Good Shepherd New York: Recent Episodes
Good Shepherd New York
Good Shepherd New York is an inter-denominational church centered around the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Our mission is to help New Yorkers embody the love of Christ for the good of our neighbors.
On Pentecost Sunday we reflect on the last conversation between Jesus and his disciples where he promises that help will be available once he is gone. What does that help look like in our lives?
The Jesus Mark’s Gospel gives us is not the Jesus we would’ve asked for. But he is the Jesus we need. And he reveals that God works in the dark, and that we therefore do not have be afraid when we are out of our depth. We can befriend our limits and welcome the mystery.
This week Pastor Michael explores Jesus first exorcism in Mark’s gospel and invited us to suspend assumptions and enter into the world of the text in order to build a meaningful bridge for today.
This week, Pastor Michael explores the oft misunderstood phrase Jesus uses when calling his first disciples which takes us down an unexpected path.
In this sermon, pastor Michael offers a profile of the Magi and Herod that helps us let the light of God’s love and wisdom guide us in the presence of grandiose egos and dangerous political power.
On the last Sunday of Christmas pastor Michael reflects on the role John played in bearing witness to the Light he beheld. How can we avoid scapegoating the year 2020 or inflating expectations for 2021? What if it all hinges on seeing and speaking of Light?
In this message we take a peek at how God comes to us in the everyday-ness of our lives.
On the 3rd Sunday of Advent Pastor Michael invites us to consider the surprising conditions of joy in Mary’s story and how we can make space to experience joy despite challenging circumstances.
In advent we dive deep into the practices of peacemaking. Greg Khalil, co-founder and President of the Telos Group, uses his history of peacemaking in this talk to help others gain perspective and skills on how to work for true peace across lines of difference, including those with whom we agree on little.
Business owner and close-up magician, Tyler Schwartz takes us through Mark 13. Jesus ends Mark 13 with a puzzling, apocalyptic , prophecy. What is Jesus talking about? And what can this verse mean for christians in 2020?
This week Shauna Niequist explores Jesus’ beautiful & radical vision for what it means to be a nation that sees, cares for, & welcomes all of us.
What happens when 21st century Americans hear the stories Jesus told to first century Jewish peasants? We often hear it through the filter of our own cultural assumptions, values, beliefs, and ideas. Imagine that you are a 1st century Galilean peasant farmer sitting on the side of the Mount of Beatitudes when the Parable of the Talents was told. Would Jesus’s parable sound different than it does when you listen with 21st century American ears?
Spoiler alert: Yes.
This week Michael looks at an obscure parable of Jesus and finds a revolutionary and urgent call to stay awake for opportunities to experience God in the other.
We often think of Jesus as a teacher and model of love. But we often gloss over his invitation to love ourselves. In fact, we often think of self-love as antithetical to loving God or neighbor. In this sermon, Michael shares three insights into self-love that have helped him take up this invitation of Christ.
How do we respond when our circumstances don’t seem to point toward a good future? What does hope look like that transcends optimism and yet is founded in reality, not wishful thinking? Miroslav Volf reflects on Romans 8 for insight into the mystery of hope.
In this sermon Michael looks at another parable Jesus tells in a showdown with religious and political leaders on his final week. Will we listen to the divine voice that invites us to wake up and change our violent ways or will we continue to resist?
Michael examines a showdown in the Temple between Jesus and the Jerusalem leaders, drawing out how this battle of wits reveals the nature of true authority and the danger of hypocrisy.
This week Michael reflects on a puzzling parable that offends the sensibilities of the Market World. The story invites us to reconsider how we approach justice in light of God’s commitment to forgiveness and reconciliation.
On a weekend where we remember 9/11, we are confronted by a difficult teaching from Jesus to extend forgiveness beyond the calculations and limits with which our world is accustomed. Instead we are invited to take a step, daily into this new world.
Jesus invites us into a holy process of uncomfortable conversations that help us sustain loving community.
What if the miracles of Jesus aren’t simply raw demonstrations of power but signals with deep meaning for our world?
Michael explores the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes and finds a profound axiom for all of life.
How do the series of parables in Matthew 13 speak to our polarizing moment? Michael explores the power of Jesus’ stories for patient and courageous faith.
A look at Jesus’ parable of the Wheat and the Tares and how one should respond to a life that contains both the good and the not so.
How do we move away from an obsessive self evaluation to an open hearted surrender? Michael explores how this parable can harden us or soften us depending on how we imagine it.
Parishioner, storyteller, and professional magician Tyler Schwartz remarks on the way in which Christ upended the idea of sin management.
In this sermon, Michael explores how Jesus resolves rival conceptions of sin. The priests emphasized purity and the prophets emphasized justice. These conceptions are firing on all cylinders today. But Jesus doesn’t appear to call for balance. He takes a side.
In this sermon by Drew Jackson we are challenged to unlearn a faith that clings to nostalgia and comfort and instead embrace faith as the uncomfortable preparation for a powerful movement of God’s love in the world. Check out the podcast for the full sermon!
