Good Shepherd New York • 1.17.21

[Music] [Music] [Music] good morning church and welcome to good shepherd this morning my name is david gunger i'm one of the pastors here we want to welcome you on this sunday where we celebrate the life and legacy of dr martin luther king jr let's take a moment right now to just pause and breathe in together exhale about twice as long god has brought you here so pour out your heart let it be filled with the peace and wonder of christ i'm going to lead us in this call to worship we worship the god who inhabits our world and indwells our lives we need not to look up to find god we need only to look around within ourselves beyond ourselves into the eyes of the other we need not listen for a distant thunder to find god we need only to listen to the music of life the words of children the questions of the curious the rhythm of a heartbeat we worship the god who inhabits our world and who indwells our lives amen this morning let us sing together may the seat of peace be scattered [Music] o birthing trees whose shade gives us may the seeds of peace be scattered [Music] birthing trees whose shade gives us friends the pain of life i know it well it knows me well the road to peace i know is hell i know [Music] is [Music] is is not lost is not lost all is not lost is not lost [Music] may the seed of peace be scattered [Music] birthing trees whose shade gives us rest may the seeds of peace be scattered birthing trees whose shape gives us [Music] hmm this poem is called to the beloved community in the dream there is no you or i only everything else merging going golden the grains of our being acquiesce the one to the other in the dream we stand when opposing banks above the moon swims in its velvet dark i call out to god but you wave back i swallow my pride wait out to meet him but there you stand a citadel burning with many voices each given to its own private madness each a cell lost within a mass pathology our prisons have grown as tall as centuries the psalms approach only with great difficulty david's joy amidst his despair so much happiness laced with the salt of unhappiness in order to make it last to deepen its savor how strange it is to be this much alive when just yesterday a school friend of mine one who even this late in life still possesses the freakish spiritual intelligence of a child told me that all of her love was long suffering and she could only bear to love that worthy of her suffering the beloved community how fine it is that it occurs to us only fleetingly that we are dreaming while we dream that the dream itself is both a cancer and its cure [Music] people with hope [Music] this is a song for the whole phone people with faith are a lucky kind they'll be the ones with peace of mind this is a song for the faithful [Music] may god hear it song there's a song for the doubtful song for the lost there's a song for the desert bearing but crossed but for those who were strong in spirit maybe they don't need to hear it but still a song for them [Music] a simple song for them nothing can shade a seasoned soul it's all the laws that makes us whole this is a song for the whole fall may god hear it [Music] so [Music] there's a song for the doubtful there's a song for the desert bearing [Music] maybe they don't need to hear it but still a song for them a simple song for them nothing can shade [Music] this is [Music] make us hear it sun make god hear it sun [Music] may god hear it sun psalm 30 1-12 i will exalt you lord for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me lord my god i called to you for help and you healed me you lord brought me up from the realm of the dead you spared me from going down to the pit sing the praises of the lord you his faithful people praise his holy name for his anger lasts only a moment but his favor lasts a lifetime weeping may stay for the night but rejoicing comes in the morning when i felt secure i said i will never be shaken lord when you favored me you made my royal mountain stand firm but when you hid your face i was dismayed to you lord i called to the lord i cried for mercy what is gained if i am silenced if i go down to the pit will the dust praise you will it proclaim your faithfulness hear lord and be merciful to me lord be my help you turned my wailing into dancing you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy that the lord that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent lord my god i will praise you forever glory to the father the son and the holy spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever be thou my vision oh lord of my heart not be all else to me save that thou art [Music] my life riches i heed not nor man's empty praise thou mine inheritance now and always [Music] thou art king of heaven my victory one may i reach heaven's joys through bright heaven son [Music] ruler of all [Music] [Music] ruler of all 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 no sexuality politics nor religion personality nor nationality count forest 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 blow us out into the world to listen and serve and set us ablaze to forgive and reconcile for we are all welcome at the table of god every man woman and child so one man calm in the name of love one man come and go man come here to justify one man to overthrow in the name of love one more in the name of love in the name of love one more in the name of love one man on about dwight fence one man he resist one man washed up on an empty beach one man betrayed with a kiss [Music] one more eminem in the name of love one more in the name of love in the name of love one more in the name of love early morning april 4th shot rings out in the memphis skies [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] there's [Music] silent casualties god grant us peace in these sleepless nights i can't hardly breathe despite brutality i know that we'll be free i know that we'll be free so let the