Student Organization Showcase @ VA Tech

The other day we had the student organization showcase at Tech, so VTAU ("Anglicans United at VA Tech) was there in all her glory! To prepare for the event, people from the church baked and bought gobs of cookies and purchased several cases of bottled water. We got our big tri-fold sign out of storage and I updated it, replacing some bad verbiage with some better stuff. We printed up tons of Holy Cross tracts on various subjects, and printed a flashy new brochure about the parish. All in all it was a great event. We got to talk to lots of people about the Church, our student ministry, and the parish.

Every student group on campus was represented. They seemed to place most of the Christian groups in the same area. To our right was some Baptist group, to the left were Adventists and more Baptists. Then there was some group called Alpha Chi; Campus Crusade, InterVarsity, and more. The Episcopalians were there too, and I guess the Roman Catholics were somewhere, though I didn't see them.

Towards the end I got into discussion with a nice young man about baptism and the Church. He was newly baptized, and part of a group called the International Christian Church, or something like that. He asked why we baptize infants, and that lead to all sorts of other questions about basic fundamental theology, such as how we are to read and interpret the scriptures (with the Church), what sacraments are and do, why we have the liturgy, and so on. It was a good conversation, and hopefully it expanded his mind a bit. It helped me see that when discussing that doctrine, to explain myself better, it is probably best to first establish what baptism means and does, and then go on to discuss who then qualifies to be baptized and at what age. If we believe that it is a free gift of God's grace, and the means by which He grafts us into the Body of Christ, and unites with Christ in His death and resurrection, then it is much easier to see why we believe in "baptismal regeneration". Anyway, so I gave him a Holy Cross tract on the Church and sent him on his way after a bit.

But there was something more important going on while we were discussing baptism. What did I use to explain the teaching of the Church? I went to the BCP and explained the sacrament from there, using the rite itself and scriptures that are read during a baptism. When other questions came up about related doctrines we looked at the rite for confirmation. And we ended up looking at Psalter, the Order for Holy Communion, the Ordinal, etc. In short, we ended up doing a tour of Catholic theology through the BCP. That was all I needed! And that is what Anglicanism is about: lex orandi, lex credendi. You know, I have to feel sorry for "Anglicans" who are not wed to their Prayer Books. They can sit through a thousand High Masses and know absolutely nothing about the Catholic faith, all because they do not know the Prayer Book. If we know or Prayer Books we know the Bible and the Catholic faith. The reverse is also true. Anyway... I think VTAU is going to be doing an in depth study of the Book of Common Prayer this fall!

There were a few other interesting things too:

1) In our immediate area, even with two Baptist groups, we were the only one that had a King James Bible prominently displayed... in fact, I didn't even see any of the others with Bibles at all! I made sure to bring several BCPs and a Bible to the table, because that is what we are about.

2) These evangelical mega-"churches" refer to themselves as "inter-denominational" now... not "non-denominational".

3) These same groups have a new "game show evangelism" strategy. One was doing a thing where if you came to their meeting that night you had a chance to win an I-Pod. Another, run by a church in town, offers you $10 for visiting their church on Sunday and filling out a comment card! (I kid you not... I have a copy of the flyer.)

4) I noticed another disturbing trend with some people from these evangelical campus, inter/para/non-denominational groups: several folk that I spoke with questioned the doctrine of Original Sin! Yikes. What have we come to? See what happens when people stop reading the Bible and the Fathers and give away I-Pods and listen to U2 instead?

5) I had my picture taken with the Hokie Bird.... I'll post it soon.

Lots of literture that no one is reading...

So when I moved into my office at St. Francis I immediately began clearing out the twenty tons of junk that had collected over the years... old Almy catalogs, unused offering envelopes from 1990, tons of old bulletins, off-centered Christmas cards, and more. Tons of useless debris. It was awful. I ended up with three huge (lawn and leaf huge) trash bags being hauled out to the curb. The few things worth saving in terms of parish history and archives ended up fitting into one cabinet!

But amongst all of the garbage I found some treasures. I found a bunch of classic anglo-catholic tracts, Mandate magazines, Touchstone, and Christian Challenge magazines that could all be put to good use. They were obviously procured at one point with the intent on handing them out because they had many copies. But what were these fine materials doing? They were languishing on a shelf! All of this great educational and promotional material was just languishing on a dusty shelf in a dirty office with a bad, rusty lighting fixture! A lot of good that does. So tonight I got some inexpensive tract and magazine racks from Staples, and all of this stuff, freshly organized and dusted, will serve as the centerpiece to a new "information corner" in the parlor. The parish will grow if people knew something about it, and about classical Anglicanism in general!

