Rogationtide

  I’ve done it, after centuries of debate I have the answer! I can define what Anglicanism is.     Well perhaps not, but a good starting point may be to take a step back and look at what distinctives this tradition truly has.   It does our church tradition a grave disservice to describe it in such a way that makes it seem as though it has no more distinctives than water when conforming to the shapes of various vessels. Yet it is precisely this theological surrender that is all too ubiquitous.   The failure to define Anglicanism is the understandable result of decades of impasse. The conflict between the various tribes to lay hold of the title of true Anglicanism has failed to bear fruit.   It is rather difficult to even begin to describe Anglicanism in such a way that both the reformed and Anglo-Catholic camps won’t immediately object to.   However, despite these challenges, there is a real unique beauty to our tradition that unites all these tribes....

How Christian Agrarianism can answer the environmental angst and help solve the identity crisis of this age. Although now one of many forgotten holy days, Rogation days are part of what the church can use to point to the answer to our age’s environmental crises. Rogationtide is the series of four days that the church has historically set aside to petition God to bless the fields and livestock of the parish, as well as to equip His people to be good stewards of His creation. In honor of this rather forgotten holiday, I thought it would be fitting to commend this liturgical rhythm as an opportunity for the church to rejoice in our restored relationship with creation. The practice of living out this restoration is Christian Agrarianism. Christian Agrarianism is simply the hope-filled care for creation by the redeemed, lived out in community.  These are three foundational roots from which the gospel transforms our relationship with the rest of creation: the tripartite covenant, ontol...

                                                                         ~A meditation on the benediction of Hebrews~ The Great Shepherd Oh God, our great shepherd, by whose rod and staff we are given peace, even in the valley of the shadow of death, protect us. Your holy word is a lamp unto our feet, piercing the darkness. Teach us to seek you, for we cannot seek you unless you bring us to yourself. Let us discover the truth revealed by your revelation in Holy Scripture. Let us seek you by desiring you, and desire you by seeking you; allow us to find you by loving you and love you in finding you. As our shepherd, guide us in the light of your truth that we might glorify you in our lives and be united to you, through the holy blood of Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. [1] The w...

Covenental Complementarianism:  A Biblical Alternative Growing up in my rural Southern Baptist Church, I remember my preacher declaring from the pulpit: “Men have waffle brains; women have spaghetti brains.”  Regardless of his particular point, this revelation worried me. [1] I had a spaghetti brain! Just like he said of women, I could not stop a single thought from crossing all sorts of wires in my mind. I did not think like a man, I did not have a neat, ordered thought life.  Was he saying I was more of a woman than a man ?   He likely was operating in a performative conception of gender. This comes as no surprise, such an understanding is ubiquitous in our current society. Currently, the ontologically binary reality of men and women has been left by the wayside to such an extent that one can shift between identifying as anything on a whim. Even Evangelical Christianity is not safe from the culture’s undermining of sexual reality. One expression is the disrega...