We will be continuing our series on Being Christian this coming Sunday, and I will be talking about the ongoing meaning and impact of baptism. Please register for the service here.
And we will have childcare available for infants up to 4 year olds. You can register your child here. We are taking everyone’s safety very seriously, and each of family should have received an email from Katie Lemming describing our protocols for keeping your children safe.
Some of you might be asking at this point, why three weeks about baptism? Why a sermon series about the basics–baptism, bible, eucharist, and prayer? Don’t we already know this stuff? Perhaps, but one reason we chose this book is because Williams addresses not just the basic definition of each topic, but also the ongoing meaning and effects of each of the topics. As he puts it, he wants to show “what those activities tell us about the essence of the Christian life, and what kind of people we might hope to become in a community where these things are done.” (Rowan Williams, Being Christian)
What kind of people might we hope to become as those who are not only are baptized but who have also determined to live out of and in light of our identity as baptized people? That is the question I will take up this week as we look together at baptism as anointing, and the anointed offices we all share as prophets, priests, and kings.
Public Theology Update
This past Monday, we had a great discussion around N.T. Wright’s book God and the Pandemic. One question we considered is what might God be asking of us as we continue to live through a global pandemic.
Next month, we are planning to discuss two essays by Tim Keller around the question of race and justice. If you would like to get started on the readings, here is a link to the essays we will be discussing at Public Theology in November.
Tim Keller, The Bible and Race
Tim Keller, The Sin of Racism
Chris+
In the Chaos, Open to the Spirit
Fasting is a discipline God’s people have taken up for millennia but is not so popular in our current day. I’ve been an Anglican clergyman for a decade now, and fasting has been something I’ve been slow to practice. Maybe it’s my inner perfectionist? Or maybe I really love food?
Sure, in Lent it’s easy to fast from Social Media (don’t we all need this fast more often??), or alcohol, or TV or something. And those are great things to abstain from. But when we fast from food, things get a little more real. Hunger pains, getting hangry (that delicious combo of hungry and angry), growing impatient, and more and more easily perturbed: these all seem to be results on fast days for me.
And it’s at this point of chaos in my belly and felt chaos around me where the opportunity lies. What do I do? Most often not what I ought, and what I ought to do is pray. When I feel the pain, the frustration, the sense of overwhelming lack of control, pray. This is why we fast. We deny our body in order to connect more deeply with our living God. We say no to something good in order to say yes to something far greater, God Himself. When we pray in this way, God grants us spiritual authority. Remember, Jesus told his disciples that certain demons only come out “through fasting and prayer."
This dynamic is at play in our life as those who are baptized. We talked Sunday about being baptized means we step into the chaos of the world and that we lean into the chaos inside us. This coming Sunday we’ll see how being baptized, leaning into the chaos within and without makes us open to the Spirit, ready to pray.
See you Sunday!
Jay+
What Is Essential About Church?
We know that the Church is essential. She is the Family of God, the Bride of Christ, the Temple of God built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets with Jesus Christ being the Chief Cornerstone and comprised of living stones for the dwelling of the Spirit. And, yet, a lot of messages around us have told us that Church is not essential.
This Sunday Chris and I will begin a series teaching from Rowan Williams’s book Being Christian which answers the question, “What is essential about Church?” The four basics that have been shared by all Christians in all times and places are Baptism, Bible, Eucharist, and Prayer.
I hope to see you Sunday in person (register here) or online as we begin this important series and re-discover what is essential about the Church.
See you soon -
Jay+
Small Change, Big Improvement
We are making changes to how we broadcast Sunday’s worship service. For the past several weeks we have live-streamed Sunday’s worship service. Initially, we did this in order to facilitate a drive-through communion distribution that would allow each parishioner as much involvement in the sacramental life of St. Bart’s as possible. For whatever reason, the desire for participation in drive through communion dwindled throughout the month of August so we discontinued that practice beginning in September.
As we have been live-streaming, we have had to reckon with internet challenges at 1000 Easton Road. We have heard feedback that whole sentences of sermons and verses of songs get cut out because of signal interruption. We discovered that, as far as we can surmise, the building sits in an internet black hole: whether it is the WiFi strength or the LTE tower strength, we are simply unable to carry on an uninterrupted live-stream.
This Sunday, therefore, we will begin recording our 5 pm service and posting it immediately following the service. We are unsure at exactly what time this would allow the service to be viewed, but the video will be much better quality with better intelligibility of what is happening.
Thank you for being flexible with us as we feel our way forward in this new and exciting day.
One way or the other, I’ll see you Sunday!
Jay+
Does the Kingdom Have an Economy?
