Good Shepherd New York • 8.30.20

[Music] [Music] hey [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] hmm [Music] [Music] good morning good shepherd and welcome to church this morning my name is david gunger i'm one of the pastors here we want to welcome you here this morning and let's just take a moment to breathe in and focus our minds and our hearts on god god has brought you here support out your heart let it be filled with the peace and wonder of christ this morning i'm going to lead this call to worship i'm going to ask that you follow along and read on the screen as the people we gather as a community of compassion and hope jesus calls us to care for each other tenderly and willingly by this caring and sharing we will be known as followers of jesus by our example others may be led to lives of peace lord open our hearts and minds this day to your word teach us to serve you with all of our hearts we pray this in the name of the father the son and the holy spirit amen let us sing together this morning the sun comes up it's a new day it's time to sing your song again whatever may pass and whatever lies before me let me be singing when the evening [Music] bless the lord [Music] sing like never before worship your holy name [Music] your name is for all your goodness i will keep on singing 10 000 reasons for my heart [Music] sing like never before [Music] hmm [Music] and on that day when my strength is fading leon draws near him my time has come still my soul will sing your praise [Music] unending ten thousand years and then forever ten thousand years and then forever [Music] sing like never [Music] worship his holy name [Music] sing like never before oh my [Music] names [Music] [Music] lost and weary travelers searching for the way to go stranger heavy hearted longing for some one you know may you find the light may you find a light may you find the life to guide you home [Music] [Applause] strangers who [Music] may you find a light may you find a light may you find a light to guide you home [Music] may you find a light [Music] may you find me may you find alive to guide you [Music] team is [Music] is [Music] hey [Music] [Laughter] [Music] is [Music] see [Music] so holy holy holy lord god almighty shall rise [Music] blessed trinity [Applause] all thy work shall praise [Music] is [Music] team all are welcome at the table of god every man woman and child for christ brings peace to all tearing down every hostile wall so that the many may become one one heart one family one new humanity for god who is love and christ who is all and in all show no partiality and make no distinction so neither race nor class gender nor sexuality politics nor religion personality nor nationality count 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 indifference descend in our hearts with love and pleasure blows out into the world to listen and to serve and set us ablaze to forgive and reconcile for we are all welcome at the table of god every man woman and child amen [Music] there's a world at war caught in suffering silent casualties oh god grant us peace in these sleepless nights i can hardly breathe despite brutality i know that we'll be free i know that we'll be free so let [Music] [Music] is times love will hold us here love will join our hand 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 so that the light didn't keep us [Applause] let it break into the darkness [Music] let it break into the darkness all the love we'll be free free we'll all be free we'll [Music] i prophesy [Music] we'll all be free we are free oh we're free we'll all be free [Music] let it break shall overcome i know that love shall overcome air and love overcome [Applause] love shall overcome [Music] love shall overcome [Music] oh overcome love shall overcome would you say this generosity pray with me 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 willing to share all that we have storing up for ourselves treasures that will not decay but will shine in the age to come may this be true of our community good morning church i am so excited to be with you here today i'm also very excited to be here in this chapel a place that i have missed very very much funnily enough this is only my second time back into manhattan since march 17th so as the world feels a bit different a bit chaotic let's choose in this moment to offer grace and peace to ourselves but also to our neighbors so pull out your phone shoot an email turn to someone next to you if you are with someone and offer words of grace and peace we're so glad that you're here with us this morning good morning good shepherd i'm excited about what we're going to be doing together this morning you know it's the end of the summer and i thought we could experiment a little bit make this moment a little more active and engaged than normal now i know that you're usually hanging on the edge of your seat and never doing anything else while you watch this but i want you this week to really make sure you can engage so that you can get the most out of this faith isn't just about taking in content and then agreeing with it in america we have this habit of acting like because we've heard something we've done it but in the words of galatians 5 the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love if your faith isn't expressed it's not really worth much and so today we'll be focusing on the lord's prayer but we won't just be listening to someone's ideas we'll actually have the chance to engage it for ourselves to really get into it or perhaps let it get into us and to guide us through it i'm thrilled to introduce my friend and good shepherd parishioner aaron nequist he'll be leading us through a series of reflections on the lord's prayer now he is an author of the book eternal current and he recently finished this beautiful project on the lord's prayer that you can check out at his website anewliturgy.com if you get a taste of this and look for more this morning we'll get to put the lord's prayer into practice with his guidance so let's put aside our distractions let's press pause if you need to find a place where you can fully engage and now our gospel reading a gospel reading from matthew chapter 6 verses 9 through 13. this then is how you should pray our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen the word of the lord praise to you