Midrash Nyc

Do you believe in 'tithing' or giving a percentage of your income to church? Do you believe it's even worth giving to the church? In this 4th sermon in our EasterTide series, Sarah Ngu explains how technically, tithing -- giving a percentage of your income to the church -- is an outdated concept rooted in a time when Israel was a sovereign nation where people had to give taxes, or tithes, to their priests. We don't live in such a context- so why give? When we give, we remember that our lives themselves are a gift, we are simply repaying our Creator and acknowledge our dependence on all that is. Giving is a liturgical act that shapes our hearts towards gratitude.

The Gospel of Heaven: Is Jesus the only way? At some point in your life you were told that Jesus was the only way to heaven or told someone else that Jesus was the only way to heaven. We justify this by using John:6. It says, "Jesus answered, I'm the way the truth, and the life. No one comes to God but through me." This is a terrible interpretation of scripture! In this 3rd sermon in our EasterTide series, watch Jonathan Williams remind us how Jesus excluded no one from his promise of Heaven. As always, it’s critical that we understand the context of culture at the time these stories were written. When we believe that people who don't believe in Jesus are unworthy of eternal life, we'll treat them poorly in this life.

Candice's story of love and discovery sounds a lot like the story many of us have either heard or lived before: a teenage crush, a nervous first kiss, and a new sense of a world of possibilities opening up before her. Unfortunately, her story of love and discovery also contains a few other elements that sound a lot like those that many of us have either heard or lived before: confusion about her lesbian feelings, church leaders commanding her to change her identity, and entering into a heterosexual relationship to perpetuate denial. In short, she went through what so many LQBTQI people go through in evangelical churches: trauma. Candice eventually came to embrace and love who she is and found a church that did the same, which equipped her to establish The Christian Closet, a fully LGBTQ team of counselors and coaches who provide virtual mental and spiritual health services for Christians who are on the journey of realizing that they are LQBTQI. As they say on their website, "God loves you as you are, period.

Candice's story of love and discovery sounds a lot like the story many of us have either heard or lived before: a teenage crush, a nervous first kiss, and a new sense of a world of possibilities opening up before her. Unfortunately, her story of love and discovery also contains a few other elements that sound a lot like those that many of us have either heard or lived before: confusion about her lesbian feelings, church leaders commanding her to change her identity, and entering into a heterosexual relationship to perpetuate denial. In short, she went through what so many LQBTQI people go through in evangelical churches: trauma. Candice eventually came to embrace and love who she is and found a church that did the same, which equipped her to establish The Christian Closet, a fully LGBTQ team of counselors and coaches who provide virtual mental and spiritual health services for Christians who are on the journey of realizing that they are LQBTQI. As they say on their website, "God loves you as you are, period.

We Christians never believe that we're holy enough. We have to believe a certain way. Read scripture a certain way. Attend Church often. Believe that some people are holy and others are not. Believe an atonement theory that says God is holy and separate from us because we are not holy. With Jesus it seems like we have a really clear picture of what God sees as holy. God sees refugees as holy. Jesus was one. God sees the politically oppressed as holy. Jesus was politically oppressed. God sees the homeless and underserved as holy. Jesus was too. God sees those ruthlessly murdered by a corrupt justice system as holy. Jesus experienced death at the hands of a broken system. What God does through Jesus is essentially tell us that there is no line between that which is holy and that which is not. All of it is sacred and all of us are sacred. All of us are holy and worthy to part of God’s priesthood. If the God we believe tells us that we are separate and not holy then maybe it's time for us to kill that god.

Mira Sawlani-Joyner, guest preacher and former Community Director at Forefront Brooklyn, shares her personal experiences as an Asian woman. Inspired by the story of Rahab, Mira shows us how Asian women have divine purpose in this world, partnering with and co-laboring with God to bring God's kin-dom to fruition. Unfortunately, Asian women are hyper sexualized by the media and popular culture, and are relegated to tropes and stereotypes that render them as submissive and docile. These stereotypes lead to their treatment as second class citizens and stand in the way of us seeing Asian women as image bearers reflecting the diverse qualities of God. This is a powerful, heartfelt sermon that challenges our views towards Asian Americans and helps us take a step closer to a society that accepts, values and respects all.

The resurrection story is not a neat and tidy formula to get us into heaven. It is a wild and imaginative story that asks us to take big risks for others and to work with God to bring about new creation. Jonathan Williams shares that If what we see in Jesus is God's own self, revealed, then we are dealing with a God who is ridiculously indiscriminate about choosing friends, who would rather die than have a neat and tidy sin management system complete with a scorecard, who would not lift a finger to condemn those who crucified him - A God unafraid to get God's hands dirty for the ones God loves. The resurrection of Jesus Christ did not happen so that your soul would be saved from hell and your sins forgiven, rather so that you would open your eyes to the unexpected and radical love that God has for God's creation.

Most often, our hope is naïve and optimistic, and we’re wishing for a successful outcome. On this Palm Sunday, Jonathan Williams shares that’s not really what hope is -- it’s what comes when all else fails. The hope that comes when all else feels hopeless -- apocalyptic hope -- shows that the apocalypse isn't an ending, it's a revelation. What can feel like failure or pain can actually be the beginning of hope. This is the sixth and final sermon in our “This Feeling's Got Me Like...” series.

The opposite of fear is saying yes to living fully. The future is unknown. That scares the crap out of us. What do we do in the face of the unknown? Jonathan Williams shares that the way forward is not fear, it’s faith. Faith is a choice to take action and move forward even when there is nothing guaranteed. To make the conscious choice to believe just for today that the great I AM is at work in our fears and in our unknowns. The opposite of fear is saying yes to being made in the image of God, of living fully alive, warts and all. This is the fifth and final sermon in our “This Feeling's Got Me Like...” series.

