Here’s a sermon I have on January 29th, on the Resurrection of Jesus, at New Life Fellowship in Queens, NYC. Had a great time teaching on this topic! www.newlifefellowship.org
NYC Churches should not be homeless
Dear New Life Fellowship and friends,
As you know, New York City has barred churches and other religious groups from meeting in public schools and community centers. By February 12, at least 70 churches will be homeless. As a result of this issue, a growing coalition of church leaders and politicians are working to amend a vaguely-worded law that has been used to justify this action. They are asking that NYC encourage their members to send letters to key politicians asking them to support either a City Council resolution encouraging the State Assembly to act on this bill or to vote for the bill being offered by the Assembly.
Although we are not impacted by this decision at New Life Fellowship, the body of Christ in NYC is being impacted, and as a result, it would be a great act of unity to respond accordingly.
Councilman Cabrera (of the Bronx) and his office has taken the lead in mobilizing this endeavor. Below are templates that you can copy, paste and send. We’d love for you to write/call/email your representatives to take action by next week. Your actions can significantly impact this decision.
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To:
The Honorable Christine Quinn
224 West 30th St (Suite 1206)
New York, NY 10001
Re: Churches in Schools, NYC Council Resolution # 1155.
Dear Speaker Quinn,
I urge that you support the effort to allow Churches and Religious Groups equal access to rent spaces from Public Schools. Non-religious groups are allowed to meet in schools for activities central to their missions and religious groups should be allowed do the same. The exclusion of religious groups is discrimination against religious speech.
Speaker Quinn, in light of the impending February 12, 2012 deadline for religious groups to vacate schools, I urge that you provide your full support by expediently authorizing a public hearing on City Council Resolution # 1155, and bringing this vital legislation to the floor for a vote.
New York City has called on churches and religious groups during times of crisis in the past; I now ask that you not turn your back on us. I ask that you stand for the Equal Access.
Sincerely,
Name: _____________________________________________
Affiliation (optional):_________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Phone Number: ______________________________________
E-mail: _____________________________________________
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To:
The Honorable Sheldon Silver
250 Broadway, Suite 2307
New York, NY 10007
212-312-1420
Re: Churches in Schools, NYS Assembly Bill A8800
Dear Speaker Silver,
I urge that you support the effort to allow Churches and Religious Groups equal access to rent spaces from Public Schools. Non-religious groups are allowed to meet in schools for activities central to their missions and religious groups should be allowed do the same. The exclusion of religious groups is discrimination against religious speech.
Speaker Silver, in light of the impending February 12, 2012 deadline for religious groups to vacate schools, I urge that you provide your full support by expediently authorizing a public hearing on NYS Assembly Bill A8800, and bringing this vital legislation to the floor for a vote.
New York has called on churches and religious groups during times of crisis in the past; I now ask that you not turn your back on us. I ask that you stand for the Equal Access.
Sincerely,
Name: _____________________________________________
Affiliation (optional):_________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Phone Number: ______________________________________
E-mail: _____________________________________________
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To:
The Honorable Dean Skelos
55 Front Street
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
Re: Churches in Schools, NYS Senate Bill S6087
Dear Majority Leader Skelos,
I urge that you support the effort to allow Churches and Religious Groups equal access to rent spaces from Public Schools. Non-religious groups are allowed to meet in schools for activities central to their missions and religious groups should be allowed do the same. The exclusion of religious groups is discrimination against religious speech.
Majority Leader Skelos, in light of the impending February 12, 2012 deadline for religious groups to vacate schools, I urge that you provide your full support by expediently introducing NYS Senate Bill S6087, holding a public hearing, and bringing the bill to the floor for a vote.
New York has called on churches and religious groups during times of crisis in the past; I now ask that you not turn your back on us. I ask that you stand for the Equal Access.
