But one exciting milestone that isn't obvious but is quite beneficial is our solar panel array! Last week we laid the first panel and the array is scheduled to start operation on October 27th! 

Our installation of a solar array on the roof of the building addition at New City is not just about saving money over time, stewarding our resources well, but about demonstrating care of God's good earth. Since our start in 2009, we’ve wanted our church family's life together to demonstrate the gospel not just in word, but also in action—and this is one small way of doing that. Our solar installation is meant to reflect our desire to live responsibly and thoughtfully in the city we love.

We believe caring for the earth is one way we love both God and our neighbors. Our solar installation is intended to do just that. By investing in renewable energy for our church building, we’re joining in God’s work of creation care and giving a glimpse of the hope we have in Christ who is making all things new.

Songs we'll sing this week include:

• Fairest Lord Jesus
• Oh How I Need You
• Be Still My Soul

See you Sunday!

It’s helpful to read the Gospel of Luke as a travel narrative: something like Kerouac’s On the Road or Steinbeck’s Travels with Charlie, except Jesus wasn’t seeking adventure or spiritual enlightenment. Jesus was on the road to die. All of Luke points toward this end -- his entry into Jerusalem and his eventual death and resurrection. This is the point of the story, and the closer we get to Jerusalem, the more clearly we see Jesus.

Perhaps it’s a little like a Bob Ross painting. I loved watching his painting show on PBS. He would start with what seemed to me to just splashes and splotches on the canvas ("a happy little tree here, and a happy little bush there"), but as the show went on the picture gradually began to take shape.

As Jesus gets closer and closer to Jerusalem, he reveals more about his identity and mission. We hope you'll join us on the road to Jerusalem as we look together at the Gospel of Luke.

07/21 – (1) Sent Out (Luke 10.1-12) 

07/28 – (2) Blessed are the Eyes That See (Luke 10.13-24) 

08/04 – (3) The Good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-37) 

08/11 – (4) The Good Portion (Luke 10.38-42) 

08/18 – (5) Teach Us to Pray (Luke 11.1-4) 

08/25 – (6) The Friend at Midnight (Luke 11.5-13) 

09/01 – (7) Power over Darkness (Luke 11.14-28) 

09/08 – (8) One Greater Than Jonah (Luke 11.29-36) 

09/15 – (9) Death By Religion (Luke 11.37-54; 12.1-3) 

09/22 – (10) Courage (Luke 12.4-12) 

09/29 – (11) Watch out for Greed (Luke 12.13-21) 

10/06 – (12) Worry (Luke 12.22-34) 

10/13 – (13) Readiness (Luke 12.35-59) 

10/20 – (14) Repentance (Luke 13.1-9) 

10/27 – (15) Missing the Point (Luke 13.10-17, 14.1-6) 

11/03 – (16) Parables of the Kingdom (Luke 13.18-21) 

11/10 – (17) The Narrow Door (Luke 13.22-35) 

11/17 – (18) The Cost of Discipleship (Luke 14.25-35) 

11/24 – (19) The Wedding Feast (Luke 14.7-24) 

Getting Ready for Sunday (July 28, 2024)

Read Luke 10:13-24 in preparation for Sunday. Songs we'll sing this Sunday include: Jesus Is, Teach Us Your Ways, and Before the Throne of God Above.

At the 9am service we'll have an adult baptism and welcome some new members. Next week we'll welcome more new members at the 10:45am service.

Come out and celebrate with us!

During the Psalm 69 sermon last Sunday we came across an example of an imprecatory prayer. Imprecatory prayers are those that call out for justice and the condemnation of evil, and they are pervasive in the Psalter. If you just flip through the first ten psalms, you'll notice that more than half include warnings about God's judgment, prayers for judgment, or promises of judgment (Psalm 2:10-12; 3:7-8; 5:8-10; 6:10; 7:6-16; 9:19-20; 10:2, 15).

What should we do with prayers like this? Can Christians pray in this way?

Some say yes, without any kind of qualification. After all, Acts 1:20 quotes Psalm 69:25 in reference to Judas: "may his camp be desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it." If imprecatory prayers are all over the Old Testament, and the New Testament also makes use of them, Christians should not hesitate to pray like this.

Others say, not so fast. We live on the other side of Christ's coming into the world, and imprecatory prayers have to be understood through the hopeful lens of the redemptive work of Christ. Derek Kidner reminds us that "David's anger was fanned by his zeal for justice, which the Old Testament largely exists to keep before us; but Christ came to crown justice with atonement. Zeal for this, now it is accomplished, will stir us differently: cooling anger instead of kindling it; fostering rather than stifling compassion" (Kidner, Psalms, p.267) In Christ there is hope for all people, even for our enemies.