When will the leaders of our churches and the parishes get this through their heads? People need information. We can't expect people to join us if they don't know anything about us and can't get information on who we are and what we believe! If you have information - use it. If you don't have any - get some! There wasn't even any literature in the parish I attended in seminary! Nothing. No information. And we wonder why we're so small.

And don't even get me started on what I found (and didn't find) in the "parish register" and "register of services". Gosh... for anyone out there who is mad at organized religion come to a continuing Anglican parish! It is sometimes the most DISorganized religion I have ever seen!

Maybe so many of our continuing Anglican parishes have been faltering because there has not been good lay and ordained leadership. There has been no one to set up a vision and plan for the future, and get the materials and items needed to make that happen. There have not been enough "leaders" who want to lead.

"Re-post" from August 2006

The Anglican Federation

Here is a link to the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas which is an umbrella group to promote communication, fellowship, and cooperation among the various Anglican bodies in the states. I would encourage everyone to have look at this.

On another note, I was looking at 'members' section, and went to the AMiA's website, and it is very nice looking. Why do so many other Anglican jurisdictions have such bad looking websites? The best that I have seen so far are the AMiA's and APCK's (a big improvement over their last one). The APA's, REC's, ACC's, and ACA's are really bad and unprofessional looking. They reflect badly on our churches. The continuing churches might not be able to errect a bunch of stately new parish churches everywhere, but we could at least hire professional web designers to make a nice looking websites for the national church instead of all of this "mom and pop" stuff.
++++++++++++

Why re-post this? Because the APA's provincial site has actually gone from just "pretty bad" to "awful" since then. If you don't believe me just go to it and look at it. It looks like a liquor store window.

There seems to be some confusion about what constitutes a good website. There is the idea that if it has "lots of information on it" it is "good". Then there are those, usually professional designers, young/technology-savvy people, and others who realize that it is not just the amount and type of information that makes a site good, but how it is arranged for maximum use and benefit.

Let's look at an example of this. Say we took people from the first school of thought and asked them to open a modern, functional library or bookstore. What they would do is collect a massive amount of good books and throw them in a pile in the middle of a room in a large building. Then, they would immediately declare the library to be "good" because it has lots of "good books" in it... even though it is messy, sloppy, and ugly; and even though you couldn't actually find a book that you wanted to read.

People from the second school of thought would get all of the same books, and the same building, but have them arranged according to the Dewey Decimal System, some computers to look everything up,, have some chairs to sit in, and an information desk. It would look good, be well-organized, and you could find stuff you were looking for. You might even stay around and read some books that you didn't initially want to read!

There is the difference.

The moral to all of this? People do judge books by their covers, and when someone, especially a young person, comes to a site like this it communicates to him or her that the organization is run by hobbyists and moms & pops.

Isn't it awful how we always manage to give God second or third best... even in the realm of technology. Miserere Nobis!

Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen

This is one of my favorite Bach cantatas. It is one of the most profound and beautiful combinations of words and music I have ever heard. May these words be burned onto our hearts.

"Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen" BWV 12 Cantata for Jubilate
1. Sinfonia	1. Sinfonia
2. Chor Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, Angst und Not Sind der Christen Tränenbrot, Die das Zeichen Jesu tragen.	2. Chorus Weeping, lamentation, worry, despair, anguish and trouble are the Christian's bread of tears, that bear the marks of Jesus.
3. Recitativ (Arioso) A Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen. (Acts 14:22)	3. Recitative (Arioso) A We must enter the Kingdom of God through much sorrow.
4. Arie A Kreuz und Krone sind verbunden, Kampf und Kleinod sind vereint. Christen haben alle Stunden Ihre Qual und ihren Feind, Doch ihr Trost sind Christi Wunden.	4. Aria A Cross and crown are bound together, struggle and reward are united. Christians have at all times their suffering and their enemy, yet their comforts are Christ's wounds.
5. Arie B Ich folge Christo nach, Von ihm will ich nicht lassen Im Wohl und Ungemach, Im Leben und Erblassen. Ich küsse Christi Schmach, Ich will sein Kreuz umfassen. Ich folge Christo nach, Von ihm will ich nicht lassen.	5. Aria B I follow after Christ, I will not let go of Him in prosperity and hardship, in life and mortality. I kiss Christ's shame, I will embrace His cross. I follow after Christ, I will not let go of Him.
6. Arie (mit instrumental Choral) T Sei getreu, alle Pein Wird doch nur ein Kleines sein. Nach dem Regen Blüht der Segen, Alles Wetter geht vorbei. Sei getreu, sei getreu! (Instrumental Chorale: Jesu, meine Freude, meines Herzens Weide, Jesu, meine Zier! Ach, wie lang, ach, lange ist dem Herzen bange und verlangt nach dir! Gottes Lamm, mein Bräutigam, Außer dir soll mir auf Erden nichts sonst Liebers werden.) ("Jesu, meine Freude," verse 1)	6. Aria (with instrumental Chorale) T Be faithful, all pain will yet be only a little thing. After the rain blessing blossoms, all storms pass away. Be faithful, be faithful! (Instrumental Chorale: Jesus, my joy, my heart's pasture, Jesus, my treasure! Ah, how long, ah long has my heart suffered and longed for you! God's lamb, my bridegroom, besides You on earth nothing shall be dearer to me.)
7. Choral Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, Dabei will ich verbleiben. Es mag mich auf die rauhe Bahn Not, Tod und Elend treiben. So wird Got mich Ganz väterlich In seinen Armen halten: Drum laß ich ihn nur walten. ( "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan," verse 6)	7. Chorale What God does, is well done, I will cling to this. Along the harsh path trouble, death and misery may drive me. Yet God will, just like a father, hold me in His arms: therefore I let Him alone rule.

Settled in Blacksburg

We have officially landed at St. Francis Church. My wife and I have gone from the lovely Treasure Coast to the gorgeous mountains of southwest Virginia so I can be vicar of this parish. Since we're waiting for the sale of our house in Vero Beach to go through, we are living at the church in the apartment.

St. Francis is the original St. Mary's Catholic Church, so there is an apartment where the priest lived, as well as a few rooms where nuns lived way back when. The building dates from the mid to late 40's. It is right in downtown, and in walking distance from Virginia Tech (go Hokies!). The Anglicans bought it in the early 80's, and it was an ACC parish until a few years ago. Over last few years the congregation has shrunk, but the small, devoted core that remains is excited about growing the parish and ministering the thousands and thousands of students at Tech as well as in the community. A few "vultures" (one Anglican group which shall remain nameless and a Protestant denomination called the ARP) circling overhead have made offers to buy the building in recent years because of its great location, but that will never happen on our watch. This place shall remain what it always was: a catholic parish in the classical Anglican tradition.

It is a great physical plant. I have a nice large office, and the church is fully functional with confessionals, a baptistry, a choir loft, space for side chapels, nice stained glass of various saints, and more. It seats close to 300. There is room for classes and such. It is lacking in fellowship hall space, but we'll have to work around that for the time being. Because of its age
it has other idiosyncrasies as well (like those annoying two-prong electrical outlets), but all of that is a very small price to pay for a such a great building, in a cool town, and neat neighborhood.

We are going to be ministering at Virginia Tech, and trying to do some outreach in the town. We will also try to minister at Radford I imagine. We will be offering the full round of liturgical services and classes: daily offices, daily mass, bible studies, and more. The church is across the street from a frat house, so I will be paying those gentlemen a visit at some point to let them know I am keeping an eye on them!

Please keep the work in your prayers. I want to see this church full of people singing praises to Jesus Christ, praying, serving others, and partaking of the sacraments. If I do not write for a while, it is because I am busier than I have ever been in my life!

The Practicing Congregation

I just finished reading an interesting book called "The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church" by Diana Butler Bass. She's a church historian who writes a lot about the renewal of mainline Christianity. One of the ways that many mainline congregations are renewing themselves is through adopting "monastic" disciplines, and emphasizing the spiritual journey and practice of the faith rather than parties, clubs, etc. (gee, imagine that). She has numerous examples of parishes from a variety of traditions that were on death's door in terms of membership, money, and everything else, but that turned around and are now thriving congregations. And one of the things that all of the churches that did this have in common is that they emphasize practicing the faith - daily services, quiet days, following the church year, fasting, labyrinths, social justice, etc.

