Midrash NYC

A predominant religious view is that God can't be around sin, God must separate Godself from humans' sinfulness. Its this very reasoning that led to the religious elite of Jesus' day, isolating themselves from people who they deemed sinners. However, in this sermon Rev. Josh challenges us to let go of certain views of God and cultivate a view of God that recognizes that God never distances Godself from us but we in our shame estrange and hide from God. So Did Jesus come to change God's disposition toward humans or to change humans' disposition toward God? How we answer this just might change how we love ourselves, God, and others?

Sean Thomas, like many other congregants at Forefront, found the church online while searching for progressive, affirming churches in New York City. When Forefront sent a group up to Albany in partnership with 13th Forward, Sean jumped at the chance to raise awareness of New York's prison system acting as institutional slavery. Why did it mean so much to him? Because Sean was once incarcerated for 18 months in NYSDOCCS and witnessed the trademarks of institutionalized slavery first hand: unsafe working conditions, working with often hazardous materials, work weeks over 40 hours, and all done while he was being paid pennies on the dollar for the sake of profit. Between 2010 and 2021, New York's prison manufacturing enterprise Corcraft sold over $545 million worth of goods and services and in 2020, five prison factory facilities increased the number of incarcerated workers working during this time to produce over 1,400 coffins a week during the first COVID outbreak.   ABOUT 13TH FORWARD Formerly LaborIsLabor, 13th Forward was formed in 2019 by Worth Rises and the Legal Aid Society. Our steering committee is currently led by Citizen Action of New York, Color Of Change, The Legal Aid Society, and the New York Civil Liberties Union and A Little Piece of Light. For the past two years, they have been working with State Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and impacted people to create the equitable prison labor system that incarcerated workers deserve that incarcerated workers deserve. This includes enshrining in the state constitution the abolition of slavery including for those convicted of crimes, and creating a system of labor for incarcerated individuals that prohibits forced labor, raises wages without unfair garnishments, protects worker safety and health, and creates job training programs that provide real pathways to employment post release. Their campaign supports the passage of two bills: The No Slavery in NY Act and The Fairness and Opportunity for Incarcerated Workers Act. Call your legislators today to demand their support. Find out more at 13th Forward.

Recent Bootcamper Nytasha joins us for the third week of Lent as we tackle “The Parable of the Fig Tree.“ This parable told by Jesus in Luke 13 is given as an answer to the question of cause and effect as it relates to good and evil. Follow Nytasha as she explores this concept from a different angle, Cancel Culture and our society's insistence of giving up on those who do not bear fruit.

Rev. Venida journeys through the second week of Lent with a focus on Cultivating Meaningful Work. In the highlighted Gospel story, Jesus boldly places priority on ensuring that he was accomplishing his goals, rather than shirking back because of fear, uncertainty or distrust. Jesus's work of love, healing and transformation can help us feel more content with ourselves, and the gifts we extend to others.

Rev. Josh started our Cultivating and Letting Go series by connecting the story of Jesus fasting and praying for forty days in the desert in order to cultivate the beginning of ministry to the value of us cultivating our spiritual lives so that we are prepared for the struggles and tribulations of our everyday life. Jesus wanders with God as a spiritual practice, thus preparing him to face trials and stay centered on his purpose. Many of us may have gotten out of the routine of spiritual practices or have baggage around being guilted to read our bible or pray. But quite frankly there is a smorgasbord of ways to connect with God and perhaps we can engage these opportunities anew.

In the final sermon of this series, Bible Say What, Pastor Mak explores the journey to finding oneself in the very text that may have once been used against us. How can someone begin to find themselves in the text if they haven't even felt permission to find themselves in the church? So many of us here have come from a background of harmful theology, myself included. Many of us have been told or taught that our very existence is shameful and unwelcome in Church. If we've been told we shouldn't even be seen in a church, how on earth are we supposed get to a place of seeing ourselves in the text. If the messaging that's been ingrained in us leaves people like us out, or worse- characterizes people like us as the villains, how are we to feel anything other than distant and resistant to opening the Bible, let alone reading it with the intention of seeing ourselves in it. It can feel incredibly daunting. It feels incredibly daunting to me. One could say this sermon topic is the “scare the you-know-what out of me” assignment. But like the intention behind my acting class, sometimes we need a push to get out of our own heads, move beyond the box the world has put us in, and address the fear that's been holding us back.

