [Music] isn't it a shame [Music] how we break each other's arms [Music] how we take each other's love without thinking anymore forgetting to give back [Music] isn't it [Music] some things take so long how do i explain [Music] but not too many [Music] you see we're all the same [Music] because [Music] their eyes the beauty that is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] isn't it [Music] is [Music] every day [Music] i [Music] so [Music] then [Music] would you join me in this generosity prayer godliness with contentment is great gain we bring nothing into this world and we take nothing out of it we who call jesus lord devote ourselves to resisting greed which plunges the human heart into ruin and pierces it with many griefs we are determined to practice generosity with free hearts fixing our hopes on god and not the uncertainty of wealth we desire to be rich in good deeds willing to share all that we have laying up for ourselves treasure that will not decay but will shine in the age to come may this be true of our community amen and now we invite you to share grace and peace with one another to the people with you now or perhaps send a message to those who are on your mind grace and peace to you [Music] good morning good shepherd welcome to digital church my name is michael redzina and i'm one of the pastors of this congregation it is a delight to have you and at this point in our liturgy we have our gospel reading today our reading is from the gospel according to mark chapter 10 verses 2 through 16. some pharisees came and to test him they asked is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife he answered them what did moses command you they said moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her but jesus said to them because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you but from the beginning of creation god made them male and female for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh so they no longer are two but one flesh therefore what god has joined together let no one separate then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter he said to them whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her and if she divorces her husband and marries another she commits adultery people were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them and the disciples spoke sternly to them but when jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them let the little children come to me do not stop them for it is to such as these that the kingdom of god belongs truly i tell you whoever does not receive the kingdom of god as a little child will never enter it and he took them up in his arms laid his hands on them and blessed them this is the gospel of our lord praise to you lord jesus christ well this week's gospel story has two episodes that are connected by one thread but i would imagine that your mind probably fixated on one and that would be the subject of divorce i love and i hate the lectionary at the same time the lectionary is a series of readings on a three-year cycle that are shared by churches all over the world it gets a church like ours out of that cult of personality in the pulpit where we're stuck hearing the preachers favorite themes and favorite texts all the time it gives us a solidarity with communities beyond ours as well as stretching our preachers and our churches alike to face themes that we might not naturally gravitate toward themes like your mind focused on in the reading today the subject of divorce this can be an extremely triggering text and so i'd like to speak pastorally in what can be a very painful re-rehearsal and experience of a sacred text this text is triggering for those who are divorced or who have experienced the pain of divorce and the reality is that's all of us to some degree most of us if not all of us have been touched by divorce profoundly whether we ourselves have been divorced whether our parents have been divorced or someone we love has been divorced this passage is often listed among the hard sayings of jesus but perhaps painful distressing or agonizing would be more like it as each time this passage is read and heard in a congregation many of us cringe we either feel assaulted by it directly or we fear that others are a parishioner once relayed to a pastor that hearing this passage read in church was like having someone dump garbage all over her it didn't matter that she appeared or looked her best that morning because after hearing these words she felt as if she couldn't get rid of the stain that she felt from her divorce for this reason we might anticipate any number of people listening in a little more attentively today to see how we handle a text like this it's also a triggering text for the queer community this text has been used alongside the so-called clobber texts of the bible to enforce exclusive policy when it comes to queer sexuality and it has often fueled hate and bigotry with a sort of divine signature phrases that are extremely inflammatory and derogatory and to me disgusting like adam and eve not adam and steve are rooted in a particular kind of reading of this text and it's in almost impossible along with those who have felt the pain of divorce to to divorce the text from that painful experience but i'd like to offer this morning a perspective on this text that i think could be very comforting reassuring and also challenging to all of us i want to offer something that is you know not an authoritative reading per se as i myself have been in process on both of these issues over the course of my life and truth is we're all in process in our lives and in our tradition when it comes to our understanding of god and christian ethics but i will say i think the beginning point for re-examining this text is location consider the location of the text jesus has been on his journey toward jerusalem we've noted this the past two weeks but just