To blog or not to blog...

Dear Reader,

I have long avoided blogging because I have always felt that it would be a wee bit prideful to assume that if I were to launch my thoughts out into cyberspace anyone would bother to read them. However, I've been encouraged to blog for some time, so here we are. I pray that someone somewhere may be encouraged in the faith by reading here. Allow me to introduce myself, reflect on the title of the blog, and set out what this blog is and is not about (two equally important tasks, indeed).

Your Blogger:

I'm Father David M. Faulkner, a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas and the Curate of Saint James' Church in Texarkana. I am happily married to Laura Falkner,who is the music teacher at Saint James' Day School. I hold the BA in theology from Wheaton College, the MDiv from Beeson Divinity School, and the DAS from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest.

I'm 28 years old and having been ordained priest at that ripe old age, I'm part of the youngest 7.4% of Episcopal clergy (18-35 age range, as of 2009). Of course, 28 is significantly less than 35, but apparently there weren't enough clergy below 30 to merit our own category. Sufficed to say, I'm far younger than the vast majority of my colleagues. (Which is not to say this is good, or bad, it just is.)

I'm Catholic with regard to the Sacraments, high church with regard to the liturgy, and Evangelical with regard to the Scriptures and preaching.

Blog Title: "Not only with our lips, but in our lives"

I take my blog title from the General Thanksgiving in Morning Prayer (BCP, 59 and 101). This portion of the prayer has always haunted me. In the Anglican tradition, we pride ourselves on well done and well thought out liturgy. In this prayer, we have just finished praying an office from a 1001 page book that has been passed down in various forms for centuries and we're asking God to assist us so that we may "show forth [His] praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives..." We put a great deal of effort into glorifying God in our liturgy, and rightly so. In short, our lives and liturgy are properly intertwined, and when we live rightly we will glorify God not only in the liturgy, but in every moment and every aspect of our lives. Glorifying God in our daily lives merits at least as much attention and effort as glorifying Him in the liturgies of the Church. This blog will seek to ponder the intersections between Christian liturgy and our daily lives.

What this blog is about:

-liturgy
-personal piety and holy living (living Coram Deo)
-our communal life as the People of God
-I may also link to a sermon of mine or something that at least relates to our topic at hand.

What this blog is not about:

-Anglican Communion controversies
-Episcopal Church controversies
-These are important subjects, and I turn to the following for commentary on such: Stand Firm, The Anglican Communion Institute, Covenant, and Titus One Nine. While these are important subjects, they simply aren't the subject of this blog. 

I hope you will join me here as we ponder together the high calling God has on each of us to glorify Him "not only with our lips, but in our lives." May God bless you this day.

David+