In today's sermon we ask questions related to the Bible, and whether it is the authority which is the word of God to be believed and obeyed; or whether its words were inspired by God; or whether it's infallible and free from errors and untruths. There are so many different beliefs and theological perspectives, and there probably will be until the end of time.

What themes do you think can easily be missed if reading this text from a place of power and privilege? Jesus placed himself in solitary with the weak and so did Moses and the 17 prophets in the Hebrew Bible. So what happens if you don't find yourself as weak? Might you find it difficult to see yourself in the narrative of Scripture as the one in need, being oppressed, held captive. Jesus came to give sight to the blind… perhaps this is spiritual metaphorical blindness. In this sermon you're invited to see the text anew from the perspective of black liberation, how might this lift is a spiritual blindness to see a broader vision?

We continue this sermon series by looking at how Jesus and his disciples read the Bible. Through the framework of Rob Bell's work, What Is the Bible?, we consider Interpretation, Incarnation and Invitation to determine how we too can be enlightened through the retelling of Scripture.

Jennifer Uriele Derenoncourt will continue with our new series, Bible Say What? and explore questions like What is the version of the Bible you want to take with you on this journey of life? What are the stories that speak to you and how do you interpret them? How do those stories align with your God?

Ever heard someone refer to the Bible as the manual or GPS for life, the magic 8 call, the rule book? Well Rev. Josh started our new series, Bible Say What? By exploring questions like: What is the Bible if not a GPS? Who wrote the Bible? Who decided what books were included? When did it come together? How and Why do we even read the Bible? Some of the responses to these questions just may surprise you…

Using the story of the Magi visit to Jesus, and the escape to Egypt, this sermon reminds us of how individually and collectively, we keep on seeking Jesus. We keep connecting with Him through worship, and through the love, joy, and goodness we share with others. It also reminds us that even in the most unlikely of circumstances, God will continue to graciously be found holding our questions, answers, and all of who we are, from generation to generation.

In two miraculous turn of events, Mary and Elizabeth, two relatives, experience a special connection through the power of a greeting and the Holy Spirit which ultimately helps us consider how we are able to see God in each other.

Have you ever experienced a shift or change in how you understood yourself, God, spirituality, the world, racism, sexism, sexuality, or perhaps your expectations for yourself vs. your family's expectations? Has it ever been difficult for certain people to trust where God is guiding you? Have they struggled to stand alongside you through every season of your life? Well in this sermon Rev. Josh RaderLee looks at similar challenges that Mary and Joseph faced as they discerned their unexpected future together. Joseph choose a better way after a divine intervention that shifted the way he saw God, himself, and his fiance. Do you or someone you know need a divine intervention to shift their or your thinking?

Pastor Venida shares what the 12 days were like after the announcement of her mother's body's transition.

Pastor Josh kicked off our advent series, “From Generation to Generation” with a kid-friendly sermonette by highlighting the generations of Jesus' ancestry from Matthew 1. In that long list of names, we remember the trauma and triumph of those who came before; each name holds a story and their story gives way to Christ's story. What is your story? Who is part of shaping your story? And how are you loving and living to shape the next generation?

A sense of urgency at work, in life, and certainly for the cause of justice, sounds like a good idea. But in reality, a culture of urgency can be soul-killing and undercut our essential work for justice and to fight racism in our world. We must identify the tyranny of urgency and choose to fight with a counter (in)urgency.

In the third week of our antidote to racism series, Rev. Josh RaderLee shares how he first became aware of his own individual privilege which opened his eyes to see racism as something that went beyond individual bias or internalized racism. But instead, we must actively let go of supremacy complexes that one way is better or normal. Remembering that deeming some people or cultures as "better" and "normal" requires that we dehumanize all those designated as "less than" and "abnormal."

Pastor Angela continues our series on The Antidote To Racism, with the topic: Cherish The Messiness (One Right Way and Perfectionism). Inspired by the movement to dismantle White Supremacy Culture, we will discuss antidotes and explore scriptures that dispel the practice of exclusion and division.

