Whither Anglicanism Part 2

Last time, I reflected on a report by a Commission of the Anglican Church of Canada which was addressing what changes may be required in the structural organization of the Church given the declining membership.  Although I agree that this is necessary, it is not sufficient.  As I stated, I believe what must be faced and addressed is what it means to be an Anglican in the world today.  As the old generation of Anglicans – the one I am part of - dies and few members of generation x, y and z and beyond are apparently not interested in being part of a church – what is the future of the Anglican Church and what will that church look like?

The decline in membership has been ongoing since the 1960’s and various attempts in changing the liturgy and developing strategic plans have failed to reverse or even arrest this decline.  There are many reasons for this, and this situation is not unique to the Anglican Church.  It has often been something of gallows humor within the Church that ‘we don’t change – we’re Anglicans’.  Again, we are not unique in this as people generally don’t embrace change – especially as we become long in the tooth and soft in the middle as Paul Simon sings.  However, in life – particularly this post-modern life – change does seem to be inevitable at an ever-increasing rate.  I believe that God does intend humans to evolve, and we have and continue to do that.  One of the daily missives from the Society of St, John the Evangelist this week addressed just this:

Evolution - We are not card-carrying members of an institution called the Church. We are organs within a living organism, the mystical Body of Christ, an organism that evolves in response to the patterns of every successive age. Each moment we see, turn back, praise loudly, prostrate and thank, we grow in our capacity to mirror the faithfulness of God and make the evolution of the Body manifest. Br. Keith Nelson, SSJE

So, the question that we are faced with is, what does the Anglican Church do and how does it need to change if it is to survive?  What we are doing now is not working.  For Anglicans, what has been central to being an Anglican is worship.  We are called, as are all Christians, to gather together in the name of Jesus Christ and worship God.  The liturgy that we follow to do that has changed at various times over the history of the Anglican Church.  When I started to worship regularly as an Anglican in the late 1980’s , the Canadian Church had introduced a new prayer book – the Book of Alternative Services (BAS).  In effect, it replaced the 1962 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) as the primary form of liturgy.  There was much angst and anguish among many Anglicans as the BAS was put into practice and the BCP slowly faded into the fringes of worship.    The BAS was introduced, I believe, to modernize the language and make the liturgy more user friendly.  Whether this has been a good thing theologically, can be and is still debated.  However, the point here is that this has not seemed to have made a difference in the ongoing decline in membership.

The recent COVID pandemic gave Anglicans and other mainline churches an opportunity to dabble in non-face to face worship through electronic media.  This is proposed as possibly being the wave of the future for worship and the answer to address the decline.  This media has had a long history in modern worship starting with radio and moving to TV evangelism and now electronic media.  What has been apparent, in my assessment, is that if you are going to do this, it needs to be well done.  This was not the case in many examples of Anglican worship.   So, can electronic worship replace in-person worship and is that the answer to the decline in church membership?  If it is, we Anglicans will have to take a cash course in how to use it effectively and be serious about doing it well.

The need for gathering together in-person in work settings is being played out in post-pandemic Canada and probably elsewhere.  Working remotely became necessary and, therefore, acceptable during the pandemic.  However, now the need to gather together in the name of the organization is being asserted and calling the troops back to the office is being asserted.  The realization that young workers are not engaging with co-workers and the company structure has management raising a red flag about the lack of cohesion of these employees.  This was noted in a recent article about baby boomers not retiring and blocking younger employees from advancing in the organization, “In fact, the engagement of young workers may have declined because the work-from-home shift has had a negative impact on their careers in particular… Physical distance can become mental distance if it’s not managed right.”  Of course, in the church we are not dealing with careers in general.  However, I think that the experience of less engagement in remote circumstances is applicable to the church environment.  Worship in remote settings can fill a need for certain people in certain circumstances and should not be discounted.  However, the basis for community is gathering in person. 

