Good Shepherd New York • 1.24.21

[Music] [Music] [Music] good morning good shepherd welcome to church please join me in this call to worship gather this day in silence and hope we wait for god's word for us let your hearts and spirits be open god is our strength and our salvation wait patiently for the lord with willing hearts and spirits we wait for the lord amen [Music] [Music] let our rejoicing rise i the [Music] [Music] a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us singing a song full of the hope that the presence has brought us facing the rising sun of our new day let us march on till victories [Music] that hope unborn feet [Music] that the tears have been watered [Music] is tears thou who has brought us thus far on the way thou who has [Music] [Applause] [Music] stray from the places our god where we met [Music] trunk with the wine of the world beneath my hand may we forever stand true to our god true to our native land how sweet the sound that saved the rich like [Music] me i was lost but now i have found was blind [Music] twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears did their grace appear the hour i first [Music] i have already already come twas grace has brought me saved us far and grace will lead me home when we've been there ten thousand years bright shines as the sun we've known last days to sing god's praise then when we [Music] first we first your grace and words has brought me through [Music] i'm living this moment because of you [Music] i want to thank you and praise you too your grace and mercy has brought me through your grace and mercy has brought me through and now we're reading from psalms 62 5-12 yes my soul find rest in god my hope comes from him truly he is my rock and my salvation he is my fortress i will not be shaken my salvation and my honor depend on god he is my mighty rock my refuge trust in him at all times you people pour out your hearts to him for god is our refuge surely the low born are but a breath the highborn are but a lie if weighed on a balance they are nothing together they are only a breath do not trust in extortion or put vain hope in stolen goods though your riches increase do not set your heart on them one thing god has spoken two things i have heard power belongs to you god and with you lord is unfailing love and your reward everyone according to what they have done glory to the father the son and the holy spirit as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever amen [Music] la in my heart and my heart in my heart in my heart [Music] thou foreign exalted far above all [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] in my heart [Music] it burns for you in my heart burns for you in my heart [Music] is [Applause] [Music] to jesus i surrender all to him i freely give and i will never [Music] i surrender i surrendered my [Music] i surrender or i surrender [Music] is [Music] oh 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 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 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 all are welcome at the table of god every man woman and child [Music] brother here we are again standing in the darkness without the light we can't see one another [Music] sister come and take my hand teach me till i understand we weren't made for ourselves but each other got to live for more because the world keeps us [Music] becomes violence i'm drowning in the silence sliding back to certainty and in difference i wanna hear the song of peace would you sing it over can you help me to speak [Music] [Applause] because [Music] spinning around spinning around can we ever learn to love each other each other [Music] [Applause] world [Music] each other can we love each other each other spinning around [Music] [Applause] yeah the world keeps spinning around [Music] and now join me in saying our 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 amen and now it's time to share grace and peace with each other um share it with the people you're with people in your life who are not with you text someone reach out and say grace and peace grace and peace to you [Music] and now a reading from the gospel of mark chapter 1 verses 14 through 18. after john was put in prison jesus went into galilee proclaiming the good news of god the time has come he said the kingdom of god has come near repent and believe the good news as jesus walked beside the sea of galilee he saw simon and his brother andrew casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen come follow me he said and i will send you out to fish for people at once they left their nets and followed him the gospel of our lord praise to you lord jesus christ good morning my name is michael redzin i'm one of the pastors of good shepherd new york and now that we've read our gospel text we take a moment to reflect on that text and part of reflecting is paying attention showing up and so right now i invite you into a moment or a practice i should say of showing up as best as you know how bring your authentic self to this moment whatever that may be maybe it's a lot of faith or doubt maybe it's a lot of joy or sorrow could be clarity or confusion just whatever it is bring your authentic self and let's open ourselves to the possibility that god can take this story and connect it to ours in a way that transforms us in the way of love so right now as best as you know how a quiet moment to open up god of love transform us in the way of love through the story we pray amen well mark is setting up a pattern for us he's kind of a tease he will grease the wheels for giant expectations by using prophetic and apocalyptic language only to let it fizzle into normalcy once again but each time this happens mark is showing us that the massive inbreaking of a new state of affairs for the world it takes place one ordinary moment at a time the larger than life transformation that god is enacting can only happen if our relationship with the everyday mundane stuff of life is reoriented this story of jesus