Infinity of Little Hours

I am reading an interesting book entitled An Infinity of Little Hours: Five Young Men and Their Trial of Faith in the World's Most Austere Religious Order. It is the true story of five men and their life and experiences in the English Carthusian charterhouse of Parkminster in the early 60's. It was recommended by a friend, who had also recommended it to a mutual friend of ours who is soon going to be testing his vocation with the traditionalist RC Benedictines in Oklahoma. (A curious recommendation since the Benedictine life is very, very different from the Carthusian life, as anyone who knows or has read anything about monasticism will tell you.) It is a good book and fun to read, and I have not found it to be in anyway negative towards the Church or the monastic life of the Carthusians. It is quite simply a portrait of these five men.

In reading a book like this it is sometimes tempting to wonder why anyone would want to devote his or her life to such a vocation when it seems so unnatural and austere - especially with an order like the Carthusians. But we simply cannot always probe and grasp someone else's vocation or God-given spirituality. God calls different people to different types of jobs in life, and gives people different spiritual compositions, so one can't (in most cases) say, "That vocation is stupid. The way you mortify the flesh is worthless. Your Lenten discipline is not good enough." I get so sick and tired of hearing idiotic nonsense like that... mumbo jumbo that suggests that everyone is the same, and God speaks to everyone in exactly the same way all the time, and deals with everyone the same. What a bunch of nonsense. But I guess we're all guilty of thinking that way about others from time to time. I know I am.

If a person feels a call from God to test a vocation to the religious life, or to some other task - such as being a missionary - he MUST obey that call and test the vocation, and everyone else around him just has to accept it, even if it doesn't make much sense at first. The life of a continuing Anglican priest is an utterly meaningless vocation, and a waste of time and talent, to a lot of outsiders, and to those who do not have the calling. Yet it is my vocation, and the way that God has called me to work out my salvation. The same is true for those in the religious life.

Blue Christmas

No, I am not talking about "blue" vestments used in some churches in Advent, but Christmas services here at St. Francis. The turnout, even though it was higher than last year (thanks be to God!), was lower than I had hoped - especially in the wake of much advertising and two big newspaper articles. That goes to show that newspaper articles do very little to help churches like us. There is just too much other stuff in the news, etc. for an article or two - even if big - to translate into visitors.

Looking at the parish register, I think that a major part of the problem is that back in 2000 the church changed the time of the Christmas Eve service from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. 6:00 is the worst time for ANY evening church service no matter WHAT time of year it is. Dinner, work, and the commute always trumps church! Next year the service will be later. Plus, I think people prefer to go to late services on Christmas Eve anyway, and ours would be too early even if no one was doing anything that night.

Otherwise it was an okay service. We actually had some good music, amazingly enough, thanks to the organist from a nearby Episcopal parish filling in for us. And it was GREAT to spend the night with our beloved parishioners (sans the college students, who are all away for the holiday).

Another Newspaper Article

The Roanoke Times ran a story today called "Pastors Reflect on the Meaning of the Season" for which I was interviewed. The cool, but also funny, thing is that I made the front page of the print edition of the magazine - for the second time in one month! The readers may think that the parish owns the newspaper after seeing me twice in so prominent a place in such a short time.

They interviewed several ministers from different churches and traditions, and took shots of several of them, but only me and the baptist minister made it in! He is on the front page of the e-version.

This is all great publicity for the parish! Thanks be to God!

Avery Cardinal Dulles, RIP

One of my favorite theologians, Avery Cardinal Dulles, died recently. The LA Times had a pretty good obituary on him. In seminary some of my classmates referred to him as Avery "Dullest" because his books were so heady, and we had to read a lot of them, as well as a lot of his articles. But I always though he was really exciting to read! All of his writings had a profound impact on me, but especially his books: The Craft of Theology; Models of the Church; and Models of Revelation. The last one was so profound and enjoyable to me that I actually had him autograph it when he came to Baltimore preach and celebrate the Eucharist at St. Ignatius Church downtown... he seemed to think it strange that he was being asked to autograph such a book! They are all great books and should be read by all seminarians... especially your more rigid, fundamentalist types. (Roman, Anglican, or otherwise)

Avery Dulles' books were so balanced, polished, and professional. He never talked down about Protestants, Orthodox, or Roman Catholics that he didn't agree with. In fact, he always treated their traditions, beliefs, and positions with utmost respect and dignity. He had the peculiar ability to see the best in people and positions that even he didn't fundamentally agree with. And he was able to look critically at his own Church and tradition. Needless to say, many of those qualities are sorely lacking in your average "convert" to Roman Catholicism today. Because of his faithfulness to the Roman Church and the papacy he was given the red hat back in 2001. He will be greatly missed.

