Alphabet Soup Meme

From Episcosours via Bending the Rule

Accent: Eastern WASP with the slighest hint of South Philly

Booze: Vodka, red wine, and hard cider. (But not together).

Chore I Hate: Laundry

Dog or Cat: None.

Essential Electronics: Laptop (iPod kaput). Have a cell phone I use sparingly and generally keep at home.

Favorite Cologne(s): Cologne? Never tried.

Gold or Silver: Silicon about my neck and steel on my wrist.

Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

Insomnia: Self-induced.

Job Title: Research Assistant

Kids: Maybe when I grow up.

Living arrangements: Four person apartment; my own messy bedroom.

Most admirable trait: Creativity.

Least admirable trait (added): Grandiloquence

Number of sexual partners: N=f(0,1), where f is some Boolean with user-defined condition.

Overnight hospital stays: When I was born.

Phobias: Open ledges.

Quote: "We are deceived by the appearance of right" (Horace)

Religion: Episcopalian, subspecies Radical Anglo-Catholic

Siblings: One younger brother.

Time I wake up: 7 AM

Unusual talent or skill: Weather forecasting

Vegetable I refuse to eat: Eggplant

Worst habit: Nosepicking

X-rays: Arm.

Yummy foods I make: Spaghetti with spinach sauce.

Zodiac sign: Sagittarius

I Own One CCM Album, I Swear (well...maybe two)

And it's like that long Saturday between
your death and the rising day
When no one wrote a word, and
wondered is this the end.
But you were down there in the
well, saving those that fell
Bringing them to the mountain again

-- Caedmon's Call, "Valleys Fill First"

Goat Song

You came into Salem like Bacchus into Thebes.
And from Silenus' mount, you brought the fury
Of a double sun to the house of God Most High,
Furnished gaily for the use of god most base.
Goat song, goat song, now we sing a goat song.

Your nard-kissed feet, your whip-filled hand
Laid low the counting tables and the offerings.
The doves escaped. The sheep returned.
The men in charge your hubris only saw.
Goat song, goat song, now we sing a goat song.

In an upper room, you took bread with thanks
And wine as well, offering your body to all within,
Who would destroy you on the morrow without.
You preached to fair friends the way of peace.
Goat song, goat song, now we sing a goat song.

On your knees and thinly garbed, you washed
Their shining feet and gave to them a mandate
To love as you loved, to love in all humility,
So God might dwell in them and they in you.
Goat song, goat song, now we sing a goat song.

But now the wicked namesake of the righteous
Has kissed your cheek and men with swords
Lay hands upon you as if you were a bandit
How false this recognition and yet how true!
Goat song, goat song, now we sing a goat song.

The rulers and the noble ones seek your death;
The Chorus cries out for the shedding of blood.
They choose one like you to go free to the desert,
Not knowing that their sins are on your head.
Goat song, goat song, now we sing a goat song.

Ah, Jesus, now you hang nude, alone, and dry
Outside the camp at the side of the highway
While the Chorus derides you for your plight
And offers you the rot of the vine for moisture.
Goat song, goat song, now we sing a goat song.

But in fairer type, you have become many beasts
And wear in honor the rainment of the priests.
O God of many miens that hangs upon the cross,
Why is our wickedness to you not our loss?
Goat song, goat song, now we sing a goat song.

I Have Activated My Profile

There's method to my madness, but I need more time for reflection. I'm too strung out on coffee at the moment to hear the Spirit.

General Convention Resolution (Very Much A Draft)

Resolution AXXX The Windsor Process, the Lambeth I.10 Process, and the Common Life of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion

Resolved , the House of __________________ concurring, That the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church reaffirms the abiding commitment of the Episcopal Church to remain a constituent member of the Anglican Communion to the highest degree possible and bear much fruit in communion with the true vines grafted from the British Isles and planted by Christ throughout the whole Earth.

Resolved , that at the same time, the Episcopal Church over the last forty years has become convicted of her long participation in the oppression of the least in American society and the human race and thus has sought to convert her life to accomodate the marginalized in accordance with the commandments of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Resolved , that the Episcopal Church has recognized for thirty years that gay and lesbian persons are by Baptism full members of the Body of Christ and of the Episcopal Church as “children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church” (GC 1976-A069).

Resolved , that individual Dioceses of the Episcopal Church have varied greatly in their approach to abiding by this and similar resolutions. In some Dioceses, there are strong theological objections to admitting sexually active gay and lesbian persons to Holy Communion, even though many of these are in relationships characterized by "mutual fidelity" and the general cultivation of the Christian virtues. Yet in other Dioceses, sexually active gay and lesbian persons in such relationships are considered worthy for ordination and the exercise of Christian ministry and their relationships are recognized by public or private rites of blessing.

Resolved , that the other Provinces of the Anglican Communion likewise vary in their pastoral care and theological approach to gay and lesbian persons and in some cases have promoted actions by the civil magistrates against gay and lesbian persons, injuring their freedom to assemble and self-identify as gay and lesbian persons.

Resolved , that the mind of the Anglican Communion on human sexuality is most fairly expressed in Lambeth Resolution I.10 of 1998: "in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage; recognises that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. Many of these are members of the Church and are seeking the pastoral care, moral direction of the Church, and God's transforming power for the living of their lives and the ordering of relationships. We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ; while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex; cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same gender unions;"

Resolved , that many provinces of the Anglican Communion have taken actions that go against the mind of the Communion on human sexuality, either by the legitimization and benediction of same-sex unions or the ordination of those united in the same (as in the case of this Church) or by refusing to listen to the experience of homosexual persons (especially those among the baptized) and by providing defective pastoral care to them and their relationships or by promoting the irrational fear of homosexuals (as also in the case of this Church).

