Good Shepherd New York • 3.22.20

[Music] welcome to church this morning would you sing with us the Sun will rise the Sun will rise bringing life to the earth as it springs from the ground the sound [Music] won't you try while your tears leão burn them down won't you drive [Music] [Music] won't you drive all your tears lay your burden down won't you try all your tears lay your burden down every day we go to war again we assume we know so much more than them before we hear what they have to say Hetland breaks and we start to hate again calling their names again we give a piece away I hope they see cuz I wanna see I hope we believe I wanna see I wanna see it's all [Music] you I wanna know I wanna know that is it's all you [Music] [Music] day by day hope fades away in there we know that there is pain within we cannot medicate alone learn to feel [Music] learn to begin again we'll open my eyes again to see our sisters pain I hope they see [Music] cuz I wanna see I hope we I wanna see I wanna see [Music] it's all I wanna know I want [Music] it's hard you see how it lights you ha [Music] yeah it lights you see how it lights you I wanna see I wanna see did you sing it's you I wanna know I want it's it's it's all-around it's it's this morning we have a psalm reading from Psalm 121 read by Liz I look up to the hills where does my help come from my help comes from the Lord he is the maker of heaven and earth he won't let your field slip he who watches over you won't get tired in fact he who watches over Israel won't get tired or go to sleep the Lord watches over you the Lord is like a shade tree at your right hand the Sun won't harm you during the day the moon won't harm you during the night the Lord will keep you from every kind of harm he will watch over your life the Lord will watch over your life no matter where you go both now and forever the word of the Lord thanks be to God Oh thirsty [Music] and all of [Music] come to the fountain dip your heart in the streams let the pain and the sorrow be you washed away [Music] in the ways of God's mercy as deep cries out to [Music] take me to the river [Music] take me to the river [Music] take me to them [Music] [Music] take me to the river [Music] Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that's a like tea [Music] was flying but now I see [Music] any day just host and states thus far and grace will lead me home to scratch that bad thus far and grace will lead us home let us say our generosity liturgy together did you say this at home with us 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 Pierce's 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 a treasure that will not decay but will shine in the age to come may it be true of our community amen well at this time we speak Grace and peace this is actually a prayer if you have someone with you right now we encourage you to speak grace and peace if you're by yourself you're not alone you're here with us but why don't you send a text to a friend speak grace and peace say that prayer Grace and peace to you this morning welcome today's teaching text is John nine verses 1 through 41 as he went along he saw a man blind from birth his disciples asked him rabbi who sinned this man or his parents that he was born blind neither this man nor his parents sinned said Jesus but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him as long as it is day we must do the works of him who sent me night is coming when no one can work while I'm in the world I am the light of the world after saying this he spit on the ground made some mud with the saliva and put it on the man's eyes go he told him wash in the pool of Siloam this word means sent so the man went and washed and came home seeing his neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg some claims that he was others said no he only looks like him but he himself insisted I am the man how then were your eyes opened they asked he replied the man they called Jesus made some mud and put it in my eyes he told me to go to Siloam and wash so I went and washed and then I could see where is this man they asked him I don't know he said they brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight he put mud on my eyes the man replied and I washed and now I see some of the Pharisees said this man is not from God for he does not keep the Sabbath but others asked how can a sinner perform such signs so they were divided then they turned again to the blind man what have you to say about him it was your eyes he opened the man replied he is a prophet we know that God spoke to Moses but as for this fellow we don't even know where he comes from the man answered now that is remarkable you don't know where he comes from yet he opened my eyes we know that God does not listen to sinner's he listens to the Gartley person who does his will nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind if this man were not from God he could do nothing to this they replied you were steeped in sin at birth how dare you lecture us and they threw him out Jesus heard that they had thrown him out and when he found him he said do you believe in the Son of Man who is he sir the man asked tell me so that I may believe in him jesus said you have now seen him in fact he is the one speaking with you then the man said Lord I believe and he worshiped him jesus said for judgment I have come into this world so that the blind will see and those who will see become blind some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked what are we blind to jesus said if you were blind you would not be guilty of sin but now that you claim you can see your guilt remains the gospel of the Lord now that we've had our Gospel reading we're going to take a moment to be quiet a moment of holy silence and whatever you bring into this moment it could be lots of faith it could be lots of doubt we just invite you to bring this whole your whole self to this moment because when we bring our whole selves we pay attention that's what makes a moment sacred so join me as best as you know how in a moment of quiet to Center ourselves in God's presence and to the possibility that this story could connect to our story God give us an awareness of how you're at work in this moment give us an openness of heart that we could see we pray in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit amen we are