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A site that publishes some brief articles and other teaching of Father Thomas Reeves, the Priest/Pastor at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Bloomington, IL (stmattsblm.org) and author of "Was Jesus an Evangelical: Some Thoughts about the American Church and the Kingdom of God" released by eLectio Publishing (a traditional publisher - available on Amazon.com). For some of Father Tom's recent video sermons see https://www.youtube.com/@fathertomreeves2872.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Article: "Keep the Main Things, the Main Things"



“Keep the Main Things, The Main things”

April 2012

How do you do with prioritizing? I must admit that for me it is an everyday discipline, and that I am constantly trying to cultivate it. I have also learned that I can rarely prioritize without saying “no” to someone or something; I don't often like this, because if I prioritize, this means someone somewhere is NOT going to be happy with me. I like it much better when people are happy with me.

When we state that we want to “keep the main things, the main things”, we are saying that there are some things that we value and believe that are more important than others. The idea is that we all have foundational values that we say we live by. We say that these foundational values should guide us as we do whatever it is that we do. If we depart from these values, we may still say that our values are important, but our repeated behavior may reveal something else entirely. What is true personally, is also true organizationally. There are many organizations that have values (some may have mission statements) that communicate that there are certain core beliefs that drive them. However, are they really who they say they are? (i.e., the way they do business, conduct their work, live out their ministry)

I have yet to meet a person or organization when challenged with the fact that they may be living inconsistently with their stated values, that responds: “Oh, yes, we are aware of that...thank you so much for pointing it out”! Why is this? Because most of us don't purposely get distracted or led astray from our values. It happens over time, because we have let certain things in our lives slide, or have been listening to other authorities that tell us “well, those values are all fine and good, but here is what will really make you a success...or will get you to your goal...faster”. For the most part, our culture is ambivalent to the lessons of history (unless it is recent history), is given to short-term thinking, and is rather impressed with all of their research, stats and graphs (especially successful business people and organizational model builders). However, it seems that the greatest claim to authority that one has in our culture relates directly to one word: SUCCESS. In my opinion, (and I think that history bears this out) only ABSOLUTE DISASTER stops most people in their tracks when they are filled with their own pride due to their own accomplishments. Even then, there is no guarantee that they will learn from their disaster and change their beliefs and behavior (The Old Testament helps us with this).

Your point, Tom? God dictates to us what the “main things” are supposed to be, and cares little whether we get our share of “reaching our American dreams”, i.e. ....our success..

For example: God want us to “evangelize”; not because he needs our help, or because he doesn't love people. He wants us to love him, and love our neighbor because it brings him glory (the REAL purpose of life and the church). He wants us to “evangelize” because we love our neighbor, not because they can relieve some of our angst or make us feel good about ourselves (if they would just convert). We shouldn't reach out to others because they can keep our organizations alive (so we don't have to go through any discomfort or so the pastor can keep a job). No, if we truly love our neighbor then we will not seek to “use” them for our own purposes, but will seek to understand how God is ALREADY at work in their lives (since HE is the only one who converts a heart), and how he wants us to be faithful pointing them to the Gospel. In other words, we will pray for and be light and salt among our neighbors (believer and non), because we actually WANT to love them. If they convert to Christ and join our church, we then get to love them as family members.

So what do I believe are some of our “main things” for the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul as we navigate the American culture?

  • Keep secondary authorities in their place: successful business people, psychologists, philosophers, church growth experts etc. may have certain insights to offer us, but we will only know this as we apply and grow deeper in our understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the lived out Kingdom of God. Even clergy and theologians should be tested and challenged if they are not pointing us and teaching us to follow Christ on his terms.
  • Avoid the public relations trap: People and organizations are great at pretending that they are something when they are not. PR is all about managing public perception, and controlling a situation for an outcome that is desired. In other words, PR is manipulative, not authentic. As we will be reminded by Jesus in the Sermon on the mount in a few weeks: authenticity can't be faked...not in the long run. Be more concerned with who we really are as a church, than how we are perceived as a church. Perception matters, but it isn't the starting place for ministry. If we are open to it, Lent can aid us in becoming a people of constant re-evaluation and repentance. Lent assumes we are sinners and that we have major blind spots, not that we have it “together” with just the need of an occasional tune-up.
  • Seek your God with all of your being: The more we know our Lord with our “heart, soul, and mind” the more authentic and joyful we will be (no matter what may come). If our desire is truly for our Lord, he will give us the desires of our heart. If we have little to give out to others, then we should expect little in return regarding ministry to others. Communally and personally, disciplined worship, prayer, and growth in the Word of God are significant ways that God draws us to himself. However, the above disciplines will only be meaningful and effective if the motives and desires of our hearts are engaged.
  • Embrace depth and breadth . It has been said that “the American Church is a mile wide and an inch deep”. If one accepts this statement as containing some accuracy (and this writer does), what is the reason? In short, I would say that depth isn't “cool” and we don't really believe that it matters that much. It doesn't sell well, and it is way too slow. Depth takes a lot of work, and it isn't always measurable in the worlds eyes. However, if true, this reveals a huge problem in the way that Americans think about church. In this writer's opinion, the long-term effects of such thinking has contributed greatly to the slow decline in the church in the last two decades. Our ways of doing things are not transformational (regarding the heart); God's ways are.