calling the first disciples is like that we've just had this apocalyptic and prophetic story of jesus in the desert where time seems to slow down jesus is baptized by his forerunner john the heavens are torn open a divine voice pierces his ears god's spirit descends on him like a dove it may as well be the end of the world and then the next thing we know he is strolling along the seaside striking up conversations with fishermen now as we spend quite a bit of time in the gospel of mark this year i hope that we can let the gospel reorient us like that i hope we can go on the ride so to speak that we can let it sweep us up above the clouds to see the dazzling new realities the powerful symbols of god's activity and then descend once again to the ordinary world with new eyes to see and to pay attention life has the same cadence i believe i think of cultural moments that seem larger than life we've just experienced three the turning of a new year a deeply troubling and symbolic attack on the capital and the inauguration of a new president of the united states each moment is supercharged with meaning and expectation and often draws out of us a visceral reaction but then the next day comes it's time to get these kids ready for school it's time to do the laundry or order the groceries it's time to get that report finished or to make the phone call to a family member life goes on the world keeps spinning and jesus approaches two fishermen in this world that continues to spin after his baptism where it seemed the world stopped on its axis and he sees them casting nets into the sea and he makes an invitation he says come follow me and i'll make you fishers of people now let me point out a few things first this feels abrupt if a total rando walks into your office at your hedge fund and says hey you come follow me i'll change your job description from a manipulator of markets to a manipulator of people you'd have what i like to call a double what reaction first what follow you who are you i don't know you and would someone please call security second what a manipulator of markets are you judging me right now are you from the sec what are you talking about and by the way you're saying this like it's a good thing right manipulator of people doesn't exactly sound like a good thing to me now this story may feel abrupt like a rando walking up to a stranger asking her to make a radical decision but this is again how mark speeds up and slows down time he folds the accordion of time so to speak so that we only see a few bullet points but if you were to stretch it out you'd find tons of context and filler it would be like someone saying michael was walking around his dallas neighborhood on a winter day and felt called to move to new york he sold his cars and two-thirds of his possessions and moved to tribeca now all those statements are true but so much happened in between no see jesus got to know them first this didn't all happen in a day there was time for a sense of attachment and eagerness to build in the disciples before they left their nets to follow him second the image that jesus uses here fissures of people it's seemingly drawn out of thin air as a sort of casual analogy as he watches or puts in motion what he watches peter and andrew casting their nets it's one of the most misunderstood images in christian history i've heard this phrase fissures of people as an evangelistic invitational text it was used kind of like this if you maybe convinced a child growing up in church to become a christian well that was like catching a little fish in a pond that maybe you stalked yourself if you were able to convince someone out there who was really bad to become a christian well that was like the equivalent of catching a great white from the sea it was seen as a positive metaphor at least from the perspective of the one doing the fishing but take a look at this image and i want you to sit with it for a minute how happy do these fish seem here we were just told that jesus came proclaiming good news the disciples are so compelled by the goodness of this news and the gravitas of jesus that they leave everything to follow him if you asked me to create a metaphor for the story so far roping in fish against their will to their eventual death and sale isn't exactly the first metaphor that would come to mind but jesus uses it here why he's drawing on a great prophetic image remember what prophets do they don't forecast who will win the next election to pander to their base they are truth tellers in a corrupt world they are visionaries in a world turned blind they have a special sensitivity to the happenings of injustice and also they have a fierce desire to see that wrong put right they shake things up they rock the boat they rarely mince words they are artistic provocateurs the prophet jeremiah is faced with a people who say they worship god they would be called today good christians but they were corrupt they didn't really worship the god of love they didn't make that god the centerpiece the north star of their actual lives instead they made other things more important they took good things and made them ultimate that's what the prophets called idolatry and when that happens there is always collateral damage why because when something rises to ultimate importance you will do whatever it takes to secure it or protect it this always meant bad news especially for the poor and vulnerable in society jeremiah sees it and doesn't like it not only does he see that it exists but he sees that it's spreading out beyond their land out there out of control threatening every nook and cranny so he takes on the divine voice in chapter 16 verse 16. he tells us how god is going to respond behold i will send for many fishers says the lord and they shall fish for them and after i will send many hunters and they shall hunt for them on every mountain from every hill and out of the holes of the rocks see this is an image of confrontation naming that something is off something is corrupt it's