Resolved , that the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church repents on behalf of the Episcopal Church for her contempt for the mind of the Communion on this issue in taking such actions and straining the bonds of catholic unity and affection between the Provinces of the Communion and urges the repentance of all her bishops, clergy, and laity for their participation in the same. We also urge the repentance of any among the Communion who likewise have shown contempt for the mind of the Communion in Lambeth I.10.

Resolved , that at the same time, various members of this Church have used the precipitous actions of recent General Conventions as an excuse to reject the authority of their bishops in favor of the supervision of bishops both in and out of the Communion with this Church, who likewise have acted precipitously against catholic unity and order in the Communion by crossing diocesan boundaries. We ask all involved to repent of this.

Resolved , that whereas priests and deacons are ordained for the service of particular Dioceses, bishops are consecrated for the entire Church of God, and so the consecrations of bishops deeply affect the life of the Communion but the ordination of priests and deacons do not.

Resolved , that the Book of Common Prayer teaches that marriage is to be honored by all people, and so the benediction by the church of a state of life other than marriage in which sexual expression is thought pleasing to God or the benediction of marriages that do not adhere to the teaching of Holy Scriptures and Tradition affects the entire life of the Communion.

Resolved , that the ecclesiology and theology of matrimony and human sexuality in this Church has been in great disarray for many years.

Resolved , that the Windsor Report promotes a process whereby the ecclesiology of the Communion will be better clarified, which could be called, "the Windsor Process."

Resolved , that Lambeth I.10 promotes a process whereby the theology of human sexuality will be better clarified, which could be called, "the Lambeth I.10 Process."

Resolved , that while such Processes have the earnest participation of the Provinces of the Communion, it would be uncharitable for this Church to take decisive actions that might appear to reject our communion and accountability to the other Provinces.

Resolved , that the mind of the Communion as expressed in the Windsor Report suggests that the consecration of bishops in same-sex unions or the authorization of public rites for same-sex blessings constitute decisive actions on matters of ecclesiology and human sexuality.

Resolved , that the Windsor Report recommends moratoria on such consecrations and authorizations.

Resolved , that the Apostle Paul commands us to share the sufferings of fellow persons created in the image of God and our fellow brethren in Christ when he says, "But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it." (I Corinthians 12:24-26).

Resolved , that moratoria on the consecrations of gay and lesbian persons and the benediction of their unions would cause them and those who love them and appreciate their membership and leadership in the Church to suffer.

Resolved , that present theological doubts about ecclesiology, matrimony, and human sexuality make it increasingly difficult to justify the consecration of bishops or blessings of intimate unions in general, when there is insufficient consensus about the relation of these matters to the divine economy.

Resolved , that while earnest discernment of ecclesiology and human sexuality continues in the Communion, there should be moratoria on the consecrations of bishops in general and the benedictions of marriages and same-sex unions.

Resolved,

that Canon I.18 of be amended to read:

For the time being, no Member of the Clergy of this Church shall solemnize any marriage.

[I'm not sure how the rest of it should work. Resolved, , that until the next Triennium, the clergy of this Church are forbidden from performing the services of Marriage, the Blessing of a Civil Marriage, or an Order for Marriage or acting as an agent of the civil power in solemnizing marriages or civil unions on pain of deposition or suspension. The clergy of the Church forbidden to perform benedictions of any other similar unions in any form whatsoever. Instead, the Bishop of the Diocese (or the Ecclesiastical Authority) may authorize a rite at the Peace of the principal Sunday Eucharist in each congregation, in which two members of the congregation (having notified the Minister beforehand) may make vows to one another of solemn covenant in accordance with Christian principles in a form provided by the Diocesan Bishop or the Ecclesiastical Authority. These covenants to be respected as marriage for all relevant purposes. Ministers forbidden to allow exchange of such vows for bigamous and incestuous unions. Bishops and other Ministers urged but not to required to permit exchange of vows between those of same or different sexes and offer premarital counseling. ]

Resolved,

that Canon III.16.5 be amended to read:

For the time being, upon receipt of the consents and assurance of the acceptance of the election by the Bishop-elect, the Presiding Bishop shall not take any order for the ordination of the Bishop-Elect.

Resolved,

that Canon III.16.8 be amended to read:

For the time being, no person shall be ordained Bishop.

Resolved,

that Canon III.17.2d be amended to read:

For the time being, when the Presiding Bishop shall have received a certificate signed by the President and Secretary of the House of Deputies (or certificates signed by the Presidents and Secretaries of a majority of the Standing Committees as the case may be), that the election has been approved, and shall have received notice of the acceptance by the Bishop-elect of his election, he shall not take order for the ordination of the Bishop-elect.


Resolved , that these provisions are to be reviewed next General Convention and maintained if the Processes continue in fidelity but not otherwise.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

OK, brothers and sisters, I need help. This resolution is long, and its logic isn't entirely clear. But I think the basic principles are there. There might be need to be more work on theological approaches. If you have any thoughts, expertise in Episcopal canon law, or membership in the House of Deputies or House of Bishops, please look this over and suggest whatever changes you like. I'd like to see if I can get together something decent to send out to Deputies. I will activate my profile and include an e-mail address so you can send me revisions etc. (and I can send you stuff, too).

MII Test

See Bending the Rule for details.

Linguistic 42
Mathematics 40
Visual/Spatial 28
Body/Kinesthetic 26
Naturalistic 32
Music 40
Interpersonal 25
Intrapersonal 30

Who Has Teaching Authority?