It is nice to read, because the conventional wisdom is that liturgical/mainline churches have to give up elements from their tradition, or from the medieval/ancient tradition of the church, in order to be "relevant" to people, and to attract people. She does emphasize that some traditions have to be "re-imagined" in certain ways, and that sometimes people need to be educated as to what constitutes "tradition" in the theological sense rather than in the social sense. (She tells an interesting story of how there was a conflict in a parish where she was asked to teach an Advent study on peace, and how she had to take over a room that had, for decades, been used for the parish "Christmas Sale", and how the people who ran the sale were indignant that the "tradition of the church" was being cast aside for something as useless as an Advent study!)

Even though she's concerned mostly with the mainline churches, she does touch on evangelicals, and other groups, like the catholics, from time to time. I found a lot of her ideas and observations to be quite relevant to continuing Anglican parishes, which are often very "mainline" and classically liberal in their ethos (e.g. the parish serving as an extension of the country club, and the parish hall being the most important part of the church). There is often in our parishes a sense of: "Why should anything change? Who cares if people join us or not? Let's not do that thing you are suggesting because it is 'too catholic'. Let's have community at the expense of worship, prayer, and devotion." And so on. Also, because these traditional Christian practices are being adopted by more and more Christians of all stripes and labels, I think it shows that, with some changes here and there, we continuing Anglicans will have our day in the sun the yet. People will be attracted to (our) churches where they can grow spiritually and have devotions - and explore and practice their faith. This instead of joining a place that is more concerned with having "English Garden Parties", dances, and cocktail hour.

It is a good, short, thought-provoking book to read by some who has been studying this for years. It is not programmatic, but the examples of various turn-around churches she's given do list some of the things they did/do.

The Perfect Bulletin: A Deep, Thought-Provoking Theological Reflection

I have been reworking the bulletin of the church where I'll be going in a couple weeks, and like most rectors/vicars I am trying to create the "perfect" bulletin. But honestly, I don't know if it can be done. In fact, I think it would be easier to find Bigfoot (see photo to the left) or the Loch Ness monster.

To me the perfect Anglican bulletin is one that helps people not get lost during the service, does not replace a Prayer Book in the pews, is not a multi-page extravaganza, and gives the parishioner something to do during the week (not a crossword puzzle, but something to pray for, or a list of daily parish events).

But really, I don't know if such a bulletin could possibly exist. Yes, maybe it would be easier to find Bigfoot. The reason I say that is this: in my mind a good bulletin has all of the above attributes. But I have seen parishioners who are lifelong Episcopalians, who grew up on the 1928 BCP, who attend absolutely straight-28 Prayer Book services, who still get lost during mass! So honestly I don't think there is a foolproof bulletin design/model.

Maybe we'll just have to use an overhead!

Spiritual Direction

I will be sad to leave behind a good spiritual director when I move up north. I have had to leave them behind before, but a new one was always available to take his place. At this point I do not have any contacts for a new one, but I will keep looking.

Spiritual direction is very important - especially for priests. Priests have no pastor. It would be quite easy for a continuing Anglican priest to spend his whole ministry with no spiritual father in God! And I'm sure that that's the case for most of the priest out there, which is probably why the church is the way it is. So what is one to do? I guess you just have to go out and look for a starets. Leave no stone unturned. Go outside of your tradition if you have to. Find someone. Find anyone. But be sure that you will be searching by yourself.

Salve Regina

"Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy."

The rector recently had this lovely statue of the Blessed Mother installed in the chapel at St. Mark's. It originally comes from an old Roman parish somewhere in Baltimore, but came to us via the Conrad Pickel Studio here in Vero Beach. A devout couple purchased it from the studio and generously donated it to the church.

Now when we pray the Angelus there will be a statue to look at! Thanks be to God.

Coat of Many Colors

Okay, so the Roman Catholics are not the only ones who can play schmaltzy tear-jerkers. This is me doing a cover of Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors" during my last visit to the local homeless shelter, The Source. I have had the pleasure of ministering there for the last two years, going once or twice a month to play music and preach.

Modern Day Erastianism?

The World Youth Day coverage on EWTN was just too much to bear. I though I could handle the awful "show tunes"used at mass. And I though I could handle the "chip & dip"/self-intinction being done by priests and deacons coming up for communion (not just laity, but clergy who should know better). But when I saw the tacky "Australian flag" vestments being worn that was just too much. I had to change the channel. It's not that there is anything wrong with that great country, or its gorgeous flag. I just don't think design elements from flags look good pasted onto vestments.

