Author: Pastor Rich Lusk
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Kinism, Calvinism, and America’s Founding
Love of people and place is virtuous. It is good to love one’s family, and love of one’s family easily extends to a love of nation, which is largely an extension of the family. One way to honor my mother and father (and grandmother and grandfather, etc.) is to honor the land in which I…
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Tragedies, Part 3: More on the SBC Guideposts Report
A few more notes on the SBC Guideposts sex abuse report, now that the SBC annual meeting has come and gone:
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Calvin on the Church
Regular church attendance and formal church membership are important biblical teachings. The last couple of weeks in the sermon, I have quoted from John Calvin’s Institutes, Book 4, which ties all of this together. Here is Calvin describing what the church is and why we need her: Because it is now our intention to discuss the visible church,…
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Of Prayer Books and Puritans: Reform, Revival, and Renewal in Protestant Worship
[In 2007, I wrote this essay for a compilation of articles on Reformational liturgy. The project was going to be edited by the late Gregg Strawbridge. Gregg had already edited books of essays on baptism and paedocommunion, so the book on liturgy would complete the trilogy. Alas, too many other contributors got sidetracked and the…
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The TPC Baptism Font – Design and Placement
This is an email I sent to the TPC congregation in October 2009 explaining why we have our baptismal font at the doorway into the sanctuary and why we do our baptisms from the location rather than from the front of the sanctuary. It has a few other details about liturgical practices that might be…
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The TPC Communion Table
Around 2009, Trinity Presbyterian Church moved into a new worship facility in Cahaba Heights. We renovated the building, especially the worship space, and that included getting new liturgical furnishings. The blog post below is an email I sent out to the congregation on September 13, 2009 to introduce the congregation to our new communion table.…
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The Church Is Not Optional (Sermon Follow Up)
This is a follow up to last Sunday’s sermon on 1 Peter 2:4ff, “The Greatest Nation on Earth.” The church is the essential institution. The church is not our only nation, city, and family, but it is our first nation, city, and family. The church remakes and disciples these other institutions to serve the good of humanity. The church is a supernatural institution through which…
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TPC’s Bright Vision in a Dark Age
I have often thought this quotation from T. S. Eliot sums up what TPC is all about and what we are trying to do: The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time:…
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The Failure of Feminism and Modern Liberalism
Heather MacDonald, explaining why feminism can never work: Feminists cannot acknowledge the divide between men and women when it comes to sex and sensibility. Doing so would violate what Steven Pinker calls the blank slate doctrine, a foundation stone of modern liberalism. One of that doctrine’s core tenets is that “differences between men and women…
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Life in the Father’s House: Why Should I Join a Church?
Note: This article was written in 1996 for the church newsletter of Redeemer Presbyterian (PCA) in Austin, TX, where I was serving at the time.] By and large, the church today is in a real mess. Because so many churches are unfaithful and unfruitful, it is somewhat easy for us to assume the church is…
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