Many of these themes will already be familiar to you from prior knowledge and recent sermons. However, these are themes that I will often return to as we seek to move together as a family to be the people of God. As we reach out to those in need of reconciliation with God in the Roanoke Valley, we do so knowing that our God wants to use us. May we keep “the main things the main things” and avoid shortcuts that side-step God's transformational plan in our lives, in His church, and in his world.

Article: "Do a Few Things and Do Them Well"




“Do A Few Things and Do Them Well”

March 2012

No, the title of this article is not a direct quote from scripture (although, it does sound proverbial doesn't it?). However, in keeping with my article in our last epistle, it certainly connects to our constant need to balance our view of our own “finiteness” and our responsibility in using our gifts as trusted stewards.

As we talked about in the previous article, there is only one person who can do all things at once and do them well. Only our triune God, is unlimited by time and space. As the Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:17, “He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.... The reality is that God not only is a wonderful creator, he is the wonderful sustainer. God is intricately involved in his created universe, and he is never tired-out or limited. This is a mind-numbing thought for us, and should encourage us that we do not have a “Clark Kent/Superman” kind of God, but a God that while comprehended in part, is incomprehensible. Not only are there things that we do not understand about him and his ways, there always will be a vast gap between the creator and his creation. If it were not so, then we would have a God that is more like the mythological and pagan god's of old; more super-human and maniacal than truly god-like.

I just remarked to Sylvia Bailey today, how encouraged I am with how well we are able to accomplish a helpful and sharp presentation in regard to our worship and church life. We are small in number and resource, but our way of doing things reflects a desire to do things well. For example, our banners are tasteful and first rate. Our worship space is simple, but communicates an appreciation of historic symbol and the importance of art in worship. We have people in our church who are artists or who have a great discernment about the place of art in the redeemed community. We are led in worship by people who take their craft seriously, yet do not want worship to be hindered by an attitude of “performance”. We present a wonderful newsletter, order of Worship, and are meticulous in our board and committee notes so as to be truthful and accurate. Led by the building and grounds committees past and present, we have a well-maintained and beautiful church building and property that enhances our ability to worship and minister to people. With Lilian (our custodian), there are many volunteers who keep the building clean, the trash out, and the dishes washed.

However, we are finite, fallen, and redeemed human beings. We are saint and sinner at the same time. Thus, we are driven at times by more things than just the Holy Spirit. A church that accomplishes much, must also be a church that constantly examines and discovers things about itself. If we do not discipline ourselves to be prayerful and reflective (like the season of Lent encourages), then we might start thinking that what we do and why is just because we are so “saintly”. However, this is untrue. We are often driven by many things in our lives, that if not reflected on (and changed by the Word and Spirit) end up driving us instead of the Holy Spirit. We have insecurities and hurts that make us feel inadequate; we have self-imposed requirements on ourselves that are often unrealistic; we have a “blasie-someone-else-can-do-that attitude” (that puts the burden on too few); we often have our glory and control in front of God's; and we have to fight a constant need to “do God's job for him” if we don't like the way he is choosing to work in someone's life or in our church as a whole.

It is now my desire as pastor, to start challenging us all to take a closer look at who we are and what God wants us to accomplish together. I think that he has much for us, but NOT ALL AT ONCE. Like his process in our sanctification he does not give us everything at once to handle. He gives it to us gradually, in his timing. When we follow his timing and are PATIENT (not irresponsible or unresponsive) we find his timing and power is PERFECT. When we run ahead of his timing we are usually pushy, anxious, and potentially divisive.