Over at Titusonenine, the rhetorical games continue. Reappraiser says something. Reasserter says it makes no logical sense. Dialogue averted. QED

Phil Snyder says, "CG [sic] has no teaching authority."

Well, who does?

The conventional wisdom of the reappraisers is that the ABC is not an Anglican Pope. OK. But one does not necessarily have to be the Pope in order to have some teaching authority. See Eastern Orthodoxy. ++Rowan (as much as I fear giving him such dignity) might be like the Ecumenical Patriarch.

Or maybe he is something unique in himself.

What is the relationship between Canterbury and TEC? What strains the bonds of our unity? The answer to that question is to be found in the history of a most turbulent decade, both politically and doctrinally: the 1780s.

I don't quite know the answer yet.

Pandagon Drives Me Nuts

But it's always worth reading. Apparently, we're one step closer to Pharaoh.

Ephraim Radner's Latest Screed

isn't half-bad and provides some insight into the mind of a deeply thoughtful reasserter. Both Richard Kew+ and Rev. Mr. Radner are concerned about the effects of technology (especially biomedical) on personhood itself. Note that Radner mentions the issue of in(e/i)quity, for instance. And frankly, such technology does raise the twin spectres of both idolatry and inequity.

I'm still working through my response to such concerns about the relation between sin, God, creation, and personhood. But I think it will turn on "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" in the context of Paul and the meat market of Corinth, in which concerns about avoiding all implication of participation in idolatry are subordinated to the good gifts of God being used in thanksgiving.

Radner, of course, also makes the mistake of looking at science as potentially non-irrelevant (I use the double negative intentionally). God reveals Himself in very Word and very works: a dualism united and mediated through Our Lord Jesus Christ. Science in this debates serves an aetiological purpose. It purports homosexuality as a phenomenon and supplies an explanation that must agree with but is not in itself divine law. Scripture, too, provides an aetiology for homosexual activity (and other potential abuses of human sexuality such as adultery, fornication and arsenokoitia with one's wife. And respecting the Apostle, I will admit that it is possible that homosexual activity (and the other potential abuses) in some contexts arises from idolatry (either of foreign gods or the self). But if the works of God do provide non-idolatrous examples of homosexuality (and science may be capable of such demonstration), the church is called to reflect seriously on her tradition and how it might be deepened by this knowledge.

As for Radner's comments on "ascetics," I only will say that the tradition only speaks of men becoming celibate. And it speaks of this as a gift of the Holy Spirit. I'm still not quite sure what the Lord meant. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are free gifts of God. Paul, when speaking of marriage in light of the eschaton says that it is better to marry than to burn with desire. He does not say that Christians who want to marry must have had bad relationships with their parents. He does not recommend that the community problematize the married. In fact, the Apostle and the tradition since have been careful to promote and cherish the gift of the eunuch-making spirit while recognizing marriage as a state of greater worldly obligation and as a vocation not to be despised in oneself or in others.

Thus, the third worst aspect of reparative therapy (after the harm it does to oneself and one's relationships) is that it seems to be the seeking of grace with works. If I were called to be a perpetual celibate (and I still may be), it would be obligatory for me to cultivate that. No one should say to me, "Well, if we give you enough therapy and keep you away from monastic breviaries and all other parts of the celibate lifestyle and make you read the Song of Solomon long enough, you'll want to marry a woman." So it remains clear. I and the tradition generally still don't know what to make of the Lord and the eunuchs. But I'm sure they are important somehow.

Finally, I have one comment to make on the relativization of Scripture. America is a land of immigrants, but throughout most of our history we've done our best to either keep them out and exploit them. It is unclear to me whether the first is prohibited by the Scriptures, but the second is forbidden by the Law and the Prophets in no uncertain terms. Our ancestors were strangers in Egypt, who were brutally exploited for the needs of the Egyptian polity and economy. We often talk of the immigrant as someone who will do what no American will do. Think on the end of Genesis, in which Israel and his family are admitted to tend sheep in Goshen, because the Egyptians think such an activity is unclean. How far might we be now from chaingangs of undocumented Americans (11 million or so) building the highways of Texas? How far are we from being Pharaoh? We are not far indeed if we forget our past. We are not far if we are asked on television about religious objections to criminalizing aliens (as Congressman Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin was asked recently) and our formation as Episcopal Christians leads us to say, "Jesus never crossed any national borders."

There is a kind of Scriptural relativism associated with the idea of "pluriform truth" and there is a kind of Scriptural relativism associated with honoring the fears of the culture and the ideal of the maximization of profit. Radner, I suspect, has in mind the former. I am learning to be concerned by both, but it is the latter that truly frightens me.

I Picked This Up From Derek To Lighten the General Mood

nstructions: Go to your music player of choice and put it on shuffle. Say the following questions aloud, and press play. Use the song title as the answer to the question. NO CHEATING.

[nb: I didn't cheat at all. I found I had to put albums after the names to distinguish, though…]

How does the world see you?
Jesus is My Boyfriend, J-Tron (My Apologies) [I didn't cheat, honest.]

Will I have a happy life?
Knife in the Dark (Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack) [Yikes!]

What do my friends really think of me?
Tu qui Santuzza? (Cavalleria Rusticana)

What do people secretly think of me?
Walkaways, Counting Crows (MTV Live from the Ten Spot)

How can I be happy?
The Leavetaking, (Two Towers Soundtrack)

What should I do with my life?
Hope and Memory (Return of the King Soundtrack) [Ha!]