struggling all of us to adjust to this new reality that we face and it's in moments like these that faith invites us in the words of Rowan Williams to inhabit a larger world last week we reflected on Jesus inviting us to do just that to adjust to a new reality or in his words to be born again in our narrative today we see these two forces at work a force on the one hand which invites us to see our blindness and a force on the other which invites us to see a brilliance that shines at the heart of the universe and we see a struggle there's kind of a clash to adjust these two realities together and this is a paradigm story it's kind of a parable for us in this moment the good news of Christ sort of rises up to the surface in this and it invites us to a double vision first we see ourselves as this Gospel story unfolds we get this clearer picture and we see exactly what the experts can't see they can't see these mechanisms this machinery at work underneath the surface of reality it's a machinery that leads them to be deeply afraid it allows them to put their violence to use to protect themselves to make them feel safe to secure them in their self justified positions it's a mechanism that allows them to scapegoat to allow themselves to feel safe at the expense of another and it's all going on inside of them and Jesus says essentially they're stuck they don't know what they can't see and when vision is offered to them they basically run away from it now I wonder in this moment if we aren't experiencing some of the same Amyx I wonder if we have eyes to see the machinery at work underneath the surface of our lives right now this past week when our president referred to the virus as the Chinese virus I think we saw some of this machinery at play one of our parishioners Jonathan Merritt invited us to consider if it originated in Ohio would he have called it the American virus and if not why what Jonathan's doing with that question is he's inviting us to see and to experience and to consider the machinery at work underneath our lives right now at moments of crisis our ego wants to blame we want to find someone or some group that we can hold responsible and that we can discharge our rage or discharge our dread upon and Jesus through this action of healing the blind man is bringing something to light it's a light that tells us you can't see what it is that your habits or your skills or your status prevent you from engaging with ouch I mean many of us feel exposed in this moment we're seeing new things and we're being seen in new ways some of us are stuck in our apartments with roommates or family and we have this higher volume of experience with each other and it's sort of exposing us to maybe like things that we haven't been ormally been seen or that we're used to being seen but that's not all that this story is showing us this story is not just showing us something about ourselves but it's showing us a beauty in this story what makes the difference in John's Gospel is that it's not just petraea vision of ourselves a vision that is failing or ignorant or frightened but the story that Jesus tells it or at least as john tells it involves a vision of something else it's what Jesus calls in the story glory the radiance and the beauty that is at the heart of the universe it's a beauty that causes us to sort of slow our roll a little bit and to pause and to consider what happening right now now in the full light of that radiance you can't be like the religious experts and basically say I see and I've got it it's not something it's not like an experience you can put in your pocket and have a sense of control over Jesus mission in this gospel is described very clearly as the process of bringing that radical radiant beauty to light in this world and only the most resolutely self-justifying and the most terminally terrified will want to resist this light the radiant beauty the glory that is the gospel is this glory of divine letting go and faced with that were delivered so we hope and we pray from the prison of our fear and our violence because if we're faced with that vision of this endless unconditional unlimited unselfishness there's no one that we have to persuade to love us there's no one that we have to persuade to not be hostile it's not like there's this defensive hostile entity or tyrant in the sky that we have to placate and so this double vision of our own machinery underneath the surface and God's radiant beauty it helps us see what Jesus sees that love is always at work now in the future when we look back on this moment I wonder how we'll see it I wonder if we'll be able to remember that the coronavirus once told us the truth about ourselves the truth that we need each other the truth that were only as healthy as the most vulnerable among us and the truth that it's our responsibility to keep each other safe and to take care of each other it's not lost on me that like three weeks ago we unveiled our new name as a church Good Shepherd New York and we cast the vision for why we are embracing that name as a symbol of who we are and who we want to become and critical to that idea is this sense of leaving no one behind I mean the parable of the lost sheep you have one sheep among the hundred that the shepherd goes out to for to search for and to rescue Jesus taught us that if we care for the least of these whether it's in prison or it's the people who are hungry or the people who need clothing when we do that we do it for him it's at the heart of our vision as a community to care for each other to take responsibility and to not leave anyone behind and it's kind of prophetic for this moment I think in some sense there is a wolf at the door but the wolf's potential is also in all of us that machinery that wants to devour to prey to exploit to protect itself and so Jesus is sort of shining a light on this reality on this potential on this human machinery and it is resisted people don't like the light being shone on them and so we see these religious experts and these leaders political and religious bumping up against Jesus and it ultimately winds up in his crucifixion for us to adjust to this new reality I think we need to learn to see something that we haven't seen and that for the best of us it takes a struggle in order to see last week we considered Nicodemus and Nicodemus is amazing because he goes