My view is that Christians can and should pray the imprecatory psalms. Peter Leithart writes in a Foreword to Trevor Laurence's book, Cursing with God: The Imprecatory Psalms and the Ethics of Christian Prayer: "Imprecatory psalms plant us in the real world with all its horrors and dangers. They rebuke our craving to retreat into safe, spiritualized, anondyne, Pollyanish piety. They're a form of church discipline, as we ask Jesus to uproot liars and predators from his field, the church. Through these prayers, we defend the house and kingdom of God, and participate in the Lord's work of establishing justice, vindicating the innocent, rescuing the defenseless. We do good and leave room for the wrath of God, and ask God to take just vengeance. As we sing the 'mean' psalms, Satan is trampled under our feet (Romans 16:20)."

The Apostle Paul shows us the way. In Romans 11:9-10 Paul quotes an imprecatory prayer from Psalm 69 to explain the hardening of the hearts of his own countrymen who oppose the gospel. But just a few verses later in Romans 11:23-25, he holds out hope for mercy and salvation to come to those very same countrymen.

Paul shows us that we can pray imprecations in general against evil and suffering, while praying intercessions in particular for repentance and salvation. You can both pray against injustice and at the same time "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).

A Prayer for our Country

Last Sunday Dave Dupee led us in a pastoral prayer in light of the recent assasination attempt on former President Trump. Here is Dave's prayer so you can make use of it over the next few months leading up to the election.

Lord,
We come this morning reminded afresh of the fragility of our world, and how in the course of history single events of tragedy or violence can greatly influence the course of a nation.

Lord, we bring our shock - not that it could happen, but DID happen - yesterday with the loss of life, injuries, and a nearly successful assassination.

And we bring our mourning - mourning for what this says about the state of our country and our desperate need for a rebirth of the common good. And we bring our fears - this could happen again.

Lord, be with those families who have suffered loss. Surround them with your comfort and the comfort of friends, family and their communities. We pray for protection during this election year:
     *protection for our presidential candidates
     *during oral and written debates and the rapidly escalating news cycles, may they include sober self-examination

And we pray that you will bring good from this. Bring forth strong, influential voices who will not shy from speaking truth, but will also be able to build bridges, rather than their own constituencies. Lord,  would  you protect and preserve what is best about this country? May its nobility of vision be proven in the days and weeks ahead.

We come to you, our certain anchor and refuge in good times and bad. May we know that your delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor your pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. (Psalm 147:10-11)

Getting Ready for Sunday (July 21, 2024)

Gratitude was one of the things we talked about last weekend. Psalm 67 is a harvest psalm, praising God for his provision and reasoning from that to confident hope in his ongoing care in the future. I suggested one practical application would be to find regular and intentional ways of giving thanks.

Not every one is a fan of gratitude, however. Frederich Nietzche hated the idea, lumping gratitude in with humility, which he called “slave morality.” Instead, he advocated a fierce independence - that’s where power and strength would come from.

But as it turns out, gratitude is really good for you. A few years ago, during Thanksgiving week, The New York Times did a story on the recent social science research concluding that being thankful leads to “increased life satisfaction, happiness, optimism, hope, positive emotion… and less anxiety and depression.” Gratitude leads to better sleep, and some studies show, less susceptibility to illness.

Thanksgiving is something we can and should practice all the time. Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." G.K. Chesterton wrote, “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and the pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.

John Wesley used to make a daily practice of counting his blessings literally. He used to keep a journal as a "blessings inventory." Each day he would bullet point the things he was thankful for: a cup of coffee, a call from a friend, a meaningful song in worship, sunshine, a Reds victory, and so on.

But here’s a key point - don’t just give thanks generally. Give thanks to God specifically, the giver of all good gifts. Gratitude is always personal. It’s not enough to be just “be thankful” in general, or to tweet #blessed. In gratitude, we need to recognize the one who has blessed us.

A Prayer for All Seasons

Dan Larson led us in a great prayer last weekend that several of you asked for. Here it is:

Heavenly Father, you came to us before we came to you, and your love still greets us with each rising sun. We your people will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.  

We praise you, the creator of all life, for the gift of new life in our church family -- for the births of just the last few months even: for Callie Cunliffe, Philip Murrish, Silas Smith, Emilia Grohnke, Cooper McCormick, Lydia Mullen, Charlie Burgess, Lucy Marstella, and Miller Fruge. We pray for these babies, and all the littlest ones of our church, that you would protect their vulnerable bodies and strengthen them through the loving care of their family, friends, and their church. May we truly see them, and your goodness uniquely imaged in each of them.

We thank you for the children of New City Kids and the many gifts they bring to the life of our church. Help us nurture their spiritual growth well. As seeds of faith are planted and watered, we ask that you would generously grow spiritual fruit – that our efforts would not merely produce head knowledge but your spirit would produce heart transformation. Help our children to believe beyond anything else that you are near to them, you love them and you have a plan for their life.