Will I ever have children?
Slaves to Rome, (Gladiator Soundtrack) [Huh?]

What is some good advice for me?
Bransles Simples (Coronation of the First Elizabeth)

How will I be remembered?
What Do You Do with a B.A. in English/It Sucks To Be Me (Avenue Q)

What is my signature dancing song?
Two Farandoles (Coronation of the First Elizabeth)

What do I think my current theme song is?
Office of Holy Communion (Collegium Regale) II. Credo, H. Howells

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
He Trusted in God, Handel (Messiah) [Quite an interesting match to the first one]

What song will play at my funeral?
Te Per Orbem Terrarum, Charpentier (Te Deum) [Is it felicitous to play the Te Deum at funerals?]

What type of men/women do you like?
Get It Faster, Jimmy Eat World

What is my day going to be like?
These Words (I Love You, I Love You), Natasha Bedingfield [Maybe, that's tomorrow...]

What We Sometimes Forget About the Non-Jurors

A hundred years before, when William, Prince of Orange, came to the British Throne, and the Stuarts were banished, the Scottish Bishops refused to conform to the new regime, but remained loyal to King James. They were accordingly deprived from their sees, their places were given to Presbyterians, and the Presbyterian was constituted by law the established Church of Scotland. The deprived Bishops, hated equally by Scottish Presbyterians for their Churchmanship and by English Churchmen for their politics, met in secret for divine service, and perpetuated the episcopate by secret, but well authenticated, consecrations. They were only a few, and were persecuted bitterly, but they were ardent and true Churchmen, and perpetuated the old Scottish Liturgy, which was very similar to the first Prayer Book of King Edward VI. in England.

Persecuted Anglicans and by the sufferance of the Church of England? The idea of it!

He's A Better Man Than I

*Christopher has some great thoughts at Bending the Rule about our idolatry of catholicity, our various complexes about persecution and rescue that draw us from the way of Christ, and a nice shot about our general failure of imagination that I couldn't make without a bitter spirit. He can make it as someone who lives creatively in the shadow of the Great Traditions of the Body of Christ. He and C are very much like those who the Evangelist John writes about in the Gospel for today, "Those who live by the truth come to the light so that it may be clearly seen that God is in all they do."

There a few observations I want to make on his piece without cluttering up his comments box. The continual accusation of the reasserters against the reappraisers is that "they change the meanings of words." Initially, when I read *Christopher's description of catholicity, I first saw the merit in this. But then it occurred to me: what is catholicity anyway? For the Fathers I've read it seems to be the idea that the first order matters of Christian life are held in common by communities that differ greatly as to lower order matters. But that in the end, they are obligated to treat changes in first order matters together through the mutual consultation of their bishops looking charitably to the general practice of the church in the past. It began as a survival mechanism in the days of persecution, when you never could guarantee going from town to another that the underground community of Christianoi believed in a soteriologically effectual Christ. For that's what Christology is. It is the business of intellectually constructing a Christ whose soteriological efficacy we understand out of the faith we have in a Christ who is soteriologically effective no matter our intellectual deficiencies or subtleties. Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again! None of this changes if we believe Christ is the ground hamburger of our being, but we are certainly foolish (or perhaps over-wise) if we do believe so.

But the ancient model of catholicity has failed. If you're a Roman Catholic, you don't think so, because you have been conditioned to see Rome, her rites, and her doctrine as "universal." Unlike the account of Tacitus about the Christians and the Great Fire, Rome has become the place to which all justifying and sanctifying things of the world are drawn. But laid upon the ground of the ancient model of catholicity is the assumption that the mystical Body of Christ does not exist outside the Catholic Church. All other communities (except perhaps the Eastern Orthodox churches) are "ecclesial communities" not Eucharistic communities in which Christ is really present. To this day, I hear some Catholic commenters on Anglican blogs say that Anglicans shouldn't care about "catholicity," since Anglican orders aren't valid anyway, since it would take some gyrations of history to make them so. Of course, I don't believe this. I won't tell you why, but I am reasonably certain that the Eucharistic community extends well beyond the Roman Catholic Church.

But moreover, I cannot imagine the ancient catholicity to be workable in our present state of affairs. Who could imagine a meeting dominated by Eastern bishops and their agenda (though assented to by Rome) settling the doctrinal agenda of the Roman Catholic Church in this day and age? Who could imagine an Italian spending time in Coptic monasteries in order to establish a new religious order in Italy? But then again, who could imagine that a Swiss Protestant could found a religious order of both Catholics and Protestants from all the corners of the Earth? Could Calvin? Taize is more a model for catholicity in our time than Rome. This is best exemplified in her music, which began in French and Latin with French and Latin modes rooted in both the high and folk Mass traditions of France and Germany. But now each time a new brother with a charism for music is incorporated into that community, the music of the community becomes a little bit Xhosa or Cantonese.

At ILEOS, I have the opportunity to hear a great variety of Christian music from Africa. In my opinion, a new chant tradition, at least as rich as the Galician, is arising in South Africa from the churches of Natal, the Transvaal, and the Transkei. And the gifts of the Christian world are not given in music alone. From Australia and New Zealand, we soon may see signs of a theological awakening that may provide new insight into the relation between the Kingdom of God and the created order. These are a few examples of the catholicity of the church being lived out in the midst of globalization. And while I suspect I may see a day in which Nigerians sing American worship songs and I sing the Magnificat to the work songs of the Reef mines, it is all to the good.

