Welcome to Brick Church During the last season of Lent, I led a series of conversations on the nature of faith, which generated a plethora of perspectives that enriched everyone who was a part. This fall, I'm going to share some of the most salient thoughts that come from those discussions so that, together as a congregation, we'll explore the nature of faith at its core. Click here to read more about our new ministry theme, “Faith and...” from Senior Minister Thomas Evans. We are a community growing in love for God, one another, and the world. Please join us! SU N DAY Sunday Worship Service 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM The Sanctuary 1140 Park Avenue New York, NY 10128 18 SEP Fall Fling 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM The Garden 62 East 92nd Street New York, NY 10128 21 SEP Homecoming Worship Service 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM The Sanctuary 1140 Park Avenue New York, NY 10128 2025 Stewardship Campaign Beacon of Hope Click here to make a pledge or donation for 2025. Announcements Register for 8th Grade Confirmation! Confirmation is a year-long opportunity for students (typically 8th Graders) to spend time with their peers, discuss the Christian... 5 days ago Register for Middle & High School Youth Group! We are looking forward to great program year of activities for our tween and teen age congregants! Pioneers is our youth group for... Aug 21 Register for Sunday Church School + Childcare! The Brick Church Children's Ministry offers engaging Sunday programming designed for children from ages 3 through 7th grade. Our... Aug 21 Register for the Order of St. Paul! Calling all seventh - twelfth graders! Members of The Order of St. Paul assist in the worship service each Sunday, carrying the cross (we... Jul 23 Register for Youth Choir! Registration is now open for the 2025-2026 Youth Choir season! Led by Liz Richter , the Youth Choirs offer advanced musical training and... Jul 23 Register for Fall Musical Theater After-School! Registration is now open for Fall Musical Theater classes! Featuring artists from Brick Church Community Theater, these performing arts... Jul 23 Celebrating and Thanking The Rev. Adam D. Gorman The Rev. Adam D. Gorman has accepted a call to serve as pastor of a church in New Jersey. His last worship service at Brick will be on ... Jul 11 Charles Guth Returns This Program Year! We’re delighted to share that Charles Guth will be joining us again for the upcoming program year! Charles will be with us one day a... Jul 11 Welcome Liz Richter! I'm delighted that Liz Richter will be Brick Church's next Director of Children's Music Ministries , alongside her existing role as music... Jul 2 1 2 3 4 5 Brick Links Login Watch Calendar Join Give We can't wait to greet you! 1/7 Learn More Our semi-weekly Newsletter delivers Brick Church news to your inbox. Sign Up Here (O pt out anytime) Subscribe Thanks for submitting!

Read Sermons & Prayers Wisdom for Life: A Committed Will Proverbs 16:1-3 Last week we learned from Proverbs that, “ A cheerful heart is good medicine. ” This saying helps center our thoughts and... Sermons & Prayers Rev. Dr. Thomas Evans a few seconds ago 5 min read Wisdom for Life: A Listening Ear Proverbs 19:20-23 Listen to advice, Proverbs tells. An incredibly simple statement. In fact, it is so obvious that it seems completely... Sermons & Prayers Rev. Dr. Thomas Evans Aug 14 6 min read Faith, Freedom, and the Fabric of Society “We walk by faith and not by sight.” - II Corinthians 5:7 During the last season of Lent, I led a series of conversations on the nature... Sermons & Prayers Rev. Dr. Thomas Evans Aug 14 2 min read Wisdom for Life: A Cheerful Heart Proverbs 17:22-24 The ancient world, like today, was filled with quips meant to impart wisdom for life. Sayings like, “ Liars, when... Sermons & Prayers Rev. Dr. Thomas Evans Aug 10 6 min read From Freedom to Peace Matthew 11:28-30 This week, a few hundred years ago, the U.S. achieved lasting political independence—something God’s people yearned... Sermons & Prayers Rev. Dr. Thomas Evans Jul 4 5 min read $10 or 14 Days Luke 9:51-62 Jerusalem was Jesus’ end game. Everything depended upon Jerusalem. Certainly, before the final week there would be moments... Sermons & Prayers Rev. Dr. Thomas Evans Jun 21 5 min read Turning Over A New Leaf Revelation 21:10, 22:1-5 In the first few chapters of the Bible, we discover part of God’s plan for humanity. Abel keeps flocks, Cain... Sermons & Prayers Rev. Dr. Thomas Evans May 23 5 min read Prayer of Thanksgiving, Intercession, and Petition Shared during Sunday Worship on May 25, 2025. Heavenly Father we thank you for all that is good in our lives: for our daily food and... Sermons & Prayers Rev. Adam Gorman May 23 2 min read Heaven or Hell Revelation 21:1-8 Revelation is the culmination of the entire Bible. So, its message is critical for understanding what happens when we... Sermons & Prayers Rev. Dr. Thomas Evans May 16 6 min read 1 2 3 4 5 More Transcripts Our semi-weekly Newsletter delivers Brick Church news to your inbox. Sign Up Here (O pt out anytime) Subscribe Thanks for submitting!

