Lest I go an entire year (!) without posting here, here are my sermons so far on the Gospel according to John that I’ve been preaching at my church since September (with a brief interruption for Advent and Christmas). May these be an encouragement to you!
First Things First
Since the first Sunday of October 2022, I’ve been preaching through Paul’s letter to the Philippians, in a sermon series at my church entitled “First Things First”. We took a brief break in the season of Advent and Christmas, but so far have spent 12 Sundays walking through this wonderful book. We’ve got two more weeks left until we finish!
If you’d like to listen to any of the sermons, they can all be found here: https://truroanglican.com/series/first-things-first/
A New Call
22 years ago, on September 19, 2000, I pulled into the parking lot of Truro Church in Fairfax, VA, riding shotgun in the moving truck that my dad was driving, to move my family and me up from Florida. My dad had accepted a position as an associate rector (i.e. associate pastor) at Truro, and so I found myself uprooted from all that was familiar, and thrown into the deep end of life in Northern Virginia.
I stayed at Truro while I finished high school and began college, and got involved in ministry there as much as I could (worship, kids, youth, etc.). I also met and began dating Catherine – the daughter of the other associate rector at the time – and eventually would marry her!
In my junior year of college I left Truro and joined the staff of The Falls Church Anglican, where I served in ministry for ten years. While there, I began to discern that God was calling me to be ordained, and so I began taking seminary classes on the side, while balancing a full-time ministry position and a growing family.
Eventually, in 2014, to my surprise and delight, God called me back to Truro as Director of Worship and Arts. A lot had changed there since Catherine and I had met as preacher’s kids, and yet we still really loved the place and the people. And over the next eight years, while Truro went through several difficult seasons (plus a pandemic), and while I finished seminary and was ordained into the Anglican Church of North America, we always knew in our hearts that God was telling us to stay.
Now we know why he was telling us to stay…
I’m overjoyed to have accepted the call to serve as Truro’s new rector (i.e. senior pastor). And in God’s providence, my first “official” day was September 19, 2022. A lot has happened in those 22 years since I arrived in the moving truck, and as I look back on God’s faithfulness through it all, I’m full of gratefulness that he would give my family and me the opportunity to serve him and his people at this church that we love.
I would be grateful for your prayers as I begin this new role, especially this week and next as I’m taking time to pray and prepare.
Below is the text of the letter I wrote to Truro last month, after this news was announced to the congregation
Why We Sing
One of the things I love the most about my church is that we’re a singing church. We absolutely delight in singing to the Lord together. Quiet songs, loud songs, slow songs, fast songs, old songs, new songs, and everything in between.
In one of our Scripture readings from last Sunday, we were reminded of some of the reasons why we sing. From Colossians 3:16:
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…”
- We sing because it allows the good news of Jesus Christ to dwell richly in our souls. You may have noticed that we remember what we sing. It’s why commercial jingles are so catchy! Every time we sing, we’re preaching to ourselves.
“…teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom…”
- We’re also preaching to those people around us in the pews. In the words of the old hymn, we’re all “prone to wander…”. And we’re tossed and turned by the world during the week. When we sing, we’re encouraging our brothers and sisters with the truth.
“…singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…”
- We sing a variety of songs, spanning centuries, written by different people with different testimonies, from the Psalms that Jesus himself sang, to hymns that have resounded through the ages, to new songs inspired today. God is worthy of it all.
“…with thankfulness in your hearts to God”.
- God is so glorious, and his gospel is such good news, that whenever we sing, his Holy Spirit moves in our hearts to give us new reasons to praise. Sometimes this draws us to our knees, or to our feet, and sometimes this draws us to clap – or lift – our hands. These are outward signs of an inward thankfulness that God is stirring in our hearts as we sing.
So come to church ready to sing. Don’t be bashful about your voice, and don’t worry if you don’t think you’re much of a “singer”. God has given you a voice to use, and he’s given you a song to sing.
O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise
The glories of my God and King
The triumphs of his grace!
Giving God Our Kicked-Over Nighstands
We all know what it feels like to get so deeply frustrated with ourselves, when we can’t do something we wish we could do, or when we’re faced with our limitations or inabilities. For me, I experience this frustration quite often, whenever I try to build something with my hands, or as I’ve shared previously, try to fix anything in my house.
Years ago, when Catherine and I were newly married, we bought a small (and cheap!) nightstand from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. This simple particle-board creation came in a simple box, with simple instructions, for simple assembly. Not so much for me. After a few hours of getting more and more frustrated with myself, I did what anyone would do. I threw a small fit, and kicked the lopsided nightstand over on its half-assembled side, out of frustration.
And then I asked for help. And Catherine put it together in about 10 minutes. Simple.
Where do you get frustrated with yourself, in your walk with the Lord? Where do you often find yourself coming face-to-face with an area of limitation, inability, or failure? We all have those areas, whether or not we’re honest enough to admit it. We’re all sinners in need of a Savior, and we’re all unable to do anything apart from God’s grace.
An old Anglican prayer gets at the heart of our spiritual limitations and inabilities, by expressing our need for God to enable us to do something we can’t do our own. It says it this way:
“Grant us, O Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who can do no good thing apart from you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord…“
That’s the key to the Christian’s walk with the Lord. With one step, we honestly admit that we can do no good thing apart from him. And with the other step, we ask him to enable us to do those things in us. A walk of desperate dependence, enjoying God’s limitless grace.
So be honest with God. He sees all your kicked-over nightstands. He’s eager to step in and help, if you’ll let him.
Worthily Magnify 