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.

2007 DEUS Synod - News and Reflections

I just returned from our 2007 diocesan synod. It was hosted by the Central and Eastern NC Deanery, and held at the beautiful St. Michael's Church in Charlotte, NC. You may view pictures here and here (note the gorgeous stained glass window showing the coronation of the BVM). The diocese has an official press release which I forgot to pick up.

Overall, I would describe the synod as being very spiritually refreshing. I definitely sensed the movement of the Holy Ghost. Part of that, no doubt, was due to the fact that the synod was held at a church (a place of prayer and worship) rather than at a hotel (a place to crash). The presence of Christ in the tabernacle of the altar radiated out the whole week. I thought that the preaching during the week was spectacular. Really, I have not heard such good preaching in a long time. It was also wonderful to have sung mattins (in addition to daily mass). I became Anglican in a parish that had that (with a choir of men and boys), so I love hearing and singing the old Anglican chants. I am very proud to be a member of the APA, and serve with such fine men. The Lord is definitely blessing us in terms of growth and expansion of ministry. The laity are very involved in the church, and there is a wonderful feeling of teamwork and unity amongst us all. It was a very, very positive week.

The weeks events opened on the 9th with a meeting of the Board of Examining Chaplains (the men who examine candidates for Holy Orders). There are some 26 people in various stages of ministry preparation. This includes postulants, transitional deacons, and deaconesses. Members of the board noted the high quality of people offering themselves for full time ministry, especially the men preparing for Holy Orders. They are all in accredited seminaries, or have already been through an accredited seminary and are doing additional work as directed by the board. The APA requires candidates for Holy Orders to have a master's degree in theology. The board added one member to its numbers, my former rector, the Rev'd Raymond Unterburger (Joppa, MD). The board met again on the 10th, as it takes lots of time to meet and examine people. The finance and standing committees met on the 10th as well.

On the 11th, we had Morning Prayer and Litany, which was followed by breakfast and the clergy conference. At the clergy conference the bishop welcomed 10 new clergy to the diocese. Some were transfers from ECUSA, some from other jurisdictions, and the rest were newly ordained in the last year. Each of us said a few words about who we were and what was going on in our lives and ministries. It was interesting to me to find out that some of our clergyman (who've been in the APA a number of years now) are former Roman, Antiochean, and Russian priests. Guests to the synod were recognized and included: Bp Boyce (from the APA's western diocese); Bp. Hicks (REC bishop co-adjutor from the mid-atlantic) and the Very Rev'd Fr. Rodney Longmire (REC priest, and headmaster of an APA school in VA); Bp. Council Nedd (EMC suffragan); Bp. Langberg (ACA bishop of the north east); and Fr. Foos and two students from St. Andrew's Academy (APA) in California. At the clergy meeting the Very Rev'd Douglas King introduced Web-Ex technology, which the diocese will use for meetings, virtual seminary, and clergy continuing education classes. The Very Rev'd Mark Clavier spoke about the Anglican Institute of Lay Ministry, which he oversees and is based out of All Saints', Arden, NC. And the Venerable Erich Zwingert, SSC, commented on how the APA will soon be publishing the 1928 BCP. The first run will be a 4"x6" personal edition in leather. Additional sizes will come later. He also said that the APA is also going to be publishing a supplement to the 1940 Hymnal that will contain additional hymns and other authorized liturgical music for parish use. The diocesan altar guild also met during this time.

The synod itself officially opened at 1:00 p.m. on the 11th. A check for over 40k from the diocese and the Linda Armstrong Foundation was given for an eye care clinic in the APA's Diocese of Andrha Pradesh, India. After the usual business (approval of the previous year's minutes, official recognition of guests, etc.), the bishop gave his report. Between him and the suffragan they had 41 visitations, 7 new church meetings, 119 confirmations, 9 ordinations, 5 ecumenical meetings, and more. He gave a report on FACA and success of it in terms of new member churches. (Note: the bishop kind of flies through his report, so it is hard to write down everything quickly enough... and correctly. He had many other meetings, but I couldn't get them down fast enough. Next time it would be nice if his report and statistics were included in a separate handout in our packets.) The suffragan bishop, Peter Brewer, handed in his resignation according to the canons (due to age), but was asked to stay on. The bishop appointed the Rev'd Erich Zwingert, SSC archdeacon. The diocesan treasurer, psychologist, and chancellor were all reappointed. Bp. Grundorf offered his thanks for all of the support he received over the past year after the death of his wife and mother. The synod eucharist was held that evening at 4:30 p.m. The liturgy was a solemn high votive mass of the Holy Ghost. It was followed by a BBQ dinner and a live bluegrass band. Later in the evening, Bishop Langberg of the ACA got up with an electric guitar and apparently rocked the house (I had already retired). Watch out Ted Nugent.