lord jesus christ hello friends in the good shepherd community i'm really glad to be with you this morning in this way um the text we just heard the lord's prayer comes in the very center of what is often called the sermon on the mount matthew 5 6 and 7 a collection of some of jesus most famous and important teachings and at the very end of the sermon on the mount jesus says these words quote therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock the rain came down the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand the rain came down the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash friends you know this we live in a season of overlapping storms the global pandemic um war and hunger in our world in our country i mean we have the literal storm the hurricane barreling through louisiana and texas we have racial injustice we have the deaths and the murders going on in kenosha and all over the country we live in a time of storms and as we lean into the lord's prayer this morning i wanted to begin with the end of this great teaching because jesus reminds us two things first these words remind us that it is possible to survive these storms it's possible to build our lives on the rock and not get swept away so in some ways we begin with hope but it's not like a generic hey everything will probably be fine no no it is a hope grounded in jesus wisdom which says if you put my words into practice i think what's so provocative about jesus words here is jesus doesn't say if you hear my words and believe they're true jesus says if you hear my words and put them into practice you will survive the storms of life and so that's what we want to do this morning for the next 20 or 25 minutes i want to want to invite you into the lord's prayer but not just to think about it and not even just to believe correctly about it but to put the lord's prayer into embodied practice and so we're just going to go line by line we'll take one line i'll share just a couple framing thoughts and then i'll invite us into an embodied practice where we can really flesh it out together if this is not overly weird i hope you're with me let's jump in and let's begin with our bodies so if you can if you would place both feet on the floor and if you're able if you can sit up in your chair just a little bit not like rigid and formal but sit up and open and then this is the tough one if you have something in your hands right now i'd love to invite you to set it down especially if it's a phone just set it down for the next 20 25 minutes because my spiritual director loves to say when you pray say to god with your body what you're saying with your heart and with your mind so i'm going to invite us now to just take three deep breaths in and out and hold your hands in a way that say god i'm open i'm listening i'm here you can even say this feels a little weird and i don't know what we're doing this morning but i'm willing to be led and guided by you holy spirit so let's take three deep breaths together opening ourselves holding our bodies in a way that says god i am open would you guide me now [Music] and to help us enter into the lord's prayer liz weiss is going to sing a form of this prayer over us receive these words and this song in heaven [Music] earth as heaven [Music] give us our daily bread lord and forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us lead us not into trouble save us from evil's hands [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] amen [Music] well the first line of this prayer our father in heaven is where we begin and i'd love to look at each of those three words our father heaven first our eugene peterson writes quote with the hour jesus puts himself in our company and with the hour we place ourselves in the company of jesus and of all who pray unquote the first word of this prayer reminds us that god is not just my god and my group's god but god is the creator of every single person on earth and when we pray we are joining this motley diverse deeply loved community of women and men so our father the word father fundamentally is an invitation into intimacy um god is just not god is not simply an impersonal force somewhere but god is love and wants us to relate with god in love now obviously we need to say god is also spirit so the gendered language using father can be really unhelpful for some people especially those who have had really bad dads but the invitation in these words is intimacy connection relationship and then in heaven um some theologians would say that a better translation of in heaven is in the heavens as in the god who fills the atmosphere from the farthest universe to the inside of my lungs our father who is as close as the air we breathe and so to help us begin to embody this invitation our father in the heavens i want to invite us into a practice called breath prayer it's a very simple practice it's a way to align our prayer with our breathing as we breathe in we say a name of god that helps us open up to god's nearness and then as we exhale we connect a prayer or an intention to that breath so let's begin by again becoming aware of our breath noticing our lungs filling with air and then releasing it back into the universe [Music] and with each inhale just simply speak a name of god a name that helps you open up to god's nearness and with each exhale simply add an intention a request or some sort of prayer so maybe as you breathe in you just say loving creator and then as you exhale you just say i am yours or maybe you breathe in and say strong mother and as you exhale you say carry me today whatever it is in this next minute i'm gonna give us one minute to practice this let your prayer be as simple as your breathing [Music] [Music] [Music] as we continue with hallowed be thy name this phrase reminds us that we are not at the center of the universe god is and we can choose to honor god's place in the center or we can profane it by trying to get ourselves and our agenda at the center and so part of this prayer is helping us consent to the reality that it is god who holds all things together god who is working to make all things right and as we consent to this reality we are bold to pray [Music] so we continue thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven um nt right has noted that this line is a prayer of both