an image of illumination bringing something into the light to be seen that wants to be out there hidden in the shadows people say well that's a bummer i thought this was an image of salvation and here we are being told it's an image of judgment but that's to miss the point entirely in the bible especially in the new testament judgment and salvation are seen as the same thing it's so important i can't emphasize this enough in the bible especially in the new testament judgment and salvation are often seen as the same thing judgment is seen as an act of purification hence the frequent use of images like water and fire to speak of it the invitation is a compelling confrontation it points out barriers that get in the way of love this happens with the disciples jesus has good news on his lips good news of a kingdom that will heal the lame give sight to the blind set the prisoner free set the poor on new ground who wouldn't want to be a part of a campaign like that but immediately jesus will begin to take the disciples on a journey of inner confrontation what is in the way of each of them for each of them to see this beautiful liberating and reconciling vision become a reality painful lessons await the light of judgment with truth will shine on their corruption from time to time the cost of their commitment will come knocking and they won't only ignore it but they'll go running but when they're found and restored they take a step of growth jesus in becoming a fisher of his disciples confronts yes illuminates tough stuff yes but it has a purifying effect the dross of their lives melts away little by little so that the precious metal underneath can shine forth paul uses a different metaphor to make the same point he says in first corinthians by the grace god has given me i laid a foundation as a wise builder and someone else is building on it but each one should build with care for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid which is jesus christ if anyone builds on this foundation using gold silver costly stones wood hay or straw their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light it will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each person's work if what has been built survives the builder will receive a reward if it is burned up the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved even though as one escaping through the flames see the judgment and salvation are joined at the hip we all want salvation but are we willing to undergo the purifying the melting away of all that keeps us from love as disciples of jesus we are called to invite others into that journey because we're going through it ourselves it's a good word for we who are shaped by what some have called slacktivism thinking that because we have or like a vision of something that's just or something that's true or because we retweet it or give it prominence in our insta stories that we've done our part it's funny that the more intense and symbolic the moment like we've just been through becomes the more tempting it is to do but this image of being fishers of people is a warning away from virtue signaling and instead to be about it on the ground to keep i want you to keep retweeting the mlk quotes but make sure that you're purifying yourself of the pride and the supremacy that makes racial injustice possible keep reposting the pithy stats and the science around climate change but make sure that you're taking steps down the difficult path of conservation and taking stock of your own personal commitments on the matter keep posting those bernie memes and well well actually i don't have a butt here just keep posting them i love those things but we get the point right right the vision of the good and the new world that jesus paints for us it breaks into our new world into our world one mundane decision at a time with all the ups and downs pains and joys ambiguities and breakthroughs that come with it can we transition from vision to reality mark transitions from jesus apocalyptic experience of god's love in the waters of baptism to an invitation for fishermen to follow him love isn't left in the clouds or in our hearts it's meant to get to work as we read in first john 3 verse 18 dear children let us not love with words or speech but with accent actions and in truth god's love has broken through but it will have to melt away all of the violence the idolatry the greed the prideful supremacies the insecurities the fear that binds and the deals that blind there's a cleansing a purification that needs to take place and it happens one moment at a time this isn't quick for jesus or the disciples the story that mark tells will be of how jesus becomes a fisher of his disciples they are drawn up face to face but the one in whom we see god's love and in whom we see and know god's wisdom they will love it and hate it they will get it and then forget it commit and then back out it's a journey of three steps forward and two steps back until the end where mark will leave us hanging wondering how do we join in may god give us courage to be purified by god's love to show god's love may god give us that cooperating spirit we see in the disciples who leave their nets to follow him may god keep us from the sanctimony that follows those decisions of resolve knowing that we will stumble and fall that we will get caught eating crow ourselves from time to time may god give us the encouragement to know that all the trying and failing starting and stopping and starting again they are the labor pains not only of our own new birth but the birth of the new world that jesus called the kingdom of god amen and now that we have reflected on our gospel we take a moment to say the apostles 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 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 that we've declared our faith we take a moment to lift our hearts in prayer for our world for our neighbors for ourselves let's pray the prayers of the people join us in the prayers of the people