Archive for July 2010

Reveal Summer Spa Benefit

Reveal is a volunteer-run nonprofit organization benefiting local women recovering from abuse and sex exploitation. It was birthed out of one of TGC’s first missional communities. All proceeds of Reveal‘s Summer Spa Benefit go to the Reveal monthly self-care workshops.

Wednesday, July 28, 8 pm at the Jeunesse Spa & Salon, Empire Hotel (1885 Broadway at Lincoln Center)

Admission: $25 online, $35 door

Free mini-treatment to first 50 individuals to purchase a ticket; $30 gift card to first 50 individuals in at the door.

RSVP online

The Life of Obed Edom

Trinity Grace Church teaching July 25 2010, recorded at TGC Westside, Suzy Silk

Being and Seeing Jesus

Trinity Grace Church teaching, July 25 2010, recorded at TGC Chelsea, Guy Wasko

We are prophets of a future not our own

It helps, now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen.

(A prayer of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was martyred in San Salvador in 1980)

Shalom and Justice

Lisa Sharon Harper, co-founder and executive director of New York Faith & Justice, who spoke at TGC on July 18, referred to a ground-breaking book that should be must reading for all Christians.  The book is Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America, by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith. 

A second book, also recommended is United by Faith: The Multiracial Congregation as an Answer to the Problem of Race by Curtiss Paul DeYoung, Michael O. Emerson, George Yancey, and Karen Choi Kim.

Shalom and Justice

Trinity Grace Church teaching, July 18 2010, recorded at TGC Chelsea, special guest Lisa Sharon Harper

How can we live with the evil in the world?

How can we live with the evil in the world?

Jesus answered with the parable of the wheat and the darnel, whose force hits us every day. It is about having patience with the persistence of evil in the world. We may face malicious vandalism, like the enemy who sowed weeds in his neighbour’s field. In their early stages the weeds looked like wheat, and you could not root up weeds without taking some wheat as well. So too some of the evils we face are dressed up to look respectable.

We have to fight evil, but we need not give ourselves ulcers if we find that society remains far from perfect. The final judgment lies with God.

Lord, you remind me of my impatience when faced with evil in the world. Let me learn to wait for the wheat and the weeds to grow. Otherwise my judgments will likely be too hasty and mistaken.

You warn us against the illusions of inquisitions which tried to eliminate sin by laws and bonfires. You do not ask us to coerce people into what we think is the right path. Part of me is impatient to root out evil, like the servants offering to weed out the darnel. You tell me to wait on God’s judgment and trust that the goodness of his seed will prevail over the weeds.

May I learn patience. When faced with violent people, I will not let their way of treating me determine my way of treating them.

(From Sacred Space)

A Journey to the Center

Trinity Grace Church teaching, July 11 2010, recorded at TGC Chelsea, Andy Crouch

Countdown to Zero - UPDATE: no more free tickets

A still from Countdown to Zero

Many of us are oblivious to the nuclear danger in which we unwittingly live—and why Christians should be taking the lead on it. But when it comes to nuclear weapons, we’re talking about the sanctity of life, care for creation, concern for the poor, and preservation of justice.

Countdown to Zero is a documentary film that explores the threat of nuclear proliferation.

View the trailer here.

TGC is taking a group to see Countdown to Zero on July 23 at AMC Empire at 8:15 p.m.

All free tickets have been spoken for, however feel free to purchase a ticket for the same show and join us! Contact Gary for more info.

Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit

Save the Date!

Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice invites you to

Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit
October 2010
Exact Date and Location TBA

What is it like to live in a “food desert”?  What is the link between poverty, obesity and diabetes? Do things just have to be this way? Is it a lost cause or can we do something about it?

Mark your calendars now and join faith and community leaders, health and environmental advocates, and government representatives from the Boroughs of the Bronx, Manhattan, and Brooklyn in October for the Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit.

Join hundreds of New Yorkers who live in New York City’s food deserts and those who don’t. Listen and share your stories of food, faith and health. Work with a small group representing a diverse cross-section of New Yorkers to discern the spiritual, social and structural causes for our city’s health disparities. Then work together to set action priorities for the next year.

Be a part of the solution!