Contentment

I continue to get questions and inquiries from friends and acquaintances about the Vatican's recent offer to Anglicans and whether or not I am "interested" in it. My answer is, "No thank you, not at this time." And that is not meant in a spirit of bitterness and spite, but rather because my vocation is to serve as a priest in the continuing church in the Anglican Province of America. Until I get a very clear sign from God that I am supposed to be somewhere else, or doing something different this is where I plan to stay. This may sound silly to some, as the APA and indeed all of the continuing churches are small and lacking in resources and institutions. Past comments on this blog bear witness that being a "continuing Anglican churchman" (in the lay or ordained state) is not an easy vocation by any stretch of the imagination. I have been, and continue to be, frustrated by the state of our churches and our legacy or lack thereof. But by the same token I refuse to go on some never-ending search for greener "ecclesiastical pastures" or the perfect church. Having been down that road before I can tell you that it is a fool's errand if there ever was one.

Ultimately it is my commitment to the Anglican way - and the liturgy and theology of the Book of Common Prayer, the writings of the Anglican Reformers, etc. - that keep me where I am. In almost every case the people I know who have left the Anglican Church for Rome never really had much to do with our tradition to begin with. That is to say, theologically they were content to be part of a church full of priestesses and lady bishops that had long ago ceased to be Catholic. And liturgically they attended mass almost exclusively when celebrated according to the modern Roman rite, to one of the old missals, to a modernistic Anglican liturgy ("Common Worship"), or to the 1979 Episcopal Prayer Book... but they had hardly any exposure to a classical Prayer Book! And if they did, it was only to the rite of Holy Communion - not the Daily Offices (prayed daily), Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, Visitation of the Sick, etc. The Prayer Book, which contains the liturgy and theology of the Church, is a lot more than simply the rite of Holy Communion. Other services that such folk attend that may be beautiful and authorized by the Church (such as Benediction) are nice, devotional services, but are not Prayer Book services. So when you never use the Prayer Book (or you use a pale imitation) it is easy to criticize it and its theology, and it is easy to jump ship to some other church and some new liturgy. It's even easier when you don't read the history of the English church, or any Anglican theologians. But when you live and breathe the Prayer Book, and use it daily, and use all of it regularly for 10+ years, it is not so easy to casually toss aside and pronounce it wanting or anathema.