We thank you for the teens and young adults in our student ministry, and for the youth leaders and the growing friendships here. Through those influential relationships and by the power of your spirit, we ask that you would help these young people to find their identity in Christ alone. Help us give to them confidence in who you created them to be, to replace the insecurities from what they think of themselves or what they perceive others think of them. Expose the hollow stories pitched to them of what makes for a good life, and reveal that yours is the only true abundant life.

We thank you for those in the early stages of adulthood who have found a home here at New City. We ask that this would be a season of deepening relationships and solidifying spiritual maturity that will anchor them through life’s winding journey. When faced with questions about career, relationships, housing, finances, and things yet to come, grant them wisdom to discern what steps to take and patience to endure through seasons of uncertainty. With all that lies in front of them, replace anxiety about future unknowns with the peace of your unchanging promises.  

We thank you for those in the long middle of adulthood. Give them abundant grace to remain faithful and obedient through varying seasons, from the joyous & celebratory to the difficult & despairing to the tedious & ordinary. Open the eyes of their heart to your wonder and beauty that abounds. Guard them against the busyness of life that so easily distracts and a creeping worldliness that seeks to convince us that our kingdom is more important than yours.

And we thank you for those at New City for whom the span of life is mostly behind them. Give them a vision for the significant work you still have for them and what it looks like to finish strong within a culture that often encourages them to coast along. We need their collective wisdom and enduring faith to encourage us; help us mutually support one another. For those feeling the weight of losses and limitations that accumulate with the passage of time, help them to not lose heart, renew them day by day until that weight is exchanged for the eternal weight of glory.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. From everlasting to everlasting you are God. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

Getting Ready for Sunday

This Sunday we wrap up our Summer Psalms series before turning back to the Gospel of Luke next weekend. To prepare for Sunday, read Psalm 69, the third most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. We'll be thinking of this psalm in relationship to David's suffering, and also Christ's suffering.

We'll hear about the work of Norwood Together during the service. Songs we'll sing include A Hymn for All the World, Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul, and Psalm 116 (I Love You Lord).

See you on Sunday!

 Church Planters in Town

The Leaders Collective exists to help pastors and church planters sustain healthy, fruitful ministry so they - through Jesus' Church - can advance the gospel throughout the world. In 2018 I joined a two year, eight retreat cohort through the Leaders Collective. It was a tremendously helpful experience for me, and I continue to meet with my same cohort of pastors now 5 years after our offical program ended. Pastor Brian just began with a new cohort. And New City as a church has partnered with Leaders Collective to train church planters. 

For the last four years, church planter's cohorts have spent a week in training at New City. This year's group includes guys planting churches in New York, Alabama, Minnesota, Florida, and Ohio. Among them is Eric Shrimpton planting Christ Community Church here in Blue Ash.

We had a great few days with the guys. If you get a chance this week, click here to read about these church planters and their work. Take some time to pray for them, and for the ministry of Leaders Collective. And go and visit Eric and Christ Community at one of their preview services this spring or summer.

Getting Ready for Sunday

We're on to week four in our study of 2 Thessalonians. We'll be talking about Kingdom Prayer from 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5.

We'll learn a new song together - All Shall Be Well. Others songs include Wait on the Lord, Steadfast and For the Cause.

Worth a Look

This article by Greg Thompson, Hinges and a Lock: Hospitality in a World of Predators is an insightful, but difficult read.

"Anyone who works at hospitality long enough will tell you that this kind of life—no matter how full of light—also entails its share of shadow. There’s a reason that chefs have scars and pubs have bouncers. Hospitality, for all its beauty, is inevitably twinned with pain. And so it was for us."

With all apologies to REM, when we think of "the end of the world as we know it," most people don't feel fine. This was certainly true for the church at Thessalonica. Paul had written a previous letter trying to encourage them and calm their fears. But as time passed, the situation grew worse. So Paul writes again to offer clarity about the return of Christ. What he tells them (and us) is meant to create hope, not despair; provoke preparation, not speculation; and embolden engagement, not apathy. We hope you'll join us this spring as study this short letter together.

Getting Ready for Sunday

Read 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 to prepare for Sunday morning. As part of our worship, we'll pray these words from Thomas Merton together:

Lord God, in so many ways we have no idea where we are going. We do not see the road ahead of us. We cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do we really know ourselves, and the fact that we think that we are following your will does not mean that we are actually doing so. But we believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And we hope we have that desire in all that we are doing. You will lead us by the right road, though we may not see the way clearly. Therefore, give us grace to trust you always, though we may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. We will not fear, for you are ever with us, and you will never leave us to face our perils alone. Amen.

Songs we'll sing together include: The Reckoning, I Will Wait for You and Great Rejoicing.