The Holy Eucharist

I do a mass followed by class ("Mass & Class") on Tuesday mornings at St. Mark's which has been very well attended and very successful, thanks be to God. The last little series we are doing in the class portion before I move is on the Holy Eucharist. I am basing it on the book "Christ, The Christian, and The Church" by E.L. Mascall. Some parishioners have a daughter who was brought up Anglican but now attends a non-denominational church in Texas, and they suggested that we study something to help people equip themselves to explain and defend the liturgy, and the centrality of the Holy Eucharist to such folk. No doubt there are many people out there like that.

The Holy Eucharist is rooted in the life of the Trinity. Within the Blessed Trinity exists the only true, acceptable, and perfect worship of God: God offering God to God. Humanity is brought into this via the incarnation. The Eucharistic sacrifice is the sacramental manifestation of this. The sacramental Body of Christ is offered to God through the mystical Body of Christ; Jesus, the ascended Lord, worships God the Father through His all aspects of His glorified body. As St. Augustine said: "The mystery of yourselves is laid upon the altar."

What we need to do as Anglicans is develop a stronger eucharistic devotion. The mass is the most sacred and wonderful mystery in the world, and it gets neglected, and put aside all too often in favor of gimmicks, church marketing techniques, etc. I really believe that we need to preach and teach more on the Holy Eucharist, and promote other forms of eucharistic devotion (such as prayer vigils before the Blessed Sacrament) in order to revitalize classical Anglicanism. Doing so not only will help people appreciate and understand that doctrine, but also related doctrines, such as the apostolic succession, the sacramental priesthood, the Church, and more.

Spiritual Garbage Men

I have heard lots of metaphors for the priesthood - the most prominent being "alter christus". But the most interesting one that I have heard lately is from Dr. Peter Kreeft in his talk "Women and the Priesthood". In this talk he says that priests are "spiritual garbage men". The priesthood, which is of and for the Church, exists for the salvation and sanctity of souls, not for personal empowerment. He says: "Like Christ, they [priests] are sewers, who drain off the world's sins. They clean up our spiritual garbage, and wash dirty, smelly feet like Christ did before He died." Being a "garbage dump" is the essence of priesthood. Listen to the lecture. It is quite good.

GAFCON

Here is a really good statement and summation of GAFCON.

Putting the Cart before the Horse

As I prepare to leave St. Mark's and take my new title at St. Francis, there is a lot that I am mulling over in my head in terms of planning and the future of the new parish. Obviously one can only plan so much from afar. With the weekly schedule, for instance, one has to get a feel for the parish, and what times work best for people for masses, classes, and such before deciding that all weekday and holy day masses will be at noon, or whatever.

But it is possible to think in generalities, so I ask myself the question: "What do I hope to accomplish as rector of St. Francis? What is the point of it all?" And the answer is not anything like: grow the parish into 300+ people; get new members; start a great youth ministry program and other 'programs'; become an anglo-catholic/anglo-papalist liturgical museum; fulfill the MDGs established by the U.N. The answer is none of those things. The answer is to be found in the pages of the BCP, in the ordinal, specifically. There the vocation of a priest is laid out. A priest is to be devoted to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. (p. 560) A priest is to work for the perfecting of the saints. (p. 538) A priest is to be a shepherd of souls, and to lead men to everlasting life. (p.539) A priest is to be a messenger, watchman, and steward of the Lord. He is to teach, and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord's family; to seek for Christ's sheep and for his children in this world that they might be saved through Christ forever. (pp.539-540) I will not type out the whole charge here, but would commend it to anyone who is interested. That is my number one purpose as a priest: to help people get to heaven, and God willing to make it there myself one day. If a priest doesn't build his ministry on that basic foundation, everything else he does will come tumbling down. If he does build off of that, everything else will develop naturally at the appropriate time. The parish will grow; youth ministry will be developed; programs will be initiated; the holy sacrifice of the mass will be the most glorious thing this side of heaven. Why? Because Christ, when He is lifted up draws all men to himself (John 12:32). Those things will all come about if I, and the people of the parish, are faithful in our various vocations, and if we keep the main goal in mind: salvation from sin, hopelessness, and death through the Lord Jesus Christ. All of these things are means to that end.