On the third Sunday after Pentecost, Michael reengages a key distinctive of our church and asks: what does it mean to be missional? We see in Jesus’ sending of the twelve a powerful combination of compassion and receptivity —much needed in this moment.
On Trinity Sunday we examine what Dallas Willard called the “Great Omission” of American Christian spirituality which results in a refusal to acknowledge or dismantle white supremacy.
What does the story of Pentecost teach us about living in this crisis? It reaches us that God has endowed us with his own creativity so that we can work to bring about justice and peace and unity in the world.
Michael looks at how the last prayer of Jesus that we be “one” is not simply an aside but the central theme of his life and mission. How can we learn to embrace a spirituality that gets us to that oneness when our egos, empires and religions continue to create false unities?
Jesus promised help for the life of love in the form of God’s Spirit but what holds us back from this help? Michael explores the “unholy trinity” of the world, the flesh and the devil and what this language points to today.
In this sermon Jonathan Merritt asks “where is God when the world falls apart?” and wonders if the answer can be found on a seven mile stretch of road between Jerusalem and Emmaus.
On the 5th Sunday of Easter we celebrated Mother’s Day with a reflection on Jesus as mother hen and the power of his lament and invitation in light of Ahmaud Arbery’s story.
On the 4th Sunday of Easter, Savannah Guthrie offers a reflection on Jesus’ words from John 14 in light of the worry, anxiety and stress of life in quarantine.
Thomas gets a bad rap. He is told by Jesus “stop doubting and believe”. But what if what we typically call doubt, Jesus recognized as faith? And what if what we usually celebrate as faith is simply a fear inspired form of doubt?
On Easter Sunday pastor Michael Rudzena takes a fresh look at the resurrection story of John’s Gospel. This is a moment of choice. Will we respond to fear by simply going back to normal or will we embrace the Easter path of learning and growth.
Holy Week invites us into 3 essential practices for a pandemic: hope, lament, & presence.
During our season of quarantine, we are offering meditations for parents and children to be used as a force for calm and connection to God and ourselves. This is a meditation for all ages, for times when you feel overwhelmed and alone. Find a quiet, comfortable spot, and take a deep breath. We encourage families to do this with their children. Grace and peace.
On the 3rd week of our Digital Church gatherings Michael explores the story of Lazarus rising from the dead and looks to Jesus as offering three ways to be fully human in this moment.
In week two of our new Covid-19 reality, Michael explores the story of Jesus healing the man born blind. In a continuation on the theme of sight from last week, Jesus invites us into a double vision that can transform our lives.
During our season of quarantine, we are offering meditations for parents and children to be used as a force for calm and connection to God and ourselves. This is a meditation for all ages, for times when you feel overwhelmed and alone. Find a quiet, comfortable spot, and take a deep breath. We encourage families to do this with their children. Grace and peace.
In our first ever digital worship gathering, Pastor Michael connects the story of Nicodemus to the backdrop of a global pandemic. How can the paradox at the core of Jesus’ life guide us in this moment?
Pastor David Gungor speaks on the stories of Jacob wrestling an angel, & The Samaritan woman and Jesus, at Jacobs well.
Why do we create space to lament and connect with our mortality on Ash Wednesday? How could the shape of our Lenten journey vary based on social location? Michael invites us to the o see Vance of a holy Lent.
On the first Sunday of Lent, Michael unveils the new name for our church which goes live on Easter and casts vision for the power and potential of this metaphor for New York.
Our church community doesn’t exist for itself. We exist for the good of our neighbors. How can we shift our imagination to see God’s loving activity all around us? How can we shift our thinking from treating “mission” as a segment of our life or church to seeing it as connected to everything?
What does it mean to be part of a community with a sacramental imagination? Michael lays out the vision of a sacramental outlook and the splits of our lives it seeks to heal.
In this sermon, Michael talks about two of our community’s four distinctives. As a free, interdenominational church we sense a call to experiment and explore but all the while we are tethered to the Bible and the Creeds. What does that mean?
Michael reflects on two of our core values as a church and casts vision for why this is needed deeply at this moment in society.
In this sermon, Pastor Michael talks about the third core value of our church: generosity. What if generosity begins as perception? In a contest of how we see God and life, which vision will win our imagination? Scarcity or Abundance?
On MLK Sunday Michael begins to explore our church’s core values, beginning with our sense of calling to hold the tension of unity and diversity.
Our mission is to help New Yorkers embody the love of Christ for the good of our neighbors. Michael explores how Christ uniquely shapes our idea of a love that tears down walls of division and extends to all.
Jesus himself said that life was the point. But at this cultural moment many are wandering with an untethered spirituality or weathering toxic religion. In this sermon Michael uses the image of the wind and the sail to talk about how we can live a good life.
On the fifth day of Christmas, Tyler Schwartz reflects on Psalm 148 and suggests that everything in life from the birds of the air to the sun and moon reflect something about God in their purpose. Human beings are no exception, but what does it mean for humans to find their purpose?
On Christmas Eve, Michael reflects on the sweeping language of St. John's gospel when it comes to the Christmas story. What makes Jesus so special and what invitation exists for us in it?
