Author: Pastor Rich Lusk
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A Short Note on Headship
A man is the head of the household. To put it another way, the man is the patriarch of his home. He has responsibility for his home, as well as authority over his home. Today, there are some in “complementarian” circles who seek to limit a man’s headship to his wife, and then claim the…
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The TPC Baptismal Liturgy
This is an email I send out to our congregation occasionally to instruct them about our practice of infant baptism — not just why we baptize infants, but also why we baptize the way we do, why we use the liturgy we do, etc. This is a good opportunity for me to remind you where…
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Thoughts for Young Men Wanting to Marry
“The Christian church is there to remind people, young men included and perhaps even first and foremost, that they have a woman to find, a garden to walk in, a family to nurture, an ark to build, a land to conquer, a ladder to heaven to build, and the utter, terrible catastrophe of life to…
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Do I Believe in Baptismal Regeneration?
I’d have to do some research on my hard drive or in my old email folders to be sure, but I think this essay was probably written about 2004 or 2005, when the Federal Vision controversy was raging. Because this essay has been one of my more commented-on baptismal essays, I thought it would be…
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Covenant Renewal Worship
What is the purpose of gathering together on the first day of each week for worship? If worship gathers up the gifts of the past week and gives thanks for them, if worship lays a foundation of grace for the week to come, what does that mean? How does it work? What are we supposed…
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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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