Blog Posts

Reflections on our new Growth Group hour

8/3/2018

Blessings to you!

Father Andrew asked me to write this week in the Encourager about growth groups at St. Barnabas. I would like to explain what the groups are, how they should work, and then give a quick plug about my experience with small groups. We would love to see every person in St. Barnabas involved in a growth group, and I hope that this little glimpse into them might entice you to try it.

Growth groups are groups of about 12 people that meet regularly to help members grow in their relationships with Jesus Christ. Now, that growing is something that we should all be doing, and it is something that we should be doing by attending Mass and through personal reading and prayer. However, growth groups give an extra, unique opportunity for a deeper relationship. A growth group meets so that the members can share how they are growing, what they are learning, discuss with and learn from each other, and can pray with and for each other.

At St. Barnabas, our growth groups will meet every week on Sundays before Mass; we’ll have refreshments and fellowship at 8:00 and will have the study portion from 8:30 to 9:30. That study portion will sometimes use videos, sometimes books, sometimes just the Bible, sometimes topical lessons as we mov through the year, but will always have that critical sharing, discussion and prayer. And that is what makes growth groups an incredible tool for change your life.

Jennifer and I were missionaries in Europe for 13 years, and we were in small groups for all of that time. We can both testify that our relationships with Jesus were radically deepened and strengthened in those groups. In those groups, we learned so much about God, about ourselves, about our friends and about life, and formed relationships that we will treasure forever. And it did all of this in ways that attending church services and personal study could not do.

Growth groups are special, and I am excited about the opportunity to experience it beginning on August 19th. We know that it makes for an earlier morning, but I am also convinced that it is well worth the effort. So I want to invite and encourage each of you to come and see.

Grace and peace,

Tom

0 Comments

Did you hear the news?!

7/26/2018

0 Comments

In case you didn’t make it to church this past week, you missed a special announcement! Growth Groups, our adult small groups, are starting back on August 19 at 8:30 am. That’s right, note a new time, 8:30 am weekly! Let me acknowledge the obvious thought that you maybe thinking…8:30 am! Church starts at 10 am and I rather enjoy a slow morning. I get it. I truly do! But, the benefit of coming is far greater than you realize.

I hear countless people say, “I wish I knew better how to pray, how to study Scripture, God’s plans and purposes, more about our Faith, and to get to know others more fully.” Growth Groups do this and more. How? They build a pattern into your life beyond Sunday worship, which is integral, but unto itself cannot be the whole of our walk with Jesus weekly.

The very practice of coming and giving back to the Lord more of your week is a huge piece to both learn and practice. You will engage many of the topics above in the course of the year, and each one will spill over into your daily life. The Growth Groups will provide launching points for your own daily times with the Lord between Sundays, friends in the Faith to spur you on and lift you up in prayer, and good coffee! After all, that’s a great incentive too!

I realize this will be a shift in your schedule weekly, but God calls us continually closer to Himself. Decide to move closer to Him this school year. We will have childcare for those who need it and we are beginning with a great study you will not want to miss. It is centered around this very topic, and is called Living at Godspeed.

The study addresses need deep within us all. Namely to know others and to be known, which comes as we know and are open to the One who knows us best, God Himself. I am quite excited about this opportunity and hope that you will join me in diving deeper into the Faith we profess as Christians weekly. The hour and a half you give up is not truly being given up, but is being dedicated unto the Lord as we learn to keep the Sabbath wholly. It begins somewhere, so let it begin on August 19!

0 Comments

Worship where you are daily

7/19/2018

2 Comments

Toward the end of the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem the entire group went to the steps of the temple (the location of Pentecost) for a short teaching and photo. The process of getting to the teaching and photo took quite some time given the nearly two thousand people that were bused in from the conference center across town, and who then had to walk uphill to the site and squeeze into this small area (you’ll have to take a look at the photo in my office for evidence!). Needless to say it was a trial of patience late in the day while out in the heat. Fatigue was setting in and many were doing their best to remain cheerful.

As we waited however, the Nigerian choir broke out in spontaneous songs. They worshiped while they waited. Slowly others began to join in. It changed the whole mood of the gathering and served to remind me that worship can happen anywhere and everywhere. It is not contained merely to church or at set points in the day, but is a way of life. I began thinking about how different our days might be if we worshipped wherever we were. Now you may not always break out into song (though some may!), but what if in the waiting we prayed? What if in traffic we lifted up those who ask for our prayers?. What if we read the readings for Sunday while we waited in the doctor’s office or while waiting for car maintenance instead of playing on our phone or scrolling through Facebook? What might happen in us?