Pastor Mak kicks off our four week series, The Antidote To Racism, with the topic: Tell Me More: How Is It Racism? (Denial and Defensiveness). We are drawing from the White Supremacy Culture Characteristics and their accompanying antidotes and looking at the story of Peter denying Jesus 3 times (Luke 22:31-34, 54-62; John 21:15-17). Read more about Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture here: https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/characteristics.html

Pastor Josh will wrap up Our Values series by highlighting how love of God, self and others informs every part of our values and theology. We will explore how we can be intentional to foster a deeper understanding of God's love for us, so that we can grow in our love for ourselves and ultimately then extend that love to others. Many of us have been taught in fundamentalist forms of Christianity that we are inherently evil, bad, broken, and flawed. It's hard to love yourself when you're taught that you're not loveable. It's no surprise then that the same folks who are taught to believe they are inherently evil, don't love themselves and in effect do a really shotty job loving others. Because they truly are loving others as they love themselves, which is not very much. So let's recalibrate our love this Sunday!

Rev. Josh RaderLee wraps up a series on our values by highlighting our theological distinctives as a community. Many churches and denominations have a beliefs page, doctrinal statement or creed that defines who they are. However, as an interdenominational church, we are united by our shared values not our beliefs. Under the banner of these values that gives space for a lot of different theological believes to be held at Forefront. While there are common theological distinctives that many at Forefront may hold we do not expect anyone to ascribe to those distinctives to be apart of our diverse community of faith.

Rev. Venida promotes a message of fierce, intentional, radical equity which is the result of the generous, disruptive, and unconditional love of God. The message centers a portion of the story in the Gospel of John where Jesus encounters the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus goes straight to the place that some people would avoid, and this sermon encourages us to boldly do the same to meet needs and creating access for those who society continues to marginalize.

Denia Pérez offers an interpretation of Ruth 1:16-17 that centers platonic intimacy and suggests that it is a way to understand and grow closer to God.

With the recent SCOTUS Dobbs decision, Christians who have long been declaring abortion to be Biblically condemned rejoiced as their conservative theology was validated. But does the Bible actually explicitly condemn abortion? In her book, "Abortion and the Christian Tradition: A Pro-Choice Theological Ethic," Margaret Kamitsuka uses rigorous academic research to debunk the assumption that the Bible is inflexibly anti-choice, examining the patriarchal structure that early church leaders established and that contemporary church leaders reaffirm to oppress and dehumanize pregnant people. ABOUT MARGARET Margaret Kamitsuka is Professor Emeritus at Oberlin College in Ohio. After getting her PhD in theology from Yale University, she taught at Oberlin College for over 20 years, where she focused on courses in gender and religion. Now she does research and writing in the area of theological ethics--specifically reproductive issues. Her most recent book is titled Abortion and the Christian Tradition: A Pro-Choice Theological Ethic, published in 2019. She and her coeditor have just completed a textbook that will come out later this year titled, The T & T Clark Reader on Abortion and Religion: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives. Margaret and her husband David are the parents of twin sons, now age 21. Legal and advocacy resources to further explore: Abortion Conversation Projects: http://www.abortionconversationprojects.org/mission-and- vision Catholics for Choice: https://www.catholicsforchoice.org/ Exhale: https://exhaleprovoice.org/pro-voice/ Faith Aloud: https://www.faithaloud.org/ Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Justice: https://www.iv4rj.org/ Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice: https://rrlc.thinkific.com/ Sister Song: https://www.sistersong.net/ Faith Voices for Reproductive Justice: https://faithvoicesforreproductivejustice.co.uk/

Angela Lockett-Colas, Forefront's Worship Pastor, explores what it means to Re-imagine Worship.

This sermon will focus on coming home - back to Forefront. Our church may have undergone some changes and may even have a different feel; however, it still has the same values and the same love. Exploring one of the Bible's creation stories and the story of Cain and Abel, this sermon from Rev. Venida and Rev. Josh will be an opportunity for self-reflection as we redefine and reclaim home.

Continuing our "Coming Home" series, Jonathan Williams joins Angela Lockett-Colas and Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins to bring a unique worship experience brings together sermon and song to convey a message of God's constant presence, comfort and grace during times of loss and grief.

Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins continues our Coming Home Series by talking about the importance of adjusting one's life to the rhythms of the seasons in your life, and finding God for yourself in the midst of it all.

Rev. Josh Lee starts our Coming Home Series by highlighting the ways in which The Church has always been a messy progressive religion. He outlines how our views have progressed or differed throughout Scripture while also highlighting a disagreement had in the early church around the full inclusion of non-Jews. The Church of Jesus Christ has always been progressing, changing, adapting, and super freaking messy! But even amidst the mess some really beautiful things have been born when we allow ourselves to progress and embrace the mess!

