Galilee: Overlooked and Forgotten

Our bus wound up and down through the hills as we made our way from Tiberias to the Mount of the Beatitudes. I found myself repeating the Venite under my breath as I stared out the window in wonder.

“Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation….

For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. in his hands are the caverns of the earth, and the heights of the hills are his also.

The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands have molded the dry land….”

(see Psalm 95)

There was something about the heights of those hills and the sea that sits below sea level. In one moment I was fascinated that Jesus walked these very same hills, that he hazarded the enormous igneous rocks that lie strewn about as if a giant had thrown pebbles at a puddle. In the next moment I was captured by the haze that sat upon the lake shrouding the region in mystery.

This is Galilee. It is the region where Jesus was raised, where he learned to be a carpenter, where he went about “teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people” (Matt 4:23). To believe I was there is still a mystery.

Galilee is also the region St. Bartholomew called home, and the place where Jesus would call his disciples to follow him.

What’s striking about Galilee is how unremarkable it is in comparison with Jerusalem, the mighty, holy city, or even the desolate, unforgiving Judean wilderness. Yet Jesus called his disciples from this place on the fringe, inviting a people who were largely overlooked and forgotten to be witness to a new creation breaking in on the world. 

We’re now 3 Sunday into our series of 5 on St. Bartholomew and a vision that flows from his name.

This Sunday we’ll look at Bartholomew’s home region of Galilee, highlight Jesus calling his disciples from this region, and meditate on why that matters to us as a church.

Join us as we sing to the Lord and shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.

- Jay+

To Love What He Believed and Preach What He Taught

These inspiring words come from the collect, or prayer, for St. Bartholomew’s Day which is celebrated August 24. Part of the vision in changing our name to St. Bartholomew is wrapped up in who Bartholomew was as an apostle, a friend and follower of Jesus, and someone who preached the Gospel unto his own death. 

For me they are aspirational, a hoped-for description of who God is making us as a people. In other words, if someone said, “wow, these people love what Bartholomew believed” - our Lord Jesus - “and they preach what he taught,” I believe that is evidence God is using us to make an eternal impact for his kingdom in East Dallas and beyond.  This Sunday we’ll look at the collect for St. Bart’s day, but we’ll do it with a very special guest The Rev. Canon Dr. Jon Shuler. 

Jon was my first rector at my first Anglican church - Grace Church in Fleming Island, Florida. Jon faithfully preached and taught the Gospel of our Lord Jesus week in and week out at Grace. And as I got to know him more and heard of his obedience to the Lord, I discovered that the collect for St. Bart’s day had given shape to his own life of mission and ministry. In fact, Jon introduced me to St. Bart’s day in 2009. So I thought it would be fitting for him to share with us about Bartholomew, the gospel, and mission.

Join me this Sunday as we welcome Jon and hear the third part of our five-part series on St. Bartholomew. 


- Jay+

To Bear the Weight of Who We Are, Who We’ll Become

The next four weeks I’ll be sharing the vision behind our new name. Below is an excerpt from Sunday night’s sermon laying the foundation for why a new name is important to our identity, our vision, and our mission.

Inspired by the heroic faith and sense of destiny she read about in young Queen Esther, several years ago a teenage girl in West Texas decided one of her children would one day be named after Esther, but not her Persian name. She would name a daughter Hadassah, Esther’s Hebrew name (Esther 2:7). 

And when I began to date and eventually marry that West Texas girl, who by then was nearing the end of college, she shared with me her hope of a daughter named Hadassah. Our first two children were boys, so no luck there - though we love and adore them. And when we named Olivia, we knew there was yet one more girl out there, our Hadassah, even though friends gave us a hard time about the Hebrew name. 

Many of you know Hadassah, or Dassie as we often call her. And you would probably agree with me that she is very unique, that there’s no one else on earth quite like Dassie - as is the case for each one of us. But Dassie wouldn’t be Dassie were it not for her name. There is something about the uniqueness of her name that bears the weight of who she is, of who she’ll become.

As Anglicans, part of the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church," we name churches not after regions, streets, cities, or who was somewhere first but typically after feasts and saints. Feasts mark events of salvation where God concretely engaged his world in love. Saints are people who have lived lives of heroic faith, some more conspicuously than others, and many to their death in the name of our Lord Jesus. Churches named for these celebrate a kinship with their saints or feast, and the uniqueness of the name is meant to bear the weight of who the church is, of who she’ll become. 

More so, a name for a church is meant to be the fountainhead for a cohesive vision that will give character to a church’s identity, shape to her mission, breadth to her community, and depth to her individual members.

The name I believe God has chosen for us and that accomplishes these things is St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church - or St. Bart’s for short. 

Join me the next four Sundays to hear about the vision connected with Bartholomew’s name - how he bears the weight of who we are and we’re becoming.  


- Jay+

Jay? Can't It Be Michael?

Maybe it was KITT the talking car, maybe it was the stealth nature of the missions, or the mysterious nature of the theme song, but as a six year old Knight Rider was my favorite television show. So much so that I wanted to change my name to Michael after David Hasselhoff’s character Michael Knight. Hasselhoff was cool enough, I suppose, but the name Michael seemed so substantial, weighty, and much more sophisticated than…..Jay. I mean, the letters of the alphabet are cool, and hey, I’m named after one, but I was ready to move on to bigger and better things. 

That is until I learned some more about my name. When I would ask my parents about my name, they would always talk about how much I kicked in the womb. Jay means adventurous, vivacious, quick (maybe like the bird?), and that seemed to fit me well. As I grew up, I grew into my name. I owned it, rejoiced in who God made me. Life and experience would prove that this name, Jay, would bear the weight of who God made me to be.