now that road has taken him beyond the jordan river the place of his baptism and across the boundary between what is known and unknown between what is familiar and unfamiliar in mark's gospel location is so important to understanding the tone and the theme of the story and so it's worth noting how frequently jesus goes beyond prescribed boundaries geographical and social to proclaim god's mercy and god's grace even if that means challenging the status quo and getting pushback or being excluded because of it and is that what jesus is doing here the location cues us to listen in for how jesus will help us understand an established boundary it's also important when we think of this text to consider the difference between divorce then and now they are very different practices with very different cultural underpinnings divorce in the first century was not at all the same so at all the same social phenomena that it is in the 21st century in jesus time there were two schools of thought basically these thought schools of thought in jesus day both believed that a man had a right to put away to dismiss or to divorce his wife one school was fairly strict about the matter they said that a man could only do this if his wife were unfaithful but the other view was a little more lenient and this was that a man could divorce his wife if she displeased him in any number of ways including according to one rabbinic source for quote burning her husband's toast i don't want to overblow that because as amy jo levine has pointed out this is a rare and absurd example of the application of this lenient view of divorce and yet i want to quote it because it still cues us in to the range of options that existed in jesus time supporting the patriarchy and that's the next kind of observation here what we're meant to do i think as we read this text especially from the 21st century is to see the price of patriarchy the consequences for women in terms of divorce were devastating they often faced familial and public disgrace they were potentially severely economically threatened and limited future prospects for her and for her children existed because of it so jesus words were likely intended not to set up a standard by which to judge and stigmatize but rather to protect women who were so much more vulnerable in the law than men i also would like to raise the question adultery against who it's interesting that jesus doesn't say that a man who puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery in general he says that a man commits adultery against his wife wife now that's important because in the ancient world a man if he was unfaithful to his wife he was considered not to have committed adultery against her but against the men involved in the equation whether it was the husband of the woman with whom he committed adultery or it was the father and brothers of the family of his wife the broader cultural value system centered men in these honor and shame equations around divorce but jesus here centers the woman in her honor i want also for you to pay attention to the context of this teaching or the saying of jesus in this context he's not offering a trope he's not offering a paradigm or an axiom which he initiates because it's a topic he thinks is important wants to make sure he gets his word across he's here being trapped jesus is talking about this not because he's initiating a conversation but because he's involved in entrapment they're specifically asking him about a legal interpretation not his theology on marriage or his theology about divorce they want to pin him down with a school of thought so that they can stigmatize him and polarize his audience and perhaps have an opportunity to shame or exclude him and so it's important to understand this jesus by his answer refused the assumptions of the legal debate he doesn't seek to speak to the dominant legal interpretations which we've already sort of covered at this point he doesn't speak to different ways to handle the deuteronomy text but instead he doesn't speak to those dominant legal interpretations which are rooted in patriarchal and asymmetrical power dynamics instead he moves from a legal text to a relational text he moves from law to primal symbol he moves us to genesis and he references this story of the primal first man and first woman and here he emphasizes one thing mutuality in this language that he uses in quotes we have this theme of the two becoming one flesh they are joined they exist in mutuality this is jesus way of resisting the asymmetrical and the patriarchal assumptions of marriage and the divorce law that mirrored those patriarchal conditions he wanted them to know that god's ideal is mutuality not asymmetry he wanted them to re-center a joining together dynamic of marriage rather than the sort of seesaw dynamic reflected in rabbinic interpretation a profound theological insight i think does exist here for us in my opinion marriage is a profound joining together we merge so deeply and our sense of self is adjusted through this union this is the theological frame for why divorce hurts so much it is a tearing apart of not just a marriage but our sense of identity of very intimate experiences this always hurts when divorce even seems like good news to some of us either the divorce feels like a tearing apart and leaves us raw and wounded or there was an existential tearing apart in the relationship that led us to want divorce in the first place but in any case that tearing is painful jesus here is referring to the creation story as it pertains to marriage because he's intending to retrieve even to elevate marriage as something more than a legal obligation he may have wanted to assure men and women that in fact god blesses our marriage and wills for them to flourish and that any time a marriage ends it runs it and ends in ruin it grieves god's heart because it grieves the human heart but in cultures like jesus