January 8th, 2023

Newsletter — January 8, 2023

The holidays have come to an end, the decorations are coming down, the diets are… well, maybe not back on track, but many of us feel the urgent need to get back to some, let’s say, simpler foods. Perhaps new resolutions have been made for the year, and it may be that you’re feeling a little down, what with all the fun and excitement in the rear-view mirror.

But be encouraged! Christmastide culminated in Epiphany on January 6th, which we celebrate today. But what is Epiphany? It is the celebration of Christ revealed to the Gentiles in the visit of the Magi. Isaiah makes reference to this in chapter 60:2–3:

For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising.

This is the glory of the coming of Christ. For, from the Jews comes the salvation of all people, Jew and Gentile alike. And, as Paul later expounds in Romans 11 where he uses a tree to illustrate His people, we Gentiles were then grafted into that tree so that there is now neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), for we are now one in Christ, and Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3). This is what we celebrate today. Praise be to the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ!

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December 25th, 2022

Newsletter — December 25, 2022

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. — John 3:16–17

Verse 16 is speaking first, and most fundamentally, to the love of God, and note that He loved the world in such a way that He gave. A supreme act of the giving love of God was demonstrated in the Incarnation and Crucifixion of His Son. Even as Paul declares in Romans, but God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for (5:8).

Verse 17 parallels verse 16: as God gave, so He sent His Son. Was Jesus given, was He sent for Israel alone? No, the Son was given and sent for the sake of the world, for the sake of all humanity. He was sent to be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should have eternal life (3:14-15). Though deserving of judgment, the world was sent a Savior. Instead of condemnation rendered, love is lavished.

Do you want to see the measure of God’s love? Look first to the manger; see the Child wrapped in swaddling cloths, and there behold the love of God. Then look to the Man stripped of all and lifted up on the cross, and yet again behold the love of God. Behold Him and believe that, for the sake of the world, the cross was the ultimate destination of the manger.

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December 18th, 2022

Newsletter — December 18, 2022

Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
born to set they people free;
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

“This prayer directs us both toward the celebration of Christmas, now but a few days off, and toward the end of time, whose distance from us we cannot know; in all of that we pray for the present age, the thin moving edge that connects past to future. For always both the future and past emphases of Advent direct us toward our faith and mission in this world. Eschatology that has no implications for us now is pernicious escapism. History that has no implications for us now is irrelevant romanticism. Neither by escaping current responsibility, nor by retreating into a rosy past that never was, can we serve the God who has come and will come, yet is ever fully woven in the fabric of the present.” – Laurence Hully Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church

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December 11th, 2022

Newsletter — December 11, 2022

For the Third Sunday in Advent, we find John the Baptist in prison (Matt. 11:2-15), but the question he poses regarding the ministry of Jesus leads to the declaration of the great works that Christ is doing. These works are foretold by the prophet Isaiah (35:1-10), particularly the giving of sight to the blind (v. 35; Matt. 11:5), a miracle unique to the Messiah. The turning back of the effects of sin and the curse of sin are evidenced in the miracles that Jesus performs and are reason for true joy. The Third Sunday of Advent is sometimes called “Gaudete Sunday,” for the Latin word Gaudete, meaning “Rejoice!” The work of God is reason for rejoicing. Repentance is reason for rejoicing. The Savior has come, bringing freedom and peace. And while we wait upon the Lord, we do so with patience, looking to the example of the prophets who suffered though they spoke in the name of the Lord (James 5:10-11). John the Baptist, the last of the OT prophets, suffered for the message of repentance that he preached. The church today, as it carries the prophetic mantel can also suffer for calling sinners to repentance. Nevertheless, the church is called to remain steadfast, for therein lies the way of blessing from our compassionate and merciful Lord. So let us continue to pursue repentance in our own lives, proclaim it to others, and rejoice in the continuing works of God by His Spirit and through the church.