As I stated last time, I believe that the experience of the divine i.e. the Holy - is what will engage people and keep them as part of the church community.  This will occur in worship if it is well done in the community of Christians gathered in the name of Jesus Christ.  It can also occur when people gather for other activities such as bible study, fellowship, and bake sales.  Gathering together is essential for the church to be a church.  How to gather together is for all of us to figure out.   

May you be blessed to experience the Divine in worship and in all your life.

 

 

Whither Dominion Day?

Somewhere in a dresser drawer, I have a tee shirt with the statement or demand, Bring Back Dominion Day. It has a diagram of a moose and a very large Sir John A Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister. This was an appeal years ago by a journalist of the Globe and Mail newspaper to cancel the name change for our national holiday celebrated today from Dominion Day to Canada Day.  Some name changes such as these are well meaning.  However, they can sometimes be ill founded and based on a misunderstanding about the meaning of the existing name.

June 20, 1868: Governor General Lord Monck signs a proclamation that requests all Her Majesty Queen Victoria's subjects across Canada to celebrate July 1. 1879: A federal law makes July 1 a statutory holiday as the "anniversary of Confederation," which is later called "Dominion Day." Today, Dominion of Canada is the country’s formal title, though it is rarely used. It was first applied to Canada at Confederation in 1867.

Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, Premier of New Brunswick, suggested the term Dominion, inspired by Psalm 72:8 (from the King James Bible): "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." This is also echoed in Canada's motto: A Mari Usque Ad Mare (Latin for 'from sea to sea').

The change for Dominion Day to Canada Day was inspired (but not inspirational) in an effort to eliminate archaic language and make it more meaningful and proper to the times. Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, it is part of a movement to make the language we use void of anything that might be poetic and catch the imagination of people.  To my ear, Canada Day sounds lifeless and sterile compared to Dominion Day.  The excuse in changing language to make it clearer and easier to understand often kills what language should be used for – to enrich and bring meaning to something.  This kind of language is appropriate for legal documents, but it is tragic when it is used for symbols that should resonate on a deeper level. There are things which should use poetry and not prose to express the importance and meaning of the thing itself and what it represents.  It is the difference between a sign which points to one thing and a symbol which cannot be described by itself.  Canada is one of those things which should be described in a symbol and not a sign.

I could talk further on this and bring in the changes in the prayer books of the Anglican Church of Canada from the poetry of the traditional Book of Common Prayer to the less than inspired language of the modern Book of Alternative Services - the names say it all.  However, I will leave that for perhaps another time. 

May all Canadians have a wonderful Day celebrating the wonderful country of Canada and may you all be blessed celebrating this day that the Lord has made.

Sermon August 27, 2017 11th Sunday after Trinity

My sermon today is based on something I don’t normally do.  Now don’t get nervous and worry I am going to preach on some heresy or far out idea.  No, rather than base my sermon on the scripture passage – either the Gospel or the epistle, I want to explore the collect.  I will read it again to bring it once more to your attention:

O God, who declarest thy almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Mercifully grant unto us such a measure of thy grace, that we, running the way of thy commandments, may obtain thy gracious promises, and be made partakers of thy heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There is much packed into a relatively short prayer.  We have concepts of grace, mercy and heavenly treasures, not to mention the commandments.  So, there is much to unpack.  Let’s begin by looking at grace and mercy.  What actually is grace and what is mercy?

One simple way of looking at them is that grace is receiving what we do not deserve.  Mercy is, you could say the opposite, not receiving what we deserve.  When I think of grace I think of the opening of the service of Holy Eucharist; the Gathering of the Community in the Book of Alternative Services; “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all”. The response is, “And also with you”.  Let’s try it…

The grace is the Grace of the Lord.  It does not say that if you have been good Christians and done certain things you have the right to wish for God’s Grace on the gathered community.  God’s Grace is offered to each of us; it is offered freely and without condition.  Think of that; we do not need to earn it or be someone we are not; it is there for the taking.  However, that is the rub.  We must be willing to receive it.  We must be open to it and not throw up barriers to that Grace working in us and in the world.  So how do we do that?  Well I did touch on that last Sunday.  We need to be open to God’s gifts in the Holy Spirit.  We can certainly not receive the Grace if we do not pay attention to what God is offering us.  We need to learn and practice understanding God’s Forgotten Language in the Gifts of God.  That is another part of the B.A.S. which I appreciate.  At the Eucharistic prayer after the concretion the bread and wine, now the body and blood are presented to the congregation as, “The gifts of God for the people of God”.  The response is, “Thanks be to God”.  That is the proper response to all of God’s gifts—thanks. 