where the legal policy was largely reduced or largely it reduced the risk of men in marriage and it protected the man's honor jesus is inviting them to go back to the heart of their founding story and to remember the theological basis for the protection of the weak now who knows what that will how the future will look back on us you know it's true that when we look to the bible about its teaching for marriage we get all kinds of examples and models and best practices or common practices that often go unquestioned or uncriticized practices like concubines practices like multiple wives for men practices like if your wife cannot bear children finding another woman who can bear children these were practices and experiences of the so-called heroes of our faith people like abraham and isaac people like david and solomon just to mention a few and yet we still know that there is some nuance in how we interpret these happenings in these instances i wonder how the future will look back on us with our provisions with our interpretations you see there's development both within our own lives when it comes to our understanding of god and ethics and within our tradition who's to say people in the future won't look to this moment our interpretations our ethic understanding of a christian ethic and see it as absurd or as backward or even as sinful as we may look to our fathers in the scriptures themselves but one thing is true that no matter what happens these are there exists the possibility of heroes of faith regardless they may consider as i said our provisions and our interpretations silly or absurd but it won't mean that there aren't within the messy fray of human pain and interpretation the possibility of genuine faith and hope and love that's worth celebrating and retelling and it hits the larger theme of this passage i think that of jesus life in general which is the triumph of mercy in a world of pain whatever we make of this text we should remember this as the scene plays out while jesus is on the way back to jerusalem and his road takes him beyond the usual boundaries so that he may bring the gospel to all people we also know that when jesus gets to jerusalem he himself will be dismissed he'll be put away he'll be taken beyond the boundaries of the city to be hung on a cross in the middle of a garbage heap all of this he endures in order to witness most fully and most profoundly to god's abundant mercy to god's steadfast love and to the amazing grace for all people regardless of their condition what i think we can most certainly say is that whatever jesus is doing here with this teaching he's not creating a new code or standard of purity by which to shame people or make them feel excluded one of the reasons i love our name as a church it's one of the reasons i love the name of this chapel is that it points us to the identity of jesus at his core that of a good shepherd the one who leaves the 99 pristine and safe and secure sheep to go after the one who's in trouble jesus i think with this teaching is pushing back on a patriarchal culture that is limiting the agency and the honor of women and he is instead bringing a balance to it reigniting our imaginations for that original vision in our primal text of genesis one of coming together one of mutuality and love and therefore for us to come to a text like this and if we're divorced feel it as a sign of shame or if we're queer feel it as a signal of rejection is to completely miss the spirit both of jesus and of this teaching i think that it's up to us in our time to recover texts like this and to recover the spirit of christ and to ask for the spirit of god's help to take these very difficult and nuanced and complex texts and to forge a chris christian ethic for our time that's true to the spirit of jesus but also faces the unique challenges of our century and so i pray if you're hurt if you are wounded when it comes to these topics you'd be able to hear that spirit within jesus and you'd be able to reflect on it within the larger context of what he's shown us with his life if you're here and you're wrestling with your own understanding of christian ethics when it comes to divorce or sexuality we simply invite you to the process of the core values of our church that of curiosity that of creativity that of holding the tension of theological and ideological diversity with a commitment to relational unity and the generosity of spirit which it requires to be with each other when there's tension or where there's difference it's not the culture of our church for the congregation to fall in line with every jot and tittle of any of our pastors theology we are theologically diverse and generous and curious and so we pray that god would give us the grace that we need that god would give us discernment as a community to hash out these things together one thing that i am committed to and that we as a community are committed to is this process which jesus models one of mercy one of inclusion and one of protecting the least i told you you probably focused on one of those those themes are one of those episodes but there was a common theme we've given a lot of attention to divorce but he ends with the child children are trying to come to jesus the disciples prohibit the children jesus is indignant it's the one moment in this the episode where he is indignant and he says no don't hold them back let them come to me i think this is one of those other clues to this hidden genius of jesus life which is the least the outsider the one who is normally ignored or pushed to the periphery is centered in jesus economy and jesus says you got to become like the one who's put out the one who's pushed aside the one who's typically rejected if you want to experience what he calls the kingdom of god i know that's been the thing the last couple of weeks but we can't avoid it because it's jesus and it's jesus teaching and so i ask you this morning