lighting keep it shining let it bake into the darkest all the love tears us to see we'll all be free in these desperate times love will hold us here love will join our hands teach us to have no fear so we lay our head down to wash their feet when we see our sister oh we'll all be free oh yes we'll all be free into the [Music] be free we'll all be free we are free free we'll all be free we are free free we'll all be free we are free we'll all be free we are free [Music] we are free we'll all be free it shining let it break into the darkness all the love dares us to see we'll all be free let it break [Music] will come love shall overcome [Music] love shall overcome [Music] love shall overcome [Music] our shall overcome love shall overcome [Music] let's continue our worship with the generosity liturgy 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 hope on god and not the uncertainty of wealth we desire to be rich in good deeds and 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 well church now is the time in the service where we share grace and peace with each other if you are alone somewhere know that you're not really alone you can send a text message you can share grace and peace with yourself even give yourself a hug or you can share it with the people in your home and the people around you so grace and peace [Music] and now a reading from the gospel of mark chapter 1 verses 4 through 11 and so john the baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins the whole judean countryside and all the people of jerusalem went out to him confessing their sins they were baptized by him in the jordan river john wore clothing made of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist and he ate locusts and wild honey and this was his message after me comes the one more powerful than i the straps of whose sandals i am not worthy to stoop down and untie i baptize you with water but he will baptize you with the holy spirit at that time jesus came from nazareth and galilee and was baptized by john in the jordan just as jesus was coming up out of the water he saw heaven being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice came from heaven you are my son whom i love with you i am well pleased the gospel of our lord prays to you lord jesus christ today is the second sunday of epiphany epiphany means manifestation and it's a season where we ask the important question how is god's love and voice manifested in jesus christ and how is god's love and voice manifested in our lives today one of the key stories of epiphany is from today's gospel reading it's the baptism of jesus we consider this story every year because in it we find a mystery that strikes at the heart of that question how is god's love and voice manifesting in our world in this story jesus experiences something that will anchor his entire life up to his death you could easily argue it's the secret sauce if we could speak of spirituality that way here we get a glimpse into the foundational voice and love that guide christ and we are invited to imitate him in receiving it ourselves but we aren't always ready in fact we often resist that voice we replace it we cover it up with other voices until those other voices stop working or our lives fall apart which brings me to our setting here is a crowd gathered in the desert a wild and enigmatic figure named john who has a flair for guerrilla theater has basically called people to this dramatic wilderness setting so they can experience a new beginning a clean start a radical sense of commitment now what we're witnessing here is a corporate repentance there is a deep urgency among many people who are fed up who are overwhelmed looking for a tangible way to mark out a renewal and to make a drastic pivot right and this threshold of commitment which john calls them to is a ritual called baptism now i'm sure the theologians and the rabbis of his time would have quibbled with john about taking a ritual designed for outsiders and applying it to insiders see baptism was largely a ritual for gentiles to go through when they converted to judaism but john he sees something powerful about this practice for insiders it has deep potential for him i've wondered when that light turned on when did it dawn on him to use a ritual reserved for gentile converts on his own people i think moments are i think of moments in my own experience where i've seen a ritual morph or shift for existential reasons see my family were cradle catholics baptized in everything but faith wasn't very personal for my dad it was ritualistic and somewhat lifeless he would say it didn't impact his day-to-day very much but over time my dad sensed urgency he felt a deep need to repent and to change a light dawned a little baptist church invited him to be re-baptized now my dad who catholics and orthodox and people like them would call an insider for baptism went through that ritual once again as if he were an outsider he went into the waters with grief and repentance and came out of them with newfound joy and a fresh encounter with god's love now theologians might quibble over whether that was appropriate but it was a powerful moment and my dad would say necessary step for him to take in order to move forward in his relationship with god another ritual that i've seen shift with our community is communion historically baptism is the sacrament of initiation it's the entrance right so to speak communion on the other hand is for insiders those who have been baptized intended to renew faith and commitment now there's a clear logic to these sacraments both in order and frequency but a growing movement rooted in mercy and the messiness of people's lives has emerged churches are not now practicing what is called an open table our church here in new york is an early adopter of this practice we acknowledge that it sidesteps the original logic of the sacraments but much like john who sidesteps the logic of baptismal practice for