Good Shepherd New York

How do we respond when we feel threatened? Pastor Michael reflects on how these two images used by Jesus connect with our struggle against white supremacy today.

Pastor Michael Rudzena explores the temptation of Christ on the 1st Sunday of Lent and invites us to consider how we can de-center the voices in our lives that undermine divine love.

Is the goal of spirituality ecstatic moments of wonder? How is spirituality good for our world? On Transfiguration Sunday, pastor Michael explores the significance of this story for a spirituality for the 21st century.

What does it mean to love our enemies? How do we do it? Why should we do it? In this sermon Drew Jackson examines this most challenging command of Jesus through the witness of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life.

Pastor Michael reflects on Jesus as cutting against the grain of how most in his time (and ours) interpreted the ups and downs of life. What if we are most open to compassion, to love, to God because of our pain? What if our addiction to the consolations of money, food, amusement and fame buffer us from Divine Love?

Why did the first disciples leave everything and follow Jesus? Why would we do the same? The famous story of the fishermen who left their nets reveals the answer: an abundance of love, and an abundance of grace.

In this sermon Michael shows us how Jesus ends his Scripture reading with grace rather than vengeance and then drives his audience to lynch-level rage with his provocative inclusion.

The Gospel of Luke has Jesus going public in his home town and what we get is a powerful window into his sense of mission and the possibilities this mission holds for our church, city and world.

What if baptism wasn’t a ritual of entry into an exclusive club, but a grace-filled threshold of commitment that affirmed we are indeed Beloved and propelled us to pursue Dr. King’s vision of the borderless, Beloved Community?

Michael looks at Jesus’ first miracle as a clue to the essence of life’s meaning and a metaphor for the move away from a spirituality of empty calculations to one of brimming joy.