Grace Anglican Church - Reformed Episcopal

06/10/2026

"Even at this point in Israel’s history, being a member of God’s covenant community was not about having the right genetics but was based on faith and obedience to the covenant. Exodus 12:38 speaks of a mixed multitude that came up out of Egypt. The people that crossed the Red Sea and lived through the wilderness years did not consist solely of those who were descended from Abraham, but also of other ethnic backgrounds that identified with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This mixed multitude was brought to the edge of Canaan and will find that there are repentant Canaanites and their households upon whom God will have mercy and will spare from destruction. Yahweh had people in this city of Jericho. This was the message to Paul in Acts 18 while he was preaching in Corinth: 'The Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision saying, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.”' ...

"Finally, look at the means by which Rahab will be spared from punishment. She had been told by the spies that she needed to hang a red cord from her window in the city wall to mark it as the safe space. Those who wished to have their lives spared must be in the household with the red cord hanging from its window. What is the significance of this symbol? Recall the symbol that had saved the firstborn sons of the Israelites in Egypt from the destroyer. It was the red blood of a lamb painted on the door post that turned the destroyer away. Here, it is a red cord symbolizing the blood of the covenant by which Rahab’s life was to be spared. Rahab’s house was covered by the blood that looked forward to the salvation that Christ would bring by the shedding of His own blood. Rahab represents the choice that laid before the people of Canaan as the Israelites began their invasion as well as the choice laid before the Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire as the gospel went out from Jerusalem in the book of Acts. She represents the choice laid before the world today. Are you marked by the blood of the lamb? When God looks at you, does He see the red cord? Does He see the blood of the lamb on your doorpost? Does He see you through His Son? Have you received him by faith? Have you been united to Him in baptism? Have you through the means of grace appropriated the gifts of God and claimed them for yourself?"

Homily by Fr. Jared Lovell

06/02/2026

Another baptism at Grace Church on Pentecost Sunday!

Almighty and everlasting God, who of thy great mercy didst save Noah and his family in the ark from perishing by water; and also didst safely lead the children of Israel thy people through the Red Sea, figuring thereby thy holy Baptism; and by the Baptism of thy well-beloved Son Jesus Christ in the river Jordan, didst sanctify Water to the mystical washing away of sin: We beseech thee, for thine infinite mercies, that thou wilt mercifully look upon this child; wash him and sanctify him with the Holy Ghost; that he, being delivered from thy wrath, may be received into the ark of Christ’s Church; and being steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and rooted in love, may so pass the waves of this troublesome world, that finally he may come to the land of everlasting life, there to reign with thee, world without end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

05/31/2026

Join us for the Survival Summit Seminar taught by Jesse Wilbur. Don't forget to bring lawn chairs if you'd like to stay for the fire & fellowship after the event. General info available here: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurvivalSummit

05/31/2026

Church field trip to the Cloisters is coming up soon on June 20th! Please chip in $20/person to offset the cost of transportation. After the Cloisters, we'll head to the Met in Manhattan to catch the Raphael exhibit.

https://www.metmuseum.org/plan-your-visit/met-cloisters

05/27/2026

"Peter says in v. 39, 'for this promise is for you, and for your children.' I believe it is extremely important that when we read the text of Scripture, we do so intending to answer the right questions, the questions that are actually being asked or implied. One way to read verse 39 is to say that Peter is saying, 'repent and be baptized and you will receive the Holy Spirit...but wait, there is more…you can take this special offer home to your children and they can cash it in as well. The same formula we offer you today is still good for tomorrow, next week, and next year for your children. We promise not to switch it up on you.'

"I do not believe for a second that the Jews asking, 'what shall we do?' in response to Peter’s sermon were concerned that what was being offered might only be a special one-time Pentecost deal that would expire and not apply later to their children. This is not an individualistic culture by any stretch of imagination. This is a covenantal culture. When Peter says, 'this promise is for you and your children' he is alluding to one of the most important phrases in the Hebrew Bible. These are the words that God spoke to Father Abraham in Genesis 17:7 when He made a covenant with him. 'This covenant is for you and your children.' Thus, what Peter is saying here using this covenantal language is NOT THAT YOUR CHILDREN CAN BE included in the covenant because this offer will still be good later, but rather THAT YOUR CHILDREN ARE included in the covenant. “Repent and be baptized and you receive the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children.” This is why covenant children are proper recipients of baptism along with their parents. Christ can and does work in the heart of infants and children just as he does with adults. He makes them disciples that we as parents are given charge to train up as disciples."

Homily by Fr. Jared Lovell

05/24/2026

Service of Morning prayer, Holy Communion, Holy Baptism

05/18/2026

"We see in both passages the extent of their respective kingdoms. Joshua 1:3: “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.” This land from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean as a physical, tangible type for the kingdom that Christ seeks to build and over which He rules. Just as Adam and Eve were placed in one small part of the earth, the Garden of Eden, and tasked with tending it, keeping it, and spreading outward to subdue the whole earth, so also the children of Israel are given this small piece of land that is to be a holy place and from which they were to be a light unto the nations.

