I began my ministry fifty years ago at Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia, which was entering into charismatic renewal. The Rector of the Church was promoting the renewal; he was also an experienced and demanding parish priest: my job description included 35 parish calls a week (a standard that I never met). After three years, the Rector retired and I became an Interim Rector there for two years until a new Rector arrived. Then I headed off to England for a Ph.D.
Since then I have served mainly as an “educationist,” with 21 years at Trinity School for Ministry in Pittsburgh, and ten years as Vice Chancellor at Uganda Christian University in Africa. But during all that time, I have recalled my pastorate fondly and upheld the vital importance of the local church as an expression of the Kingdom of God and Body of Christ.
Now in my latter years, I returned briefly, to the parish. From May 2021 to May 2022, I served as Interim Pastor of Redeemer Anglican Church, a start-up congregation in North Boroughs, an inner suburb of Pittsburgh. Founded five years ago by St. Stephen’s Church in Sewickley, Redeemer has now become an independent Mission Fellowship of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh (ACNA) and has called a permanent Rector.
One unusual facet of Redeemer is the median age of its members, largely twenty- and thirty-somethings. Many of them are graduates of nearby Evangelical Christian colleges. They are not vintage “Canterbury Trail” Evangelicals (I do not wear vestments or even a collar on Sundays), but they are generally favorable toward Eucharistic worship and wish to become part of the Anglican diocese.
Since only a minority of the congregation, including the vestry, had been confirmed, I proposed last year sermon series to prepare the congregation for a “mass confirmation” later in the year with laying on of hands by the bishop. Bishop Martyn Minns visited, baptize one, received 6, and confirmed 10.
I have collected my catechetical sermons on the Commandments and on the Apostles Creed and am posting them as a reminder to the congregation and any others who might wish to follow along.
Photo: Here is my last confirmation class at Truro in 1976, with the Bishop of Virginia, Robert Hall.
