The Rewards of Being a Priest

One of the most exciting things about being a priest is watching people's faith come alive, and seeing people who come to church with very little in the way of Christian discipleship and discipline begin to grow and bear the fruit of the Spirit. There are people who never owned a bible, and then when we give them one, they begin to study it, and absorb it, and have lots of questions. There are others who though previously didn't have much of a prayer life learn how to pray and what to pray for. There are people who previously compartmentalized there faith who are coming to see that the Lordship of Jesus Christ is over every aspect of life. There are lifelong churchmen who are very faithful and have seemingly seen it all, but yet are filled with wonder and awe when they learn some new aspect of the Holy Eucharist that they had never thought of before. There are people who through the power of Jesus Christ overcome addictions and other destructive behaviors and begin to live a life of godliness and devotion to our risen Lord. It is so exciting to be in the midst of all of this, and to be used of God to help bring some of this about. Being a spiritual father to part of Christ's flock, and helping them grow in knowledge and love of Jesus, praying for them and with them, and teaching them is so unbelievably satisfying and rewarding.

Knowing your product

All of this stuff in the news about the polygamist sect in Texas has increased the general level of interest in Mormon religion and history. As a priest it is important to know something - even if it's very basic - about other religions, as well as other topics (such as philosophy). But with everything else a priest has to stay current with, and know, and do, it is simply impossible to become an expert in everything. There just isn't enough time in the day. One could spend a lifetime studying just one other religion!

It is important to know something about other religions, such as their history and how they began, and some of the basic differences between them and the catholic religion, but ultimately, as I learned in sales, it is better know your own product inside out, and be able to explain it, then to know some other product super well. You don't get "sales" when you bash someone else's product, or attack intricate details of their process (i.e. theology). "Sales" - in this case, convincing people of the truth of the catholic faith - come when you know, believe in, and can explain it well.

The Universe is Expanding

In my Tuesday morning class at church we are looking at 20 arguments for the existence of God. While studying the Kalam argument the question was raised as to how we should understand the word "universe". The questioner mentioned something about the universe expanding, and additional universes physicists have speculated about that he read somewhere, and so on. Quite interesting. I think that despite any new discoveries about new universes, dimensions, and so on, we still have to understand universe in its original sense as meaning all of created reality.

But the main thing the question got me thinking about was this funny clip from the Woody Allen movie "Annie Hall."

More Preaching Reflections

Ministers and other people from Christian traditions that do not use pre-appointed lectionary readings often think that the use of lectionaries greatly limits the topics that can be preached on. This would especially seem to be the case with the 1928 BCP eucharististic lectionary, which runs on a one-year cycle. The modern solution, of course, was to adopt a three-year lectionary, to give the preacher more options and bring more of the bible into the liturgy. Some continuing parishes use the three-year lectionary, but most still use the old one. Either way, if the readings are pre-appointed, it can seem somewhat limiting on the surface. So what do you do? You have to get creative.

I find it very easy to do "topical" sermons based on the lectionary. A few weeks back we had the John 9 as our Gospel, so I chose to preach on the concept of "light" and how Christ is the light of the world. Two weeks ago, when the Gospel was about the doubting St. Thomas I preached on "inner peace". ("Peace be with you.") So I don't know what other priests do, but I will often pull out one word or verse and build off of that. I always try to relate the concept to the liturgy of the Church and the Eucharist, showing, for example, how many times we use "peace" in the liturgy. One thing that sermons should always do is point to redemption in Jesus Christ, and especially in the Holy Eucharist (I learned that from a Dominican sister in seminary). Related to that, I find that one can never mention the Holy Name too much in a sermon. His very name is immeasurably powerful and needs to be spoken aloud. Topical sermons can also be done based on the theme of the Sunday (e.g. "Good Shepherd" Sunday), or where we are in the Church year and what the feast day is. But the point is that with a little bit of creativity it is possible to speak on any number of topics and themes based on pre-appointed lectionary readings. Other times, of course, it is appropriate to try to exegete the entire passage and discuss the broad theme of the entire reading. I do not want to deny the importance of that, but it can become rather limiting after a while.

Clergy Wives

I think there should be a feast day on the kalendar, or a prayer intention on diocesan prayer cycles, for clergy wives. Just as it is a difficult vocation to be a priest, so it is to be married to one. These wonderful women give up a lot for their husbands to become priests. In many cases they give up living near family and friends; they give up certain creature comforts because the salary and benefits of a priest are often lacking (especially in the continuum); and they very often abandon their own career and personal aspirations - all so their husband can be a priest. Then besides all of that, they are expected to take an active role in the life of the parish. I was lucky that my wife knew she was marrying a man who was going to become a priest, because for many men the priesthood is a career change, and not something that the woman planned on dealing with when they first got married. Those women in particular deserve special praise for their patience, understanding, and devotion to God and their husbands. Thank God for clergy wives. Pray for clergy wives.