How can we balance the limits of our finiteness while pushing ourselves to a more disciplined and effective “Ministry” to the people God has called us to love? Well, the scriptures tell us that we are to do so meditatively (evaluating our selves and our motives), prayerfully (realizing it is only the Holy Spirit that can break through our blindness and hardness), and patiently (moving TOGETHER in Spirit while having differing opinions and specific ministries). So what are those “few things” right now that God wants St. Peter and St. Paul to be (and DO!). Great question! We will pick this discussion up again in part two of “Do a Few Things and Do them Well”...(coming to an Epistle near you!!!)


Article: "The Limited"



“The Limited”

February 2012

I am sure that there are some in our body who are fans of the various and sundry Clint Eastwood films. (a local Chicago station that is well known showed a bunch of his movies and called it “Squint like Clint” week). In one of his movies Clint Eastwood plays a police officer who lives by his own rules in the face of the bureaucracy of his own police department. From this movie came one of Clint Eastwood's famous lines stated to a criminal who had pushed his luck to far: “A man's got to know his limitations”.

Whether we like it or not we all have limitations to our abilities, gifting, and insights. We tend to want more power, money, control, or attention than is good for us or that we could manage if we even had it.

The early chapters of Genesis teach us that we are made “in God's image” and that one of our main purposes in living is the management and care of his creation on his behalf. This is what a “steward” is. The steward is not the King, but manages on behalf of the king while doing so in the name of the king. God has gifted us to be stewards of our time, talents, money, children, his church, one another (to name a few), and the entire created order. He NEVER asked us to do HIS job for him, though. He asked us to be faithful in completing the responsibilities he has given us within the context of what he has called us to be in EVERY area of our lives (we would rather just pick those few that we are good at to the neglect of the others, but that is another topic).

The point is this: Only our triune God is infinite. This means that he is unlimited in his ability to do all things well all at once with out blinking an eye!

Acts 17:25
.......nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things”

Jer 32: 17
Ah Lord God! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”

There will always be times to push ourselves to our limits because God is stretching us and showing us that we can be more than we thought we could. However, the reality also exists that he wants us to realize our limitations, and focus on stewardship and faithfulness as we “run the race”; we must remind ourselves that this race is a marathon and not a sprint. This means that we have to “pace” ourselves and prioritize who God has called us to be. He has given us all many roles, and he wants us to be faithful in all of them.

As a church we must apply these same principles to our future aspirations and planning. Before anything we are a people called out to be the bride of Christ...TOGETHER. While God will undoubtedly takes us places that we never thought possible, we must be the people who he has called us to be. That means that in our general planning and outreach we must be aware of who we are as a church in our spiritual gifting individually, and in our abilities generally. If we stray beyond who we are right now, we risk the temptation to frustration, division, and disillusionment. As we responsibly seek his moving and direction, we will need to continually keep his often SLOW process in mind. Even if we are reading his moving among us accurately, we have to take time “to be still and know he is God” before running forward in our necessary planning and hard work!! In addition, no one person gets all of God's direction without the aid of the rest of the body; we listen and move together.

As we look to future planning there will be several things that I will be stressing.  I believe these things to be scripturally foundational for us if we are to move forward to be effective for our Lord.

  • We need to continue to authentically develop an atmosphere of love and grace because we are allowing the Holy Spirit freedom as a people of humility and love
  • We need to embrace our God as infinite and ourselves as finite and dependent on him
  • We need to continue to develop our ability to be big picture (long-term) and small picture (short-term) thinkers and planners.
  • We need to continue to bathe all that we do in a thoughtful and focused openness to the Word of God and to the Holy Spirit.

In the next few newsletter articles I will be investigating with you the implications of accepting our infinite God and our call to be faithful but finite followers of Christ. We will look at topics as they relate to the problems of burnout, effectively using our gifts in the body of Christ, or allowing other good things to cloud us from those things that are central to being the church of Jesus Christ. In later articles we will also tackle some of the topics related to the other points listed above.

Because of our God, we have a lot to look forward to, and the knowledge that he is with us every step of the way. God is doing his work, and calling us to participate in it. How will we answer his call?


Father Tom




Article: "Why 'Father'?"




“Why 'Father'?”