One of the most vivid images in the whole New Testament is that of a man running. Jesus tells a story in Luke 15, about a son who can’t wait to get out of dodge. He gets his share of the family wealth, tells his father, "I want my money; I don’t want you,” and he leaves. After awhile, things go poorly. He squanders the money and he comes back home. He expects to grovel -- maybe he can be an employee somewhere on his dad’s land.

Instead, it says that the father, when he sees the son from a long way off, runs. The father runs to his son, and throws his arms around him.

There is a sense in which this story is a parable of the whole storyline of Scripture --the gracious Father running toward his wayward children.

In Holy Week, we celebrate the culmination of this story. Christ's life, death and resurrection are the apex of God's pursuit of you. Holy Week reminds us that you can go home -- not because you are good, but because you are wanted.

C.S. Lewis put it this way…

Apparently, then, our lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside, is no mere neurotic fancy, but the truest index of our real situation. And to be at last summoned inside would be both glory and honor beyond all our merits and also the healing of that old ache.

Getting Ready for Easter

We're expecting a full house for both services, so try and arrive a little early. And if you're willing, park a little further away and enjoy walking a few blocks.

Our Scripture for Sunday is Acts 13:26-43 -- the Apostle Paul's first recorded sermon. It's shot through with the resurrection.

Songs we'll sing this weekend include:

• Christ the Lord is Risen Today
• See the Conqueror
• Death in His Grave
• King of Kings
• Is He Worthy?
• The Lamb Has Overcome
• O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

We can't wait to worship with you this Sunday. Christ is risen!

Why is the Cross the chief symbol for Christianity? Why do people wear crosses around their necks, on their jewelry and t-shirts, and put them in their churches? Certainly there are other symbols that could have been used.

• Jesus taught us to love one another. Why not a heart?
• Jesus is recognized as one of the great teachers in history. Why not a scroll or a book?
• A lot of people think that Christianity is mainly about how to live a better life, or how to be moral. Why not the scales of justice?

Why a Cross? Because at the center of the Christian message, at the center of Christian hope, is the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

Paul summarized the preaching of the early church like this: “I preach Christ and him crucified.” Jesus himself spoke repeatedly about the importance of his death. He said his mission was to come and give his life as a ransom for the many. He called himself the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. In Luke’s Gospel, it says that he set his face toward Jerusalem, and in doing so began to teach his disciples that he was going to be killed and three days later rise from the dead.

That’s all to say: we need to understand the Cross in order to understand what Jesus was all about. On Good Friday, it's a chance to medidate on all that Jesus went through in order to redeem you.

Tenebrae Service

We'll gather at the church at 7pm. Ours will be a Tenebrae service -- Tenebrae meaning “darkness” or “shadows.” Once a service for the monastic community, Tenebrae later became an important part of the worship of the common folk during Holy Week. We join Christians of many generations throughout the world in using the liturgy of Tenebrae.

Tenebrae is a prolonged meditation on Christ’s suffering. Our readings will trace the story of Christ’s passion. The music is designed to communciate the weight and emotion of his suffering. And the power of silence and darkness suggests the solemnity and gravity of this momentous day.

As candles are extinguished, we will ponder the depth of Christ’s suffering and death. We will remember the cataclysmic nature of his sacrifice in sound (strepitus is the Latin word meaning "great noise"). And as we depart in silence, we will look forward to Easter morning and the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord.

Here is the source of every sacrament,
The all-transforming presence of the Lord,
Replenishing our every element
Remaking us in his creative Word.
For here the earth herself gives bread and wine,
The air delights to bear his Spirit’s speech,
The fire dances where the candles shine,
The waters cleanse us with His gentle touch.
And here He shows the full extent of love
To us whose love is always incomplete,
In vain we search the heavens high above,
The God of love is kneeling at our feet.
Though we betray Him, though it is the night.
He meets us here and loves us into light.

(Malcolm Guite, Maundy Thursday)

When the church worships on Maundy Thursday, it remembers the last evening that Christ spent with his disciples in the upper room. Three major events make up this evening: he washed the disciple's feet, he instituted the Lord's Supper, and he gave them the "new" commandment to love one another. 

The name of this day desrives from the last of these. "Maundy" comes from the Latin “mandatum novum," referring to the "new commandment" Jesus gave his disciples in John 13:34.

As we gather on Thursday night we’ll sing, listen to Scripture, and reflect together on the events of the Upper Room. And of course, celebrate the Lord’s Supper.

Our celebration of the Supper will be a little different than our normal Sunday morning practice. Rather than a small piece of bread, everyone will get a large roll. And rather than dipping, we'll each get a glass of wine or juice. We'll bring the elements back to our seats, and because it will take a little while for us to eat and drink, it will allow for a more deliberate meditation upon the work of Christ for us.

This is always a beautiful service. We hope you can join us at 7pm Thursday night. Children of all ages are always welcome in the worship service. However, childcare will be provided for children 4 & under on a first come first served basis.