I can attest that worship changes not just your mood but that of those around you. Just as complaining brings others into the mood of the complainer, if we stay in a place of worship it lifts our spirits and does so for others around us as well. It can change our perspective and show an amazing consistency to others between what we believe and how we act. Try worshipping where you are this week in some way, and see how it affects you and affects how you interact with those around you. Share the stories with me and one another, as we lift each other up and spur one another on in the upward call of Christ Jesus in our lives.

2 Comments

Keeping the Sabbath Wholly

7/11/2018

2 Comments

As my family unpacks (literally and figuratively) and reflects upon a busy past few weeks while away in Israel, one memory is still quite fresh and challenging to me. I was struck by the way that the culture “remembers the Sabbath and keeps it holy”. It began on Friday night, when the Jewish Sabbath or Shabbat is observed, with the blast of the shofar heard throughout the city signaling to everyone that work ceased and worship began.

From Friday night at 8 pm until Saturday night at 8 pm the city was still. There were no cars on the streets and no shops open, apart from a few, as people took time to be present with the Lord and in community with one another. I recall watching something I rarely see in our culture as large groups walked and talked to one another with no handheld devices seen in sight! It challenged me to truly reflect upon doing the same - unplugging, shutting down, and truly retreating with the Lord, first and foremost, and with those around me more intentionally.

We don’t do well at this as a culture, do we? We are always accessible, always within reach, never inconvenienced to just put in a little extra at work, always able to go to one more practice or game - never truly disengaging and taking a Sabbath. By that I mean more than just going to church on Sunday morning. What if we took that day, spending time intentionally in community after worship to study (as in our Growth Groups), then turning off phones, not checking Facebook, even leaving the TV off, so as to truly connect intentionally with others. What might our marriage look like, our family look like, our culture look like if we spent more time together? What if we kept the Sabbath wholly….

Marva Dawn, authored a book by that very name, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly, and noted in it, “A great benefit of Sabbath keeping is that we learn to let God take care of us — not by becoming passive and lazy, but in the freedom of giving up our feeble attempts to be God in our own lives.” I believe we would more fully let God be God if we could indeed embrace this commandment and truth more fully.

I’d challenge you to consider thinking, praying, planning and prioritizing your fall schedules to do just that. It will change your life. I meant that! Put worship and the study of God’s Word first, and nurture and enjoy God given relationships that day without distraction. Don’t just meet an obligation, but live into this call upon our lives more fully. Join me in keeping the Sabbath wholly in the school year to come. I will warn you that it takes ‘work’, but the benefits are eternal and worth more than any other work that you will undertake!

2 Comments

What do the Church Fathers teach us about fatherhood?

6/14/2018

3 Comments

As Father’s Day approaches this weekend it seems fitting to turn our gaze upon the Church Fathers who embodied the very nature of fatherhood. These leaders of the Faith, living in the first eight centuries of the Church, wrote, taught, and led lives of sanctity to assist others pursuing an upward call in Christ Jesus. In many ways they embodied the call of fatherhood, namely to be grounded, growing, and guiding others back to God, our heavenly Father. Therein are some great lessons for Father’s Day, and the call of fatherhood as well as for men who invest in the lives of others.

First, the Church Fathers were always sons themselves. Many were fathered in the Faith by the apostles and those we read about on the very pages of scripture. Throughout their lives they never stopped growing in knowledge and pursuit of a life in Christ Jesus as they remained students of scripture, grew in the Faith delivered to them (Jude 3), and continued to seek others to challenge them.

Dads and spiritual fathers, we are called to do the same. We must first be sons, before leading as fathers. We cannot give away what we do not have. Be students of God’s Word, be mentored by other men who will spur you on in the Faith, continue to seek, hunger, and thirst for righteousness in your life. If you have never engaged the Church Fathers before, this weekend may be a perfect time to do so. There are a host of resources available, even some daily devotionals that are quite useful (click here for one I’d recommend) and you may find a free online library of them all by clicking here (try starting with Augustine’s Confessions).

Secondly, the Church Fathers gave what they received. What they passed on to generations to come was what they had been instructed, believed, and lived out in their own lives. They didn’t add to or take away from it, but faithfully upheld, contended for, and applied it in ways that would assist others.

Dads, we are called to be faithful in this way as well in our own lives. Give away what has been given to you. Don’t add to it, embellish upon it, but faithfully disciple, raise up and invest in the faith of others. It starts in the home, but even if you aren’t a biological father, it starts with those around you and with whom you have influence. Find ways to humbly bring them into what you are walking out in studying God’s Word, engaging God in prayer and your pursuit of holiness.