cosmic light our prayers rise before you with expectancy and hope in this time of confusion help us to live by faith and not sight in this moment of uncertainty help us to hear to recognize and to follow your voice in this time of darkness send your divine light to illuminate our steps lord in your mercy hear our prayer giver of life we pray for those who feel crushed by the often harsh realities of life on earth we pray for those in need of food shelter and clothing that help would arrive soon we pray for those who need your healing touch that their pain would soon subside we pray for those whose remaining time on earth is short that you would provide presence and provision for their journey home to you lord in your mercy hear our prayer flame of love we ask for healing where there have been wounds for bridges where there have been walls for reconciliation where there has been estrangement and for justice where inequality has reigned unchallenged god we pray for the land on which i now stand we pray for the descendants of the muncie tribe from which it was stolen that they would prosper and that sufficient restitution would be made for their great great loss god made those of us who inhabit this place be mindful that we care for all the creatures the plant life and the waters around us help us to deepen our respect for this fragile earth our island home lord in your mercy hear our prayers as a new administration assumes power in america we pray also for our leaders for president joe biden for vice president kamala harris for the cabinet and agency heads and all federal state and local leaders oh god may they be committed to justice and to goodness and to compassion for those in need may they hear your voice and may all of their actions and all of their words promote healing across our land where hatred and misunderstanding now seemingly hold sway god of light life and love you know our needs even before we utter them and so we offer you our trust to attend to the requests we should have made but in our finiteness and fallibility we have omitted we ask these things in the name of the father son and spirit amen now that we've prayed our prayers we take a moment to make space for confession confession is simply taking responsibility for the ways we fall short of love and so right now i invite you into an act of holy memory simply ask god's spirit to guide your memory in the past week to a moment that matters a moment where you fell short of love and hold that memory in your mind take responsibility for it and feel yourself pivoting away from it toward a different way to be a different way to do now i want to remind you that this is not done out of anxiety out of a sense of absence of god's love or god's kindness instead it's the other way around we take god's love and kindness for granted in the best sense of that word we assume it in this act of confession we're not trying to get it through this act of confession if that makes sense the bible says god's kindness leads to repentance and so let's allow god's kindness right now to prompt us toward meaningful change one act of holy memory and let's ask for god's help as we do it together right now as that memory is coming to your mind i'd like to invite you to imagine how things could be different how could what you love or should love be nurtured and be cared for rather than undermined or hurt i want to remind you as you consider this memory that you're not alone we stand together in solidarity and knowing that we stand together like that would you join me in this act of corporate confession in this ancient prayer most merciful god we confess that we have sinned against you and thought word and deed by what we have done and by what we have left undone we have 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 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 offer our thanks and we come to this table that we call holy communion it's the meal that jesus gave us it begins with thanksgiving and that's why we call it eucharist which means the great thanksgiving would you join me in this ancient prayer as well 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 lord you are good and beautiful and so right now we say thank you thank you for the good gifts of our lives thank you for that which is going right right now in our lives we thank you for those we love we thank you for the beauty that we enjoy we thank you that we have enough right now we also pause to be drawn up into a greater thanksgiving a thanksgiving over the salvation and the healing which we see in jesus christ we thank you that jesus christ shows us you who are love invites us to follow and learn in the way of love and continues to promise life in the face of death our voices join right now with the angels and archangels of isaiah's vision 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 hosanna in the highest and right now we pray that the bread and the cup that we have before us in our homes across the city the country and the world that by your power the power of your spirit you would make them to be to us and for us the body and blood of our lord jesus christ who on the night he was betrayed took bread and cup and blessed them jesus took the bread and after he blessed 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 your body given and broken may we ourselves be broken and given in love for our neighbor and for our world amen likewise after supper jesus took the cup and he blessed it gave it to his disciples he said this cup is the cup of a new covenant which basically means a new arrangement in my blood shed for the forgiveness of sins do this in remembrance of me so we welcome you risen christ we thank you for this new arrangement where there's no more hierarchy there's no more supremacy there's no more advantage to race or class or gender or any other category that we use to inflate our sense of importance and worth you are the great equalizer in your love and this cup points us to that way of equality we pray