submission and commission both subversion and conversion we are consenting to what god is already doing making all things new you know as jesus said the poor being fed the broken being mended the oppressed being lifted up god making all things right we are consenting saying yes please do that and we are saying here are my hands how can i help we're saying yes to what god is doing and offering our hands and feet toward those ends so what i'd love to do to help us embody this prayer again is i'd love to invite us into four specific prayers for our world and again we will say yes may your will be done here but we'll also say and show me how i can participate with it so if it's helpful to close your eyes for this practice i'm going to invite us to actually use our imagination and the first invitation is to prayer is to pray for a neighbor so would you just use your imagination who is it that lives closest to you maybe it's the apartment to your left or the apartment to your right or someone in your neighborhood who is it what is their name what do they look like and now would you take 30 seconds to pray that god's will would be done in them and through them and that god would show you how you can join that movement [Applause] [Applause] secondly can we pray for a family member is there one person that comes to mind that you know could really use some prayer today a family member or maybe a very close friend and again i want to give us 30 seconds to pray that god's will would be done in them and through them and that god would show us how we can join with that flow of healing and redemption and third can we pray for our country today this is such a tumultuous and intense moment so whether it's the shooting of jacob blake and the three others in kenosha this week maybe it's those who have been displaced and injured in the hurricane that has been sweeping through the south maybe it's the division in our politics maybe it's systemic racism and a longing for justice whatever it is try to be as specific in your prayer as possible and i'm going to give us a little extra time because there is so much to pray for right now but would you pray that in our country god's will really would and could be done on earth as it is in heaven and the second part that god would show you one step that you can take to join with that movement of justice and truth and healing [Applause] so [Applause] [Music] [Music] and so right here in the middle of the lord's prayer jesus creates space for us to pray for the actual tangible needs in our lives right now to pray for today's bread not tomorrow's bread not next week's bread to pray for what we need now and this prayer is based in the foundation the belief that god wants to meet our needs that god is a good parent the way any good parent would see their kid in need and say how can i meet this need that is the kind of god that we are talking about so i want to give us one minute to pray anything to hold anything in god's presence and just say god you know this but i need help in this way or i need you to meet this need today again don't pray for next week don't pray for tomorrow ask seek and knock for today [Music] [Music] gracious god thank you for hearing us and forgive our sins as we forgive those who sinned against [Music] in this next line of the prayer jesus brilliantly connects god's forgiveness for us with our forgiveness for our sister or brother and i don't think it's punitive where god says well if you don't forgive them i'm not going to forgive you i think jesus is making a brilliant observation that the flow of mercy flows in both directions and if we choose to cut off the flow of mercy towards someone else we are also cutting off the flow of mercy that comes back to us and so the genius of this prayer is jesus is inviting us to open the floodgates so god's forgiveness and grace can flow in every direction and so i'd love to invite us into a practice that helps us do both that helps us open those floodgates of grace and i do need to say i i love every week when michael talks about confession not as like a shame based making our fee ourselves feel terrible but noticing how we've fallen short of love i mean confession is simply stepping into the light saying you know what reality is reality and so we're gonna do that both for our own falling short of love and also for our neighbors so let's begin if you wouldn't mind opening your right hand and with your right hand open if you would look back through the last week and notice one way that you fell short of love this week something you did or something you didn't do let the spirit bring one moment to mind and with this in mind again we're going to use our holy imagination imagine that you are holding something in your hand that represents this sin this falling short [Music] something tangible that represents that memory and as you hold it i want to give you just 30 seconds to name it to god again to just consent to the reality there it is hold it in god's mercy and god's love [Music] [Music] and as we continue i invite you to keep that right hand open but also open your left hand and with your left hand open i want you to look back at the last week or last two weeks and notice has someone in your life fallen short of love with you is there someone who's become like an enemy or someone that you know you need to forgive begin by just picturing their face who is it who does god bring to mind and using your imagination imagine that in your left hand you are gently and graciously holding this person and with this image in mind want to give us 30 seconds to talk to god about what happened why you feel the way you feel and begin to take the first step to forgive this sister or brother holy spirit would you guide us into these tender waters [Music] and finally would you place both hands over your heart both your sin and your neighbors and notice god's love for you and god's love for them mingling together god's forgiveness for you and god's forgiveness and your forgiveness for them and if these words are helpful would you repeat after me most merciful god forgive me forgive them most merciful god [Music] forgive me as i forgive them may your mercies flow down upon me [Music] and upon them [Music] thank you for grace amen and amen [Music] you know forgiveness is such a difficult and yet freeing practice