The next day we had Morning Prayer and Holy Communion. These were followed by breakout continuing education sessions, which included: Anglican liturgical music; charitable trust and remainder giving; mission planting; advertising and marketing; and parish bookkeeping and finances. Each session was lead by someone very experienced and qualified in their field, so I think we all really learned a lot. The music session was especially successful, and attracted a lot of people. I hope we do that one again. After lunch, we had more breakout sessions. At 3:00 the synod reconvened, and the various deans gave reports from the deaneries. The diocesan mission, summer camp, and Christian education committees also gave reports during this time. We have a number of new missions and pre-missions that are starting up all over the place, which is very good news for the kingdom of God (and bad news for Satan). Choral Evensong followed later in the afternoon. In the evening we had a fantastic banquet with gobs of good food and drink. The next day synod continued with a few select parish reports . At 11:00 the synod ended and we all went home.

Again, it was a very spiritually refreshing event. It is so nice to be part of a growing church that is full of dedicated people, both lay and clergy, who desire to preach the gospel, administer the sacraments, and worship the living God in spirit and truth according to the catholic and Anglican tradition.

DEUS Synod Next Week

Next week I will be away at our diocesan synod in Charlotte, NC. Please pray that the synod goes well, and that the name of Jesus is lifted up. There is nothing major on the agenda as far as I know, though we are trying a slightly newer format that includes workshops and breakout sessions. I will give reports from the synod.

Church Unity Schemes - Sign of a Greater Sickness?

Hot on the heals of the UEC and ACC communion agreement comes a letter from the ACC's archbishop calling for greater cooperation with the UEC and the other St. Louis movement body, the APCK. Unity movements like this are a positive step in the right direction towards greater unity, cooperation, and understanding among Anglicans. They are especially good for the clergy because it gives them greater opportunities to serve. Unity movements and concordats can invigorate the church and give it a real shot in the arm, which is what I saw back in Maryland with the REC and APA churches in that area. Unfortunately this group does not want anything to do with us (or with FACA) because they see our Covenant Union with Nigeria as uncatholic, and our inter-communion with the REC as problematic. While our modus operandi could be compared to the way the United States engages countries like China, while theirs could be compared to the way North Korea or Iran engages the west.

The unspoken side to many of these unity schemes though is that they seem to be done in large part merely for survival. Sadly, our churches (the continuing churches) are really not very large or influential, and they are that way because we are not, by and large, evangelists, and because we have inherited historical American Anglicanism's idea that maintaining the institutions of the church is the most critical aspect of churchmanship (the book "Growth and Decline in the Episcopal Church" shows this quite clearly). My former diocese in another jurisdiction has fewer parishes in it than they did several years ago. Other dioceses in this same jurisdiction seem to have faced similar stagnation and/or decline. The same could be said, if we are honest, about most of the rest of us too. Have we really grown much over the years?

Do we evangelize and plant new churches, or do our dioceses grow by "trading parishes". In most of our jurisdictions it seems that there are parishes that were once in another jurisdiction, and so on. My old parish went from UEC to ACC to ACA. So while on the surface it may look like a lot of great things are happening with our various jurisdictions in terms of unity, or while it may look like we are growing because St. Swithun's parish just joined us from some other jurisdiction, on a deeper level are we really growing and reaching people? Or are we just in a fight for survival, and is this our last chance to be relevant and contribute anything to the conversation? Does the "shot in the arm" wear off after a while and do we return to the staus quo? I think that as long we pray for and tout unity and/or cooperation, and if God gives it to us, He then expects us to then go and do something with that - namely, fulfill the Great Commission.

Is there sex in heaven? (A Book Recommendation)

Okay, now that I have your attention, I want to recommend a great book by philosopher Peter Kreeft called "Everything you Ever Wanted to Know About Heaven But Never Dreamed of Asking" This book is a very deep, but very accessible text on the Christian philosophy and theology of heaven. He addresses the whole topic from a moderately Thomistic perspective, but also has numerous references to plays, music, art, literature, etc., and what they teach us about heaven. He is quite the fan of C.S. Lewis, as he quotes him throughout. He also ties in the ideas and writings from a whole range of other philosophers such as Aristotle, Heidegger, Kant, and Dooyeweerd (calm down, Greg). "Is there sex in heaven" is one of the questions that he addresses. I found his chapter on "Where is heaven" to be most enlightening, especially his discussion of how the spiritual contains the spatial, not visa versa. The book would make an excellent parish book study, or companion to a study on the four last things (which is how we used it). But honestly, it went so well the little bit that we did use it that I think next year we will do a study of the whole book.

Links Update

I have slowly been updating my links on the side bar. It is still a work in progress, so be patient. Basically I have removed links to defunct/derelict blogs. I have also removed links to bigoted organizations that, out of jealousy, fear, resentment, or something along those lines do not want to have anything to do with continuing Anglicans anymore, and who want to make communion with the arch-heretic of Canterbury and all of his lady cleric and actively homosexual friends the essence of being "Anglican" (I won't mention any names, but the initials of one such organization are SSC). That's all fine and well... I'd rather be a catholic than that type of "Anglican".