that it would get into our imaginations into our bodies into our lives 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 to take the bread and dip it in the cup and we simply say thanks be to god and if you're wondering if this meal is for you we practice an open table which means anyone drawn to the love we see in jesus christ is welcome to come and to receive the bread and the cup let this be a gesture of your open heart and your vulnerable trust in the love you see there [Music] thanks be to god well thank you again for joining us at digitalchurch.nyc good shepherd new york uh it is a joy to be able to connect in these ways we want to continue over the coming weeks of epiphany to celebrate the light that we have experienced both in the previous year and this year that we have a fresh start of ourselves and in that spirit we asked a lot of you to share or any of you to share how you've experienced light in 2020 that you're carrying with you into 2021 and we want to continue to share some of these stories over the next couple of weeks check these out hello good shepherd my light in 2020 was solitude and slow living normally i'm a person who likes to go places and start things i was even try vocational a couple years ago and my style of faith matched that lifestyle it was loud and fast and i have a charismatic background and so my focus was always on abundance and joy god started me on a journey of embracing slowness back in 2019 and during 2020 social distancing and staying at home meant that i couldn't lean on social outings or the excitement of being busy to fill my tank that crutch had been removed and forced me to dig into the other side of faith [Music] and i got my nourishment somewhere else solitude and slowness had caused me to read more to question my framework and examine my privilege in doing that i realized that my understanding of god and church was too narrow and too shallow in 2020 slowing down has helped me discover joy and suffering beauty and silence and to find a new strength in christ the light is shown in our lives in many ways most notably it's brought us here to worship with you a good shepherd although hundreds of miles away in maine for 35 years we've been looking to and loving jesus yet in the last few challenged by the ever-changing landscape of the american church and you our spirits are being revived so thank you for expanding your tent to include us and since we've been among the privileged few who've been able to be remote during this time we've been able to spend an abundance of time with our favorite small people our grandchildren arthur and mabel it's so encouraging to hear how god is meeting people in the midst of a really difficult time and so thank you to those of you who continue to share your stories and bear witness to your light i want to share with you some needs that we have as we prepare for the next season the season of lent lent is a time of introspection it's a time of preparation of the soul it's a time to detach from all the stuff that our ego naturally attaches to so that we can make space and make room for the love of god to fill us and to transform us and in that spirit we want to create community groups that take a journey over the six weeks of lent and for that to be possible we need facilitators now some of you have helped facilitate groups in the past and then you took a break we invite you to come back and maybe facilitate a group for these six weeks of lent now some of you have never done this before but you're maybe sensing that this is a way that you can contribute a way that you can pitch in and help facilitate god's love and god's grace at work in our lives through these community groups and we would just invite you to reach out to michael good shepherd new york dot com and let me know that you're interested in leading i'll be forming a training session uh we'll put that on the calendar once we get our sort of level of interest squared away and then we'll talk about what is ash wednesday and what is the season of lent and how are these community groups designed to take us on that lenten journey so if you're interested in facilitating please reach out please let me know especially if you live in new york but even if you live beyond and you're like hey i would love to maybe facilitate something for those who are interested let us know we have a couple people uh a handful of groups that do that already and we are interested in continuing to make space for those who are tracking with us in digital church now with that said i also want to put it on your radar the ash wednesday is coming up in mid-february it's kind of early this year so just go ahead and mark your calendar and let's start you know gearing ourselves up for that journey together once again if you have any questions or you need more info about our church you can go to good shepherd new york.com if you have any questions you can reach out to any of our staff and we're here to serve you we're here to support your journey of faith and we're grateful that you continue to walk with us and now receive this benediction and now receive this benediction walk with christ in your hearts and spirits feel the power of the holy spirit guiding your path know the love of god which is poured out for you and rejoice go in hope and may god's peace go with you amen praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures hear below praise him above ye heavenly hosts praise father son and holy ghost [Music] go in peace i'm so tired of chasing ghosts today i've been chasing my whole life though i'm tired as i ever been i'm not giving up the fight so today i won't let go of my dreams [Music] don't you let go of your dreams [Music] don't you let go don't it's gonna get better better you know don't you let go of your dream [Music] don't you let go of your dreams you

Channel: Good Shepherd New York

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Length: 59min 33sec (3573 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 24 2021