It is important to understand in our hearts as well as our minds that these gifts are freely offered and given to us.  We do not need to earn them or do the right thing; isn’t that wonderful.  Think about it for a moment…We do not need to earn it.  We are the people of God as so it is offered to us without precondition.

However, that does not give us a free pass.  The Grace of God is freely offered.  However, it doesn’t mean that we have no part in it.  This is where God’s mercy comes in.  I noted that we are to receive Grace there are no preconditions, however, we have to be open to it.  I’m sure it is not a surprize to you that we are not always open to it. 

We live lives that are often not in relationship with God.  We do not live the lives that God intends us to live.  This is where the commandments come in.  Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength; the second it like it, to love our neighbours as ourselves.  Well, I certainly struggle to do that one.  I am taking a wild guess but probably you do as well. 

This is where we give thanks to God that we have the mercy of God.  We do not receive what we deserve.  If we were to be judge on our actions and even our thoughts there would be no hope for us.  However, we do have the mercy of God.  God’s mercy is also freely given.  It is given to us in the forgiveness which was offered to us in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross when he forgave those who had murdered him.  We have the mercy that is offered to us in the confession and absolution in both our prayer book and the B.A.S.  We confess that we have not lived as God has intended us to live.  We are in a state of sin.  We ask for God’s forgiveness and God’s forgiveness is granted to us in the absolution.  Again this is freely offered to us—it is ours for the asking.

 

There is another part of the B.A.S. which I find helpful.  The baptismal covenant asks all present, “Will you persevere in resisting evil and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord”?  Note it states when and not if for being imperfect we will fall again into sin.  However, we will again be offered forgiveness.  The answer is, “I will, with God’s help”.  It could state, I will with God’s Grace. 

In the collect we ask to partake in God’s heavenly treasures.  That is what we are offered through God’s Grace and Mercy.  Let us be open to receive them.  Amen.    

The HOly Spirit 'Don't Get No respect'

Last Wednesday I returned to Huron University College to do a short introductory presentation on Spiritual Direction to the theology students.  I will again have the wonderful opportunity to provide Spiritual Direction to the students under the auspices of the Theology Faculty.

I attended the Wednesday Eucharist prior to lunch and the community gathering.  The excellent homily was preached by The Rev. Dr. Lizette Larson-Miller, a faculty member.  In the homily Dr. Larson-Miller used a wonderful phrase from the prayer of Confession in the Book of Common Prayer (I am paraphrasing what she said) of the tension between “the devices and desires of our hearts” and the action of the Holy Spirit.  This was a wonderful lead in to my talk on Spiritual Direction.

The goal of Spiritual Direction is, in my view, to help identify the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Often this seems to be in conflict with the devices and desires of our own hearts.  The Spiritual Director is more accurately a Spiritual Companion on the journey with the Holy Spirit and will help the Directee identify where and how the Holy Spirit is with them.  Indeed I prefer to think of the devices and desires of our heart as the devices and desires of our egos.  The ego wants to be in charge of the show and run things—our lives and our world to ensure that any control it believes it has is not threatened.  The ego believes that God should be serving the ego.  However, the correct relationship is for the ego to be in the service of God.  This for me is the central message of Jesus i.e. to love God and your neighbour as yourself. 