Sincerely,
Name: _____________________________________________
Affiliation (optional):_________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________
___________________________________________________
Phone Number: ______________________________________
E-mail: _____________________________________________
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To:
The Honorable Michael Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY, 10007
Re: Churches in Schools,
Administrative Section I.Q of Chancellor’s Regulation D-180
Dear Mayor Bloomberg,
I urge that you extend the deadline for religious groups to vacate public schools, and moreover urge you to lift the discriminatory ban imposed by the Department of Education on religious groups renting school spaces for worship. Non-religious groups are allowed to meet in schools for activities central to their missions and religious groups should be allowed do the same. The exclusion of religious groups is discrimination against religious speech.
You have called on churches and religious groups during times of crisis in the past; I now ask that you not turn your back on us. I ask that you stand for the Equal Access.
Sincerely,
Name: _____________________________________________
Affiliation (optional):_________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________
___________________________________________________
E-mail: _____________________________________________
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To:
The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224
Re: Churches in Schools
NYS Assembly Bill A8800 and NYS Senate Bill S6087
Dear Governor Cuomo,
I urge that you sign NYS Assembly Bill A8800 and NYS Senate Bill S6087 when they come to your desk. These bills would allow Churches and other Religious Groups to rent space from New York State Public Schools. Non-religious groups are allowed to meet in schools for activities central to their missions and religious groups should be allowed do the same. The exclusion of religious groups is discrimination against religious speech.
I hope that you sign this bill with the same earnestness that you did the Marriage Equality bill. I ask that you stand with us for Equal Access.
Sincerely,
Name: _____________________________________________
Affiliation (optional):_________________________________
Address: ___________________________________________
___________________________________________________
E-mail: _____________________________________________
Potty Training, Mistakes and Leadership
“I read an article on potty training your child in 3 days. I was skeptical. Now, I’m a believer.”
This was my Facebook status/Tweet this morning. A few days ago, my wife, Rosie, and I were in despair, concerned that Karis will be in diapers through her adult years. Since Karis is our first child, this is our first experience in parenthood, therefore, we slip into modes of irrational despair every other day.
We read an article together on potty training your child in 3 days. We were quite skeptical, but decided to apply the steps exactly as outlined. After the first day, Karis had some mishaps. By day two, she was showing drastic improvement. By day three, she was going without us even knowing! Does she have mishaps every now and then? Yes. Is she making great progress? Absolutely!
Part of the process of potty training has been messy (on a number of levels). But, the key to her development has been us providing a supportive environment that makes room for mistakes. As I’ve thought about this over the last 4 days, I’ve thought about leadership.
Part of my role as a pastor/leader is to empower leaders and release them into their God-given gifts and talents. The difficult part of leadership mobilization is dealing with mishaps. People make mistakes. Working with people can be messy (on a number of levels), but I’m convinced that unless leaders provide an affirming, supportive environment to work through mistakes, maturity will never happen. For me, this means delegating and giving space for people to lead, even if it means making “mistakes.” It also means being patient with people, when they don’t progress as fast as I’d like them to. I’m sure there are scores of other applications for me, which I will be reflecting on.
So, God has been speaking to me through the ordinary and messy symbol of the potty. And, I’m convinced that unless this supportive and affirming environment is created, many potential leaders will be wearing diapers well into their adult life, and not growing in maturity. And, that’s messy!
Some books I read in 2011 that I recommend
Below is a list of books I read in 2011. This is not the complete list, but the books listed are books I recommend. As you will see, the vast majority of books have to do with Christian theology, church leadership and spirituality. In 2012, I hope to broaden my list to include more fiction, biographies, etc. This list is in no particular order. At the end, I’ll mention my three favorite books of the year:
- Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
- Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley
- Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright
- The King Jesus Gospel by Scot McKnight
- Church Unique by Will Mancini
- Unconditional (the call to Jesus to radical forgiveness) by Brian Zahnd
- After you believe by N.T. Wright
- Search and Rescue by Neil Cole
- Collected Sermons of Will Willimon
- Rumors of God by Jon Tyson and Darren Whitehead
- Replenish by Lance Witt
- The Pastor by Eugene Peterson
- Introducing the Missional Church by Alan Roxburgh and Scott Boren
- Small Groups with a Purpose by Steve Gladen
- The Contemplative Pastor by Eugene Peterson
- Invitation to Lead by Paul Tokunaga
- New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton
- Falling Upward by Richard Rohr
- The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission by John Dickson
- The Good and Beautiful Community by James Bryan Smith
- The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith
- Why Jesus? by Will Willimon
- The Shattered Lantern by Ronald Rolheiser
- Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger
- Pure Desire by Ted Roberts
- The Preaching Life by Barbara Brown Taylor
- Generous Justice by Tim Keller
- Reconciling All Things by Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice
- In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore
- The Unnecessary Pastor by Eugene Peterson and Marva Dawn
- Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code by Samuel Chand
- Our one great act of Fidelity (waiting for Christ in the Eucharist) by Ronald Rolheiser
- Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas
All of the above books were very good and I highly recommend them. My three favorite books that I read in 2011 were Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas, The Pastor by Eugene Peterson and Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright
I loved Metaxas’ book because Bonhoeffer is probably the theologian/pastor that has influenced my theology and practice more than any other. I loved the book.