but when we bring ourselves with god's help to do it it's like having this huge burden lifted and this next line shows us that after we forgive like we've been forgiven we lift up our hearts and we allow ourselves to be led lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil i can't think of a better way to put this sort of resolve into practice than through holy communion it's here at the table that our minds and our hearts are renewed in the love of the one who resisted temptation and who bears witness week after week that there is deliverance on the other side of death through resurrection and jesus offers to save us to deliver us from our egos and our empires that produce death and separation and instead deliver us into a life that's truly life and the bond of peace that this table represents so let's come to this table through that 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 and with this line of your prayer in our minds we lift our eyes our hearts our imaginations to you lord jesus christ we pray that you would lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil and we begin with gratitude saying thank you rather than entitlement and sort of that egocentric uh basic come from that many of us default to we turn to gratitude and we say thank you thank you for the good gifts of our lives thank you for our friends and family for the joy of food and laughter and music and art and culture and all the kinds of things that we enjoy in this world and we pray more importantly and give thanks for the gift of your son jesus christ who did not give into temptation in the wilderness but broke the backbone of fear so that he could deliver us from evil we pray that you'd break that backbone of fear in us as we come to this table that you'd lift us up in courage right now for all of the things that feel dreadful or that loom on the horizon that worry us infuse us right now with the courage we see on the cross the courage that comes from love and renew us in that love and we pray that by the power of your holy spirit and according to your holy 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 cup and blessed them on the night that 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 in remembrance of me so we welcome you risen christ and we thank you for this body broken and given we pray that we likewise will be broken and given for the sake of the world amen and likewise jesus took the cup and after he blessed it he gave it to his disciples and he said this cup is the cup of a new covenant in my blood shed for the forgiveness of sins do this in remembrance of me and so we welcome you as in christ we thank you for this blood which speaks a better word than our bitterness and revenge and retaliation we pray that you'd soften our hearts that you'd let us pour ourselves out for our neighbor and for even our enemy as you did for the world 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 the lord to the glory of god the father and now friends we invite you to come and receive holy communion our practice is intention where you take the bread and dip it in the cup and simply say thanks be to god and if you're wondering if this practice is for you we simply invite you to consider this question are you drawn to the love that you see in jesus christ and if so are you open to receive it into your own life and to express it in the world and if so let this be the gesture of your open [Music] heart thanks be to god well this week we thank you once again for joining us and uh in a week that was very heavy where we bear the burdens of our world we invite you to bear them with others we have online groups where you can get involved this fall we're going to be having connecting groups here on the campus at general seminary outdoor gatherings uh perhaps a few smaller gatherings within the chapel as we continue to digital church throughout the year but we are so grateful for the support that we're able to provide one another if you need help or if you need support we want to help so reach out to us let us know how we can help i know that several of you have requested to be connected with others in your city or in your part of the country as you tune in every week and are looking for people to connect in your area we are on that our team is working on that and we should have some different information next week on how you can connect with people uh around where you live um also we want you to continue to be aware that our album good shepherd collective hymns volume 1 is available on all streaming platforms and you can go check it out wherever you get your music show the love download it share it with your friends uh we'll have another album coming out in september and another album again uh in toward the end of the fall beginning of winter um so we're so excited about this music and this art and we hope that you can go and support it and now receive this benediction well friends receive these words as a benediction this is the lord's prayer from the new zealand prayer book eternal spirit earth maker pain bearer life giver source of all that is and that shall be father and mother of us all loving god in whom is heaven the hollowing of your name echoes through the universe the way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world your heavenly will be done by all created beings your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth with the bread we need for today feed us in the hurts we absorb from one another forgive us in times of temptation and testing strengthen us from trials too great to endure spare us from the grip of all that is evil free us for you reign in the glory of the power that is love now and forever amen could we sing this together praise god from whom all blessings flow praise him all creatures here be [Music] praise him above he heavenly host praise father sun and holy ghost i [Music] mean go in peace [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] sing your hearts [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] hallelujah [Music] in oh water [Music] come on [Music] in the water [Music] children god's gonna trouble the war the water [Music] bye

Channel: Good Shepherd New York

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Length: 66min 2sec (3962 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 30 2020