I have said before that the Holy Spirit been held by the church to be the Rodney Dangerfield of the Holy Trinity i.e. it don’t get no respect.  As it says in the Gospel of John, “The wind* blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  As such it is unpredictable and cannot be controlled by hierarchies and doctrine.  The action of the Spirit can be difficult to identify as it can and will be confused by the devices and desires of our hearts and egos.  However, I believe we are entering the age of the Spirit in which the work of the Holy Spirit will be recognized more fully.

In a Spiritual Direction session there are three persons; the Director/Companion, the Directee and the Holy Spirit.  The goal is to allow space for the Holy Spirit to be recognized and affirmed in the life of the Directee and to help the Directee to recognize where the Spirit is moving in his or her life.  That is my wish for everyone.  Blessings,

Greg

Who is my Neighbour?

Yesterday’s sermon (copy attached) was a reflection on the Gospel for the 12^th Sunday after Trinity in the BCP lectionary.  The Gospel appointed is Mark: 31-40 in which Jesus heals a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment.  As discuss in my sermon, Jesus has just returned from Tyre where he has his well-known encounter with a Syrophoenician woman (a Gentile) who begs Jesus to heal her daughter.  At first he rejects the woman saying, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She persists despite this harsh rejection and responds, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  As a result of her rather audacious tenacity, probably born of desperation, he grants her request and heals the woman’s daughter.

My understanding (which did not originate with me)  of this rather surprizing episode is that Jesus is beginning to realize that he has come to preach the Good News of God Kingdom not just to the Jews but also to the Gentiles—in effect to the whole world. With this realization he returns to his home territory and the events unfold as told in Sunday’s Gospel.  He receives another request to heal someone and reacts very differently from the request by the Gentile woman.  Jesus responds immediately in an intimate way.  He speaks in his native Aramaic language and touches the man’s ears and uses his own spittle to loosen the man’s tongue. 

From this perspective how do we understand this experience of Jesus today?  I did not explore this in my sermon and would like to do so now.  I think it is particularly relevant how we in how we relate to those who we consider part of our family, however that is defined, compared to how we relate to those who we consider are outside that familial bond.  The impetus for this came from Lorna’s response to my sermon   Lorna is my best critic in the best sense of that word and gives me many good ideas to consider and chew on and even sometimes even digest.  It is human nature to respond to those who we can relate to i.e. who are “family” in the broadest sense whether it is family of origin or extended family or church family or anyone who seem familiar and can relate to.  Even if we do not know the people personally if we can see them as someone who is familiar to us and can relate to we are more likely to respond to them.

This is the whole issue and challenge in responding to Jesus commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves.  He tried to illustrate this to us in his parable of the Good Samaritan.  One approach which stuck with me as to how we have a long way to truly understand and respond to Jesus’ teaching on this was demonstrated in a recent encounter at the Republican Convention to elect/crown their nominee for the U.S. president.  An interviewer engaged someone who identified themselves as a Christian who supported Donald Trump.  The person was asked if they believed if it was important to love our neighbours as Christians.  This self-identified Christian responded that of course it was otherwise how we could know if they were terrorist.  I don’t think this person actually understands what Jesus meant in that commandment.   

A situation has arisen recently which is closer to home.  We have received an appeal to support Erin Dance, the daughter of retired Suffragan Bishop of Huron Terry Dance.  Erin is unfortunately suffering from a potentially deadly form of leukemia.  The treatment she has received in Canada has sadly not been effective.  Erin is, however, a candidate to receive experimental treatment in the United States.  Unfortunately this is very expensive—in the hundreds of thousands of dollars—and the cost is not covered by the Canadian health care system as it is experimental.  The response has been gratifying and over $200,000 has been donated after a relatively short period of time.  It is wonderful to see this generosity and Lorna and I were happy to have the opportunity to contribute.  If you would lie to contribute here is the link to do so https://www.gofundme.com/helpforerindance. 