In last week’s newsletter I mentioned we’ve been asked to take on a new name by our Bishop Philip Jones and our sending church All Saints Dallas. This Sunday I’ll be sharing a new name I believe God is calling us to take on and will begin a series of Sunday sermons where I unpack a vision based on the new name. This name is one that I believe will bear the weight of who God is asking us to be, who he’s calling us to be. I believe it will make space for the breath of life he’s breathing into us, the vision he’s incarnating in our midst and that which he’ll continue long after each one of us dead and gone. 

This name won’t change the core of our identity - a three-stream Anglican church connecting with the people of East Dallas and beyond - but it will enable us to embody the vision and mission God is unfolding in us and through us. 

I hope you can be there this Sunday. 

- Jay+

New Year, New Us

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope it’s been a season filled with rejoicing, time with your loved ones, and a fresh reminder of God’s overwhelming love and grace to us. 

Today at Morning Prayer I was so encouraged by St. John’s epistle where he offers this trinitarian insight to the churches of Asia Minor. “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” (1 John 2:23-24). 

Our call as children of God, disciples of Jesus, members of his Church, and leaders in this local church is simple - believe in Christ, love one another, keep his commands, abide in God and rejoice in the Spirit he has given us. 

As you’ve heard me preach since August, we’re transitioning to take ownership of our finances, governance, and organizational development as we become our own church. As part of this transition, I began a series of monthly meetings in October with Bishop Philip, Mike Blanchat (administrator at ASD), and John Williams (ASD Board President); these meetings are focused on our transition and have been very productive. 

One result of that initial meeting in October was an encouragement and blessing from Bishop Philip to change our church’s name. He, John, and Mike agreed that as we become our own entity, it makes sense to have our own identity, and that around this new identity we’ll have an opportunity to build vision, velocity, and momentum for the coming months and years. 

I have to tell you that I was very excited to hear this counsel. And as I’ve prayed over the past three months and shared with our staff and a few of you, I believe God has given us a name. This name won’t change the core of our identity - a three-stream Anglican church connecting with the people of East Dallas and beyond - but has to do with the vision and mission God is unfolding in us and through us. I will be sharing this name during the service on January 14th. I hope you can be there.

God bless you all! Here’s to a fantastic new year full of God’s vision, power, purpose, and love!

- Jay+

Merry Christmas!

Our Advent preparations are over! Christmas is here! The light of the world has dawned upon us in Christ Jesus, and we have now entered the 12 day season of Christmas! Joy to the world indeed.

I hope you’re having a wonderful time with family and friends, and that the mystery of the Incarnation, of the eternal Word and only-begotten Son of God is resonating deeply in your midst and in your lives. I loved celebrating with so many of you, your family, and friends Sunday night for our Christmas Eve service. It was beautiful and powerful, humble and simple - much like our savior’s birth in Bethlehem. 

Our Christmas celebrations will continue this Sunday, December 31, as we gather an hour earlier at 4 pm. I hope to see you there.  

God bless you and Merry Christmas!

- Jay+

Step Aside Zombie Bowls, Christmas is Almost Here

Can you feel it? No, not the cool air or the dripping drops of recently fallen rain. Nor is it the un-dead zombie bowls rooting around on ESPN. It’s the feeling of Christmas almost being here. People are rushing around to get their final gifts and make their final feasting preparations. The anticipation in the air is palpable. 

Our feasting begins this Sunday night at 5 pm with our Christmas Eve service. The Little Saints will present the Christmas story as told in Luke and Matthew’s gospels, we’ll sing lots of carols, celebrate Holy Communion, and light candles. It will be a joyous time and one of my favorite moments of each year.

The 12 days of Christmas will ensue (lasting to January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany), and our next Sunday service on December 31st will be an hour earlier at 4 pm. 

But Christmas isn’t here yet. And as you wait these final days I encourage you to think about the Blessed Virgin Mary. Think of her encounter with the angel Gabriel as he proclaimed the Lord’s favor for her, the mysterious plan about to commence in her, and that with God nothing is impossible (see Luke 1:26-38). 

Then think on those final days of her pregnancy before the birth of our Lord Jesus. Think of how she and Joseph traveled a great distance from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, and how she must have measured and clung to every promise of God Gabriel had uttered.

And as you do so, watch God work in your own heart to prepare room for Christ. And wait with eager anticipation, for the King and Savior - and the feast of his nativity - is now drawing near.

- Jay+

“Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room!”

Soon we will be singing that great line from “Joy to the World” as part of our Christmas worship, but between here and Christmas we have this season of Advent. Advent is a season of anticipation where we make room in our hearts for Christ. The season of Advent can help us prepare our hearts for Christmas in two ways: by unpacking them and by expanding them to receive anew the astonishing and mysterious gift of God with Us, Emmanuel. We unpack our hearts in confession and in self-reflection. We expand our hearts by remembering the longing of Israel for the coming Messiah and by reminding ourselves that our King is going to come again.

Advent is the beginning of the church calendar and a truly special season, but it can easily slip away from us as we attend holiday parties and shop for Christmas and get swept up in the wave of activity that always accompanies this time of year. In the midst of the frenzy, I want to remind you of a couple of simple ways to make room for Christ. These simple ways to unpack and expand ourselves, through prayer and generosity. 

First, every Wednesday in Advent we will gather together for morning prayer, so make plans to join us at Central Lutheran from 8:15–8:45.

Second, as you begin your Christmas shopping, would you consider buying a pair or multiple pairs of children’s shoes? During the whole month of December, we will be collecting shoes for orphans as part of the Buckner International shoe drive.

 Click here to learn more about the great work Buckner International does and the amazing impact a pair of shoes can have on someone who needs them.