Trinity Heights Church Podcast

In some ways it’s strange that we class books like Job, Ecclesiastes and Proverbs as 'wisdom literature'. When you read them, you will notice that they are all doing very different things, they are almost nothing alike. Moreover, they were written at very different times, often centuries apart.  But if you keep reading, it's almost as if these books respond to each other, as if one book says somet...

This week, we reflect on what it means to be made in the image of God—as told in Genesis 1. Rather than treating imago Dei as a theological abstraction, Eric invites us to consider the deeply relational, grounded, and human dimensions of bearing God's likeness. To be made in God's image is to live with dignity, creativity, vulnerability, and connection. Through stories, scripture, and honest refle...

Easter 2025 - This Sunday Stephen delves into Genesis 1:2, exploring how God's Spirit hovers over the "formless and void"—the Hebrew tohu vavohu. The message acknowledges how many people today feel formless, empty, or overwhelmed by chaos. Drawing connections between ancient scripture and modern experience, this sermon offers a tender invitation to imagine God’s Spirit not as distant, but as hover...

Moving beyond debates about literalism or science, this week we focus on Genesis 1 as a poetic and theological proclamation—a “song” about God’s nature, creativity, and intent for the world. Eric unpacks how Genesis offers a hopeful alternative to the violent origin myths of the ancient world, presenting a God who creates through presence and peace, not chaos or conquest. Rooted in both scripture...

In this first monthly service of 2025, we take a moment to revisit and reaffirm the identity of Trinity Heights Church. What does it really mean to be "a community of Christians and skeptics exploring the Christian narrative together"? Is such a community even possible? Drawing from personal stories, conversations with skeptics and believers alike, and an exploration of Acts 17, we consider the ch...

Join Stephen and Eric in the first of many Mezzanine Conversations to come!  Today Stephen and Eric discuss the Lost Art of Conversation and how too often Christians and Skeptics alike are not taught how to have good conversations with each other.  They talk about the "God-like claims" that we often make that determine how we approach discourse with each other.  They also offer some helpful insigh...

The story of original sin is monotonous and boring, while also being deeply tragic. The same injustices, abuses, inequalities, violences and oppressions perpetrated by a fractured humanity year after year, generation after generation.  And so what hope is there? What hope do any of us have? Well, to return to the words of John the Baptist, as he announces Jesus, "Behold, the lamb of God who takes...

One of our mantras at Trinity Heights is "there is no idea or identity that I possess that is more important than me loving the person in front of me." One of my atheist friends recently, in another conversation with me, was saying that this has become for him sort of like a litmus test. I like that. And maybe we can use this as a litmus test as well.   Is there some idea that you've got that you...

There is a certain kind of rigid certainty exists within the church and the broader culture today. We live in one of the most diverse societies, constantly bumping up against different people, beliefs, and views. And so we're constantly confronted with certain levels of discomfort and cognitive dissonance. But what do you do when you bump up against people who disagree with you? Do you discredit,...

Imagine if all the scholars of music in the world got together, and all these academics of music, they got together, and they had this big council, and they made this official decree, and they all signed this paper and some documents saying, "Mozart and Bach are great musicians."  We would sort of all look at them and shrug our shoulders and go, why are you wasting your time with this? You're tell...

Tune in to hear Eric and Stephen discuss the new format for Trinity Heights Church.   Follow us on socials! Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok: @trinityheightschurch   #trinityheights #nycchurch #nycfaith #nyccommunity #nycgospel #churchinnyc #nycchristian #nycbelievers #nycworship #nycinspiration #newyorkcity #nyc

The final installment and summary of our 6-part series in 1 Corinthians titled, "You Are a People."   Follow us on socials! Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok: @trinityheightschurch   #trinityheights #nycchurch #nycfaith #nyccommunity #nycgospel #churchinnyc #nycchristian #nycbelievers #nycworship #nycinspiration #newyorkcity #nyc

In the fifth part of our series we looked at the famous love passage: 1 Corinthians 13. This passage has been used so often at wedding after wedding that it is difficult not to think of it as mushy sentimentalism that comes part and parcel with wedding cake and toasts to the bride and groom and confetti. For this reason New Testament scholar Richard Hayes suggests that ‘this passage needs to be re...

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul explores community and unity while addressing the issue of sexual immorality in the Corinthian church. The Bible celebrates sex as good, sacred, and beautiful - not something to be approached with guilt, shame, or prudishness. The Christian view of sex needs to be centered on joy and delight, not scandalized by human sexuality. The Christian stance on sexuality is not abou...

At first glance, it appears as though the divisions in the Corinthians church were over very different and unconnected issues. After all, what have class divisions, the exercise of spiritual gifts, and eating meat sacrificed to idols got to do with each other? But Paul is able to see the connections beneath the surface and he frames them together with a vast theological vision.  For example, the C...

Guest and friend of Trinity Heights, Steve Gumaer, delivers a reflection on Matthew 19.

Paul refers to the Corinthians as ‘Saints’ or ‘sanctified’, terms implying they are ‘set apart’ for a unique purpose. But what does it mean to be set apart? The Met Gala’s theme last Monday was inspired by J.G. Ballard's 1962 short story, "The Garden of Time." This tale features Count Axel and his wife, who live in a grand villa with a garden of mysterious "time flowers" that slow time when plucke...

Paul gets bad news from Corinth… his friends are at each other's throats. Disputes have broken out all over the place over multiple issues. Paul says he is coming to visit them and that he 'does not want to see them only in passing’ (1 Cor 16:7) In other words, when he gets there he is going to have to stay a while to sort all of this out. Paul writes this letter to the Cornithians (which this new...

In our final part of our series "The Trinity as Community", we read Matthew 28:19: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We often focus on the action—going, making disciples, baptizing. But sometimes, it feels like a religious assembly line, missing the relational depth. The key is the part that says, “in t...