Another situation came to our attention with a request for assistance at about the same time.  This situation involves a family  of Martha and William who have 10 children still living with them who recently lost their home to a house fire and are asking for help to get re-established in a new home.  The goal of this campaign is a modest $5000.  There has been as response to date of $3500 including a donation by Lorna.  If you would like more information on this situation and possibly consider contributing you can go to https://www.gofundme.com/2jygxnpg. 

The two situations are not directly comparable.  Erin’s situation is a matter of life and death.  While the family of Martha and William are faced with the possibility the family will have to be split up if they cannot find suitable accommodation.  They do not have a broader family with the resources and connections which can respond with help.  However, it does point out that Erin Dance does have a much broader “family” with resources to provide significant support.  Martha and William are not so fortunate.  They are in many ways the “other” who we do not necessarily relate to easily. 

I have in the past related the challenge I experience when considering who I give to.  I give from my bounty to others but is it to the “other”.  I give generously to charity—I tithe as we are told we should to be a good Christian.  Well, I must admit I give to selected ones.  I give to the deserving charities that help deserving people.  If I am asked on the street for a handout I immediately assess the person.  Is she really in need?    Is he trying to rip me off? Will he just go and spend the money I give him on cheap wine?  I really wish Jesus had said to give to those who deserve it.  But he didn’t.

The resources that we have in life are to a great extent a matter of chance.  They depend on the circumstances we are born into and on the resources that we have been blessed with in this world both talents and gifts.  I was born a white male to a middle class family in Canada as part of the baby boom which gave me many opportunities.  I received a good education at relatively little expense and have a good life that is only in part due to my effort and due in part to help from others and circumstances which were beyond my making.  I have been blessed in many ways and I give thanks for that.  Many others have not been as fortunate as I have been.  How then do I decide how I am going to share that blessing with?  I do make choices and make decisions.  That is inevitable and necessary.  The challenge for me is to remember that charity does not only begin at home and that my neighbours can be people I have not even met yet.  Blessings.  

Where's Your Home 2

Last week I wrote about home and asked where your home is.  My sermon this week built on that theme.  The Gospel reading for the 3rd Sunday after Trinity has the Gospel reading from Luke 15 on the parable of the lost coin and the lost sheep (note at churches here in P.E.I. we are following the Book of Common Praise and not the Revised Common Lectionary). 

In my sermon I propose that we are all searching for our true home which is reclaiming our relationship with God or as it is stated in the principles of A.A. a power greater than ourselves.  We often don’t know what it is that we are missing in our lives until we experience it or at least get a hint of what is possible.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known”. We are truly only glimpsing through a glass darkly what that relationship will be like. 

As I noted last week when I first truly experienced Anglican worship for the first time I knew I had come home.  There have been experiences of Anglican worship since then which haven’t always lived up to the promise of that first experience.  However, I know without a doubt that the Anglican Church is my religious home. 

What that first experience and subsequent ones have given me is a glimpse of what my faith enables me to know that ultimate relationship will be like.  In my book, The Ego and the Bible, I interpret the myth of the biblical creation story which as a mythopoeic effort to understand our separation from God.  We no longer walk with God in the cool of the evening.  We have been expelled from or as I like to say strongly encouraged by God to leave our earthly paradise.  We were in a preconscious state of union with God.  However, God gave us the gift of consciousness represented by the apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

The journey into consciousness and to wholeness one in which we travel towards that re-union with God which will, I believe, occur when our time on this earth has run its course.  In in meantime I hope that the glimpse through the glass that we each experience may become a little less dark.  Blessings.    

You're Gonna Have to Serve Somebody

Yesterday was the Eight Sunday after Trinity if you follow the Book of Common Prayer as we do in our Parish in P.E.I.  I was presiding at the services at St. Alban’s, Souris and St. George’s, Montague.  The Gospel appointed was Matt. 7: 15-21.  The opening verse is: ¹⁵“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶You will know them by their fruits.” (NRSV) 

I opened my sermon with the aboriginal teaching of the two wolves:

An elder was teaching his grandson about life.  He said to him, “Grandson, a fight is going on inside you and me.  It is a terrible fight between two wolves”.  “How come there are two wolves grandfather?” the boy asked.  His grandfather answered, “One wolf is evil – he is anger, envy, regret, greed, conceit, self-pity, guilt, lies resentment, false pride, superiority and ego.  The other wolf is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.  The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person.”  His grandson thought about this for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The elder replied, “The one you feed.” 