who is lost who is least who is on the margins or excluded where you can show the mercy and the inclusion of christ this week maybe you yourself are feeling the stain of rejection you're feeling the the sting of being looked to with disdain or with disgust and i hope that you have a vision through this teaching and through this story of jesus the good shepherd opening his arms to you bringing you in to protect you to comfort you and to make sure that you're on the solid ground of divine love may god help us in this very hurtful and painful world to find and to embody god's mercy amen and now with that reflection on the gospel we take a moment to declare our faith this is the apostle's creed would you join me in this we believe in god the father almighty creator of heaven and earth we believe in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived by the power of the holy spirit born of the virgin mary suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended to the dead on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of god he will come again to judge the living and the dead we believe in the holy spirit the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen and now friends that we've declared our faith we pray our prayers these are the prayers of the people would you join us as we pray would you join us in the prayers of the people we pray for the church around the world for every community of faith large and small new and old we pray for pastors priests and clergy around the world who are exhausted by the constant change as they pastor through a pandemic we pray for parishioners who are isolated and lonely because they're not able to gather in person with their communities of faith we pray that the church will rise to meet the needs of this world with bravery and sacrificial love that our church and all churches will open our doors wider and wider and our hearts wider and wider to all people who are suffering who are grieving who are in need lord in your mercy hear our prayer we pray for the world and all its inhabitants we thank you for the diversity and beauty that we see in our fellow humans and the diversity and beauty that we see in the created world please help us to be good stewards of the resources of this world bringing about a healthier and safety safer world for our children and our grandchildren and for every generation to come lord in your mercy hear our prayer [Music] we hold in our hearts and our prayers all who are suffering in body or spirit with sickness or grief or fear or loneliness for each among us struggling under the weight of this difficult season we ask that you would give us the wisdom and the courage to reach out in big and little ways to ease the burdens of our neighbors and loved ones who are in pain [Music] lord in your mercy hear our prayer [Music] we pray for those who are no longer with us and for anyone who is grieving the loss of a loved one whether the loss is recent or one that has cast a shadow across the years or even the decades for all who sit around a table and long to see the beloved one who is not there we pray for comfort and care we believe you are a great healer we believe in the supernatural power of prayer and in the transformative work of the spirit and it is with open hands that we lay these prayers before you today a loving god amen lord in your mercy hear our prayer [Music] and now having prayed our prayers we make space for confession this is a weekly practice in our liturgy that gets us into the habit into the cadence of taking responsibility for the ways that we fall short of love and that's the essence of sin sin isn't just breaking some arbitrary divine law it's cutting against the grain of our human flourishing by doing things or leaving things undone that hurt ourselves and our neighbor and therefore god and so we invite you into an act of holy memory to consider the weak behind you and to ask for god's help to hone in on a memory that matters so that you can feel yourself taking responsibility moving away from it and reimagining an alternative future so together let's act in this holy memory um with god's help and with god's mercy it's god's kindness the bible teaches that leads to change and so any shame or any you know overwhelming sense of guilt or any other barrier that would keep you from honest assessment is not from god and it's not helpful for your own transformation and so let us lean into god's mercy and kindness as we remember perhaps as you breathe in while you remember you can remember god's kindness and as you exhale simply let go of the things that keep you from honest assessment and with these memories in our minds and in our hearts know that you're not alone and would you join me in an act of solidarity with one another and with our broken world in an act of confession join me in this most merciful god we confess that we've sinned against you in thought word and deed by what we've done and by what we've left undone we've not loved you with our whole heart we've not loved our neighbors as ourselves we're truly sorry and we humbly repent for the sake of your son jesus christ have mercy on us and forgive us that we would delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your name amen and now friends hear the good news of the gospel of jesus christ that as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is god's love toward you as far as the east is from the west so far has god removed our transgressions from us you are loved and you are welcomed and you are included and forgiven in jesus christ amen and now having confessed our sins we take a moment to begin with gratitude as we come to the table to the meal that jesus gave us which we call holy communion and i ask that you join me in this ancient prayer of thanksgiving the lord is here his spirit is with us lift up your hearts we lift them up to the lord let us give thanks to the lord our god