Sean Palmer explores the story of Tamar, one of the women in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus. During this Advent season, let's spend time recapturing the backstory of the story gives meaning to our lives.
This week we continue our Advent Conspiracy emphasis as we listen to the invitation of John the Baptizer to change our ways. Many heard his words and asked “what should we do?”. Would John tell us to spend less during this holiday season?
As the church begins the journey of Advent Conspiracy we explore the connection between worship and desire and seek to stretch our understanding beyond the dualisms often associated by the idea of worship.
On Christ the King Sunday, why do we focus on the story of the crucifixion? In this sermon Michael distills the message surrounding Jesus at the cross to one phrase: “save yourself”. Jesus looks into the darkness of that deep human instinct and speaks a creative word which tilts the world on its side: “forgive them”.
When life is in a state of upheaval, we often need ways of talking about reality that give us some separation from it and enable us to face it with an open calm rather than violent panic. That is the role of apocalyptic language and this is the force of Jesus’ teaching in today’s gospel.
Jesus gets sucked into a heated debate which on the surface is about resurrection but actually reflects other psycho-social motivations. What cross-pressures shape our debates and what lies beneath them?
Pastor Michael explores an often ignored character of the Zacchaeus story: the critical crowd. Zacchaeus experiences a profound turnaround not because he was called out, or cancelled but because he shared a meal with a gracious story teller who also told the truth.
The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican is typically interpreted as a simple moral tale about humility and pride. But is more going on? Jonathan Merritt reads it as an invitation to choose the true self over the false self.
Politics: the way human community is ordered and organized under a particular governing body. Pastor Drew Jackson of Hope East Village shows us from Philippians 1 and 2 that the alternative politics of the Kingdom of God is a radically others-centered way of life. This is what the Apostle Paul calls humility.
Jesus heals ten lepers and only one returns to say thank you. Pastor Michael looks at the healing power of gratitude through the lens of science and the wisdom tradition this story represents.
Forgiveness sounds great until it threatens our sense of justice or seems cheap. In this gospel text, Jesus invites his followers to radical forgiveness that still tells the truth only without the energy of revenge.
In one of Jesus’ most famous stories we have a great post-mortem reversal of the rich and poor. What was the rich man’s folly? What can we learn from his afterlife survival instincts?
The Parable of the Unjust Steward is widely considered to be the most confusing and mysterious of all Jesus's teachings. TriBeCa parishioner and Professional Magician, Tyler Schwartz uses logic, magic, humor, and psychology to shed some light on this obscure parable.
In this sermon, pastor Michael offers a subversive interpretation on Jesus’ familiar stories of the lost sheep, coin and son. Drawing on the work of AJ Levine, we explore the invitation to begin counting those in our lives that are invisible or lost. Perhaps this is the repentance that angels rejoice over.
Why would Jesus ask us to hate our family and our lives to follow him? Especially in a world already saturated with hate? And give up all our possessions? Pastor Michael examines the original context of this teaching to propose the idea of a holy hate that gets us to love.
Jesus deconstructs the networking culture where social capital is the backdrop currency and invites his us to consider transgressing this system by making room at our table for people who don’t advance our social standing.
Pastor Michael looks at the story of the crippled woman and asks the question, “how can we be liberated from the burdens that bend our souls low?” and “how can we be a liberating force in the world by simply paying attention?”
What kind of awareness does God want us to live with? How can we live both with sorrow and joy, care for both the living and the dying, at once? By waiting for God to surprise us by waiting with others in the midst of whatever they’re experiencing.
Preacher Peace Lee explores what it means to be human and fully alive by juxtaposing the way of the rich man, in the parable of the rich fool, with the way of God through the birth, life, and death of Christ Jesus.
Prayer and spirituality can have some interesting connotations for us as Christians. We explore some of the gifts of a life of prayer, and the reformation of our conscious mind.
Do you ever find yourself trapped in the torrent of past memories or future anticipations? What are we missing when we are so distracted? Pastor Michael considers how the invitation of Jesus cuts through the clutter and helps us become attentive to who is right in front of us.
Pastor David Gungor dives into the parable of the Good Samaritan and asks the challenging question of “Who is my neighbor?”
“Pastor Michael looks at the sending of the 72 disciples as an invitation to journey to the center of God’s dream through encountering the other.
Michael explores the aggressive focus of Jesus journey to Jerusalem and how these hot edges prove difficult for those who seek to begin his way. But perhaps these hot edges bring the “one-thing” into focus for a lifelong journey toward love.
Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers speaks from Galatians and the Gospel of Luke. She currently serves as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's Canon for Evangelism and Reconciliation.
On Trinity Sunday Pastor Michael suggests that the idea of God as Trinity is less like a Rubix Cube to be solved and more like an invitation into a better story.
Pastor Michael explores the dramatic story of Pentecost and reflects on our world’s need for a Spirit that dissolves imperial instincts and drives us beyond our groups.
Shauna invites us into a conversation about two visions of power: one that commodifies, objectifies, and dehumanizes, and one that gives freedom and dignity—the way of Jesus.