To quote Bob Dylan (which I did):

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

The question for each of us is which wolf are we going to feed; which prophet are we going to serve?

Later yesterday afternoon I came across a wonderful video on Huffington blog by James Gerkin.  In the video an African American evangelical preacher who gave a wonderful exposition of this: Georgia Pastor Has No Time For Anti-LGBT Hypocrites http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/georgia-pastor-gay-equality_55b50b09e4b0074ba5a4d6e2.  The video ends by the pastor saying, “We all need to look at ourselves” and condemning Christians for being hypocrites in their attitudes to the LGBT community. 

An excerpt from the post follows.

 

Georgia pastor E. Dewey Smith said in a videotaped sermon that was posted Thursday. Smith, who is pastor of the House of Hope Atlanta in Decatur, Georgia, and the House of Hope Macon, chastised his congregation and others who "demonize and dehumanize" artists and even members of their own choir who are gay while enjoying and benefitting from their work.

"We have done what the slave master did to us," he said. "Dehumanize us, degrade us, demonize us, but then use them for our advantage."

Vocal opponents of homosexuality will cite Leviticus, Smith went on to say, but the same book of the Bible also prohibits eating shellfish, wearing mixed fabrics and sharing a bed with a woman while she's menstruating.

"Here’s my point. We pick and choose the scriptures that we want to use to beat folk up with, rather than look at our own lives." 

"Look at your neighbor and tell your neighbor, ‘I don’t condemn you. I don’t judge you. I will preach Christ to you,'" he said. "You can’t evangelize and antagonize at the same time." 

Never Say Never: Exploration in Anglo-Catholic Liturgy

Never say never.   That was never truer for me than yesterday when I was presiding at St. Peter’s which is the Pro-Cathedral in Charlottetown.  St. Peter’s is the high Anglo-Catholic church on the Island.  Having been introduced to Anglican worship in mid-life at churches which are definitely not Anglo-Catholic and worshipping primarily with the new liturgy of the Book of Alternate Services — which I though was quite ‘high’ compared to my experience in the United church — St. Peter’s is quite a different world of Anglican liturgical worship.  St. Peter’s uses the traditional Book of Common Prayer which I had a little experience of and less experience of the Anglo-Catholic form of the service.  Finding myself processing into the worship service at 10:00 o’clock behind three servers with candles, a crucifer and a lay reader was something I would have said I would never experience.

How I ended up in this interesting and not entirely comfortable position is definitely a case in point of never saying never.  Lorna and I have attended St. Peter’s a few times in the past during our many vacations on PEI.  Lorna and I (especially Lorna) do enjoy the Book of Common Prayer service as the language — although rather archaic — is beautiful symbolic and complements the mystery that we both believe is an integral part of worship.  St. Peter’s also has wonderful music and a very good choir which we both enjoy.  As I have mentioned once or twice in previous editions of these emails, we have been attending services at the small Anglican Church in nearby Montague and the smaller (smallest) Anglican Church in nearer by Souris.  Both of these churches are missions of St. Peter’s and are served by the clergy from St. Peter’s.  Consequently they both use the Book of Common Prayer liturgy with an Anglo-Catholic (but not as high) form of worship.  In the last two years I have been helping out  by presiding occasionally at St. George’s Montague and St. Alban’s Souris.  I was asked by the priest from St. Peter’s, Fr. Peter Harris (the priests are all referred to as Father which I will discuss later) to preside at St. Peter’s as Peter has traditionally taken some time off at the Labour Day weekend.  His assistant who is the priest at the nearby Milton and Rustico parish was not available for the 10:00 A.M. service. 