an existential opportunity we've seen this frequent invitation to receive communion right that it's a powerful gesture of trust and a vulnerable reception of god's love for those who look to christ but don't necessarily identify with the faith yet we have seen a growing number of people have their faith nourished by attending church receiving communion and later they often make decisions to be baptized communion has been for them a converting sacrament now these missional impulses they happen when there's often a system failure a widespread drift in the effectiveness and power of something that may have originally been quite beautiful and powerful these adaptations they're provisional right they meet a particular need and in each case they happen when life is at a high stakes moment and people need more of a hospital that can do triage than just a standard checkup now this crowd that gathered around john in the wilderness what were they doing when they were being baptized it wasn't simply a ritual that you go through the motions of it involved personal conviction and engagement these are people who confessed their sins in the water see when things are bad and people sense it right when people are overwhelmed and they're fed up with the religious and political status quo it's most powerful to start the change here in our own hearts to take responsibility for ourselves and the ways that we have shaped been shaped by and are shaping the world we inhabit on this weekend we remember dr king i'm reminded of how he put it quote our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives see dr king knew that to see corporate change to see systemic change we would have to begin here in our soul this is the power of our churches now it isn't lost on me that today we emphasize a practice that affiliates a person with the christian church in a time when self-identifying flag-waving christians just stormed at the capitol building it's enough to make those of us who already affiliate question that affiliation is christianity worth sticking with when it not only seems impotent to deal with the rising heresy of christian nationalism but also aids and abets it some are asking was this a christian insurrection and point us to the evidence participants in droves claimed christian identity there was a wooden cross christian flags christian music blaring on the speakers can you imagine if these were islamic symbols and the exact same thing happened i think this is one of those watershed moments this is a time for christians especially to repent and to take responsibility we could point to some version of them but that is to dodge the source of transformation and love john knows this and so he puts it squarely to the people in an unmistakable gesture no more them excuses no more othering no more scapegoating no john wants them to know and i think would want us to know too that you are them and so he puts them through a ritual reserved for outsiders now why is this so important because at the heart of the ritual is a connection with god the god who is love this is jesus paradigmatic experience as he comes to john to be baptized he has a mystical encounter an audio-visual experience of god's love the heavens are torn apart the only other time we get language of torn in mark's gospel is at the end after jesus is crucified and the temple curtain is torn apart in both cases a perceived barrier is being removed a new possibility is opening up in a chaotic world a world marked by diversity is now being brought to unity and to connect with the unity underneath it all that is the heart of the beloved community that dr king talked about a community that could experience unity in diversity the problem with most unities is that they are false unities they're simply the extension of egos or tribes we think of unity as them becoming like us only then can we know unity we think sometimes we rush to unity as i think we're seeing right now in many calls across the country rushing ahead of contrition rushing ahead of understanding the pain of our enemy rushing ahead without restitution or accountability and when we skip all of these relational aspects of true reconciliation the unity that results is cheap and it's a hollow veneer the voice that tears through the heavens and descends on christ is the same voice that in the face of our chaos uh the same chaos that existed before creation it created a beautiful opening a new reality a bringing of order and beauty and wonder in the creation story right god's voice of love did it then did it with jesus and can do it with each of us that's the point of this story that's the point of baptism see we worship jesus but we are called to imitate jesus as well the bible teaches us that god loves us as god loves christ that same loving voice of jesus baptism that says you are my beloved in whom i find great pleasure it's the same voice that's at the center of our being but other voices cloud it or drown it out jesus experienced those voices immediately after his baptism tempting voices voices that undermine the unconditional love of god and make it conditional if you are the son if you are the son if you are the son in each case jesus resists because he's told and knows that he is a child of god and the backbone of fear and insecurity has been broken for him in baptism i wonder what it would look like for us to receive that voice afresh to know that we are the beloved of god at the depth of our being that's what baptism is about it is re-narrating our lives it is helping us experience that qualitative shift in soul that dr king talked about that helps us live courageously and faithfully in the way of self-sacrificial love today i invite you to consider the power of god's loving voice for this moment i wonder how many of you need to step into the waters of baptism for the first time and cross that threshold of commitment that marks you definitively as the beloved of god i wonder how many