For if we believe Christ took on the fullness of our humanity, each one of us has seen only a small measure of the Incarnate Christ. And most of all, we look to the time when there shall be before the Throne of the God and the Lamb a great multitude that cannot be counted: a kingdom of priests from every tribe, language, and nation to serve our God. Of course, if we ever discover aliens (as Father de Leuuw recently joked), our understanding of catholicity may need to be more expansive.

For in the end, our mimesis of Christ must be as wide and broad and long as our limitations will allow. For the One who came among us to die for our salvation is the same One "through Him all things were made." Any sort of catholicity that thinks it can say (even with reference to the Scriptures) that something in this world cannot and never under any circumstances can be of Him through whom all things were made may need to search the Scriptures more.

But as we seek to receive Christ widely in one another and the cosmos of his design (to be Plotinian about it), we do risk seeing ourselves as the firstfruits of the Kingdom. We cannot. We must seek continuity with our forefathers and foremothers in the Body who pray for us before the Throne. We must think on them with charity. We must acknowledge their critiques. And we must treat them to be as alive as they actually are. They must both argue and be critiqued. For the Scriptures suggest that we will come to judgment before them as well as before Christ. And by receiving them into the fullness of the Eucharistic community (as is their desert), our catholicity will be complete.

Quae Cantuaria et Hierusalem?

"Just look around the blogosphere from left to right, conservative to liberal, traditional to evangelical. We are obsessed with trauma and drama, with our unity and image, our wrongs and our rites, and we're intent on feeding the fire. We watch every move of Canterbury for a pronouncement, as if we had a Pope, and in so doing we betray the complexity of our catholic ecclesiology (which emulates fourth century locality as Fr. Haller, OBG repeatedly points out to no avail) and our own power. We offer tit for tat for our various disagreements fueling the practice of discourse at the expense of common prayer, the only practice that has held us together in our broad tent, and worse, at the expense of practices of neighbour care. "

I feel so very convicted by this, not because I really have some sort of papal ecclesiology (I will admit that the Archbishop of Canterbury is referred to around the Monastery as "Patriarch of the North") but because I realize just how attached I am to Anglican as a label. My attachment began as a familial one. If you go back far enough on both sides of the family, we have been Episcopalians or Anglicans. (There's many Roman Catholics, too, including one amazing collateral connection among the Maryknolls, asleep in the Lord now). I can't say they were spectacular Anglicans. I descend from New England slaveholders and a convicted arsonist. Camassia recently cited a piece by Maggie Gallagher about "crunchy cons" who become Maronites, because they do not have a tradition of their own. Gallagher alternately criticizes them and pities them for treating religion as just another consumer good.

I don't have that problem. My mother was good enough to insist I be raised as something, and my father was good enough to take the opportunity of my birth to find a TEC parish in his new environs. I was raised on critiquing the sermon, moaning about Morning Prayer instead of Eucharist, and enduring politely nasty church politics.

And yet I would say that I have made my tradition my own. At a certain point, there was no compulsion to continue in it, and it would be ridiculous to say that there could have been any compulsion during the last four years. And I confess that I have been an Anglican Communion wonk for a long time. When I was about eight, I wanted to go to Cambridge to study theology. These days, I'd settle for a postdoc. I've had fellow parishioners from the Church of South India. "Exiles" from Sydney and expats from Southern Africa are becoming friends. There's an Australian archdeacon (really more of a rural dean) who I remember in my prayers every once in a while. And a Nigerian priest in Ohio sends me some very useful e-mail once in a while. Apparently, he and his bishop have been working to help out some churches in Nigeria with funds and sweat equity. The Communion is not just a deeply flawed institution to me; it represents a lot of people in various corners of the Earth with whom I would like to serve and worship every once in a while. Anglican identity helps make strangers friends.

But why look to Canterbury? *Christopher is right. Our unity is founded on common prayer and local episcopal government by men with "magic hands" rather than any other idealization from some "pristine" era. TEC was founded by a man of positively presbyterian leanings. But there's just something about the Chair of St. Augustine that can turn a royal patsy into the king's leading critic or mold a wily intellectual into an audacious martyr. For an Anglican, Canterbury itself feels like home , especially when people are celebrating the Tridentine Mass in the crypt. [Random comment from radicalfeministpoet at Jake's place.] And English prelates in general feel like home. Christians ultimately are Jews who found their Messiah in a most alarming and beautiful manner. And so the shadow of the Temple's loss still lies heavy on our hearts. By creating institutions like Rome and Canterbury, we seek to consecrate new Temples and new high priests. But *Christopher is right. We cannot go too far with this. Our lives ought to be an ikon of the Temple in heaven and our High Priest ought to be Christ.

There is a story the monks tell on the Feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury,

When Augustine came to Britain, there were Christians among the Celts in Wales and the Westcountry and in the North among both Dal Riada and the Picts, the latter having been evangelized by Columba. Some wise monk in Wales, perhaps an Irishman and student of St. Finnian, advised the bishops of Wales, "Go to this Roman bishop and greet him in Christ as a brother. But see how he greets you. If he stands and embraces you, you will have no trouble from him. But if he does not greet you as a brother and sits in your presence, then this island will be rent not only between the Saxons and you in kingship but soon also in Christ. So some of the bishops went to Augustine and greeted him in Christ. And he did not greet them likewise but sat down and began to question them.

Until next time, the Holy Brothers pray that since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Christ, we might be bold enough to go before the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need

The Bishop of Exeter Lays Down the Law

Or that's the gist of this item, which has T19 abuzz .