through this like three phase development he hears this invitation to be born again to see things differently but it doesn't take root right away Nicodemus gradually eases his way into this new understanding this new way of seeing at one point when people are debating what to think about Jesus Nicodemus sticks out his neck a little bit and says hey I wonder if we've considered it a different way and sort of comes to his defense by the end of the story after Jesus has been crucified and has died and is in the process of being buried we only have two figures that are involved in his burial and Nicodemus is one of them he violates his own purity code of caring for and handling a dead body on the Sabbath and apparently brings his wealth to bear to care for Jesus Jesus has has invited Nicodemus on a path of change and of transformation and Nicodemus has embraced it and is living in the midst of it now how might you be going through a holy evolution in this moment jesus said now that you claim you can see your guilt remains that's a fascinating thing to say he basically is saying your problem is that you can't see what you can't see you can't see what it is that your habits and your status and your skill prevent you from engaging with and in the heat of the moment we are tempted to pretend that we see more than we do our mantras our axioms our beliefs they're always put to the test in crisis and we need to have the humility to say I think I'm kind of blind right now I'm not sure that I understand what's going on or how to navigate this situation it's one thing to know in your mind and to believe something but it's another thing to experience it in the moment the experience of our vulnerability can be blinding my son Leo is five years old and he has two older siblings so he's in this mode right now where he will not be patronized and we had a family meeting the other day we were talking about the virus and what it means to sort of be self contained in our apartment and I just out of compassion asked my son in the presence of my family do you understand what's going on right now and somehow that question pricked in him as self-defensive Nabeel a tree nice dand so he sort of ruffled his feathers and he said no I know what's going on right now and I said okay well that's good do you know much about the virus he goes yes I said well okay well and then I still tone the story I'm like well it started in China and before I could even get the next phrase out of my mouth he interrupts me he says I know it originated in China and I was sort of taking it back from that but later on that night as I was putting him to bed I said buddy what do you know about what's going on right now and because it was a tender moment it wasn't you know the the bravado of his ego trying to present himself a certain way to his older brother and sister it was just me and him and he felt safe and he felt sort of open and he just said daddy I don't know and I think that's exactly what Jesus is inviting us into I'm he's inviting us to in the midst of our challenges in the midst of all the things that that present themselves to us as threats to just simply like the blind man say I don't know I'm blind I can't see right now the experience of our vulnerability can be blinding I had a phone call with a friend Joe tasini who works with John 17 he kind of connects us to the Catholic world and others and we've done a lot of work with him and Pope Francis and he was telling me that in Italy right now that there's just the sense of which of lethargy there's a sense of depression people aren't even even able to attend the funerals of their friends and it's wearing them out that's an experience of vulnerability I think we're living in a moment that's a lot like 9/11 we live in a new world or we will live in a new world when this is all said and done my friend Chris hewers who's a great friend of our community put it this way right now there are parents of newborns who feel the sadness of not being able to introduce their babies to friends and to family because of social distancing and that's a blinding vulnerability there are retired folks who are already struggling to get by who are now watching their shaky financial futures vaporize in front of their very eyes as the stock market takes a hit that's a blinding vulnerability for everyone getting married over the next few months trying to remember that they're not celebrating alone even if their community can't be there for the ceremony that's a blinding vulnerability there are refugees right now who are trying to make sense of this chaos in a foreign country and with through a language that is not their own and difficult to comprehend that's a blinding vulnerability for the small business owners who are forced to close shop out of service to our collective health but will struggle to stay in business once all of this has passed or for the single parents who are already under supported and overworked this is a blinding vulnerability for the 20-plus million kids in the US who need public school meal assistance just to get one or two hot meals a day and for the parents who are suffering the pain of seeing their kids go hungry this is a blinding vulnerability I think of all the activists and the charities and the nonprofit's like ourselves fighting to build a better world one donation at a time and at this time they're watching their funding thin out across the street from us is an elderly home and we know right now across our country and around the world it's the elderly who are in these assisted living communities who are living in fear that they may never see their family again this authors the speakers the musicians everyone in the gig industry whose livelihood is dependent on events have been canceled and I think of the immunosuppressed and the immunocompromised they fear running down to the market and buying basic things so they can just get by for one more day I mean we could go on and on of all the unintended consequences of this virus and what we see in all of it is a staggering blinding vulnerability but that's not the end of the story for us as we consider this moment we consider what we're experiencing together and our vulnerability these are experiences that are blinding but they are that's just because we're used to seeing through the eyes of strength and right now Jesus