"Rest eternal grant unto him, and let light perpetual shine upon him. May the souls of the faithful departed through the mercies of God rest in peace."

Blast from the past

This is a picture from my confirmation in 1997 at St. Stephen's Church in Timonium, MD. Left to right is the Rev. Guy P. Hawtin, rector; me; the Rt. Rev. John T. Cahoon, Jr., bishop; and the Rev. Chandler H. Jones, curate.

Preaching

I find that I get the best reaction to sermons that have some practical instruction in them. "Try doing this. Think of these three things. This week, when something happens - try to react this way." Etc.

(Not that one preaches simply to get a "good reaction", or compliments afterwards, but those reactions often indicate that somehow something I said (or even didn't say) "connected" with the person.)

Most rank-in-file parishioners are very pragmatic, and they want to see how the faith, and that particular Sunday service, "relates" to every day life. They enjoy having a "homework assignment" of sorts... a definite "charge". I find they get bored with too much pure doctrine and theology. It ends up being a waste of time on my part to craft a sermon that is fit for a Medieval disputation, and a waste of time on their part to sit through it because they can't follow it most of the time. Plus it can take away from the centrality of the Holy Eucharist. The sermon is supposed to support and point to the mass - not utterly usurp it, and be so long and boring that people do not pay attention for the rest of the service.

Still, the preacher must expound on the faith and teach the teaching of the Church. The great error of liberal religion is that it is "atheological" and "adoctrinal", which is why so many of the mainline churches have fallen into such damnable heresy. He must simply beware that if he gets to "heady" he will lose the people and not be doing them any service (though he will be doing himself a great service by stroking and showing off his massive ego).

The preacher must also beware of speaking in too many vagaries: i.e. speaking so ambiguously and in such generalities that he ends up saying nothing at all, or so that his words can be interpreted in any way under the sun. I would categorize broad phrases like "put God first in your life" this way. True, we want people to think about the sermon and engage it critically, spiritually, and in other ways, but we also have to provide some order and direction for their thinking.

Detailed exposition on dogma, doctrine, and theology is better suited for Sunday school classes and church study groups. For sermons it is best to have one or two strong theological points to show forth and explain, and to try to give parishioners some practical way to apply that doctrine, or way to think about it during the week in relation to their larger spiritual life.

If we simply teach rote dogma and doctrine, and do not teach people how to live a spiritual life, and practice their spirituality, then we have failed.

New North American Anglican Province

Reading the reports on the new north American Anglican province has been very interesting, but has left me with a number of questions:

1) What does the new province hope to gain since they would still be in communion with TEC and the other heretical provinces in the Anglican communion by virtue of being (or trying to be) recognized by the ABC as a new province? If they are in communion with the ABC, then they are in communion with TEC - they are "kissing cousins." That is how Catholic ecclesiology works.

2) I thought that some of the U.S. dioceses (such as Fort Worth) were now under Venables. But now I read that they are in the new North American province. Which is it?

3) What about the differences over WO and liturgy? How is having zero common theology and zero common prayer supposed to add up to anything substantial, and how is that supposed to be a return to classical Anglicanism?

All in all, like the contemporary Anglican Communion in general, the creation of this new province seems to generate more questions than answers.

Thank you, St. Joseph!

My wife and I buried this St. Joseph statue in the front yard of the house in Florida and did the novena to help get our house sold a few months back so we could move to Virginia. What happened? Well, in the midst of the Florida housing slump, in a little, dare I say "crappy" starter house that are a dime a dozen, we sold our house in a mere two months for the full asking price, in cash, without an inspection! In addition to this, during that two month period we had about two weeks when our house was without representation and in real estate limbo because our agents were switching companies. That, my friends, is divine intervention! St. Joseph really interceded for us... as did St. Jude, I suppose (sometimes these guys work in tandem I've determined).**

My former boss, the rector of all Vero Beach, Fr. Ward, was gracious enough to dig up the statue and mail it to me so I could, as the the tradition demands, put in a place of honor in our new home (the vicarage of St. Francis)! So here he is. Thank you, St. Joseph!

** Oh, and I guess I should also mention that we had the area's top real estate agents and real estate attorneys working for us as well! That helps a lot too!