The Collect O God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice, we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Collect…
Kolby Kerr serves as a bi-vocational minister at Restoration Anglican Church and high school English teacher in Richardson, Texas. He has contributed to Anglican Compass and several literary and educational publications. Kolby and his wife, Emily, have two sons, Beckett and Samuel, who generally keep him busy the rest of the time.
Special Event: Liturgy Taskforce Webinar
Easter isn’t a finish line—it’s our kickoff to a season of celebration. Still, pastors can be forgiven for admitting that after Holy Week, they are a little exhausted. Whether your church hosts vigils, daily services, or some other Easter extravaganza, there is a lot to juggle. Especially tricky is managing the liturgies. Palms and Passion,…
Fixed in a Swiftly Changing World: A Collect Reflection for The Fifth Sunday in Lent, Passion Sunday
This post, in addition to being a part of Rookie Anglican, is part of a series on the Collects of the Christian Year (ACNA), called “Collect Reflections.” If you’re just jumping in, make sure to check out the introductory post, “Announcing Collect Reflections.” All Collect Reflection posts can be found here. The Fifth Sunday in Lent [Passion Sunday] Almighty…
Pastoral Leadership and the Economy
The decline of the American church is often overblown. However, we have felt a seismic shift in cultural values in the 21st century. Even in the ‘Bible Belt’, it can’t simply be presumed that most people’s moral frameworks are founded on even a hazy understanding of the Bible. In looking for guidance in the behaviors…
The Gift of Lent
Lent begins with a necessary reminder: you are dust and to dust you shall return. In Ash Wednesday, we speak these difficult words so that we might resist the influential fictions that our daily lives impress upon us. The fiction that we are in control. That we can fix ourselves. That we were designed first and…
Collect Reflections: The Third Sunday of Epiphany
This post, in addition to being a part of Rookie Anglican, is part of a series on the Collects of the Christian Year (ACNA), called “Collect Reflections.” If you’re just jumping in, make sure to check out the introductory post, “Announcing Collect Reflections.” All Collect Reflection posts can be found here. The season of Epiphany is directed outward;…
Generous Resolutions
Our church year begins with Advent, but self-reflection and goal-setting are good for all of us and the turning of the calendar is as good a time as any to start. This year, why not resolve to be more generous? As we argue in Giving Up, generosity is at the heart of the gospel. To…
The Third Sunday in Advent: A Collect Reflection
This post, in addition to being a part of Rookie Anglican, is part of a series on the Collects of the Christian Year (ACNA), called “Collect Reflections.” If you’re just jumping in, make sure to check out the introductory post, “Announcing Collect Reflections.” All Collect Reflection posts can be found here. Advent By now, if you’ve been…
Slow Down This Advent
Advent is a time of waiting. As one who didn’t grow up but had to grow into the church calendar, the movement from increasing anxiety as Christmas approached to cultivating patient anticipation refreshed my hectic heart. December is a hard time for church leaders to slow down. But the always-on, always-connected world we built with…
Interview: Arrabon
After the events in Charlottesville in August, I came across an article by Doug Paul of Missio Alliance with a catchy and convicting subtitle: “When a Generation of Church Planters Reach Only White People” In reviewing the book The Creative Class, Paul argues (persuasively) that in creating ‘hip’ church plants, many young pastors may be inadvertently…
Week of the Sunday from Nov 13 to Nov 19; Proper 28, A Collect Reflection
It’s almost the end of the year. No, really. When I first became Anglican, I had little understanding of the church’s calendar. I knew that Advent was a thing that meant I should hold off on Christmas carols. I knew that Lent was a thing that meant I should give up something for 40 days….
Week of the Sunday from Oct 30 to Nov 5; Proper 26, A Collect Reflection
It’s November now, and as leaves fall from the trees, so the days begin to pass by more quickly and we enter a season of busyness. It is a sad truth that what ought to be a season of rising anticipation often becomes for us a season of dread. We worry about travel, we worry…