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December 4th, 2022

Newsletter — December 4, 2022

The emphasis of the First Sunday of Advent is one of watchfulness and God fulfilling His divine purposes, even if it might not be according to our expectations. Matthew’s Gospel took us to the late stages of Jesus’ earthly ministry, which might seem like an odd way to begin Advent, but it helps to remind us of the faithfulness to which we’re called as His servants who do not know when He will return, a helpful perspective to maintain.

This week, for the Second Sunday of Advent, we find ourselves in the third chapter of Matthew’s Gospel where he records the ministry of John the Baptist, who prepares Israel for the coming of the Messiah by preaching a message of repentance. John is clear that religious heritage is not enough nor even to simply profess repentance. Rather, true repentance is seen in the fruit that it bears; in the actions that are taken unto righteousness. According to Isaiah 11, righteousness is central to the Messiah’s ministry. It is a mark of His reign over all the earth, even as He proves to also be the hope of the Gentiles (Is. 11:10; Rom. 15:12).

Some of God’s most challenging and comforting messages came to His people in times of difficulty and distress, so let us heed the Baptist’s cry and pursue lives of repentance and righteousness befitting of those belonging to our Messiah’s kingdom.

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November 27th, 2022

Newsletter — November 27, 2022

Our church year begins today as we usher in the season of Advent. How fitting, now as we turn our attention to that expectant and watchful season, that we do so here in the U.S. on the heels of our season of Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving is not a church calendar holiday, it is a good and right celebration when we gather with friends and family to give thanks for all our Lord has done for us. And while we are, of course, thankful for all things, especially during Advent we remember and are thankful for the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He took on flesh and blood for us, His people. As we enter Advent, the Book of Common Prayer has these words for us to use in our own prayers:

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

Recall the words of Jesus from John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” And we now walk in the light because of the incarnation of the light of the world.

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November 20th, 2022

Newsletter — November 20, 2022

When Israel, Yahweh’s bride, forgot her history, forgot her story – the story of redemption that God achieved for and through His people, especially the Exodus from Egypt – then she would inevitably forget the Lord who had redeemed her and go hoaring after false gods and idols. This story of redemption, this overarching story is made up of smaller stories all along the way. Think about how the Bible is written. It is written, primarily as narrative, as story. A helpful way for us to keep the story at the forefront of our minds, for us to remember is through the church calendar, which is a reflection of the Gospel story itself.

Consider that the Gospels themselves do not simply give information about Jesus, but, as one theologian states, “provide a narrative that we can inhabit, a story we can make our own. This is one way in which we can become the people God calls us to be. The traditional Christian year is a deep-rooted and long tested means by which that aim can be realized.” All Saints’ is especially set apart to aid our memory, to help us see our place in the story, and to consider the entire story that has already been told. That is a healthy thing, and not only because it provides perspective, but, again, because it encourages us in our faith and in our walk with Christ when we consider others whom the Lord has kept, those who faithfully ran the race until its end.

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November 13th, 2022

Newsletter — November 13, 2022

The word “saints”, which means “holy ones,” is simply a term to describe Christians. The apostle Paul in the opening of his first letter to the Corinthians, writes:

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.

So the term is not referring to just a select few, or Christians who have reached a “celebrity” status within the church. No, it is a day about all believers, all the faithful since Adam and Eve. To be sure, there are some high profile names among the saints – even as Hebrews 11 indicates – but not to the exclusion of all who are in Christ. All Saints’ is a catholic celebration (catholic meaning “universal”), and it is quite appropriate, having celebrated the Reformation specifically one week, to celebrate the universal church the next. When we celebrate the Reformation, what are we doing? We are remembering Christians that have gone before us, those whom the Lord has used for the sake of His Church and Kingdom upon the earth. That is not an unbiblical thing to do. In fact, the Bible calls us to remember time and time again, and one of the things that caused problems for God’s people more often than not was when they forgot.