Finally, the Church Fathers contended for the Faith. Many of the writings of the Church Fathers clarified and at times rebuked errant teachings in their day. Like a good father they instructed and corrected others, but never drew back from the Truth even when it meant they were the only ones who stood for it (as was the case of Athanasius who was even banished for doing so, read more about him here).

Dads, standing for the Truth isn’t easy. But we don’t teach our kids or those we invest in to back down from the hard choices, and we shouldn’t when it comes to our Faith either. Rather, we must be willing to engage the tough issues, speaking the Truth in love and point our families and society back to the One in whom we place our faith, God Himself.

So this Father’s Day as we celebrate our dads in our lives, and ask for God’s grace as fathers to press into such a high calling, leaning into the wisdom and walking in the footsteps of those who faithfully have gone before us.

3 Comments

Lessons from the life of Saint Barnabas

6/6/2018

1 Comment

Sunday we will celebrate Saint Barnabas, the man for whom our church is named. Interestingly, we know very little about him apart from the few passing mentions of his name in the Acts of the Apostles. What we do glean therein serve not only as key insights about him, but for each of us as followers of Christ Jesus.

It is a little known fact that Barnabas’ actual name was Joseph (see Acts 4:36). The name Barnabas was given to him by the apostles because of what it means, son of encouragement, (and the reason our weekly newsletter for the church is called the Encourager), as he was a source of great encouragement to the early Church. He was all in, selling considerable assets and giving them to the work of ministry. But his contributions were not merely financial alone, but by the very investment of his life thereafter.

Barnabas gave his life to the advancement of the Kingdom of God by quite literally traveling to communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who had yet to hear it. He was a companion to the apostle Paul in the early missionary journeys around the Mediterranean (I.e. in Antioch where they are first called Christians). He served as an encouragement not only financially but in word and deed to many. We are called to this rich legacy as ones who bear his name as a church.

Perhaps we might consider how we may be an example of ‘all in’ for Jesus and what we more fully need to commit to the Lord in our own lives as we reflect upon Barnabas this week. We are also called to be a source of encouragement to one another in the household of Faith and in the world around us. May we reflect the hope of Jesus in our words, attitudes, and life to a world that needs to see Him. As we do these things, we walk in the footsteps of Jesus, whose path Barnabas faithfully followed and whose name we bear and celebrate this Sunday.

1 Comment

Building relationships this summer

5/31/2018

1 Comment

Summer is often a relational time of year as family schedules slow down, the days are longer, and weather is more inviting to be outside. It is a great time to gather with friends, have cook outs, and try to find time for vacationing. We plan to take advantage of this routine at Saint Barnabas.

At the end of May we will begin our Dinners for Seven groups. These dinners are designed for us to meet new faces in the church you may not know and allow for you to have godly fellowship in the summer months. Some groups may meet at restaurants, the church or in one another’s homes and some may choose to meet monthly while may meet more frequently. It is all up to you!

You may even want to have a Bible study as well. We will gladly furnish you with an easy template and a few suggested books to explore together if someone from your group emails the church office. Take advantage of this season to build relationships in the church alongside those who will spur you on in the Faith!
If you’d like to sign up for a group there is a sheet in the back of the church, or you can email the church office (st.barnabas.us@gmail.com). We will divide the list up into groups in the weeks to come and email you so you can begin to coordinate with one another. You may also email the church office if you want to use the church building to gather during the summer and we will ensure you don’t overlap with other groups and events. Enjoy these months to come and continue to build lasting relationships with those on their journey with Christ at Saint Barnabas.

1 Comment

Trinity Sunday

5/23/2018

0 Comments

So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
- excerpt from the Athanasian Creed.

It’s that time of year! A season of celebrations. I imagine many of you have graduations, weddings, and other events that are filling your calendars. The Church calendar is no different. In the Church Year, we move from celebrating Easter and Pentecost to celebrating Trinity Sunday this week.

Trinity Sunday highlights perhaps the greatest mystery of our Faith: the nature of the Godhead. As part of the foundation of our Faith, we hold that God is three Persons in One Being. There is an old joke among the clergy that it only takes 30 seconds to err into heresy in a Trinity Sunday sermon amidst our feeble attempts to unpack this profound Truth. So, we go to the best explanation of it as found in the Athanasian Creed. It was originally written to refute that there are three Gods, different hierarchies within Godhead, that any member of the Godhead was created, among many others errors. And so, on this Sunday, we use it in place if the Nicene Creed to celebrate the depth of our Faith.

Elsewhere Athanasius, the Church Fathers to whom this Creed is attributed, wrote why this is so important:

"[The Trinity] is a Trinity not merely in name or in a figurative manner of speaking; rather, it is a Trinity in truth and in actual existence. Just as the Father is he that is, so also his Word is one that is and is God over all. And neither is the Holy Spirit nonexistent but actually exists and has true being. Less than these the Catholic Church does not hold…” (Letters to Serapion 1:28 [A.D. 359]).