is inviting us to embrace I think seeing through the eyes of weakness Jesus said at the end of this story I have come into this world so that the blind will see and so that those who see will become blind and in this story there's only one who really sees and it's the man born blind because he had to let go of the pretense of sight and maybe when you let go you'll begin to see the truth that the virus is telling us and it's this that you're not alone that we're in this together that we're gonna do everything we can to help each other and that we will get through this it's important for us not to scold ourselves for feeling the feelings that we feel a lot of us are feeling anxiety and that is totally normal and so we have to make room for it in ourselves and in those we love and with whom we have close proximity right now it's important to think about during the season of Lent how we're handling it how we're exporting it how we're moving through it instead of labeling it good or bad right or wrong as one of our fellow parishioners Savannah Guthrie said this week social distance doesn't have to mean emotional distance I think right now of all the creative ways churches and communities are trying to connect us we're doing a thing called the eight right now every day at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. we're convening a video zoom call for anyone who wants to sort of check in and our leaders our board of elders our Board of Trustees are facilitating those and they're caring for the people in our community so that you don't have to feel isolated we're putting window signs I saw my friend Tim Schrader put up a sign to the to his neighborhood that said we're gonna get through this and our kids even this morning put up a sign that said we love you to the elderly home across the street there are forms that people are filling out saying hey here's my name here's my numbers how to get ahold of me if you have any needs I'm willing to make a run for you to the grocery store or whatever and they're putting it up in their mail room or they're putting it up in their elevator or at they're in the lobby of their building we this week we just started a kovat 19 relief fund knowing that our benevolence fund wasn't going to be enough to care for the needs of our community and our neighbors and so there are many of you already in this short window that we've had that open who have given to it and now we're sitting on the ability to act and to love and to do something we couldn't do by ourselves because when we share there's always enough and so this is a moment where we can take for our spheres these moments of vulnerability as we move into deeper levels of sight are ripe for a sense of the mesmerizing beauty of the God who is love flowing through the people that God loves and so you need to remember you're not alone we're in this together we're going to do everything we can to help each other and we will get through this with God's help amen and now having reflected on our sacred texts we move toward the table and we respond with our declaration of faith this morning we're going to be reading the Apostles Creed and whatever you bring into this community could be lots of faith or doubt some of us our faith is hanging on by a thread and some of these things that we say you're like I'm not sure I can say that and that's why we say we believe we carry each other in the midst of our faith so would you join me in reading the Apostles Creed we believe in God the Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth we believe in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord he 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 and on the third day he rose again he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father 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 lift our prayers and this is a moment that's not passive but it's active to join our faith with the prayers of the people these are prayers written by and for our community and so let's offer our desire and the cries of our hearts together before the God who loves us let's pray we come to you Lord this morning with grateful hearts we come to you Lord because you come to us we come to you Lord with great Thanksgiving and great relief that you are the God who is near Lord at the moment we feel most alone most isolated at the very moment we feel distant from all we love and all we know we pray with confidence in the promises that you have made us that you are close to the brokenhearted that you are the God who heals that you were the God who touches the sick you were the God who comes close who mixes and mingles and ministers and lives among us the Lord who restores Souls the Lord who is near we pray that you will fill us in this moment with the certainty of your presence that you are present in our sorrow you are present in our fears you're present in our aches in our fevers and our laboured breath you are present in our anxious thoughts yes even in our dread and our terror you are near Lord let us feel you near and be transformed into gentleness soften our hearts melt us to you let us not be vulnerable to the world and its terrors but to you for you are most careful with us Lord find us in the quiet let our quiet be your moment Lord let this quiet be the time we hear your whisper Lord in your mercy hear our prayer here a pair he really the turn our hearts to you make us one we come to you Lord together in this moment in the space we still share we come to you Lord as a church we come as one far flung and far apart but gather as always and as ever close and connected for we gather in your name we pray for your church this morning we pray we remember what it is to belong to you and belong to each other we pray you would equip us and strengthen us for what lies ahead increase our generosity to others increase our capacity for friendship increase our creativity and wisdom and ingenuity to meet needs and solve problems increase our belief in your goodness and your plan let us remember who we are in you Lord in your mercy hear our prayer [Music] you're our prayer hear our prayers here Steele a swirl Lord we pray for our leaders we pray they would be wise and good and strengthened and resolved we pray they would be courageous and selfless guided by the good of humankind we pray for our doctors and nurses and all