Non angeli, sed anglicani
Reprinted as a reminder. Here it is again--Happy Lent! Lent helps us enter the deepest and most important mysteries of what it truly means to be human—spirit and flesh fused together. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent and remind us of our mortality. The ashes which are blessed and traced in the form of... Continue Reading →
Below is a comment I left on Virtueonline's website, but it was not approved by their "moderator" because it was negative about charismatics. I stand by what I wrote and reproduce it here for your reading and commenting. I'm afraid using the "three streams" approach is both misleading and inaccurate. The historic three "streams" in... Continue Reading →
It is almost certain that you'll run into some well meaning fool who likes to smirk at holiday decorations and with an air of popping the balloons of children announce that "Jesus wasn't really born on Christmas, you know." They will often continue with "Christmas is just another pagan festival that Christianity stole." Well, Virginia,... Continue Reading →
At this time of year in the USA, we are inundated with movies, television specials, cartoons, and images about Santa Claus. Some are quite good, entertaining, and fun, most are just, well, not. Christians when facing the secular culture often find some questions difficult to answer. Santa Claus shouldn't be one of those difficult questions.... Continue Reading →
The other day I was looking for something--what, I now don't recall--and I stumbled across the website of a parish we attended in the days B.S.--Before Seminary, that is. As I admired it and remembered with fondness the Episcopal Church that used to be, I happened to recall a conversation I once had with Brother... Continue Reading →
Processions Interrupting the order here to answer questions I'd received from earlier in the "How Anglicans Worship" series. Let me begin by observing that there are six general types of processions: Entrance, Gospel, Offertory, Exit, Holy Day, and Special Occasion. Order in processions ought be pretty straightforward. Older manuals used to prescribe slightly different orders... Continue Reading →
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet." Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) Alas (once you start quoting Shakespeare, it has an effect on your own word choices), the Bard may have just got this one wrong. To give some perhaps unneeded context, the... Continue Reading →
Canon Now we reach the very heart of the Eucharist. For those awaiting my recommendation here, I would have thought it was obvious: the Gregorian Canon. Naturally I refer to the one printed in the Anglican Missal, specifically, the American edition, but the version found in the English Missal is just as good. I recommend... Continue Reading →
From the Offertory through the Sanctus The final prayer of the Offertory, Suscipe Sancta Trinitas (“Receive, O Holy Trinity”) is one I urge to be prayed out loud, not only as a signal to the faithful, but as a reminder of some essential doctrinal elements. As a reminder, that prayer is: Receive O holy Trinity,... Continue Reading →
The Offertory Here we reach a part of the Mass about which many have written much, usually intensely polemical, about the prayers to be used by the celebrant. Rather than tread through that minefield I will simply say that I don't see that it really matters whether one use the prayers based on the Jewish... Continue Reading →
Anglo-Catholic Central 