I think that churches get it completely backwards when they talk about "growth" and "programs" before they talk about Jesus Christ, and glorifying Him, and worshiping Him in spirit and in truth - in word and in sacrament.

Anglican & Episcopal History

A guy at St. Mark's subscribes to the journal "Anglican and Episcopal History", and he gives his copies to the church when he's through with them. So naturally I have taken to reading them, and let me tell you there is some great stuff in this journal. Recently I read an article by Alan Hayes, a professor of church history at Wycliffe College in Toronto, Ontario about tradition in the Anglican liturgical movement (1945-1989). The article traces how the importance of "tradition" developed and became more and more pronounced as time went on in the Anglican liturgical movement. The fruit of all those years of study of liturgy and "tradition" was the radical liturgical changes of the 70's and 80's. But then he goes on to say that confidence in the "tradition" rediscovered by liturgiologists began to erode, as the postmodern/post-liberal understanding of history shows these "liturgical discoveries" to be constructs that reflect more the current state and mind of the church rather than revealing anything "real" about the liturgies of the past. He also argues that the interest in the "inculturation" of the liturgy has helped people see that there is more to liturgy than what "happened" in the Mediterranean in the first four centuries. He talks at length about "lex orandi, lex credendi" and the problems associated with that in this sort of horizon. But I can't say anything about that now for lack of space. In the end, the liturgical archaeologists/scientists succeeded in re-creating Anglicanism based on their faulty and biased presuppositions and research.

When I studied this stuff in seminary (and when I read about it now) - the "Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus", etc. - I always was suspicious of it. How does one take a snippet from one ancient writer and form a whole new liturgy around it? And just because something was done centuries ago in the ancient church doesn't mean that it is right or wise to adopt that practice today. The liturgical movement, like the ecumenical movement, has been nothing but a spectacular failure in my opinion. If people would just leave the liturgy alone and let it organically change and develop like it always has everything would be so much better in the church and in the world.

Rule of Life for Young People

At synod I met with my former rector, who, like my current rector, is a superb Catholic and excellent priest. He told me of a book he's reading by a priest named Branscombe written, oh I don't know - years ago - that deals with youth and confirmation. (NB: Unfortunately I deleted the e-mail father sent me with the full name of the book. Though when I did have the title I looked for it online and called Anglican Bibliopole, but could not find a copy for sale anywhere.)

The author (I am told) makes the argument that many kids leave the church after confirmation because they never developed a spiritual life. They have been taught a bunch of important facts and doctrine, their spiritual development has not been given enough attention. So he says that kids need to be taught how to develop a rule of life as part of their confirmation preparation. Sounds like a great concept to me. What good is a bunch of facts and religious knowledge if it is not practiced?

So I decided to give my Church school class a summer project: to develop and implement a rule of life. When we went over it, and when I explained the rationale behind it, they seemed very interested and excited. The kids are already great little catholics (e.g. when, as a class, we did the "Beating of the Bounds" on Rogation Sunday they spontaneously began chanting the Litany.), but this will help them lay the groundwork for years of spiritual growth. And hopefully when they get to be older, they will have such a strong spiritual foundation that they will not get into too much trouble. We'll see what sorts of things they come up with.

Emotions and Anglicanism

One of the things I have noticed about being a continuing Anglican for so long is that our tradition seems to be lacking in the affective side of religion - the side related to our emotions. Our worship is for the most part straight-28 BCP, and in my experience priests rarely stray from the text of BCP or missal. While there are important reasons for not straying from our minimalistic liturgical text, the downside is that we can come across as being cold and emotionless. And I think this lack of emotion, and seeming coldness, is one of the reasons why many continuing parishes are so small, and maybe why the Episcopal Church was always historically a lot smaller than other churches. Emotions are a real side of us and something that we need to have an outlet for.