"In Acts 1:8 we see that the map is redrawn and the plans of conquest have changed. There is nothing in the New Testament about maintaining a strip of land for the people of God in the Middle East. The people of God are and always have been the church. They were spoken of the remnant of Israel in the Old Testament, and they have expanded to include the Gentiles in the New Testament. The gospel vision is not concerned with the River to the Sea, but with Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The kingdom of Joshua is a type and shadow of that kingdom that Jesus Christ claims for Himself. For those upon whom the end of the ages have come, to go back to claiming a strip of real estate in the Middle East based on the words here in Joshua is to go back to types and shadows and to miss the point of the promises of land, seed, and blessing. King David gets this when in Psalm 72, a prayer of the king, he writes His ultimate heir who is to come, “He shall have dominion from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.”

"David could see that the real kingdom of Israel was much bigger than maintaining the borders of the physical Israel. David got a glimpse past the types and shadows toward what was to come. And how did he come to this conclusion? By meditating on the law of God day and night, just as Joshua is commanded to do."

Link in comments.

05/04/2026

"Jesus speaks of the things that the disciples had not heard before but are hearing now. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. Because Jesus was with them, they did not need to hear these things. But now, he says, “I am going to him who sent me.” The disciples are sorrowful to hear this news that Jesus is going away because they do not really understand where he is going. While he was with them, he did not need to teach them about the Helper who was to come, but now they must know that Christ’s departure and the coming of the Holy Spirit is a great benefit to them. This is an astounding statement! The disciples have had the privilege of walking with Christ and being directly taught and trained by him. Yet, Jesus says that it is to their advantage, it is to their benefit, that he leaves. They are going to enjoy a greater benefit when the Holy Spirit comes than when Christ walked on the earth with them. They are leveling up here, not taking a step back."

"There are two ways in which this is so. First, the fact that Jesus is leaving them means that Christ is going to die, rise again, and will ascend into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father as a man. For all eternity, Christ sits as a human being with our nature in the throne room of God, in the Holy of Holies, in the presence of the Father. It is by Christ’s presence there that we share Christ’s nature can enter the throne room of God to worship Him and make our requests known to him. This is a great benefit! RC Sproul used this illustration. Imagine being part of a political campaign and your candidate has won the election. It is a party atmosphere at the campaign headquarters, and everyone is celebrating. The candidate gets up to the podium and says, “this is so much fun. I never want to leave. Let’s just stay here and celebrate.” The purpose of the election would be completely defeated. The candidate ran for office not to enjoy the party on election night, but to take his seat in office and represent the people. Likewise, Jesus must go to His Father that he might be, as Revelation describes, the lamb who was slain, the only one who is worthy to open the scrolls. He must go to His Father that He might serve as our mediator."

"The second reason that Jesus leaving is of great benefit to them is that the Holy Spirit will come and live within them. The Holy Spirit will empower them for the task they have ahead. While Jesus was with the disciples, they did not yet understand. They were cowardly as they ran and denied him on the night of his betrayal. Yet, when the Holy Spirit came, they were emboldened to preach the gospel to crowds on the day of Pentecost. When they were arrested by the Jewish leaders, they were empowered to say, “we will obey God rather than men.” They were joyful and celebrating that they were worthy of suffering on account of the name of Jesus Christ that they bore."

1 like. "St. John 16:1-15: The Ministry of the Helper (May 3rd, 2026)"

04/27/2026

"The disciples had been called by Jesus to a new vocation. Jesus had told them that from now on they would be fishers of men. They had been appointed to be ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors of the good news that the Messiah had come. When the disciples attempt to go back to fishing, they do not just have a small catch, they have absolutely nothing. Everything else will fail for the disciples if they do not do what Christ has called them to do. There is no going back to fishing. Jesus had given them a job to do and had trained them for this purpose. Dropping out of ministry and going back to their old career simply was not an option for them any longer.

"The same was true of the prophets in the Old Testament. When God called someone to be a prophet, there was nothing else they could do. Jeremiah writes in Jeremiah 20:9 at a point of extreme frustration, “Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.” Jeremiah is fed up and doesn’t want to be a prophet anymore. Yet, the word of the Lord burns within him and must be let out. When God calls someone to serve him in ministry in any capacity, it is not something one should refuse. Like the prophets of old, ministers of the gospel, whether clergy or lay, should have a burning desire within them to do the will of the Lord.
If Christ has called you to take up your cross and follow him, you cannot go back to your former life as you lived before. There may be things that you can no longer do or say. There are things which you might now have to refrain from doing. But you are now called to adorn your life with the beauty of the gospel. You too have a message to share. You too have something to say. You too are ministers of reconciliation and ambassadors for Christ."

St. John 21:1-19: From Failure to Feed My Sheep (April 26th, 2026)