who tend to the sick we pray for the many who are stretched and strained with new obligations we pray for the many who struggles threatened to overwhelm Lord we pray with humility at the scope and magnitude of all we do not know we pray as we can Lord we escape to prayer as a refuge believing that you know that you do not need our words to know what to do or how to act we pray because you have told us there is power in the doing and so Lord we pray this morning as the scripture says with groans that words cannot express for her needs are too great to name but with faith Lord that you are greater still Lord in your mercy hear our prayer [Music] hear our prayer [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] and make us and now having offered our prayers we make space for confession and this is so important it's what we do every week to take responsibility for the ways that we're falling short of love love for God and love for our neighbor and in light of our text this morning in our story maybe today we can reflect on the things that we are pushing down and ignoring about ourselves right now that machinery that Jesus brings to light through his life and through his love maybe we can embrace and take responsibility for the ways that we're repressing that so let's just take a moment of holy reflection holy memory and think of this week where have you fallen short of love love for God and love for neighbor let's take a quiet moment to reflect I invite you as you reflect just to to ease your body's stance I think when we think of difficult things we often tense up I want you to feel your body relax your shoulders your neck your eyes and as you breathe in and breathe out just imagine God's kindness in developing you drawing you out like an open flower in the in the context of God's love you don't have to run and you don't have to hide from the God who loves us as we consider and hold these memories in our minds we remember that we're not alone and so we joined together in this corporate confession would you join me in this most merciful God we confess that we have 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 hearts 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 receive the good news of Jesus Christ afresh that you are loved as you are that God's love and God's mercy is new every morning that as far as the East is from the west so far has God removed our transgressions from us you are here and you are loved amen and now we we turn our hearts to the table and we celebrate Eucharist together and last week we said this is the weirdest Eucharist we've ever done but here we are again and I think it's going to be a mode we'll be doing together for a while so let's embrace it and remember communions about our connections to each other and though we're not in the same room we are deeply connected not only by God's Spirit but by our love for each other and so let's join our hearts together as we come to this table join me in this 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's right to give thanks and praise Lord we know that it's good and beautiful to say thank you at all times in all places even when it's hard and so our hearts lift to you in gratitude and we hold in our imaginations the people and the good gifts of life that make our life full that bring us meaning they give us a sense of courage and we hold these before you and we join our voices with the voices of the Angels in Isaiah's vision who cry holy holy holy Lord God of power and might heaven and earth are filled with your glory hosanna in the highest and we ask right now Lord God that though we are in apartments and homes across the city and across the country that you would unite us at this table and we pray that by your spirit and according to your word that these gifts of bread and cup would become to us and for us the body and blood of Christ who on the night he was betrayed took bread and blessed it on the night Jesus was betrayed he took bread and after he blessed it he gave it to his disciples and he said this is my body given for you do this and remember in of me so we welcome you risen Christ we thank you for this body that was broken for us and we pray that you would infuse in us the grace needed not only to receive this love afresh but to offer it in this moment in this time amen and now we also remember the cup and the night Jesus was betrayed he took the cup and after he blessed it he gave it to his disciples and he said this is the blood of a new covenant shed for you and for the remission of sins do this in remembrance of me so we welcome you is in Christ we thank you for this cup which speaks a better word than the blood that that we create through our violence and through revenge and retaliation we thank you for the self giving love we see on the cross and we pray that it would infuse us with courage to love the same and now friends we do the practice of intention so if you'll take the bread that you have with you and dip it in the cup and simply say thanks be [Music] [Music] Thanks [Music] I promise that wasn't a corona cough thanks be to God and now we declare the mystery of our 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 thank you so much for sharing in this moment with us once again and you know that our prayers and our hearts are with you join up and link up with us throughout the week and now I turn it to our benediction and now my dearest ones in Christ my brothers and sisters go in peace and go enjoy filled with the knowledge that you belong to a place beyond time and space you belong here with your brothers and sisters around the world and we are united in the family of God go with gratitude for the gift of each other for the deep and endless resources we have in the Lord and for the promise of eternity amen [Music] praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here praise Him [Music] praise father son [Music] [Music] [Music] I wanna know how it feels to hope again to breathe again I wanna know tell me nothing's real I will learn again to believe again I wanna know how it feels to be in love with the world to be in love but everything could never be enough I wanna know how it feels you

Channel: Good Shepherd New York

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Length: 48min 2sec (2882 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 22 2020