GSNY Sermon 3.7.21 - Father Michael Sparough

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MISSION

Good Shepherd New York exists to help people embody the love of Christ for the good of our neighbor.

DISTINCTIVES

BIBLICAL: We are rooted in a Sacred Story.

Everyone lives according to a dominant script. In our time the dominant script is shaped by what Walter Bruegemman calls “technolocial, therapeutic, consumeristic, militarism”. The task of spiritual formation is to “de-script” our lives from stories that undermine the good news of God’s unconditional love for all and “re-script” our lives in the story of Christ found in the Bible. As a community we have diverse beliefs about the Bible, but we center this Story in our practice, individually and communally.

CREDAL: We are guided by the ecumenical creeds.

The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds are the earliest compressions of Jesus’s story we have, written at a time when the Christian Church reached a consensus concerning essential claims of the faith. As a community these creeds guide our reading of the bible, our theological development and our ethical vision. Whatever faith/doubt we bring to them as people of the 21st century, we engage them as an act of solidarity with the faith handed to us.

SACRAMENTAL: We find healing power through ritual.

Sacraments in the Christian tradition are portals through which we experience the healing power and grace of God at the intersection of Creation and Community. Through the waters of Baptism and the bread and wine of Holy Communion we nourish an imagination that sees all of creation as charged with God’s presence and beauty.

MISSIONAL: Through word and deed we proclaim Good News.

Jesus announced and embodied the good news of the “reign of God”. When God’s dream for the world is embraced and practiced, justice and peace rise up. Our responsibility is to not only to embrace the Good News of God’s inclusive love for everyone and everything, but to express that love to everyone and everything. We gladly announce in places of fear and hate that God loves the world. We deeply embody in places of injustice or apathy a consciencous pursuit of God’s justice and peace. We seek our own growth in inclusive love as we cross lines of difference.