WS Update: Generosity
The Christmas season is a time when we remember and reflect on the most amazing act of generosity in the history of the world: that God sent his Son, Jesus, that we might live through him (1 John 4:9). One way that Christians respond to God’s generosity is to live generously themselves. To give sacrificially…
WS Update: Lessons & Carols
In East London, there’s a famous fire station. Over the garages in big block letters are the words: LOVE IS THE RUNNING TOWARDS. That’s an apt motto for firefighters, and also a very fine summary of what Christians believe Christmas is all about. The coming of Jesus Christ as a baby in Bethlehem was love…
WS Update: #GivingTuesday
Tomorrow is #GivingTuesday. As a church, our goal this year is to raise $20,000 to support our church’s neighborhood engagement initiatives that will, we hope, enable our entire community to flourish as we pursue and promote renewal in our city. These initiatives are our efforts to care for neighbors in need: people who live around…
WS Update: Incarnation
December 1 is the first Sunday of Advent. During the Advent season, Christians celebrate that the “Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Or as The Message paraphrases that same verse, Jesus “became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” Christmas is about incarnation: God in Jesus stoops down to…
WS Update: Generosity
The book of Acts describes the first Christian community as radically unified and radically welcoming – a beautiful combination. God used those first communities of Christians to bring great joy to their cities (Acts 8:8). As a church, God has called us to seek the flourishing of New York City. As we saw in yesterday’s…
WS Update: Volunteer for Birthday Party for Jesus
There’s one Saturday every December when our church building, W83, is transformed into what just might be the biggest birthday party on the Upper West Side – Birthday Party for Jesus! Birthday Party for Jesus is just around the corner and registration is packed with 115 kids and 103 parents! To bring this wonderful event…
WS Update: Redeemer’s 35th Anniversary
Just over 35 years ago on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a new church called Redeemer opened its doors for its first Sunday morning worship service. That day the new church’s pastor, Tim Keller, preached: Because I am received in the Savior, because he has pardoned me out of his sheer grace rather than anything I…
WS Update: Church Alive for the Good of the City
Yesterday, we began a five-week sermon series in which we’re looking at different accounts from the Book of Acts. In the narratives of Acts, we encounter a church that’s alive for the glory of God and the good of their cities. Acts shows us a church that was: In Acts, we see God using imperfect…
WS Update: Friendship
As we saw in yesterday’s sermon, one of the wonders of the Christian faith is that Jesus calls his people friends: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command (John 15:13-14). Friendship with Jesus is made possible through…
WS Update: The Hope and Joy of Music
In 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the opening address for the Berlin Jazz Festival. As he spoke about music’s power to connect to your soul and provide hope, he said: “Everybody has the Blues. Everybody longs for meaning. Everybody needs to love and be loved. Everybody needs to clap hands and be happy. Everybody…