Not “Just” a Deacon

Posted on October 3, 2019
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Handshakes and metal plates I grew up around deacons. In my Southern Baptist upbringing, deacons were most commonly observed at the doors of the church offering handshakes and smiles. Otherwise, they were found in their other natural habitat: at the end of a pew passing or taking a metal plate. Often, this was an offertory…

Finding a Place for Lament in the Anglican Church

Posted on September 23, 2019
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Born a little on the melancholy side, I was always attracted to the bleaker parts of Scripture. You know, the parts where a prophet would cry out to God for help, or where God would lament the betrayal of His bride. Or the psalms of lament where the psalmist feels desperate and horrifically abandoned. These…

A Tale of Two Weddings: How Far Should We Stretch the Liturgy?

Posted on September 16, 2019
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Ah, Spain. A beautiful country where, every now and then, non-Catholics who are Christians get married. Or a Roman Catholic gets married to a non-Catholic, which often means no Catholic wedding. And sometimes these folks come to us Anglicans. Just how much can the Anglican liturgy be modified? In this article, I want to share…

How to Become a Subversive Church

Posted on September 5, 2019
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Bowing to Baal I recently heard someone on the radio say that we (Americans) live in a โ€œpost-religionโ€ nation. The radio personality went on to describe how America has become a land void of virtue, no longer giving spiritual matters much thought. In other words, America has become increasingly secular. This is, in my opinion,…

John 17 Really Bugs Me: Church Unity and the Lack Thereof

Posted on August 22, 2019
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Slightly edited from a sermon I recently preached at Church of the Savior in Wheaton, IL. There are just some passages of the Bible that you canโ€™t get away from. Sometimes itโ€™s because a passage is particularly inspiring, encouraging, or comforting. Think Psalm 23. Other times, itโ€™s because the passage really bugs you. And Iโ€™ll…

Are Anglican Churches Biblical, “Bible Churches”?

Posted on July 29, 2019
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For many years, I attended a church that called itself a “Bible church.” I really loved it and am thankful for everything I received there. But many years later I started to reflect on what exactly that name means. What does it mean to claim that your church is biblical, a “Bible church”? First of…