I agreed to preside at the service with some trepidation as it was (as I noted) a liturgy with intricacies that I had no experience leading.    In anticipation Lorna and I attended the service the preceding Sunday and I paid particular attention and took copious notes on the up’s and down (lots of genuflecting) and ins and outs (lots of other actions) and the smells (incense) and bells (of the Sanctus variety).  I was planning to meet with Peter (the person not the church) after the service, however, his elderly but vigorous father died unexpectedly but peacefully and the visitation was that Sunday afternoon.  The funeral was Monday and Peter was going to be leaving for his well-deserved and now most necessary mini-holiday on Tuesday.  Peter did send me detailed notes on the intricacies of the liturgy as a sort of Coles Notes for Anglo-Catholic worship.  I must say preparation was very much like studying for a final exam in University.  Fortunately I had my sermon prepared well in advance.

With prayer book, notes, and sermon in hand I headed off to Charlottetown quite early Sunday morning.  When I arrived I found the vestments nicely laid out for me with a note to the Altar guild that the alb which had been worn at the 8:00 service should be replaced as one more suitable to my height.  Well, I was faced with a number of vestment which I was unfamiliar with having used a simple cassock-alb or a cassock and surplus throughout my Anglican ministry along with occasionally a chasuble for special occasions.  I was soon greeted by the member of the altar guild on duty for the morning who unfortunately was not able to shed much light of the intricacies of Anglo-Catholic vestments.  She was a woman of about 70 years of age who was a long service member of the altar guild but had always followed the instructions of her mother (the source of all altar guild knowledge) who had unfortunately died recently and she was soloing for the first time.  However, the lay reader arrived fairly soon after and was able to introduce me to the mysteries of the vestment.  I was able, with the assistance of a dresser, to vest with a cassock and alb (rather than a surplus), a maniple (as far as I can determine), a stole and a chasuble.  I decided not to use the maniple which is carried on the left arm.  You may not be too interested in the details of Anglo-Catholic vestments but I hope you have a taste of the intricacies involved. 

After saying a much needed prayer with the servers, crucifer and lay reader and taking a deep breath I launched into the worship procession.  The choir processes separately from the opposite side of the building.  I won’t go in to many more details of the service itself as it is already too late to make a long story short.  However, I will say that I did not have to incense the altar as occurred on the previous Sunday as it was not a feast day or special service — just the eleventh Sunday after Trinity.  The lay-reader, servers and organist were very helpful and guided me through the service so I didn’t make too many missteps. 

I enjoyed the experience and the people.  However, there is the tensions of the Anglo-Catholic tradition — particularly in this part of Canada which is still in the early part of the twentieth century for church polity and does not believe in women priest.  It would be awkward to call them ’Father’.  However, that is not the reason they don’t agree with ordaining women — St. Peter’s does not have women in any liturgical role including servers.  Of course same-sex-blessing is out of the question.  However, with I have discovered there is often a benefit from living in tension of such things as belief and practice and holding that tension which will produce interesting results.  It is unfortunate that wonderful liturgy and music seem to be incorporated with theology which seems to be missing what I see as the truth that Jesus Christ lived and taught.  That is a whole other issue which I will leave to another day.

 

 

 

BCP and BAS and Other Things Liturgical

I was presiding and preaching at the church in Montague —St. George’s yesterday.  They use the Book of Common Prayer rather than the ‘modern liturgy of the Book of Alternate Services so we were celebrating the fourth Sunday after Trinity.  It is interesting — and a bit of a challenge —to preside at a BCP service as I did not grow up in the Anglican church. When I came over to England (to coin a phrase), the B.A.S. was in general use — a least in my experience.  I did have some experience with the BCP liturgy mostly in the nursing home services and home visit where the people wanted the service they grew up with and were most familiar with — just as the old hymns they grew up with resonate with them on a deep level.  However, even that experience didn’t really prepare me for presiding at a ‘high’ BCP service which is the custom at St. Georges as well as St. Albans in Souris here on Prince Edward Island, where we are spending the summer, and where we also worship.