Jim Naughton posted this comment on Thinking Anglicans while commenting on a different item, but it seems apropos :

WHEREAS we don't know which candidate will be elected in California, and

WHEREAS we don't know whether the elected candidate will be confirmed by General Convention, and

WHEREAS we have no idea which of the myriad proposed, rumored, imagined responses to the Windsor Report will be embraced by General Convention, and

WHEREAS we don't know by what yardstick (or whose yardstick) that response will be judged, and

WHEREAS the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada might not be the only provinces judged to be on the wrong side of the Windsor Report

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED...
that we not get too worked up about anonymously sourced items such as this one.

The difference is that this is not anonymously sourced. Ms. Gledhill claims there is a transcript of this speech. And unfortunately, David Virtue's sources seem not to have provided him with a copy. But he does have excellent coverage of the battle against Bishop Bennison (please remember four Dioceses in your prayers tomorrow: Tennessee, Albany, West Texas, and Pennsylvania). But Mr. Naughton's counsel remains solid.

But let this be clear: ++Rowan Cantaur fears both a schism in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. His choice of the Bishop of Exeter as an envoy and the contents of his speech are very pointed. And there is a meeting scheduled in late April in which ++Rowan will consult with such prelates and lights among the laos as +Wright, +Nazir-Ali, the ACC delegation of the C. of E., and Anglican Mainstream. He wants to know what the Evangelical wing wants and he wants to have plans in place before June.

And some time in May, a letter will come from Lambeth to a certain address within the City of New York addressed to the Most Reverend Frank Tracy Griswold. And this letter will be kind, fudgy, and friendly in the salutatory, but it will be a yardstick written (as Jim Naughton might put it).

And there will be a line to this effect: "If the General Convention does not repent of its hasty and autonomous repudiation of the mind of the Communion concerning human sexuality, the ecumenical activities of the Communion may be irreparably wounded for the foreseeable future. Moreover, such a failure might destroy the unity of the Church of England, which I have vowed to uphold, and the unity of the Communion which looks to my See. I cannot allow that to happen. Thus, I will be forced to severe those bonds of communion which have joined our Churches for two centuries. It goes without saying that I will not invite you or any of the other bishops of TEC to the Lambeth Conference."

The Bishop of Exeter's speech is a worrisome sign of the mind of the Archbishop, but it is understandable. He has tried as far as possible to emphasize our need not to repent of what we believe or what we believe God calls us to do but of how our pride in that belief has caused us to act "irregularly." He wants us to remain in conversation. He still wants there to be a conversation. He suspects we have much to teach to and learn from the rest of the Communion and that the crises that will test the modern world in the next decades could take advantage of the collective wisdom of the Communion's churches. The truth is, our actions affect his conscience less than the cronyism of Central Africa and whatever really is going in Nigeria, but that our actions will make it very hard for him to hold them accountable. His recent spate of interviews and his past history as a theologian make this all too clear. He seeks a catholic ecclesiology in a less-than-catholic polity. Such an ecclesiology will guide him.

I am not yet convinced this is wisdom. But I appreciate that he is beginning to bare his crook a little.

But if I'm right about his mood, matters will become very interesting:

Any break will be provisional for the time being. He's at least going to give us until he retires. He will encourage our unity by not recognizing the Network. If he really did name them after Bonhoeffer's church, I suspect he did so to warn them of future suffering rather than an easy fix. He intends a separation, not a divorce. AKMA's plans to declare allegiance to ++Rowan will be thwarted. ++Rowan is not going to create any special jurisdictions. He will not wound his ecclesiology. But that will not be a problem. On some American corners, you will see the Church of Nigeria or the Province of Southeast Asia etc. No, he will leave the mess to us as poetic justice for our autonomy.

Now please go to the beginning of the post and read Jim Naughton's comment again. I just have laid out the worst case scenario from the little evidence we have. Ultimately, the times belong to God.

Until next time, the Holy Brothers pray that we may all be one as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are One.

Two Brief Matters

Good Sarum Mass Site With Pictures

This link is mainly for my records.

Anglo-Catholic Boot Camp for Youth

I never went to church camp. When I was in EYC, we went out to South Dakota for a couple of weeks per year to do construction work (we built roofs and renovated and re-fenced a cemetery or two) and run a Vacation Bible School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It probably involved a little too much relativism for Mr. Foster's taste.

On the other hand, I gladly would send any potential child to something like my youth service trips or the St. Michael's Youth Conference. In the latter case, I would enjoy the mild amount of de-programming necessary afterwards.

Beautiful and True

Although the TEC calendar commemorates the three great prelatial Marian martyrs in October (and Cuthbert, Bishop of Durham this day), this is the Feast of Holy Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop and Martyr (and Patron of this Monastery). Rowan Williams gave a beautiful and insightful sermon on the occasion this morning.

Perhaps, the best part is in which ++Rowan notes that Cranmer didn't seem to have the certainty required to kill but did manage to pluck up the certainty to die. I think this is perhaps the most precise definition of epistemic humility, when faith is a matter of life and death.

(via T19).

Huh?

BBC Sunday Worship this week is not from St. George's, Belfast but from Downpatrick Cathedral. So no 1549 Communion service. Oh well. Maybe someday....

ECUSA March Madness in the Volunteer State

Or so goeth the Titusonenine thread .

One of the candidates has commented. People on the convention floor have commented. I think there's really only One Interested Party that hasn't commented (on Titusonenine, that is).