Things to Avoid in Sermons Part 1

1) Politics
2 ) Politics
3) GRE Words

Comments on Commentaries

In my sermon preparation I find most contemporary commentaries to be almost absolutely useless, and I rarely use them. I actually have very few in my library. This surprises some people, but there are other priests who feel the same way (such as my spiritual director - who is a very experienced priest). The thing that makes so many contemporary commentaries bad for sermon prep is that the information they contain is entirely too academic. It is as though they are written for other biblical scholars and not for pastors who are trying to expound on God's word for the feeding of God's people. The worst commentaries of all in my opinion are the Anchor Bible commentaries. They contain all sorts of minute information about Greek morphology, the types of sandals that ancient near eastern peasants wore, and such, but they offer very little insight into the spiritual meaning of the text. And besides that they are very expensive. They are certainly interesting (sort of in the way a Discovery Channel program is interesting), but altogether useless most of the time for sermon preparation. I used to think that the Sacra Pagina series was okay, but I am finding it to be more and more useless for the same reasons.

This is one of the areas where older commentaries (50+ years or more) are so much better than the new ones. They actually presuppose the scriptures to be the word of God that have something spiritual to say to us, and they attempt to offer insight into the religious meaning of the text. For my sermon preparation I actually find theological texts to be the most useful non-biblical tool, especially when preparing theme-based or topical sermons. So I use
some of the (few) older commentaries that own, the Bible itself, and theological texts the most when preparing sermons. And judging by the good reaction my sermons get I think I am doing the right thing.

Humans are Not Animals

The NY Times has a story on how all "animals", even bugs, cheat on their 'spouses' and 'pay for sex'. In other words, hey... every other animal cheats so why shouldn't humans? I like what Fulton Sheen said once in one of his broadcasts: "Humans are not pigs." I would add to that: humans are not bugs, or apes, or anything like that. We are made in the image and likeness of God, and are endowed with reason. Reason enables us to know right and wrong. Our wills must be brought into accordance with nature... not nature brought into accordance with our wills.

I honestly feel as though we are living in the twilight of civilization. God help us all.

The Bible and the Future: N.T. Wright Lecture

N.T. Wright recently spoke at my alma mater, St. Mary's Seminary & University, in Baltimore. His topic was "The Bible and the Future". Of course I was not there, but I heard it was good. The cool thing is that you may order a CD or DVD of his talk! The link to do so is on the opening page of the St. Mary's website. I am going to get one.

Wright spoke at St. Mary's when I was a student there, and he actually taught my Paul class one day! I got to ask him a question about natural theology and Romans 1 for a paper I was working on. Very exciting. At that time he had not yet been consecrated a bishop.

The Bishop's Daughter

David Virtue reported on the recent New Yorker article about the Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, former Episcopal Bishop of New York. The original article from the New Yorker, written by one of Moore's daughters, is definitely worth reading, and should be read in order to see the man from a broader perspective. Virtue does raise an interesting point in his article, though, about sexual ethics in light of the article. He says in essence that the real problem facing the church today is not approval of homosexual behavior, but rather accepting pan-sexualism... having an "anything goes" attitude towards sex. I think he is on to something.

The debate that has raged in the Church as of late must be quite troubling to homosexuals - especially those who are honestly trying to seek God's will in their life and deal with their feelings and problems in a Christian way. Maybe they feel hated by the Church and alienated from God. Maybe this rhetoric makes them feel like they have caused all of the problems in the church (even though they haven't). As Virtue says, the real problem is the pan-sexual agenda that has engulfed our culture and the Church. Why doesn't the Church protest the sleeping around/one night stand culture shoved in our faces during prime time TV? Maybe because it is men and women - so that makes it okay. But isn't fornication a sin? Hmmmm. Oh, and why are adulterers, and organizations that romanticize cheating dealt more kindly with by the Church, while homosexuals are thrown to the lions? Hmmm. If you ask me, it is really unfair to those men and women. The Church should condemn all sexual behavior that does not conform to the teaching of scripture and tradition. She should not "pick and choose", or focus only on one group of people. We need to remember that homosexuals are people too, made in the image of God, and who, like the rest of us need redemption and salvation in the name of Jesus Christ. It is definitely something that I, as a pastor, have to keep in mind as I minister since I do not have a choice who I get to minister to.