Lonely in the wilderness. The pandemic of loneliness existed long before COVID-19, and being lonely can make us feel like we’re lost in the wilderness. In this Sunday’s message, guest preacher and former Forefront Brooklyn associate pastor Jennifer Fisher of Launchpad Partners tells us that the wilderness can be the place where we come to know God the strongest, and can actually be a place of hope for us to grow deeper in relationship with God, each other, and creation. This is the fourth sermon in our “This Feeling's Got Me Like...” series. Launchpad Partners is committed to impacting the world through launching new, inclusive faith communities. Born out of the W/ Collective network of churches, they offer networking opportunities and events with fellow leaders, one-on-one coaching for faith entrepreneurs, and a content library of resources for those launching in a progressive, inclusive context.

Erasing the stigma of mental illness Covid has highlighted an unspoken struggle for millions of us. We're not doing well and don't know how to find healing. We suffer silently and are afraid to talk about mental illness in the church. We believe that we're not holy enough, godly enough. That's a lie! In this sermon, Jonathan Williams explains how our struggles with mental challenges can actually shape the kin-dom of god. This is the third sermon in our “This Feeling's Got Me Like...” series.

"Make no mistake about it: evangelicalism is white supremacy disguised as religion." That quote comes from Renita J. Weems, just one of the three Black women biblical scholars whose work Char Adams digs into for her thesis, "If It Wasn’t for the Women: An Exploration of Works by Renita Weems, Wil Gafney, & Kelly Brown Douglas." These three women are disparate but prominent Womanist voices whose work analyzing and interpreting the Bible have informed the experience of Black women in history with a specific eye on the writing and canonization of books in the Bible have perpetuated white supremacy, misogyny, and trans and homophobia. This interview demands that we confront how there were very harmful and demeaning factors that led to the Bible's creation, but also offers hope for how decolonizing the allegedly infallible text can open us up to the truly revolutionary example of Christ on the road to embracing and elevating Black women. ABOUT CHAR Char Adams is a journalist currently living in Texas working

How anger is a gift and a gateway to positive change. We’ve been taught that the Christian response to anger is to minimize it, but it’s actually *not* Biblical to deny our feelings of anger. In this sermon, Jonathan Williams shows us that our anger is not a spiritual weakness or failure, but rather something we can employ to help create positive change. This is the second sermon in our “This Feeling's Got Me Like...” series.

These days we're all about optimization, self-hacking, and efficiency. We feel enslaved to our to-do lists. How do we resist some of these values? In this sermon, Sarah Ngu examines the value of productivity in our workaholic society. It all began with industrial capitalism, which led to the “machinization” of the human body. But the Christian tradition starts from a very different place. Our faith begins from the premise that human beings are not machines created for labor, but that we are created to receive. This is the first sermon in our Lenten series: “This Feeling's Got Me Like...".

What will you do with what God has entrusted you? Jonathan Williams looks at Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus tells his audience that they do not have to compare themselves to others because they are already righteous, they’re already loved, and they’re already children of God. What are you planning to do with what God has entrusted to you as God’s unique, adopted, and favored child? This is the sixth and final sermon in our “BE” series.

Valentine's Day is just a few days away and many people won't have a partner with whom to celebrate it. And you know what? That's okay! In fact, that's more than okay. Despite what society and even the Church may imply, being single does not and should not mean that you're on the path to finding someone to complete you. This is one of the many points that Brittany Kahn and Kim Owens, the co-leaders of the Singled Out small group, hope to convey to the people who sign up and attend. This interview doesn't just cover how they both arrived at the point to form the group and what to expect if you attend, but also examines how the Bible has been used as a club by oppressive forces to idolize the nuclear family, to stigmatize people who choose to be single, and shame people who do not adhere to a heteronormative and celibate worldview. For more information about Singled Out, be sure to visit forefrontnyc.com/groups. They meet virtually every Tuesday night. If you wish to get in touch with the leaders directly, yo

1 Corinthians 7:34 says "An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit." For many people -- women, especially -- Paul's words on the virtue of his own singleness may be the only answer they're given to the question of "what value is there in being single?" For far too long, the American church has perpetuated the idea that being single is only noteworthy because it means that one is on the path to being married, further cementing the hurtful stigma that being single means lack of fulfillment. Jana Bennett had heard enough of this, so she wrote the book "Singleness and the Church: A New Theology of the Single Life" with the purpose of changing the conversation around the value that being single can have as individuals and as church members even if they're not emulating Paul and devoting their body and soul to mission work (because, honestly, who is?). Steering the conversation are Brittany Kahn and Kim Owens, the co-leaders of F

“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Sarah Ngu, Makenzie Gomez, and Jonathan Williams discuss how to interpret this passage for today. The "narrow road" that Jesus talks about is not about orthodoxy -- believing and doing the right things. Instead, it's about living with intentionality and purpose, and embracing the process and not just the destination. This is the fifth sermon in our “BE” series.

"Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect" is one of the most misinterpreted and damaging scriptures in our bible. How do we redeem the idea of perfection? Jonathan Williams explores how striving for perfection has been incorporated into Christianity and reminds us that the real measure of worthiness is not perfection, it’s courage to be compassionate and justice minded towards others. God’s perfection is the simple practice of being courageous, compassionate, and creating connection. This is the fourth sermon in our “BE” series.

Jonathan Williams asks the question - is judgment always bad? Jonathan examines Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and the context in which Jesus judges others. He reminds us that God’s judgment is restorative justice in action. God’s judgment always believes the best in others. And so we believe the best in others because that’s how God sees the other. This is the third sermon in our “Be” series.