Watch Livestream and Past Services Sunday Worship Play Video Play Video 01:01:17 Aug 24, 2025 - Sunday Service Tickets and Jars of Oil | Rev. Caroline S. Unzaga Play Video Play Video 01:12:46 Aug 17, 2025 - Sunday Service Wisdom for Life: A Listening Ear | Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Evans Play Video Play Video 01:11:31 Aug 10, 2025 - Sunday Service Wisdom for Life: A Cheerful Heart | Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Evans Play Video Play Video 01:10:47 Aug 3, 2025 - Sunday Service The Power of Now | Rev. Caroline S. Unzaga Play Video Play Video 01:03:10 July 27, 2025 - Sunday Service Amen. Amen. Amen. | Rev. Adam D. Gorman Play Video Play Video 01:04:14 July 20, 2025 - Sunday Service Water Walkers | Rev. Adam D. Gorman Play Video Play Video 01:06:26 July 13, 2025 - Sunday Service The Holy Spirit | Rev. Adam D. Gorman Play Video Play Video 01:22:17 July 6, 2025 - Sunday Service From Freedom to Peace | Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Evans Play Video Play Video 01:08:00 June 29, 2025 - Sunday Service God Winks | Rev. Adam D. Gorman Load More Chat Here More Videos Bulletins Our semi-weekly Newsletter delivers Brick Church news to your inbox. Sign Up Here (O pt out anytime) Subscribe Thanks for submitting!

At The Brick Church, there are many ways to find community, discover your purpose, and go deeper spiritually including Sunday morning worship services, men’s and women’s Bible studies, robust children’s programming, and meaningful outreach. Getting involved at Brick Church is a wonderful way to connect with our vibrant community and give back in meaningful ways. We invite you to help extend a warm welcome to all who enter our doors by participating in our community and congregational care opportunities. Register He Christians believe that God created us for life together and that the Christian life is most faithfully and joyfully lived in the community of faith that is the church. This community sustains, nourishes and challenges us to greater and steadier faithfulness to Jesus Christ. If you wish to explore membership, you are invited to attend one of our series of three New Member Meetings.