of you have been baptized that need to reconnect with the love that's present in those waters to meet the challenges of a moment like this i was told that martin luther the german reformer encouraged people to remember their baptism every time they washed their faces see the truth is we need to remember our baptism constantly so that we can remain loyal to the love that was revealed in christ rather than being swept up by the empires and the tempting voices and the egos that we renounce at our baptism may god's spirit descend upon us freshly in this american moment may we take responsibility and renounce all forms of supremacy and violence and the enabling behaviors and narratives that have allowed these heinous realities not only to survive but to thrive in the american christian church and may god renew our imaginations to express a faith that looks more like jesus and less like our idolatrous visions with a little jesus bow on the top amen and now having reflected on our gospel we take a moment to declare our faith this is the apostles creed it's one of the earliest compressions of the jesus story that we have it's what we anchor ourselves to and tether to in a turbulent and chaotic moment and so whether you bring a lot of faith or doubt just know that we anchor ourselves and tether ourselves to this in solidarity with one another in our journey to god 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 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 having declared our faith we offer our prayers would you join us in the prayers of the people will you join us in prayer these prayers were written by dr martin luther king jr we thank you for your church founded upon your word that challenges us to do more than sing and pray but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depend on us and not upon you help us to realize that humanity was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity keep us we pray in perfect peace help us to walk together pray together sing together and live together until that day when all god's children will rejoice in one common band of humanity and the reign of our lord and of our god lord in your mercy hear our prayer god we thank you for the inspiration of jesus grant that we will love you with all our hearts souls and minds and love our neighbors as we love ourselves even our enemy neighbors and we ask you god in these days of emotional tension when the problems of the world are gigantic in extent and chaotic in detail to be with us in our going out and are coming in in our rising up and in our lying down in our moments of joy and in our moments of sorrow until the day when there shall be no sunset and no dawn lord in your mercy hear our prayer oh god we thank you for the lives of great saints and prophets in the past who have revealed to us that we can stand up amid the problems and difficulties and trials of life and not give in we thank you for our foreparents who've given us something in the midst of the darkness of exploitation and oppression to keep going grant that we will go on with the proper faith and the proper determination of will so that we will be able to make a creative contribution to this world lord in your mercy hear our prayer god give us strength of body to keep walking for freedom god give us strength to remain non-violent even though we may face death god grant that we wage the struggle with dignity and discipline may all who suffer oppression in this world reject the self-defeating method of retaliatory violence and choose the method that seeks to redeem lord in your mercy hear our prayer [Music] and now that we've offered our prayers we take a moment to confess our sins would you join me in an act of holy memory where we look to the weak behind us and we remember something that pricks our conscience a moment where we fell short of love love for god love for neighbor love for ourselves and we own it and take responsibility for it as we consider it and we consider it in the kindness and mercy and patience of god not in the startled horror of one who's been found out by a contemptuous eye no rather we are drawn toward and open up in the presence of god's tender love so would you join me in an act of holy memory and then we'll engage in a corporate confession together as best as you know how remember the week behind you and own a memory of falling short of love as you consider this memory that is coming to the surface of your mind i encourage you to know that you're not alone all of us have had our consciences pricked this week and by the spirit we're being led to these specific memories where we hold them in the tenderness of god's love and we pivot away from them and we repent would you join me in this corporate confession this confession today is written by dr martin luther king jr thou eternal god out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole uniforce has come into being we humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts souls and minds and we have not loved our neighbors as christ loved us we have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by christ we often give in order to receive we love our friends and hate our enemies we go the first mile but dare not travel the second we forgive but dare not forget and so as we look within ourselves we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against you but thou o god have mercy on us forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be give us the intelligence to know your will give us the courage to do your will give us the devotion to love your will in the name and in the spirit of jesus we pray amen and now friends hear the words of assurance in jesus christ that as high as the heavens are above the earth so great is god's love for us as far as the east is from the west so far has god removed our transgressions from us you are loved you are included and you are forgiven in jesus christ amen and now having confessed our