This is the heart of our Faith, because it reveals the nature of God. God dwells not only in relationship with us, but also in perfect relationship to Himself. The love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit show us what perfect, selfless, pure love truly looks like. It is from that perfect love, which is poured out to us in the person and work of the Holy Spirit that we see and receive the love and relationship we have with God the Father through Jesus Christ (and His sacrificial love for us).

This week we are called to pause, celebrate, and take in that reality the Faith. Embrace the depth of the Truth of it in your own life and to give thanks for the model of love that exists in the Godhead. A love which gives us hope. A love by which we are perfected and that we are called to freely give to others.

Certainly the Trinity is a mystery, for we cannot fully comprehend the depths of God through our finite understanding. Yet, what is revealed to us forms the bedrock of the Christian Faith, and sets our Faith apart from the other religions of the world. A Faith that is unique in its invitation for us to have relationship with God and to participate in His work in the world.

0 Comments

Preparing for Pentecost

5/16/2018

0 Comments

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

You are invited to a huge celebration this week! This Sunday is Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, wherein we celebrate the Holy Spirit descending from heaven. As He alighted upon the heads of the disciples in the form of tongues of fire, the Holy Spirit empowered them to go out, teach, and do all that Jesus taught and commanded.

However, the disciples had a choice. The could stay huddled together in the Upper Room behind closed doors and together among familiar faces, or they could step out. Thankfully they chose to step out, quite literally, onto the balcony and proclaim what God had done in Jesus Christ and was doing through the Holy Spirit. As they stepped out in faithful obedience, the Holy Spirit moved through them to bring in a harvest of 3,000 souls who were gathered in Jerusalem for the annual harvest festival of the first fruits.

God did the work, through the willing and faithful hearts of the disciples. This exact moment was ordained by God, when multitudes would already be in Jerusalem. God put the words in Peter’s mouth, and opened the ears of those listening. God even miraculously communicated the message in the languages of those present, so it could be received. God did the ‘heavy lifting.’

The disciples’ role was to confidently step out in faith. Once they did so, they gained greater confidence to press into God and see Him work. Page after page in the chapters that follow in Acts bear witness to this fact as many are healed, the Church is united, and the Good News of Jesus spreads like wildfire.

As we prepare to join in the celebration on Sunday, may we also prepare our hearts to do so. I urge you to set aside a bit of extra time in prayer this week to ask God to equip our church at Saint Barnabas to boldly step out in confidence for His name’s sake. Also, ask the Lord how you may be called individually to do so. Take time to prepare for worship and bring your best to the Lord as we celebrate what He continues to do in and through the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God continues to look for disciples today who, like the original twelve, step out in faith and boldly follow Him. I pray that we are that church. A community that moves at the impulse of God’s direction as we grow to be more like Him and bring others into His presence.

0 Comments

Ascension and what it means for us today

5/10/2018

0 Comments

“And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.
(Luke 24:49-53 ESV)

Today we celebrate Jesus’ return to His rightful place in glory at the right hand of God the Father. While His return into heaven marks the completion of His earthly life and ministry, it marks also the beginning of things to come. First, Jesus goes before His disciples to prepare a place for them. Secondly, His departure allowed the promised Holy Spirit to descend. Jesus’ ascension, in essence inaugurates a season a preparation.

Jesus states that He goes to prepare a place for His disciples, which includes all who place their faith in Him, until He returns at the Second Coming to gather them all to Himself. Have you ever dwelt upon that fact? He is not removed from us, but is at work. Jesus is transforming us, and all of creation, to be with Him forever. He is bringing that work about daily. As we grow in His likeness, and as He restores all around us, we are moving ever closer to that Day. However, this process of sanctification, growing in holiness, and enrolling others, or making disciples, is something we do not do in our own strength or resources. Rather, it is done in and through us as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, who resides in us through baptism and our turning to faith in Jesus.

Jesus’ departure also marked a season of preparation for the disciples as in following days they were instructed to wait for the promised Holy Spirit who would descend upon them enabling them to teach and do all that Jesus instructed. Find ways to prepare your heart for Pentecost on May 20. Be watchful and wait upon the Lord as the apostles did. Carve out extra more time to dedicate yourself anew to serve Him in next week. Ask the Lord for avenues to reach out to others and explore opportunities to serve at Saint Barnabas. Give your best to the Lord by presenting yourself, as we pray weekly in the Eucharistic prayer, as a living sacrifice to Jesus in the ways you order your days, offer your time, and give of your resources to the advancement of the Kingdom.

0 Comments