Proverbs 16:1-3 Last week we learned from Proverbs that, “ A cheerful heart is good medicine. ” This saying helps center our thoughts and emotions, reminding us that there is so much in life to be joyful about, and that true joy means not only delighting ourselves but sharing with others. And yet, a sunny disposition can only get us so far, and our emotions are subject to change in a moment. We want a life of happiness and joy, but it won’t come only through a positive attitude. In order to “live long and prosper,” Proverbs teaches us we must commit our plans to God. If last week was about our heart—our emotions—this week is about our mind, our will. The root of the Hebrew word for  commit  means to roll. To commit our plans to God is to roll them over to God, for God’s input, shaping, and approval, which might be thought of as a divine tennis match. Your opening serve is not only the plan you make to win the point, but your choice to lob it in, use a slice or top spin, aim down the line, or in the corner. Once the ball is in God’s court, the Lord’s shot determines your next move. God can slow down the point by taking pace off, send it to the far corner—thus completely changing the point—or blow it past you, saying,  Thispoint, this plan needs to end; it’s time to start over. To roll our plans over to God is to admit that ultimately we don’t have control of our destiny. “ Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails .” — Proverbs 19:21 (NIV). All of us have made plans which have failed, which have gone astray. This can be frustrating and debilitating, but there is a path that does not wallow in defeat and dismay—one which allows your will to remain resolute. If we hold onto our plans ourselves and don’t give them over to God, and they fail, we have nowhere else to turn. But if we have committed them to God, we trust that, if they fail, God is working with them and that a good future will come. In this way, failure is not a step back but a step forward into your new future. But it requires trust in God:  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This quote provides a tremendous amount of comfort, but don’t be fooled by it—it doesn’t promise that things will be easy. It can take a long time and many hard knocks to finally get there. In fact, there’s a whole book devoted to how frustrating life can be. Ecclesiastes is the Biblical counterpoint to the faith of endless positivity. That author asserts the exact opposite of Proverbs, voicing his frustration with the world and God’s lack of action in a rather stark statement: “In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.” Ecclesiastes deals with the truth of our emotions, which are healthy to acknowledge, but we can’t let anxious thoughts deter our will. Proverbs 29:11 tells us, “ A fool expresses all his emotions, but a wise person controls them. ” The control function comes from our will. Unlike our emotions, our mind’s function is to keep our overall well-being in mind, to keep our life goals ever before us, and to do what we know is right even when we don’t feel like it. When I meet with couples in pre-marital counseling, I always ask them to define love. Often, they will talk about how they feel about someone. And the answers are almost always meaningful. But there is a part they all leave out—the will. Love is not just how we feel about someone; it is a decision we make, and it is right in the vows:  “I promise before God and these witnesses, to be your loving and faithful husband, in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.” Love is a decision to do what is good and right for another when our natural inclination of self-gratification might lead us to do otherwise. Love is not only what we do for another because we feel positive emotions toward them. Otherwise, there would be no point to the vows. The vows are the act of committing to God that we will care for them even if we don’t feel the magic during certain times in life. In a marriage, when the initial rapturous romance fades, that’s when the work begins. That’s when it gets hard. And, to tell the truth, that is when true, deep love grows. So too in faith. It is only when tested that its true power is revealed. That is the challenge for our wills: Do we have the courage to place our plans in God’s hands? Because that’s the promise—God will prosper our future if we roll it over. But oh, it can be a long time coming! To begin to make sense of the tension between Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, we turn to Genesis and the story of Joseph. He confronted this exact problem. After being enslaved by his brothers, he rose to a place of prominence in Potiphar’s household. Obviously, Joseph’s plan for his own life was a life of freedom after suffering the horror of slavery. But his freedom was threatened. Potiphar’s wife wanted to have an affair. Joseph refused her advances, for in committing his plans to the Lord he knew he could not betray Potiphar. Upon being spurned, she presented false testimony, and Joseph was thrown into prison. What would you have done if you were faced with Joseph’s terrible choice—go to prison for who knows how long, or submit to a relationship you knew was a betrayal? Joseph certainly knew the pain expressed in Ecclesiastes. But the failure of his personal plan did not turn him aside from being a moral person. This kind of faithful and committed will is what God uses to turn our personal plans into something much greater. In a book published in 1905,  Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry  addresses this problem: “We cannot understand the moral Universe. The arc is a long one, and our eyes reach but a little way; we cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; but we can divine it by conscience, and we surely know that it bends toward justice. Justice will not fail, though wickedness appears strong, and has on its side the armies and thrones of power, the riches and the glory of the world, and though poor men crouch down in despair. Justice will not fail and perish out from the world of men, nor will what is really wrong and contrary to God’s real law of justice continually endure.” When we cannot see justice, we can quickly despair, and in this case Proverbs has a simple but powerful instruction:  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Not just trust, but trust with everything you have. Have the courage to do what is right no matter what, and the Lord’s justice will circle back—either in this life or the next. For Joseph, it circled back in this one. As you know, he eventually became second only to Pharaoh in all of Egypt. And as he is reunited with his brothers, he speaks some of the most heartening, tender, powerful words in all the Bible:  “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Joseph’s homeland suffered a severe drought, but as Pharaoh’s right-hand man he had the means to liberate them from starvation. This is how God’s plans and ours intertwine for the ultimate justice and prospering of all. A committed will is a powerful force for the Lord’s work on this earth, and it is critical to moving through tests and trials to find a future that you and God can both find joy in.

