Pray Always
I come to you this morning “fresh off the plane” from the 148th synod of the Diocese of Quincy. Due to weather conditions, our flight was delayed and we ended up taking an in-air detour through Michigan and Ohio to get safely home to Tennessee at around 10:30p last night. But, neither the airport, hours in a cramped plane, hoards of travelers, nor the stresses of travel could remove the joy, hope, and peace I received at our synod.
Read more...The Toddler Evening Office
We started a pattern of family prayer back in Advent. Each night after dinner, I’d lead the family in prayer. Oliver (23 months) would listen(-ish) and join in the amens and Rosemary (~4) would chime in with the responses — “Hear our Prayer” — and lead the Lord’s Prayer. Having established a habit of prayer after dinner, I wanted to keep it moving forward even after the Advent calendars were empty and the wreath was put away.
Read more...God Calls Me
I am called to preach the Gospel and faithfully administer the sacraments under the apostolic authority of a bishop of Christ’s Holy Church because God saved a Mormon boy from the pits of despair and freed him from the chains of the law. This God, in securely calling me his own, redirected my heart to serve his one, holy, Catholic Church and to share the truly Good News of unmerited free grace to others lost in darkness. God calls me especially to minister to and establish the Church among those often overlooked and forgotten; the poor, the imprisoned, the foreigner, and the oppressed.
Read more...Seeking a Charitable Orthodoxy
Knowing and owning one’s theological lens is a good thing in pastoral ministry. Theological lenses, however, become problematic in chaplaincy and other ecumenical contexts. In my time as a chaplain at a nursing home and now in a jail, I have personally struggled with how to minister to those with differing theologies from mine while maintaining and affirming my own Anglican commitments. How can I “conform to the Doctrine, Discipline and Worship of Christ as this Church has received them” as the ordinal directs while also ministering within a non-Anglican context?1 How can I maintain the received theologies of the Catholic faith on ecclesiology, sacraments, and ordained ministry — which I wholeheartedly believe to be true and right — while also affirming the work of the Holy Spirit all around me?
Read more...Practical Guidance for Anglicans in Ecumenical Eucharistic Worship
This is part four of a four part project. The final project is here.
The genesis of this project starts with my confusion and unease communing at a Disciples of Christ led ecumenical Eucharist service inside a jail each week. Starting with the Chicago statement of Protestant Episcopal Church in 1886 and culminating with the great ecumenical work Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry coming out of Lima in 1984, much academic and theological work has been done within and outside the Anglican Christianity on the path towards visible unity in the Church. Unfortunately, outside of the guidance provided on intercommunion at Lambeth 1930 and the Intercommunion To-day coming out of the Archbishops’ Commission on Intercommunion of the Church of England very little clear, pragmatic direction has been given to laity and clergy.
Read more...Plene Esse, the Holy Spirit, & Intercommunion
This is part three of a four part project. The final project is here.
“For a long time the Conference on Faith and Order shied away from and avoided directly addressing this problem [ecumenical Eucharist]. It was the type of issue so loaded with emotional dynamite, that we feared it might with the first little thrust set off a spark that would explode our entire movement into pieces.” Dr. Leonard Hodgson.1
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Charitable Apostolicity
This is part two of a four part project. The final project is here.
As a chaplain, I find myself worshiping and serving during the week more often in contexts outside of my own tradition than I do within. Weekly I face the question of whether a non-catholic1 minister’s orders and, thus, the sacraments she or he presides over are valid — partially or otherwise. At the onset of this project, I described my main concern as finding a path towards a generous orthodoxy. A generous orthodoxy is a path that allows me to maintain my Anglican ecclesiology and theology in the context of the non-Anglican ministries I find myself a part of. Specifically, I sought to find a way of resolving my personal theological conflict with the sacramental validity of the ministers and chaplains I work alongside.
Read more...Seeking a Charitable Orthodoxy (Definition)
This is part one of a four part project. The final project is here.
My journey through Vanderbilt Divinity School (VDS) has been a difficult one. Deep within the inner workings of progressive Christian theology and politics, I quickly learned that traditional liberal values of tolerance, free speech, free thought, and civil debate were more easily affirmed — if even affirmed — than lived. In the words and deeds of many of those around me, it was made clear that there was little space for certain theological questions or viewpoints. In the early semesters of VDS there were many times I almost left. My sense of call and deep financial investment, however, kept me pressing forward.
Read more...Why Worship with a Book of Common Prayer?
The English Church, her descendants, and her colonial heirs worship with a common book of prayer for a few historical and theological reasons. It might come as a surprise to many North American Christians, but liturgical worship is by far the norm in contemporary Christianity and, prior to the Reformation, was the universal form of worship in the Church. Before the upheaval of the Reformation, East, West, Ethiopian, Syriac, and more all worshiped God using liturgies attributed to the saints and apostles.