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November 6th, 2022

Newsletter — November 6, 2022

Today’s celebration of All Saints’ Day should be one of great encouragement to the church as a whole, and to each and every one of us as Christians who constitute the body of Christ. In the Lord’s providence, through the wisdom of our forebears who developed the liturgical calendar, we have this day of celebration, this day of remembering those who have gone before us in the faith.

The purpose is not to in any way to glorify men or to exalt the “super-Christians” of the faith. Not in the least. Rather, at the heart of All Saints’ Day is the declaration and celebration of the unity of the Church, the unity that God’s saints have in Christ, saints of the past with saints of the present. As one pastor states, “All Saints’ is a time to remember all those who have lived before us and through whom God has worked.” As we find ourselves in the present moment, it is good for us to look to the past, to consider what God has done in and through His chosen people in bygone ages, especially during times of difficulty and conflict, in order that we might be further emboldened for the future that awaits us, whatever that might entail. To be continued…

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October 30th, 2022

Newsletter — October 30, 2022

I often make the dad joke — no, not often, I do it every year at Reformation time — “my thesis is that Martin Luther really nailed it, I hope you don’t find that too indulgent of me.” This joke has lost none of its charm for me. Regardless of your protestant tradition, be it Lutheran, Anglican, Baptist, Presbyterian (and more), we all share the Reformation in common as an inflection point in history that God used to shape the church. And this inflection point is marked by October 31st, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his Ninty-five Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg. In his theses, Luther took on a believer’s life of repentance, what authority a minister has to forgive sins, indulgences, purgatory, the Roman doctrine of the treasury of merit, and more.

It was important because, as sinful and imperfect humans, we often need to be corrected and brought back to and grounded in the truth of the scripture. The Reformation was one of those times when God lit a fire that spread far and wide throughout His church and continues to have implications even today 505 years later.

It is good and right that we celebrate and mark this time in our calendars. It is also good and right that we remember that God is working among His people and continually reforming his Church. We do well to keep in mind a phrase which later came into use, and which we still use today, semper reformanda: always reforming. May God continue to grant our reform in and through our Lord Jesus Christ!

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October 16th, 2022

Newsletter — October 16, 2022

Last year, Paul Vaughn, faithful member of his church in Centerville (and long time friend of mine), participated in a peaceful, pro-life protest. Last week, the FBI deemed the timing appropriate to arrest Paul for this far past event at gun-point on his farm, surrounded by his children, and cart him off without answering any of his or his family’s questions as to the nature of the arrest. We know now that it had to do with that protest from a year ago. Paul and Bethany have 11 children in all, the oldest of whom are married with little children of their own, the youngest of whom is toddling around in a diaper.

There are many questions surrounding this arrest, but what is not in question is the Vaughn’s commitment to Christ, family, and children. Their money is where their mouth is and the powers that be have decided to persecute them for it. In 2 Timothy 3:12–13, the Apostle Paul says, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” So those who despise God and his word purposing evil against us is not unexpected. Paul goes on, “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.”

Paul is facing up to 11 years in prison for trying to peacefully stop the murder of unborn babies. Please lift up Paul and his family at this time that they may walk faithfully to that which God has called them.

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September 25th, 2022

Newsletter — September 25, 2022

“Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” ― C.S. Lewis

It’s easy to believe we are totally in control of our lives every action is directed by ourselves alone. We often don’t do this on purpose, we’re just so used to ordering our lives as we see fit that we forget every breath we take is because God has ordained it so. One has only to look at our prayer list to see that a lot of folks, many right in our midst, are experiencing things over which they have no control.

This is one of the reasons it’s a good to be in a daily habit of prayer. When we bring our petitions, our anguish, our anxiety, to the one who ordains all things, it reminds us who is really in control — and it’s not us. The Apostle Paul, by way of his letter to the Philippians, in chapter 4 verse 6 instructs us: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;” Doing this daily, when you rise up in the morning, for instance, is a good way to fulfill this command and place our trust and hope in Christ. And as we do, we have the promises of Psalm 34:17–19:

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Praise the Lord for His goodness to us!

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