The Brick Presbyterian Church keeps bound records of Orders of Worship, financial statements, and important documents dating back to 1885 in the archive of the Anderson library and in the Senior Pastor’s Study. Spending the summer researching in the library, I had the opportunity to examine these records up close. Though records have changed in style and content since the mid-nineteenth century, with varying format and additional information, the church’s emphasis on record keeping is consistent. The archive is filled with invaluable information: minutes, essays, sermons, even the bodice of Reverend Henry Van Dyke’s wife. However, in taking a closer look at the various bound records, I noticed that the bound Orders of Worship and their respective financial records from the 1937-1938 year appeared to be missing. In researching this abnormally undocumented year, what began as a search for the missing records became the uncovering of 1937’s role in the Brick Church’s rich history.  It is worth noting that while completing my research, I contacted a representative of the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia regarding the location of the 1937-1938 Orders of Worship. The Orders of Worship in question could not be located in either the Anderson library or the Senior Pastor’s Study, where Orders of Worship are normally kept. The Historical Society does indeed possess a copy of the 1937-1938 Orders of Worship and was kind enough to photocopy its first few pages for me. The Foreword on the pages sent to me by the Historical Society call 1937 a “memorable” and “significant” year for the church. Though the Orders of Worship had not been “missing” as I had previously assumed, they had led me on a journey of learning about one of the Brick Church’s most landmark years.  The general climate of 1937, both within the Brick Church and on a larger global scale, was tense. The Great Depression was coming to a painful end, tensions which would lead to the outbreak of the second world war were rising, and the mosaic of New York City was shifting. The Brick community surely felt this shift, with much of the relatively loyal congregation moving uptown. This affected membership and attendance of worship at the time, given lesser modes of transportation and an alleged aversion to using available transportation on holy days. In addition to changing demographics, the Brick Church was experiencing considerable financial hardship as a result of the move and economic depression of the larger city. Despite some of the profound benefactors of the Church, the general financial upheaval caused by The Depression led to less donations from the congregation. In a memorandum identifying posthumous donors to the church, there is recorded a “1937 list” of donors who presumably contributed to Brick’s relocation effort. In addition to financial and societal turbulence, 1937 also saw the end of Reverend William Pierson Merrill’s time as head pastor and the search for his successor. Needless to say, 1937 represented transition. Changes in surrounding society, economy, and location play into 1937’s historicity. In addition to the logistical challenges of the move and adjustments made by the church, there was indeed an emotional component to this period of change. In his last sermon to the congregation in Brick’s 37th Street location, Reverend William Pierson Merrill references Moses leaving Sinai, the place where “he [Moses] had found God”. Merrill recognized that, in many ways, much of the congregation had “found God” in the 37th St church. He urged the crowd to understand that the God of the Brick Church and Presbyterianism in general was not confined to the altar or a physical space, rather accessible wherever there was faith. The resilience of 1937 speaks to a larger motivation in the Brick Church Community: a motivation to strengthen and grow in faith, despite discomfort or hardship. During my research, I also grew increasingly grateful for the diligent record keeping done by archive committees over the years. Each volume, book, and sermon provides a gateway into the Brick church of the past, in turn informing our present and future. Grateful to have located and done research on the 1937-1938 Orders of Worship, I understand deeply the importance of archival and historical work in the context of the church.