Good Shepherd New York

On Trinity Sunday, Sean Palmer of Ecclesia Houston, preaches on John 3:1-17

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 sermon audio from May 16th, 2021.

The sermon audio from May 9th, 2021.

The sermon audio from May 2nd, 2021.

The sermon audio from April 25th, 2021.

The sermon audio from April 18th, 2021.

The sermon audio from April 4th, 2021.

The sermon audio from Easter Sunday, April 4th, 2021.

The sermon audio from March 28th, 2021.

The sermon audio from March 21st, 2021.

The sermon audio from March 14, 2021.

The sermon audio from March 7th, 2021.

The sermon audio from February 28th, 2021.

The sermon audio from February 21st, 2021.

The sermon audio from February 14th, 2021.

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.