Church of the City New York

This past Sunday, we continued our Creative Minority series, and Pastor Olivia challenged us to consider ethics and how we make decisions in our lives. Christian ethics must be a response from our hearts to the grace, character, and love of God, putting a spotlight on our Savior, and forming us in a way counter to our culture, especially in the areas of money, sex, and power. As Christians, we must ask ourselves: how can I love generously, faithfully, sacrificially, and humbly so that the world is enticed to ask follow-up questions for which the gospel is the answer? Ultimately, the Christian ethic is love from beginning to end.

This past Sunday, Pastor Jon continued our Creative Minority series by talking about the importance of the stories we believe in. Living in a time of warring narratives, we must deeply root ourselves in the one, true narrative that Jesus Christ is Lord. By routing our actions, thoughts, and expectations through the person of Jesus, our lives will become compelling stories that display the Gospel, and shake the world from spiritual sleep.

This past Sunday, Pastor Jon launched our new sermon series, A Creative Minority, and laid the groundwork for how we can begin to grow a new kind of community in our current moment. If we build a web of stubbornly loyal relationships, we can then knit them together in a living network of persons who are committed to practicing the way of Jesus for the renewal of the world. Communities built on covenantal relationships like this can create nets that have the power to capture the hearts of those around us and reveal Jesus like never before.

This past Sunday, Pastor Jon cast a vision for where our church's confidence needs to be rooted going into the new year. When we go beyond stating our belief in God and place our trust in Him, we develop an unshakeable confidence in His divine ability. Setting our hearts rightly before God, and prioritizing His presence in our habits, will allow us to attain a hidden source of life that will enable us to flourish no matter our circumstances.

For the last Sunday of 2020, Pastor Jon walked us back through this year that has been full of disruption and division, and revealed that our current world mirrors the one Jesus was born into. He pointed us to Mary who, despite her difficult circumstances, pondered the work of God around her and in her, and treasured these things up in her heart. Pastor Jon encouraged us to finish the year like Mary by taking time to remember God's faithfulness in our church, our city, and our lives, and store these things up in our hearts as we prepare for the new year.

This Past Sunday, Pastor Jon wrapped up our Advent series by talking about the defiant love of God that is manifested in Jesus the Messiah. By looking at Isaiah 61, we learn that Jesus is the prophesied Servant of the Lord who would come to restore the world and usher in a celebration of redemption. Pastor Jon reminded us that once we receive the renewing love of Jesus, we are called to join Him on mission, and be the ministers of His scandalous, radical, love here on earth.

This Past Sunday, Pastor Susy brought good news in her message in the midst of our Advent series, talking about the great joy that is available to us all through Jesus Christ. After such a difficult year, and an uncertain future ahead of us, it is more important than ever for us to find the source of a lasting, defiant Joy. Proverbs 13:12 defines joy as the fulfillment of a longing, stating, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

This Sunday, Pastor John continued our advent series by talking about having defiant peace. When we look to our own selves or earthly systems for peace, we will be met with darkness and despair. But God shines light in the most surprising places. Ultimately, we have defiant peace inside us because we have the Prince of Peace inside us.

Pastor Suzy kicked off our Advent series this past Sunday, preaching on what it means to have defiant hope in a year like 2020. Over two thousand years ago, God gave a message of hope and deliverance to King Ahaz of Judah: a baby would be born as a sign of God's presence in the besieged city. Today, this baby, Emmanuel, is a sign that God is with us in the midst of our suffering and sin, and the reason we can have defiant hope for a better future.

To wrap up our series on disruptive discipleship, Pastor Jon preached on Jesus's closing metaphor for the Beatitudes: that those who embody Jesus's kingdom are the salt and light of the world. To be salt is to be radically devoted to Jesus and His teachings in a culture of compromises. To be light is to engage in boundary-crossing missions into dark places that Jesus calls us to. In being salt and light with purity and integrity, we can become potent disciples of our times, that our cities and communities need.