Shalom Anglican

 Grieving but grateful...  Robert Michael Steinbach Sr. 9/7/1946 - 7/28/2025 This is has been my response to people as they've asked me how I'm doing.  On July 28th my Dad's spirit left his failing body into the presence of the Trinity. My heart is heavy because of the finality of death. I can no longer see him or talk to him. Now I wait to go to him.  But I'm also grateful for his life. He had an amazing testimony which I shared about briefly at his memorial service . He was a gift to all who knew him. He was my Dad and I loved him dearly.  Needless to say July was a blur. I made two trips back to Maryland. The first was to see him and support my mom in his final days. The second was a week long trip after he passed for his memorial and committal service. I'm settling back into work and processing my grief as well as looking forward to the end of summer and some fall planning. Updates: While I was gone our church stepped up and handled the Sunday service. I'm g...

A Personal Update This last month was very full for our family. It began with our youngest son Asher proposing to his girlfriend! We couldn't be more happy for Asher and Angel and their upcoming wedding next summer. This means that a year from now Beth and I will officially be "empty nesters." I'm still not sure how I feel about that and will definitely need some therapy to process it all 😅. In mid-June we took a trip back to Maryland with our oldest daughter, son in law, and granddaughter.  We spent a few days enjoying Baltimore. This included time with Beth's family, an Oriole's game, the best crab cakes on the planet, and a few "snowballs." Then we spent time with my parents and my sister who live in Annapolis. My dad is going through some health challenges and it was a blessing to be with him and bring his great granddaughter around to lift his spirits.  Shortly after we got back we began planning and putting the final preparations together for ...

My wife and I have been building a garden… well, mostly my wife ;)  I underestimated how much work it would be.  We had to get stones out of the soil, lay down Beth's Garden mulch, then build a fence to keep the deer out. After that there was ordering dirt, wheelbarrowing the dirt, building planters, filling the boxes, and finally planting. This got me thinking about the work of ministry and specifically the balance between working hard, but then trusting God with the growth. In our garden we are working hard, but after we do our work we can’t make the plants grow. That’s outside of our realm. This partnership we have with God that began in Eden is a hard one. It seems like we’d rather just work hard and make it all up to us… or throw our hands up and just “let go and let God” to do it all.  But neither is how it all works. We do work hard. We do build. At the same time, only God brings the growth!  We see this in a wonderful text in Paul’s first letter to Corinth. T...

 Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!  Palm Sunday begins outside with the liturgy of the Palms . This is our Eastertide acclamation and how we begin each service through Pentecost (June 8th). It's meant to orient us to the reality of our resurrected Lord who is reigning now. Easter isn't simply one special Sunday, but a whole season of being drenched in the joy and glory of Jesus' victory over his own death and now ours as well! If you find yourself drifting from the power of the resurrection that we celebrated on Easter, here is a link to my message on Easter Sunday to stir up hope once again! I have to say, this last month was simply AMAZING! God has been so good to us. Here are some highlights. Updates: We held our first Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil) and it was a rich time of worship that culminated in a Taco Potluck on Saturday night with most of our church joining in! Through these three services as well as Easter Sund...

 When God just does stuff... I've been a church planter and around church planting for over twenty years. I've had countless conversations with church planters desiring to start a new church and wondering if they should. Whenever I have these discussions I always look for two things. First, whether or not the planter has a specific vision (perhaps I'll say more about that in another post). Second, I look for what God is doing. In other words, what are some things that are happening that only God could do? What things are happening that the church planters plans, intellect, gifts have nothing to do with? See, one thing I've learned is that if God is at work in the beginnings of a new church he just does stuff! He does stuff that no one can take credit for but Him. He shows us that this is is his church and he's at work. This last month I've been reminded that God just does stuff. Almost every week this month I have showed up on Sunday a little tired and distract...

 Friends of Shalom, Have you ever had a moment where you feel and see the kindness of God in a profound way? Most of life is a grind. But sometimes in small and big ways we get to experience God's kindness in a way we aren't soon to forget.  This last July, Beth and I celebrated our 25th anniversary! Around this time some friends of ours who Placencia, Belize! own a home in Belize offered it to us as a free place to stay and we decided to take them up on the offer. They encouraged us to wait until March 2025 and so we began planning. A few weeks ago we flew out to Placencia, Belize for a 10 day trip! We had never done anything like this before nor for this length of time. Everyday we would share memories from 25 years together. Taking time away to reflect as well as enjoy the sunshine, beaches, food, and rich culture of Belize was a true gift!  These past few weeks I've seen and felt the kindness of God in a profound way. Updates: We got to visit a small Anglican Church.....

Friends of Shalom,  Is ordinary okay? Looking back on the month of January I'd say it was an ordinary month of ministry. We continued to gather each week for Word and Sacrament. Relationships continue to grow deeper. Individuals are growing and wrestling with God. Folks are serving. In other words, the ministry goes on.  I don't have anything earth shattering to report. Or do I? Perhaps what I just wrote is earth shattering because simply by being the church in our day as an outpost of the Kingdom is not ordinary!  Updates: I was able to have a lot of rich one on one's this month. One thing I've learned is that people really appreciate having a pastor and being pastored. I haven't always been able to pastor in past ministry rolls the way I'm embracing as an Anglican priest and I'm really grateful for the change.  We've been experiencing some slow and steady growth with a few new folks joining with us.  We have a young couple who have been opening their...