I became serious about Anglican worship around 1990 and the debate about the new liturgy of the BAS versus the traditional liturgy of the BCP had been going on for a while in parts of the church.  It was not evident in the congregation which I worshipping at that time with Lorna.  I believe I missed most of the discussion around the change by that time.  The objectives of the new liturgy and the objections to it were far ranging and still exist in some parts of the Anglican Church.  There was and is a resistance to change among Anglicans is a long standing value and habit summed up by the (now) old joke, “How many Anglicans does it take to change a light bulb?  Change, we don’t change, we’re Anglicans!  And anyway that light bulb is a memorial for my parents so we can’t change it”! 

Some of the arguments around the two forms of worship revolve around language — the beauty and poetry of the BCP prayer book which was written by Thomas Cramner, the Archbishop of Canterbury following the reforms initiated by Henry VIII who had less than pure motives in breaking with the Roman Catholic Church.  The language is archaic and rather hard to get used to, for one raised in modern English.  However, it is beautiful.   The use of BCP goes lockstep with the use of the King James Version of the bible which does give me more difficulty when proclaiming the Gospel in the worship service.   There is of course more behind the changes than language.  The theology of the two different books is quite different which I won’t go into detail here. 

 However, one of the objections to the service change was the passing of the peace which in the BCP was done by the priest reciting, “The Lord be with you”.  The congregation responded, “And with thy spirit.”  The BAS follows this formula with minor changes to update the language.  However, here comes the kicker — in the BAS people actually exchange a symbol of peace by shaking hands.  This did not go well with many Anglicans who saw it as an unnecessary intrusion into their solemn worship. 

This is a small but telling example of the resistance to the change.  However, there are much more significant differences which are associated with the two prayer books.  The BCP is usually, but not necessarily, associated with traditional, orthodox theology and a resistance to the ordination of women which was introduced in the Canadian church in the 1970’s.  More recently the debate has centered on the blessing of same-sex-unions (and now marriages).  As someone who definitely leans towards the liberal end of the theological continuum it is a cause of a bit of dissonance in my worship.  However, I am able to appreciate the beauty of the BCP liturgy without getting involved in the debate around these far reaching theological issues — as important as they are.  However, we all must choose our battles or as we used to say in seminary ‘choose which ditch we will die in’. 

Raffles and Roofs and Liturgy

I presided at St. George's Montague PEI yesterday and had a great experience worshipping with the BCP.  Part of what made the experience so positive was the singing of the liturgy by the congregation.  Although they a not great in number - there were 17 in attendance yesterday - they sing very well - both the liturgy and hymns.  There is also a very competent organist who is a life-long Anglican.  He plays at the Catholic Church in Souris before coming to Montague a bit of a rush for him but he usually makes it on time.  Yesterday the Catholics were worshipping 'in the field' -as he put it (their parish picnic as he clarified) and he left the music up to the guitarists.  Therefore he was able to arrive without it being a rush.

One interesting point occurred after the service.  One of the ladies of the church was, as I later found out, selling raffle tickets on behalf of the St. Alban's in Souris - their sister congregation in the Parish. St. Albans is raising money for a new roof - or I should say half roof.  They have enough money to  replace one half and need to raise the funds for the other half.  The lady selling the tickets instead of offering me an opportunity  to buy one or more said that she shouldn't let me see what she was doing.  When I found out what she was doing I realized that selling raffle tickets was frowned on by the Ecclesial powers that be in Diocese as they are in my home Diocese of Huron (gambling and all that).  However, I assured her that I had no problem with raising money in this way for such a good cause.  I was quite happy to buy some - Lorna actually did the evil deed buying 6 for $5.00 so my hand are clean.  It probably means I will not be able to use the quilt if we are fortunate enough to win it. 

Yes life does give us these serious ethical issues even at the cottage.  I hope yours are as easy to resolve.