Let us pray:

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who by thy Holy Spirit didst preside in the Councils of the blessed Apostles, and hast promised, through thy Son Jesus Christ, to be with thy Church to the end of the world; We beseech thee to be present with the Council of thy Church assembled in thy Name and Presence within the Diocese of Tennessee. Save them from all error, ignorance, pride, and prejudice; and of thy great mercy vouchsafe, we beseech thee, so to direct, sanctify, and govern them in their present work, by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, that the comfortable Gospel of Christ may be truly preached, truly received, and truly followed, in all places, to the breaking down the kingdom of sin; Satan, and death; till at length the whole of thy dispersed sheep, being gathered into one fold, shall become partakers of everlasting life; through the merits and death of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

BBC Sunday Worship Next Week

Will be from St. George's, Belfast. Why do I mention this? Well, they will be celebrating "The Supper of the Lorde and holy Communion, commonly called the Masse." Let the reader understand.

Cleaning Up the Links

Deletions

Normally, I don't update the links page unless I mention someone in the course of an entry. Normally, I don't remove links either. However, I have decided that I will remove links that no longer go to content. Therefore, I've taken Expectations off the sidebar. However, let me take this occasion to give my congratulations to Lucas Grubbs, who will be ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests on Saturday. For more Lucas Grubbs madness, go here....

Additions

I love Texas and I love Texans. In what other state in the Union do Pre-Revolutionary Appalachian culture and Evangelical Victorianism co-exist so amusingly and yet so frighteningly? Oh, the stories I could tell...

And that's why I'm so glad to link to two Abilene-area bloggers, both communicants at the Church of the Heavenly Rest. ACU Episcochick is just worth reading to see her profile image and serves as a portal into the Xanga-filled world of young Episcopalians (Warning: Enter at your own risk.) And Jared Cramer gives a thoughtful perspective on his life and Anglican doings from a perspective partially shaped by being raised in "the Church of Christ (a capella)."

Scotist is back! And with him came a great discussion about the key issue of the next few months: what is to be done in Columbus? Thanks to a little more Lenten discipline, I've been feeling more inclined to the promotion of Christian fundamentals (the Anglican variety). This attracted the attention of the Postulant.

The Postulant, like *Christopher, seems to be one of those Christians that confounds the wisdom of the world.

Until next time, the Holy Brothers pray that you may be strengthened in the wisdom (not of the world) but in the wisdom that empowered Christ to come among us and be crucified, which the world accounts foolishness.

Concerning the Commination against Sinners

Despite having lived the entirety of my life in this era in which the 1979 BCP is the Liturgy of the Episcopal Church, the 1928 BCP was never far from me. Thanks to the Internet, the 1549 and 1662 BCPs (or the other liturgical books of the Anglican Communion) are not entirely inaccessible. And when I was in college, there was a rather rich collection to be found in the University library system. One unfortunate excision from the 1979 BCP (as compared to earlier Books) was the Commination, originally Cranmer's liturgy for Ash Wednesday in the 1549 BCP. Commination comes from the Latin comminare , which might best be translated as "to threaten oneself in the presence of others." In other words, it is a communal threatening, whose Scriptural type is located in the blessings and curses of the farewell discourse of Moses in Deuteronomy that sealed the Old Covenant in the context of that book.

The name that the liturgy took on in the reign of Elizabeth is quite appropriate. The service is extremely threatening. It begins thus ( Thanks, as always, to the Society of Archbishop Justus for keeping such resources accessible :

BRETHREN, in the prymitive churche there was a godlye disciplyne, that at the begynnyng of lente suche persones as were notorious synners, were put to open penaunce, and punished in this worlde, that theyr soules myght bee saved in the day of the lord. And that other admonished by theyr example, might he more afrayed to offende. In the steede [stead] whereof until the saide disciplyne maye bee restored agayne; (whiche thynge is muche to bee wyshed,) it is thoughte good, that at thys tyme (in your presence) shoulde bee read the general sentences of goddes Cursyng agaynste impenitente sinners.

As far as I can tell (and I suspect Derek would know better), the reference is to an ancient custom in which the notorious sinners of the church were forbidden from the congregation of the faithful (and thus the Eucharist and the other Sacraments except in hora mortis ) from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday. The Holy Martyr and Patron ++Thomas Cranmer evidently desired the restoration of this custom to England. But with all due respect to him, the union of the spiritual and temporal power which he suffered to be established in the realm of England would make this scheme dangerously troublesome. The admixture of the temporal and spiritual swords naturally led to forms of civil action against the sinners and dissidents of the Church of England, which did not tend to their repentance but to their obstinancy (and in some cases, such obstinancy as would befit martyrs).

In addition, since the sixteenth century, there has grown up a greater respect for the individual conscience that would blister at such strong communal action (and potentially authoritarian and hypocritical,too). This summer, I read an article in Christianity Today about the ineffectiveness of church discipline and what could be done about it. I frankly find it symptomatic of the greatly weakened communitarian impulses of Americans as both citizens and Christians. But knowing something of the situation of the plainer Anabaptists, the old Kirk in Scotland, or the Roman Catholic Church in certain eras, there are some advantages to the greater liberty of the individual in relation to the community.

Perhaps, the most humorous example of this is a case from the medieval ecclesiastical courts in England, in which a man is summoned for having fornicated with the same woman for the third or fourth time. The man admitted his fault but claims that the court had warned him that if he offended further, he was to be whipped seven times around the cathedral. Fortunately, the court was wise enough to check the record and discover that he was supposed to be compelled to marry the woman in question. And thus it appears that the man preferred to be beaten within an inch of his life than marry his girlfriend. Or more keenly, the man tried to play on the sadistic impulses of the court in order to avoid the justice actually prescribed by the Law of God.