Churches of other traditions, such as the Roman Catholic Church, have an outlet for emotions in the many devotions and sacramental acts of the Church, which are ingrained in the life of the Church (e.g. novenas, rosary, confession, mysticism, etc.). Since Vatican II other aspects have been added as well, such as "evangelical-style" folk/hand-clapping music, lay apostolates, charismatic gifts, and more. On the other end of the spectrum, in the Evangelical Protestant culture, there is all of the hand-clapping, charismatic stuff, and lay ministries that is found in Rome, and there is also a strong sense (derived from Puritanism) of "the family as the house of God", the culture of doing "daily devotions" and having a prayer list, going to prayer meetings, of your daily work being a means of growth in holiness, etc. In short, examples of emotional outlets in both the Roman and Evangelical traditions abound. And while one can find examples of these types of emotional outlets here and there in Anglicanism - from the evangelical Anglicanism of a Truro Church to a catholic Anglicanism of a Mt. Calvary Church - most of the churches that I have experienced are somewhere in the gray, murky, emotionless middle in terms of their spirituality.

Most continuing Anglican parishes that I have had anything to do with have not had the type of spirituality where someone would come up and ask how they can pray for you. They do not use the phrase "The Lord" or even "Our Lord" when speaking of Jesus. They do not ask how you are doing spiritually, or have much evangelistic zeal. Now granted there are always exceptions in each parish (and thank God for them!), but by and large that type of emotional/affective spirituality is not a big part of many continuing parishes. Conversely, these same parishes do not seem to have much of a catholic spirituality either... there is no rosary group, no daily mass, no Angelus, no processions, no adoration, etc. Again, there are exceptions, as some parishes do have those things; and there may be people within a parish who get together on the side to pray the rosary or have some other form of catholic devotion. There is little to no emotion, but is that a good thing when they form such a large part of who we are?

The point is not to argue whether or not these types of affective spirituality are or are not truly "Anglican", but to say that for the most part, in our tradition, I have not seen much in the way of an emotional outlet, and I think we are weaker off as a result. And that is maybe one of the reasons why our parishes are so dinky. The only possible exception that I could think of is if you go to a parish with a fantastic music program and choir. The music of our tradition is quite spellbinding, and music, by its very nature, is emotional. But such choirs and organists are exceedingly rare in our tradition. The hymnody has an emotional element in it too, but I think it gets lost rather easily. So what we get is basically straight BCP Anglicanism, with very few changes or imagination, and it comes across as being very cold, clinical, and detached (and maybe outmoded).

It seems to me that Anglican parishes should be definitely either "catholic" or "evangelical" in their spirituality, and not wallow in a murky, broad middle. Pick one, or the other, but don't stay in the middle! There is no emotion in the lukewarm middle, and yet our affective side needs a spiritual outlet. Does this resonate with anyone else or is it just me?

Worship and Theology in England

I finally started reading Horton Davies' classic multi-volume set Worship and Theology in England. Unfortunately it is out of print, but I managed to score a set in mint condition a few years ago. If you can find a set, get it: it's really good. Davies was a professor of history at Princeton, and he spent many years working on this. It stands out from other "theological histories", such as The Panther and the Hind, because it studies English worship and theology in all of the many different denominations/churches (e.g. Anglican, Roman, Puritan, independant, Anabaptist, Quaker, etc.), and compares and contrasts cultic practices, preaching, spirituality, architecture, and music in each. It is not in the least bit polemical, and is beautifully written. I recommend this set for all postulants, and clergy, as well as for anyone interested in English religious history.

Following Up

One of the things that the clergy always harp on is the idea of putting words into action. It is not enough to simply profess faith in Christ. We must live our faith in Jesus. "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:20) Everyone seems to agree with this on a personal, moral level, but what about on an institutional level?

There are many institutions that fail to follow up words with action. One such institution is the Church. There are all sorts of ways that we as the mystical Body of Christ fail to follow up words with action. A big example of this is in the area of ecumenical talks and agreements. While I can't speak for other jurisdictions, it often seems to be the case the that we in the APA enter into concordats of inter-communion, covenant unions, and such, but then, as a brother priest put it, we "stick the piece of paper in a drawer and forget about it." While my branch of Christ's Church is to be lauded for its open-mindedness, and peace-making outlook, we don't tend to do too much after the agreement has been signed. I imagine it is much the same in other jurisdictions. There are no doubt many probably "innocent" reasons for this lack of follow-up (e.g. no larger vision, general busyness, not enough manpower, etc.).

I think that we in the APA, as well as all of the other continuing Anglican jurisdictions, would do well to remember that signing an ecumenical agreement of any sort is just the beginning. We need to take those concordats, and enact and build on them. If we are not going to use them as a starting point to accomplish bigger and greater things for the Kingdom of God, then what is the point?