it is right to give thanks and praise god it is good and beautiful at all times in all places to say thank you it is a joyous thing as we remember the good gifts of our lives and especially as a community around this table we remember the good gift of jesus christ the one who came to heal us from our sin to rescue us from death who showed us the true humanity through his life modeled for us genuine love through his care not only for his disciples but for all that he encountered from town to town when he stretched out his hands on the hard wood of the cross he showed us and demonstrated divine love in the face of the worst evil and power and corruption this world can offer and through his resurrection he gives us the hope of healing and salvation and so we find ourselves welling up with praise and thanksgiving and gratitude and our voices rising to join the voices of the angels and archangels of isaiah's vision as they cry out together holy holy holy lord god of power and might heaven and earth are filled with your glory hosanna in the highest blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord hosanna in the highest amen on the night that jesus was betrayed he took bread and after he broke it he gave it to his disciples and blessed it and said this is my body given for you do this in remembrance of me and so we welcome you risen christ we thank you for this body broken and given grace us as we receive the same that we might not only receive this love but offer it to our neighbor amen likewise jesus took the cup and after he blessed it he gave it to his disciples and he said this cup is the cup of a new covenant in my blood shed for the forgiveness of sins do this in remembrance of me and so we welcome you risen christ we thank you for this cup which speaks a better word than our violence and our aggression and our competitive aims toward greatness instead we receive the reconciliation the peace and the forgiveness this cup points us toward grace us we pray with that spirit and with that sensibility amen and now friends we ask and pray together for god's spirit to bless the elements that are in front of us would you join me in this prayer we pray that by the power of god's spirit according to god's word that these gifts of bread and cup would become to us and for us the body and blood of our lord jesus christ amen and our friends would you join me in praying as the lord taught us to pray our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen and now we declare the mystery of faith christ has died christ is risen and christ will come again and these are god's holy gifts for god's holy people jesus christ is holy jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father amen and now friends we invite you to receive holy communion our practice is an open table which simply means any drawn to the love you see in christ are welcome to receive the bread and the cup let this be a gesture of your open heart toward the love you find there and also our practice is to take the bread and dip it in the cup and simply say thanks be to god let us celebrate holy communion together thanks be to god thank you so much for joining us once again digital church good shepherd new york we want to share with you continually about ways that you can be connected if you live in new york we have groups coming up right now we have gone through a series of commitments and deep commitments based on the conditions of the pandemic and so we want to encourage you if you haven't volunteered to facilitate but you feel a desire to do so that you reach out to us and let us know right now we have one group ready to go and we're looking for other options as well in addition to that we have events coming up like apple picking we have some service opportunities through a volunteer day with the soup kitchen over at holy apostles in chelsea and there are opportunities to learn and to be shaped in your own spiritual formation we have a bible study or a book study rather that starting today here led by jamie tan and kindy rosina on the making of biblical womanhood really an interesting and insightful study and then we also are going to be resuming wednesday nights this week starting october 6th 7 p.m here in the chapel we invite you to come and to take part in that contemplative space where you get to engage in a contemplative practice in community and then debrief it in community as well we want to continue to offer prayers so if you have any prayer needs please let us know we're praying for you and for those of you who are beyond new york and continue to tune in we're grateful for your engagement and for your kind words of encouragement and feedback and uh we're still praying and navigating about how we get our arms around um this sort of larger community that has formed we do want you to know that if you're looking for a digital group we continue to have two groups that are meeting digitally that open their doors to you so to speak for you to be connected they've been on amazing journeys themselves and uh and we continue to be open to your feedback and to your ideas so let us know and we'll try to figure this stuff out together uh with that receive this benediction we are being sanctified healed and made whole by god's love now go forth out into god's world to be a healer and one who brings peace and hope to others know always that god's spirit is with you amen praise god from whom all blessings flow praise god all creatures here below praise god above you heavenly host praise father sun and [Music] holy ghost [Music] go in peace [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] uh is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] huh hey [Music] hey [Music] him up [Music] you

Channel: Good Shepherd New York

Views: 978

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: VA1NfUywo_c

Length: 64min 16sec (3856 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021