“Jesus is king.” “Jesus came to bring the kingdom of God.”
Are these things Christians just say because we have always said them? Or do they have something to say to us about how we live now, how we spend our money, how we use our resources, how we love our neighbors as ourselves?
These are the kinds of questions we will address in the Zoom small group for Practicing the King’s Economy.
I’m very excited about this course because it expands our understanding of the kingdom of God and challenges us to deepen our engagement with the world around us precisely because we are citizens of that kingdom and partakers of his divine economy. I think this course has much to teach us right now.
Please register here.
We will meet on Zoom every other Tuesday night starting September 29.
You can watch a trailer for Practicing the King’s Economy here.
From their website:
"Live like a citizen of God’s Kingdom—here and now.
Does this sound like you? You go to church and attend a small group. You read the Bible and pray. You try to help your neighbors and serve others. You’re living the good life. But it feels like something’s missing.
Jesus invites us to something greater—life as citizens in God’s Kingdom! Through Practicing the King’s Economy, you’ll discover new ways to live out the Kingdom in your daily life at home, work, and church."
Small Groups
I wanted to talk briefly about our upcoming Public Theology discussion and about an exciting new Zoom group we are offering this fall.
First of all, what is Public Theology? We believe that theology is not just a private matter or just a specialized topic for a handful of interested Christians. We believe that Christian theology is for all of us and that theology has something to say in public and to the public.
We will meet for Public Theology this Monday, September 21 to discuss N.T. Wright’s God and the Pandemic. The book is short but profound and speaks to our context in a powerful way. If you prefer, there is an Audible version of the book, and N.T. Wright reads it in his wonderfully soothing voice. Here are couple of podcast interviews (here and here)where he discuss the book as well.
We will be meeting at Vector Brewing at 7pm on their wonderful outdoor patio. (If you are interested in an online version of Public Theology, please email contact@stbartsdallas.org. We are still working out the details of the how and when of the online discussion, which will be based on how much interest there is.)
Also, we are also starting an online group around the course called Practicing the King’s Economy. I’m very excited about this teaching because it expands our understanding of the kingdom of God and challenges us to deepen our engagement with the world around us precisely because we are citizens of of the kingdom and partakers of his divine economy. I think this course has much to teach us right now.
Please register here We will meet on Zoom every other Tuesday night starting September 29.
You can watch a trailer for Practicing the King’s Economy here.
Chris+
Back to School Blessing
Much of Dallas and the surrounding school districts are back to learning in some form or fashion this week. Since COVID and its deleterious effects began in March, life has not been anything close to normal. But the return of school promises some semblance of what we once knew. The weather wants to cool off, students are primed for a fresh start, and teachers courageously want to reconnect with their pupils.
This Sunday Katie Lemming, our Children’s Ministry Coordinator, will have Back to School Blessing Bags for all families with students pre-K through 5th grade. Complete with worship at home resources, Katie and her husband JD have dreamed up these bags that will surely be a blessing for all who receive them. For those participating in the limited capacity in-person service, they can pick up their bags following the service. For those not able to come, Katie will have the bags ready for you to drive through and receive.
I invite your prayers for the many teachers and students who call St. Bart’s home. Pray for Martha Reilly Elementary just a few blocks from the church, for Hill Junior High, and Hexter Elementary. This season offers much hope and promise. May God be gracious to us and our neighbors, shine the light of His countenance upon us, and grant us His peace. Amen.
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Click here to register for this week's in person service.
If you can't catch the live stream, each week's service is available on our YouTube channel. And we still post the sermons on our podcast.
Please also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and/or Twitter.
The live-stream and bulletin will be available via THIS LINK on Sunday afternoon at 5pm.
In the Beginning God…
My Bible reading has me in the beginning of Genesis. Having just finished Revelation, I love seeing how the beginning and end work together. But in a time as cynical and uncertain as ours, I found these words from St. Basil the Great comforting and heartening:
“In the fear that human reasonings may make you wander from the truth, Moses has anticipated inquiry by engraving in our hearts, as a seal and a safeguard, the awesome name of God: ‘In the beginning God created.’ It is He - beneficent Nature, Goodness without measure, a worthy object of love for all beings endowed with reason, the beauty most to be desired, the origin of all that exists… - it is He who ‘in the beginning created heaven and earth.’”
Take heart, friends, because “in the beginning God.” He is good, loving, kind, patient, and above all our Rescuer. See you Sunday!
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If you can't catch the live stream, each week's service is available on our YouTube channel. And we still post the sermons on our podcast.
Please also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and/or Twitter.
The live-stream and bulletin will be available via THIS LINK on Sunday afternoon at 5pm.