Thus, Cranmer's reluctant substitution for more effectual public penance may have been the cleverer idea. And since the ecclesiastical and penitential jurisdiction over the laity long has failed in England and mutated into a civil jurisdiction in North America that is not far from eroding completely, the Commination stands as a very brilliant idea for the mutual humiliation of the community on the starting line of Lent. For we are all sinners, as Paul reminds us in Romans, and our righteousness cannot come from the Law. The notorious are in as much fear and promise of mercy as the less notorious. Lutherpunk writes of the season that it is the time to put ourselves before "the mirror of the Law" and see where the blemishes are.

The curses are these [numbering mine]:

[1] CURSED is the man that maketh any carved or molten image, to worship it.

And the people shall answer and say, Amen.

Minister. [2] Cursed is he that curseth his father or mother.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. [3] Cursed is he that removeth his neighbour's landmark.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. [4] Cursed is he that maketh the blind to go out of his way.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. [5] Cursed is he that perverteth the judgement of the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. [6] Cursed is he that smiteth his neighbour secretly.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. [7] Cursed is he that lieth with his neighbour's wife.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. [8] Cursed is he that taketh reward to slay the innocent.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. [9] Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, and taketh man for his defence, and in his heart goeth from the Lord.
Answer. Amen.
Minister. [10] Cursed are the unmerciful, fornicators, and adulterers, covetous persons, idolaters, slanderers, drunkards, and extortioners.
Answer. Amen.

And knowing the general hermeneutical bent of the Lord in the Gospel of Matthew, these curses are far more general and potentially metaphorical than their literal interpretations. [1] concerns our general idolatry of objects or reified persons. [4] condemns those who play on their neighbor's credulity as well as those who fool the literally blind. [6] probably covers all of the advantages we take due to our lack of accountability on the Internet. [9] is especially fun, since it also includes putting trust in ourselves more than trust in God. I like that [10] begins with the unmerciful... Do not call anyone to repentance without calling yourself all the more. Of all of these taken broadly, I am guilty. Lord have mercy.

The liturgy then continues with one of the greatest Scriptural montages I know of in all in Christian literature. It builds rhetorically with a warning that the day of the Lord is nigh, and hell following after. This is the closest thing to fire and brimstone I know of in the Anglican world. But then it turns to speak comfortable words to us, offering repentance and forgiveness through the merits of Jesus Christ. For our same Awful Judge is also our Advocate and Savior. If I ever were asked to give such a strange creature as an Anglican revival sermon it would be,

NOW seeing that all they are accursed (as the prophet David beareth witness) who do err and go astray from the commandments of God; let us (remembering the dreadful judgement hanging over our heads, and always ready to fall upon us) return unto our Lord God, with all contrition and meekness of heart; bewailing and lamenting our sinful life, acknowledging and confessing our offences, and seeking to bring forth worthy fruits of penance. For now is the axe put unto the root of the trees, so that every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God: he shall pour down rain upon the sinners, snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest; this shall be their portion to drink. For lo, the Lord is come out of his place to visit the wickedness of such as dwell upon the earth. But who may abide the day of his coming? Who shall be able to endure when he appeareth? His fan is in his hand, and he will purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the bam; but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night: and when men shall say, Peace, and all things are safe, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as sorrow cometh upon a woman travailing with child, and they shall not escape. Then shall appear the wrath of God in the day of vengeance, which obstinate sinners, through the stubbornness of their heart, have heaped unto them, selves; which despised the goodness, patience, and long, sufferance of God, when he calleth them continually to repentance. Then shall they call upon me, (saith the Lord,) but I will not hear; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me; and that, because they hated knowledge, and received not the fear of the Lord, but abhorred my counsel, and despised my correction. Then shall it be too late to knock when the door shall be shut; and too late to cry for mercy when it is the time of justice. O terrible voice of most just judgement, which shall be pronounced upon them, when it shall be said unto them, Go, ye cursed, into the fire everlasting, which is prepared for the devil and his angels. Therefore, brethren, take we heed betime, while the day of salvation lasteth; for the night cometh, when none can work. But let us, while we have the light, believe in the light, and walk as children of the light; that we be not cast into utter darkness, where is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let us not abuse the goodness of God, who calleth us mercifully to amendment, and of his endless pity promiseth us forgiveness of that which is past, if with a perfect and true heart we return unto him. For though our sins be as red as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow; and though they be like purple, yet they shall be made white as wool. Turn ye (saith the Lord) from all your wickedness, and your sin shall not be your destruction: Cast away from you all your ungodliness that ye have done: Make you new hearts, and a new spirit: Wherefore will ye die, O ye house of Israel, seeing that I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God? Turn ye then, and ye shall live. Although we have sinned, yet have we an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins. For he was wounded for our offences, and smitten for our wickedness. Let us therefore return unto him, who is the merciful receiver of all true penitent sinners; assuring ourselves that he is ready to receive us, and most willing to pardon us, if we come unto him with faithful repentance; if we submit ourselves unto him, and from henceforth walk in his ways; if we will take his easy yoke, and light burden upon us, to follow him in lowliness, patience, and charity, and be ordered by the governance of his Holy Spirit; seeking always his glory, and serving him duly in our vocation with thanksgiving: This if we do, Christ will deliver us from the curse of the law, and from the extreme malediction which shall light upon them that shall be set on the left hand; and he will set us on his right hand, and give us the gracious benediction of his Father, commanding us to take possession of his glorious kingdom: Unto which he vouchsafe to bring us all, for his infinite mercy. Amen.

Next time, it's going back in, mmkay.

Until next time, the Holy Brothers pray that you may spend this day in a suitable admixture of pancakes and shrivening with Aves and maple syrup.

AKMA on Justice

Read it all, it's brief.