Sermons

One of the most important things I have learned about preparing and delivering sermons since I've been ordained is that 80% of the sermon is delivery. There are brilliant and godly men who have many important, timely, and provocative thing to say when they preach, but fail miserably at communicating them because they mumble, are monotone, or just plain dull. If you do not believe me just watch EWTN. Conversely, there are men who have very little of substance to say, yet they take what little they have and package it very nicely so people will not only listen and get excited about what they are saying... they will come back to hear more! If you do not believe me, just watch Joel Osteen or TBN. Whenever I have a sermon that I feel is a little weak (which happens to all preachers from time to time) I work extra hard at honing the delivery, and almost without fail I get a better response from those sermons than I do from the ones that I think have better content! Good delivery is key, and I don't think we honor God's Word when we take delivery lightly. Of course it goes without saying that content is supremely important as well. In the end, good content and good delivery go together.

Stick to the Basics

I am slowly learning that I should never presume that parishioners will know some doctrine, or aspect of Church teaching, that I know (and take for granted that I know). Case in point, in my Tuesday morning class we are studying angels. I thought that it would be topic that people knew everything about, and knew all the biblical passages, and traditional theology of angels, and so on, but to my surprise many did not. There were many misconceptions that the participants had (not all of them, mind you). So on our first session we were able to clarify, among other things, that angels are not humans who have passed on; and that demons and devils were created by God because they were angels (which along with everything else was created by God). That is stuff that I thought everyone just "knew". Boy was I wrong! And I am sure more questions will arise as we delve into angels and Thomism in a few weeks. There already was a question as to why it matters in Thomistic philosophy that each angel is its own race (now that is something that I would be surprised if everyone knew off the bat). Anyway, it's a good lesson for me. It is always good and worthwhile to stick to the basics; to teach, and reteach, and reteach again.

Happy Lent

A blessed Lent to everyone. I am going to be doing some special Lenten reading - a book called "All For the Love of God: A Holy Cross Omnibus". It was published in 1956 by the Order of the Holy Cross, and was a selection of the Episcopal Book Club. It has all sorts of short essays written by members of the order on topics such as the incarnation; the Mother of God; angels; what "catholic" means; the eucharist, etc. The essays were taken from various issues of the Holy Cross Magazine going back to 1906. I am sure it will be very edifying and enlightening in many ways. I have had it for years, but never read it. (I do pride myself on the fact that will eventually get around to reading all of my books!) This was one of many classic out-of-print anglo-catholic books that I acquired by chance in seminary. Someone donated a ton of them to the seminary library, which didn't want them, so they sold them for $1 each, and yours truly was there to snap them up!

How long does it take to become an Anglican?

A wise priest colleague remarked to me once that it takes ten years for a convert to become an Anglican: that is, to be truly formed by the liturgy and ethos of the classical Book of Common Prayer and the English spiritual tradition. Having been on this journey myself for so long now I definitely agree with that. Anglican formation is a very long and slow process. It involves a complete reorientation of ones general thinking, theological method, and spirituality. It is so slow, in fact, that half the time one doesn't even know it is happening! Once one is formed in the tradition, though, he could hardly imagine being anything else, and such a strong and solid base has been established that the spiritual life beings to really blossom. By far the critical error people make is thinking they know something of Anglicanism after just a few services, or a few years of membership in an Anglican parish, but after brief time, in frustration, they leave. It takes so much longer than that to really explore and experience our tradition.

On a related note, I wonder if it is even possible for anyone to get a truly Anglican formation in the Episcopal Church anymore, since that body has abandoned on a local and institutional level the classical Anglican tradition and rule of life. Because of that, I tend (perhaps wrongly) to be very leery of people who come to us from TEC proudly boasting that they are "life long episcopalians". I wonder what, if anything, they have learned about English spirituality in TEC - even if it is "conservative" parish. Lord knows they know nothing about BCP in many cases, and they certainly have not read even popular Anglican writers like C.S. Lewis, much less the classical divines, such as Jewel, Taylor, Thorndike, etc.

Our formation process is slow, and I think sometimes people get impatient with it. But things that grow slowly grow strong. And I think having strongly formed Christians is much better than having great numbers of poorly formed souls, which is, sadly, what many other churches focus on these days.

Back in the Black

Due to popular demand, I think I am going to resume this blog. I will keep my art blog for talk about my art, and this blog for talk and discussion about the wonderful world of continuing Anglicanism.