In our third and final sermon of "The Path" series, Rev. Josh Lee borrows from Father Richard Rohr on how he describes our spiritual path as one of order, disorder, and reorder. This cycle is the historical Christian journey. Rev. Josh then shares 5 Things he does to reorder (reconstruct) his life and faith when it becomes disordered (deconstructed). This very practical sermon is full of helpful tools and wisdom in your journey through your spiritual path!

In our second sermon of "The Path" series, Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins reminds us how we are confronted with a host of experiences on the path causing us to question and have doubts about how we will overcome. This sermon will be a reminder that we can come to God with our fears and concerns, and the presence and power of God can be comfort and healing, and work in miraculous ways as we journey on.

Have you at one time believed something so strongly you could hear no other perspective? But then over time you could hear what you wouldn't before and see what you couldn't see before? In this message Rev. Josh Lee starts our new series “The Path” by challenging us to consider where on the path do we find ourselves? Perhaps like Saul, just having recently lost our formerly held religious convictions or perhaps like Ananias being called to give sight and compassion to folks who have previously persecuted us because we remember what it was like to once be in their shoes.

Ben Dubow, co-lead pastor of Riverfront Family Church in Hartford CT, asks "does scripture really matter today? Is it still relevant?" We explore how scripture can have practical impact on our lives. By exploring what scripture is not (and what it is) we can better embrace God's Word as being relevant and powerful in our day, without becoming dogmatic in our approach to scripture.

Rev. Josh Lee continues our "What Forms Us" series with this sermon on tradition. In this series we are gleaning from the founder of the United Methodist Church, John Wesley. John believed that as Christians we should allow our thinking, beliefs, ethics, and practices to be formed by four things (experience, reason, scripture, and tradition) In this message we focus on how Miriam brought her tambourine with her as she fled enslavement in Egypt during the exodus. Miriam choosing to bring her tambourine is a reminder to us that even as we leave faith traditions that have caused us trauma and pain there are still things worth bringing with you!

Keli Young continues our "What Forms Us" series with this sermon on reason. Jesus strains our ability to reason. He was disruptive, not just to systems of oppression but to how people understood the world. but the good news is that we're not expected to make sense of the world or our faith on our own. The disciples were always curious, constantly trying to figure out Jesus, and by extension their faith. Jesus welcomed their questions, doubts, and fears and he welcomes ours just the same!

Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins kicks off our "What Forms Us" series with the topic "The Authenticity of Experiencing Jesus." In this sermon, Rev. Venida talks about how each and every experience has formed us -- the good, bad, and the ugly ones, and how those experiences have authenticated our spiritual journey. We can bear witness to these experiences to enlightened the lives of others.

Guest preacher Chris Romine from Common Ground NYC continued our "Unapologetically Us" series with the topic "Unapologetically Free." To travel with the Spirit of God the way Jesus did, is to be drawn into places we could not have expected, around people we did not know, doing work we could not have anticipated, and having thoughts that might surprise us. To walk in the Jesus tradition is to cultivate a wild, unbridled will to seek collective freedom & enough imagination to settle for nothing less than that. For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Makenzie Gomez continues our “Unapologetically Us” series with the topic “Unapologetically Affirming”. Makenzie draws from Acts 8, when Philip meets the Ethiopian Eunuch. What can we learn from their interaction? How is Philip showing us what it means to listen and be open to questioning? In this message on NYC Pride Sunday, Makenzie encourages us to consider how to shift our allyship from passive to active, and celebrates the affirming faith our community has come to know.

Here's the start of our new sermon series, "Unapologetically Us". Rev. Josh Lee explores Jesus's habit of asking questions instead of providing straightforward answers. Jesus both engages people with questions who would have never engaged him and engages with people's questions who approach him.

The power of the Holy Spirit is at work right now revealing the truth that we all can be recipients of the deep, passionate, and fierce love of God. God's strong and loving arms continue to draw us in, and assure us that no one is left behind.

The Holy Spirit calls upon us throughout life, yet, how often are we receptive to the whisper? Some may think they are not worthy to be addressed by the God they've come to know, so they sink away from those fleeting moments. Others know so little that they miss it. In this Sermon, Rev. Josh unpacks an inspiring story from Acts 8, when one of the shunned of society, The Ethiopian Eunuch, bravely follows the whisper.