Jan 2012

Today I would like to continue in more detail some good conversations that I have already had with several different people in our church: Why in the world do some Anglicans call the priest/pastor, “Father”? Below I am taking several different portions from an article that a fellow Anglican Priest (and good comrade) wrote in regards to this subject. If anyone would ever like to read the article by the Rev. Joe Murphy in it's entirety, I would be pleased to get you a copy.

Jesus reproached the religious leaders of His day with some strong words about being called, "father," that sounds like we shouldn't touch that name in the Church” (to save space I will not be printing most of the scripture texts, but I would challenge you to read them for a better understanding of what is being written. - Fr. Tom - Matthew 23:1-12 ).
Jesus' words to His disciples on not calling anyone else "father" seems to make the catholic practice of addressing a priest as "father" completely unbiblical, and a proud and Pharisaic thing to do. At least, a straightforward reading of the text might lead us to think that, what some would call a "literal" reading. The problem with such a reading of this text is that it would also prevent Christ's followers from calling their earthly male parent, "father." Jesus is pretty explicit: " . . .call no man your father on earth . . ." The same thing applies to teachers, of course. We would have to cease calling all teachers by that name--Jesus doesn't restrict it to religious teaching--if one takes this statement at face value. But, human society and the Church within it still need parenting and teaching. Of course, if we stopped using those terms altogether it would be very problematic, because then we wouldn't even be able to explain Who the heavenly Father is in relation to Jesus, or why Jesus alone is our Teacher, because those words would no longer apply to their earthly counterparts. No, Jesus wasn't teaching His disciples to stop using a name, a label, a way of referring to or addressing someone, whether "father" or "teacher." A literal reading of Jesus' words here just doesn't make sense.”

We run into further problems when we read the Apostle Paul's comments to the Corinthians and Thessalonians (see I Cor 4:14 – 17 and I Thes. 2:11-12)

The early Christians followed Paul's pattern. The Aramaic word "abba" ("father" or many argue, "dad") (e.g., Romans 8:15; Gal. 4:6) is the source of the English word "abbot" which the Celts first used for the head of their monastic communities. The French "Abbe" is similar, common for a parish priest. 

Oddly enough, the Christians that find it offensive to call the priest "father" routinely call their ordained church leader, "pastor." That term, however, is derived from the Latin word for "shepherd." Apparently, in their view, we have only one Father (as Jesus said) and so don't call their leader "father," but we have more than one shepherd. This is odd because Scripture is very clear on this:



The LORD is my shepherd . . . (Psalm 23:1 ESV)

But, its even more specific. At one point during the ministry of the prophet Ezekiel, the Lord rebuked the shepherds of Israel, His flock (Ezekiel 34:2), and later called David (as a type of the Messiah) the shepherd of his people (Ezekiel 34:23 and 37:24).

One Shepherd and yet we call our church leader “pastor” (shepherd)?



But, in fact, calling your church leader "Pastor" isn't wrong. For Christ is our "chief Shepherd" (see I Peter 5:1-4).

Peter commands the leaders of the Church in I Peter 5 to "shepherd" the people of God, yet they have a chief Shepherd. With pastors(shepherds), it isn't that God doesn't use humans to do that work--He does--but they are only obedient and beneficial as God's shepherds if there is a clear understanding of who the Real Shepherd is. 

Isn't this, however, exactly the case with fatherhood? We have a physical father, yet only one heavenly Father. We may have a spiritual father as well, perhaps several, yet understood as utterly insignificant in light of our heavenly Father because such "fathers" are only by analogy.  

So, why did Jesus say, "call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven"? For the same reason He said,

"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."(Matthew 5:29-30 ESV) 

He was making a point, a strong one, about the seriousness of sin. But, if we took it literally we might wind up killing ourselves to keep from sinning! Repentance is what Jesus was getting at, not self-mutilation. 

With giving our church leaders titles, whether "pastor", "teacher", or "father," Jesus' point is clear and driven home by the forceful way He expressed it: don't mistake anyone for the only Real Shepherd, Real Teacher, Real Father that you have. 

In the end, please call me “Tom”, “Father Tom”, or “Pastor Tom” (my kids will just call me dad). I am only a “Father” because I am a part of different families that I love very much!


Father Tom

Kicking off

Well, I am taking the "Blog" plunge primarily to make sermons and articles available to people in our church (peterpaulroanoke.org).