I first read of Isaac Watts as a boy learning American history at school in that battle cry, “Give ’em Watts, boys!” at the battle of Springfield, New Jersey. Over time I spotted his name in hymnals as the author of the some of the most famous hymns in evangelical Christendom. It happened this week… Read More Give ’em Watts, boys!
Just been reading Peter Adam’s St. Antholin’s Lecture, Gospel Trials in 1662: To Stay or To Go? for reasons I will explain if I have more time, when I read this paragraph: Two groups of people prefer the theory that Puritans cannot be Anglicans, nor can Anglicans be Puritans. Some Nonconformists may take this view because… Read More Two Brands of Anglicans
We’ve just returned from our vacation in the Adirondacks. Part of the offerings where we were staying was a series of seminar talks by a well-known Christian celebrity with a very successful women’s ministry. What was so startling in the talks was her use of the Scriptures. Being in my little embattled corner as a… Read More Irrational Numbers
There are times in a regular pattern of study in God’s word and in a regular pattern of prayer that brings together who God is in his holiness and my deep and desperate need in my sinfulness, to see afresh the amazing grace and mercy in our Savior’s bloody sacrifice done for me as a… Read More Man A Nothing
Here at St. Mary’s we pick-up our verse by verse study of Paul’s letter to the Romans. This life-changing letter has been a focus each summer since 2010. This year is the last. We started at the final great hinge of the letter, Romans 12.1-2, two Sundays ago. And as we go through the 40… Read More Summer’s here, and that means…
Larry Alex Taunton—founder and executive director of Fixed Point Foundation—has a helpful article in The Atlantic on their recent study of college-aged atheists in the U.S. They were surprised by the composite picture that emerged from these interviews, which he summarizes later in the article: They had attended church Most of our participants had not… Read More Lessons for a stronger Christianity
The Diocese of New Jersey elected its 12th Bishop on May 4th. Although the progress of the election and ballots fell out exactly as I had described it in our parish open forum, the Bishop elect was relatively unknown to me. So when I returned home and after a well-earned mug of tea, I had… Read More “Stoking” the boiler
This past week I went to my first Acts29NJ church planters conference at Emergence Church, Totowa NJ about 18 – 20 minutes from where I grew up. The plenary and discussions got my mind working as I sought to apply what I learned from these planters and what I have experienced in ministry these 22… Read More Musical Tone
I read a blog by Brian Croft the other day who asked some questions concerning our assumptions on decline that got me thinking. Like him the more I hear the push “to overcome” the “plateau or decline” the more I pause and think of scenarios where a church’s decline in numbers is not necessarily a… Read More Decline and…
Each day in my daily devotions I pray slowly and meditatively through a set prayer from The Valley of Vision published by The Banner of Truth Trust. Today’s prayer, The Deeps gave voice to the longing of every believing Christian: LORD JESUS, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach;… Read More The Deeps
The Vicar's Garden 