A Day of Prayer

January 28^th, 2008 will mark the 30^th anniversary of the birth of the Continuing Anglican Movement with the Denver Consecrations.

As a way to commemorate this monumental event, the Society of St Michael will be conducting Prayer without Ceasing; with a special intention for unity among our Continuing Anglican bodies. Our members will pray before the Blessed Sacrament every hour of the day.

The Society of St Michael (SSM) is a Fraternity of Anglican Clergy, organized as a Society of apostolic life. The SSM’s special charism is dedication to the Catholic faith and practice in its Anglican tradition. The Society of St Michael exists for mutual support, encouragement, and fellowship, and witness to Anglican tradition in its Catholic fullness.

Be it resolved:

That we, the Council of the Society of St Michael, on behalf of the entire membership of the Society of St Michael, with members representing multiple jurisdictions, fully support the unity of Christ’s Church and strongly urge our Continuing Anglican communities diligently to work together for unity, in the spirit of the Affirmation of St Louis and with deep respect for our common heritage.

Be it resolved:

That we the Society of St Michael pray that all Primates, Metropolitans, Bishops and Leaders of Continuing Anglican communities will show the way to greater unity, that we may be one, as our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ intends.

Be it resolved:

That we the Society of St Michael humbly beseech St Michael the Archangel and Our Lady of Walsingham to pray and intercede for us to Almighty God, for the restoration of Catholic Unity, that we may walk together bonded by our Catholic faith and share our Anglican tradition in Christ’s One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Be it resolved:

That we the Society of St Michael pray without ceasing for unity.

O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst say unto thine Apostles, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Regard not our sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant unto it that peace and unity, which is agreeable to thy will; who livest and reignest with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

Dated:

The Feast of the Confession of Saint Peter

in the Octave of Christian Unity

January 18th, 2008

http://www.societyofstmichael.org/unity.htm

New Location

Dear Friends,

I have decided to phase out The Continuing Anglican Churchman once and for all, and focus more on art and Christian spirituality in general (on my new blog) rather than focus on the rarefied world of continuing and traditional Anglicanism. There weren't any continuing Anglican blogs when I began this, so I wanted to fill that void. But now there are a number of CA blogs out there - most of them much more interesting to read than this one!

So, I am still around, still a continuing Anglican priest ministering to people, and I will still be commenting on other blogs. I am not going anywhere. :-)

Fr. J. Gordon Anderson, SSM

"I Will Go Unto the Altar of God"

The Classics of Western Spirituality series of books has one on the great Anglican divine, Jeremy Taylor. One of the articles by him that it contains is called "The Reverence Due to the Altar". In this article, Taylor argues that because the altar is a place where God is specially present (more present than in other places, he says) it is deserving of special reverence. He draws parallels from various biblical stories, such as Jacob at Bethel, Moses and the tabernacle, various Psalms, and more. Places where God is specially present are holy, and are "therefore proper for Divine adoration." The altar, as a symbol of calvary, and the place where the the eucharistic sacrifice takes place, is therefore holy, and deserving of reverence. I was taught that you always "reverence" (i.e. bow) to the altar (genuflecting if the Blessed Sacrament is reserved there).

(On a slightly different topic, I don't know why the people who compile these books by old Anglican divines always keep the archaic/old English spellings of words [e.g. ""unlesse", "bee", "internall", etc.). Are they trying to be cool? If so, it is not working. It doesn't add anything to the text, and just makes it harder to read.)

+Florenza et.al. Bolt APCK for ACA

I guess everyone saw this coming. The thirst for unity in the continuum is real, hence all of the "cooperatives" taking place recently (FACA, ACC with UEC, etc.). The trouble with much of this stuff, from my perspective anyway, is that it's all 30 years too late.

Good Liturgy DVDs

I just received two DVDs from Church of the Resurrection (NYC). One is the Guild of All Souls annual requiem mass, and the other is the golden jubilee of the consecration of the church. My former spiritual director, the Rev'd Charles McClean, SSC, serves as sub-deacon at the requiem. The masses are well done, and the music is splendid. I did notice, though, that there is no MC at either of the masses. Maybe they ran out of copes?

Besides being fun to watch, and spiritually uplifting, these DVDs, along with the missal and Ritual Notes, would be good for training priests who do get to see or celebrate a solemn high mass very much. Reading through the missal and RN can be kind of confusing at first, so it is good to have something to watch that puts it all together (again, if your parish doesn't do these masses much). If you want to buy these, or other DVDs, just go to the parish website and download the form. I'm sure it will help the church raise money to continue and expand their ministry.