sins we take a moment to come to this table which we call holy communion it's the meal that jesus gave us it's one of the most beautiful and powerful sacraments of the church where our faith and our love are renewed and rejuvenated would you join me in this ancient prayer 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 to say thank you at all times and at all places and so right now we pause and we consider the good gifts of our lives and we say thank you we thank you also for the gift of your son who came into the world to show us the new humanity what it means to be human what it means to be loving and who god is in the world we thank you so much for his death and for his resurrection which give us courage and faith to face our own death in the hope of resurrection and our voice and our praise swells up and builds and cries out now with the angels and the archangels who say 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 and so we pray now as we in apartments and homes all around the city around the country and the world hold the bread and the cup that you by the power of your spirit would cause the bread and cup to be for us and to us the body and blood of our lord jesus christ who on the night he was betrayed took bread and cup and blessed them on the night that jesus was betrayed he took bread and after he broke it he gave it to his disciples and he 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 may we ourselves be broken and given for our neighbor and our world amen and likewise jesus took the cup and after the supper 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 than our retaliation and points us toward your love and peace and reconciliation which have the last word amen and now we declare the mystery of faith christ has died christ has risen and christ will come again 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 to take the bread and dip it in the cup and simply say thanks be to god now if you're wondering if this meal is for you as we mentioned in the sermon we practice an open table anyone drawn to the love they see in christ is welcome to receive the bread and the cup as a gesture of your open heart to the love you see there [Music] amen thanks be to god well this has been a wild week but it's also been a beautiful week we had this weekend the opportunity to baptize a child in our community little justice and we wanted to show you a little glimpse into that special [Music] moment [Music] is [Music] not only are we seeing the light of god's love through a sacrament like baptism in our community even during the time of pandemic but we're also continuing to hear the reports of light the homework that i gave you a few weeks ago and we wanted to share a couple of these testimonies these stories of god's light bearing witness to the light during epiphany right now hey we're the westaways and our point of light breaking through this year was the birth of our baby son nico in october of 2020 and also just all the love and happiness and support that we received from our community around his birth thanks so much guys two lights that stood out to me that i carry into the new year i've spent most of my time since last april at my parents place in new jersey a year ago the prospect of spending every minute of the day with my parents like i was back in high school would have seemed very daunting to say the least but actually this time at home has been a really special and memorable time of bonding that wouldn't have been possible without the circumstances we're in and separately while the ease of ordering in was a lifeline in the city the first few months of the pandemic forced me to cook more and demystifying the activity has been a light although a lot of it remains mystified my food leaves me wanting in taste but it's certainly been cleaner and i hope to carry some of the healthier and disciplined aspects of this with me going forward what's so good to hear the stories of people bearing witness to the light they've experienced in a dark year and it's exciting as we face even a difficult week ahead with our inauguration and many of the fears and hopes that come with that for us to come together in prayer for our country one of our trustees kyle westaway has invited all of you to join him in a moment of prayer for our country on inauguration day you can go to our website good shepherd new york dot com and you can find a call to prayer with information for how to connect with that prayer moment in addition to that we'd like to remind you about our christmas offering our christmas offering goes toward three initiatives first of all our benevolence fund second our mercy and justice partnerships and third digital church in 2021. so if you'd like to make a gift to our christmas offering you can go or you can text good shepherd ny to 7790 and then you just select christmas offering in the drop down menu we appreciate your generosity and we're so grateful to continue to offer digital church during the pandemic and we can't wait especially for those of you who live in new york and are regulars in our community to see beautiful faces once again soon enough go in peace receive this benediction go from this place to reap the harvest of god's love go from this place to continue to sow seeds of justice peace and love go from this place to nourish and to be nourished knowing that god is ever a part of our lives amen praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here below praise him above the heavenly host praise father son and holy [Music] [Music] go in peace [Music] is shall overcome love shall overcome love shall overcome love shall overcome we refuse to be each other's enemies others point of view love over is lord shall overcome love shall overcome love shall overcome shall only come oh

Channel: Good Shepherd New York

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Length: 58min 47sec (3527 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021