In 1954, something happened that changed the Southern evangelicals forever - and not in a good way. When the Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional, Baptist and Methodist churches in the south found that public sentiment echoed the court's calls for integration and suddenly their stance on segregationist theology had to change. So, it changed for the worst. In "The Bible Told Them So: Southern White Christians' Fight against Racial Equality," Professor Rusty Hawkins detailed how segregationist theology twisted over the years into private schools aimed at "protecting the family" and a dehumanizing colorblind theology that ignored systemic racism with alleged biblical support. ABOUT RUSTY Professor Rusty Hawkins is a professor of Humanities and History at Indiana Wesleyan University and has published on race and religion before with "Christians and the Color Line: Race and Religion after Divided by Faith" drawn from papers commemorating the tenth anniversary of "Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America." Born and raised in Kansas, Professor Hawkins is a diehard Kansas City Royals and Chiefs fan and is currently working on a manuscript about the conversion of George Wallace.

Here is Rev. Venida sharing the opening sermon in Forefront's new series, The Holy Spirit and You. She provides insight on who the Holy Spirit is and how her fruit manifests itself in our lives.

We wrapped up our GenderFULL God series with a panel discussion with fellow Forefronters hosted by Rev. Josh Lee. The panel discussed how tradition, experience, reason, and Scripture have all informed how they each see God. Check out the full Sermon Series here: t.ly/GCxi Thank you to our panelists! Susanne Scheel Sami Main Angela Lockett Frank Espinal D. Eng

Could it Be That God is She? For so long we have only considered a masculine God with male pronouns. What is the impact on women and nonbinary folx who don't identify with masculinity or male pronouns? If we were all created in the image of God, then how can we be more inclusive in our references to God? Watch Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins address this question in this third sermon in our GenderFULL God series. Join us this Sunday for the final sermon in this series which will take the form of panel discussion. Very exciting!

Gender is one of many categories that we deploy to organize society and create order. We demand, thus, that people who don't fit into categories neatly explain themselves, justify themselves. But as Christians we worship a God who doesn't fit into categories and refuses to justify Themselves. Listen to former Forefront Community Director, Kai (Sarah) Ngu (they/them), as they speak about "God as They" in our GenderFULL sermon series.

It's easy to be cynical about how to approach an increasing population of homeless and unhoused citizens when many political figures express concern and care, but approach the problem by ignoring the problem at worst or forcing people into unsafe and overtaxed shelters at best. Chelsea Horvath-Black and the workers at City Relief recognize that this demographic -- the "least of these" as Christ said -- have been perpetually overlooked and ignored by political administrations and seek to meet the homeless and unhoused as humans in recovery who are in need of food, healthcare, jobs, and places to live. In this conversation, Chelsea shares what led her to dedicating her life to caring for the homeless and unhoused, the challenges organizations like hers face when priorities for a revolving door of mayors is constantly shifting, and seeks to reframe the perception of homelessness not as perpetual, but as a stage that many can and have recovered from when needs are being properly addressed and cared for. For more information on City Relief and how to get involved, visit https://cityrelief.org/ ABOUT CHELSEA Chelsea is an LMSW and the current Senior Director of Program Services at City Relief. In addition, she is on staff at the All Angels' Church on the Upper West Side as the Director of Community Ministries. Before working for City Relief and All Angels' she lived and worked in Shanghai, China with a faith-based organization dedicated to the city's arts and culture sector, its impact on local communities, and the discipleship of artists.

In this opening week of the series we are invited to see God beyond cultural or biblical views of masculinity that change and differ over time; but instead to see God with a broader lens that draws from Scripture, tradition, reason and experiences. God is not and was not limited to Christ's body. God manifests Gods self in both Christ's body while also doing so through the spirit, through creation, and through us humans who reflect the diversity and expansiveness of the imago dei... image of God!

Watch Rev. Josh Lee preach on Easter Sunday 2022. Easter is a weird day because it's filled with both grief and joy. Grief as a consequence of unnecessary government-sanctioned violence and joy, that death and violence won't have the last word. It's because Mary stayed at the tomb with her grief… and wasn't quick to rush home with the others that Mary is the first to see the risen Christ and experiences her sadness turned to joy.

Jesus Christ has come and provided access to the Kingdom of God to all! Palm Sunday sermon with Rev. Venida Rodman Jenkins.