I loved Eugene Peterson’s memoir because his journey as a pastor was a journey I can very much identify with. He happens to be one of my favorite authors as well.
N.T. Wrights book, Simply Jesus gives another compelling vision of who Jesus was/is and what the Kingdom is about. I can’t get enough of Wright’s books.
Can’t wait to start my 2012 reading!
Significant mentors in my life (part 2)…Pastor Roberto Otero
A few months ago, I wrote about mentors in my family that God has used to shape me as a follower of Jesus. I have many other mentors, who, over the course of the last 13 years have invested in me. I will write other posts about some of them, but for this post, I wanted to focus on one of the key mentors of my life. My first pastor, Roberto Otero.
When I became a follower of Jesus, I started attending a church that was instrumental in calling many of my family members to faith in Christ. Arca de Salvacion (Ark of Salvation) was a church located a couple of blocks away from my home in East New York, Brooklyn (the church still exists today). When I turned my heart over to Christ, this church was in a season of unique revival. Families, not just individuals were coming to Christ and it was there that I received my first training in leadership. The man leading the church was Pastor Roberto Otero. Pastor Otero was a man with a serious disposition (he was indeed serious about his faith) and a warm, loving heart. As I look back, he was a true pastor. Pastor Otero seemed to see something in me, because at 20 years old, he gave me significant opportunities to teach the English Sunday school class, which was attended by 10-20 people (most of which were older than me).
Pastor Otero would sit in my class, and be a continual voice of affirmation and correction (I didn’t like the correction part). After teaching in Sunday school, he started giving me opportunities to preach in other churches. While I had tons of zeal, I had no experience, limited knowledge of the Bible and had no idea who I was as a teacher of scripture. Consequently, I delivered sermons that would make me cringe today (that’s the beauty of one’s journey though, I think). Pastor Otero modeled a heart of worship (he was a great singer) as well as a shepherd’s heart to care and serve people in his flock. The thing I’m most thankful for is he gave me space to make mistakes and develop a gift to make scripture come alive in people. He provided a young, zealous kid a laboratory to lead at an early age. As I lead people today, I’m aware that sometimes all a young person needs is an opportunity to lead, fail and space to try it again. I’m where I am today because of men like Roberto Otero.
An opportunity to pray and practice generosity
Dear New Life,
I hope all in well with you and your family after Hurricane Irene. For some of us, the impact was minimal. For others, it turned out to be quite a headache. All in all, I’m thankful that no one was injured. Let’s continue to be in prayer for all those affected by this Hurricane.
This was the first time that we’ve ever canceled services at New Life Fellowship. While it was a difficult decision to make, we thought it was the prudent one to make in light of the projected impact on our city.
As a result of the canceled services, we didn’t get a chance to sing and worship together, come under the preaching of the word (although a “cyber-sermon” was sent) or get the chance to “practice generosity.” So, I wanted to use this letter as a means to let you know a couple of things:
1) If you would like to gather for prayer, you can do so tonight (Tuesday) at our prayer meeting, which is held at New Life, beginning at 7pm. This is a great time to gather in community to pray for the needs of our families, city and the world. It’s also a great environment to hear from God for your own life.