Read more...How my View of Salvation has Changed
After a semester studying soteriology, how has my view of salvation changed? It has not. I have, however, increased my ability to articulate my view.
Salvation is an unwarranted gift of grace from God offered to all of humanity. All the children of Adam and Eve are born into sin and death. Humanity has distanced itself from God and has brought corruption into God’s good creation. God, in his infinite mercy, looked down and saw that there was no one to rescue humanity from her fall, so he decided to save her himself (Isaiah 63:5). As his voice created all things ex nihilo at the genesis, so his eternal Λόγος came “mighty to save” (Isaiah 63:1) and to make “all things new” (Rev 21:5).
Read more...Baptism: Sacramental Ark of Holiness and Salvation
The Articles of Religion of the Church of England state in article XXV that sacraments are “not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession” but that they are “sure witnesses,” “effectual signs of grace, and God’s good will towards us.” Further, sacraments work “invisibly” in humanity and “not only quicken but also strengthen and confirm” humanity’s faith in Jesus. It is within these bounds that Lancelot Andrewes preaches his sermon on the Holy Spirit on Pentecost — Whit-Sunday — in 1625. In a sermon ostensibly about the Holy Spirit, Andrewes presents a strong scriptural and theological case for baptismal regeneration — baptism with actual effects — and salvation through adoption. Andrewes accomplishes this while maintaining space for faith — the Reformation’s sola fide —, ensuring God’s initiative, and resisting ex opere operato understandings of sacraments. In his sermon, Andrewes presents baptism as an act whereby God creates the ark that makes his adopted children holy and leads them to salvation in Jesus Christ.
Read more...Anglican Baptism: Regenerative and Salvific Through Sacrament and Faith
Anglicanism is a diverse and varied tradition. Before the Reformation, Anglicanism refers to whatever Christians were doing1 in the British Isles. Post-reformation, Anglicanism applies to the ecclesial bodies identifying with the pre-denominational Christianity of Britain and continuing to live in that communion.2 Anglicanism, on the one hand, identifies as an ancient expression of the Christian faith existing before the Great Schism. Thus, Anglicanism is — with the Roman and Eastern churches — a Catholic and apostolic body. Further, however, the Anglican Communion did not resist the Reformation. It accepted and adopted many reformational tenants; Anglicans identify — to varying degrees — as at least Reformed, but also Protestant. Reformed and yet Catholic is the lived middle way — via media — of Anglicanism.
Read more...LectServe: An Online Lectionary
Back in late February of this year the Liturgy and Common Worship Task Force of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) released an initial version of a lectionary for the upcoming ACNA Book of Common Prayer (BCP). As an Anglican seminarian, I was, naturally, very intrigued by the new lectionary. Though my parish doesn’t — yet? — use the new lectionary, looking at the PDF document released by the Task Force made me immediately clear that anyone wanting to use the new lectionary would need something more. For the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) there are several sites online and numerous applications to assist people with finding the readings for a given day. I knew people would want something similar for the ACNA lectionary.
Read more...The Aim of Christian Understanding: Engaged
In chapter two of The Formation of Christian Understanding Charles Wood takes on the task of defining exactly what the goal of Christian interpretation of the Bible should be. At the core of Wood’s understanding is a hermeneutical approach centered around a God who actively seeks deep relationship with his creation and a community of believers doing theology together. Though I see need to nuance some of Wood’s main points, his goal of focusing Christian interpretation of Scripture around coming to better know God and applying this knowledge as a theological collective are affirmed by Anglican doctrinal standards and more than applicable to the daily lives of Christians within the Anglican Communion. Wood does theology from within the Methodist tradition. Though I am Anglican, I too, pull from the Wesleyan tradition as I do theology. As the progenitor of the Methodist movements, Wesleyan theology — at its core bounds — fits neatly within the broad theological tent that is Anglicanism. Affirming the 39 Articles of Religion of the Church of England, the Book of Common Prayer of 1662, and the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral of 1888 among other doctrinal standards, I can also pull from the theological thoughts of Wesleyan theologians. As I look at chapter two of Wood’s Formation I will pull from my Anglican standards of doctrine and Wesleyan-Anglican theology to show where my community agrees with Wood’s direction and where we offer critique or different insights.
Read more...Response to the Articles of Relgion: Pt. I
As part of my journey to ordination I have been asked to share a short reflection on each of the 39 Articles of Relgion of the Church of England. I will share my reflections as I write them over the coming weeks. Today, I share my responses to articles one through six.
Article I: Of Faith in the Holy Trinity
There is but one living and true God, ever-lasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
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