2) Many of you might not know that you can give (tithes and offerings) via our website. This is a very convenient way to “practice generosity.” With all the great things happening at New Life through our Sunday services, outreaches and our Community Development Corporation, you don’t want to miss an opportunity to join us in advancing the Kingdom by offering a financial gift. If you prefer to bring your tithe/offering from this past Sunday to church next week, that is totally fine. We just wanted to give you another easy option. Here’s a link you can click to give today.
Also, if you’d like to hear messages on finances and faith, feel free to check out a sermon series we did last year at New Life.
At New Life we believe that we don’t have to give…we get to give. Thanks for your all your generosity, prayer and service. Looking forward to being with you on Sunday!
Blessings,
Rich
Sunday Sermon: Making Room for Interruptions (Hurricane Irene Edition)…Mark 5:21-43
Dear New Lifers,
Although we are not meeting together to sing, worship and hear a word from scripture in community this Sunday, I wanted to offer some thoughts that can serve as a cyber-sermon as we wait for Irene to pass by.
This hurricane has interrupted the regular flow of life in the city, as millions of people are regulated to their homes. As I’ve been thinking and observing the news and weather reports, the word that keeps coming to me is “interruption.” Whether it is a category 1 hurricane or a tropical storm, life as we know it has been interrupted. Granted, this interruption might only last for a couple of days, but it serves as an illustration to the other “little interruptions” that we experience.
For some of you reading this, you’ve experienced economic interruptions, or interruptions in your dating life. For some, your interruptions have come via illness or depression. In short, interruptions have a way of impacting life as we know it.
When interruptions come, it’s easy to gripe and complain and blame, but I think there’s another way we can respond. Henri Nouwen writes these words that I think are full of wisdom and insight:
“While visiting the University of Notre Dame, where I (Nouwen) had been a teacher for a few years, I met an older experienced professor who had spent most of his life there. And while we strolled over the beautiful campus, he said with a certain melancholy in his voice, “You know . . . my whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.”
The phase “interruptions were my work” reminds me so much of Jesus and the way in lived in the world. Jesus was constantly bombarded with people’s needs, illnesses, requests and interruptions. In Mark 5 (a sermon I preached on recently), Jesus is interrupted on his way to a healing. Check out this passage in Mark 5:
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Overhearing[c] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Jesus is interrupted by a woman who has a serious personal illness that leaves her alienated from the community. And yet, instead of brushing this person off, Jesus lives from a place of centered attention. As I see it, Jesus converts interruptions into invitations.
Jesus seems to view interruptions as invitations to display the love and power of God to the world. Jesus had a way of living that was open to what the Father would bring to him. As a result, he allows what I would see as an interruption to become an opportunity to do good.
Brother Lawrence, the great monastic author, wrote a book called, “Practicing the Presence of God.” Recently, I heard of a book by an author named Mike Mason entitled, “Practicing the Presence of People.” In this story, Jesus does both. He’s attentive to the Father, and attentive to the people around him.
As I sit in my living room writing these words, I’m aware that there are many times that I’ve missed God’s invitations to slow me down, or teach me something, because I’ve looked at them as interruptions to my plans, my agenda and my will. Yet, I’m reminded by this passage, that whenever life doesn’t unfold the way I’d like it, God might be up to something.
If we are going to make room for interruptions, I believe it’s going to emerge out of a contemplative life. That is, a life which submits to a rhythm of prayer and activity. Although this hurricane has interrupted life on the east coast, and in particular, in our city, I believe this is just another invitation from God to have followers of Jesus display the love and power of God to a world that desperately needs it.
So, as you go through your Sunday, and this week, my prayer is that you (and I) would intentionally carve out time to be with God, so that when go about our business, you might view interruptions in a new light.
The Lord bless you! Can’t wait to sing and be with you next Sunday!
Rich
P.S. I recommend that you spend part of your Sunday reading this passage above, and consider these questions for personal reflection or family discussion:
1) How do you respond when your plans are interrupted?
2) What would it take for you to view interruptions the way Jesus does?
3) What is God teaching you through this hurricane?
