Your presence is a gift to us.

 It's been engrained in us clergy for 2-3 decades that ASA (Average Sunday Attendance) is the gold standard for the health of  a congregation.  It answers the questions; "how many people are coming on Sunday and how often are they coming?"  Traditional forms of measurements and values have forced us to reconsider how we gauge our parish health even before COVID.  An alternative measure has been financial support. It does provide indicators, but to me it feels mercenary to think of money in that way.  Persons are more important.

We still look at our ASA and go online to keep an eye on how many people are watching our broadcast.  We have to do these things for our canonical obligations to the Episcopal Church.  They want statistics on membership, finances, Sunday School classes and participants, as well as how much we spend on missions work.  Burger King™ does the same thing. These numbers represent a lot of activity, but don't represent the full picture of home and hospital visits, shared conversations amongst friends, prayers heard by only God and you, volunteer hours for internal and external ministries.  There is so much that happens here that we don't measure.  I'm glad about that.

All of this makes me turn to what I am concerned about.  We sense a void  of those of you who we do not see on Sundays or in the food line or in bible study and potlucks.  We completely understand for those of you who don't feel safe yet to come back to church.  I've been struggling to articulate my thoughts about this.  

Of course, I want to see attendance numbers return and exceed pre-COVID amounts.  Numbers feel good and they are something a little more tangible to use for evaluation.  But if I'm honest, even when numbers are high, they have never satisfied me in this regard.  They always leave me wanting more.

This thought brought me to remember the ancient church, how small the household churches were.  There might be 10-15 in the church in a city or village.  If someone didn't come, you missed him or her.

All of this leads me to my conclusion of what that void is.  It is just your presence that is missing.  Paul tells us this in I Corinthians 12.  Each person has a role to play. Your presence among us has an impact on the whole.  When you are absent from the Body we miss you and when each of you is present we are better for it.  We know it will still be a while before we're back to full participation.  But we long for that time.

God's gift

As a child, I loved the smells of this time of year.  In my memory, it always seemed to get cold in December (even though it rarely snowed in Houston). But the coldness brought with it the smell that somewhere, someone was burning wood.  The idea of campfires and fireplaces and cords of wood permeates the season.  The smells and temperature (not so much the wall calendar) pointed to carol singing in the car on the way to celebrate Christmas with my dispersed families in New Braunfels, Corpus Christi, and Old Ocean, Texas.

I love Christmas. I always have.  Presents were always wonderful to get, but I don’t remember most of them.  What I remember and carry with me to this day are family gatherings in Madisonville and Lake Conroe, Brach’s candy wreaths, huge feasts of ham, turkey, and venison, cream cheese on celery stalks, and putting whole black olives on my fingers to eat them one-by-one.  Then followed Christmas games and pranks, charades with the adults and children playing together. 

I remember the current girlfriends of uncles initiated into the family through pranks at Christmas.  I always assumed they would become a part of the family until they didn’t show up the following year.  Love is complicated.

At the shopping mall the signage of the stores used words like, Joy, Peace, Light, Hope, Love…great words!  I believe in these words.

But none of this compares to the incomprehensible depth of what God accomplished at the Incarnation and birth of his Son.  The God and Creator of the Universe stepped into his creation in the most common way.  Your Maker lowered himself to his creatures to bring us up to where he exists.  This simple fact alone should change us, let alone his acts on Calvary.  More than anything else, Christmas is the time to contemplate and be transformed by the depth of God's gift to you.  Let those great words become manifest in your life daily, not just annually.

Church Processions

 I hope you’re as glad as I am to be done with that long 12-part series on Anglicanism.  😊  It was fun to write a series. but that one was particularly long and somewhat heady.  So, let’s get back down to earth.

Is there such a thing as a “recessional” hymn in church parlance?  The common language folks use for when ministers enter the church is to “process” into the church.  And by extension the opening hymn is referred to as “the processional” or “processional hymn.”  In contrast the hymn sung on the way out of church has been referred to and defined by Webster as the “recessional.”  In essence we walk in (proceed) and we walk out (recede.)  But are we really receding?

While in seminary in our first week in liturgics the professor attempted to deconstruct that type of language and insist that we do not recess from church.  Can you feel the eyes rolling in my head?  What does it matter?  Well as people of the prayer book I have to say language and words do matter.

What the professors were trying to get across to us was that we do not recede from church or from the Presence of God.  Especially since, at the end of worship, we have just consumed the Presence of Christ in the Holy Sacrament.  It’s analogous to think of it as Christ going with us and in us into the world.  In fact, when we listen to the words of the post communion prayer, it anticipates that we are proceeding into the world “to do the works thou hast given us to do" or "to do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in.” Then, we should see ourselves as the “Church” (Body of Christ) proceeding into the world to further God’s work where ever he leads us.

Why is this important?  Because liturgy is supposed to shape the way we think about things.  When you leave church, are you thinking about stepping away from God by leaving the building and going out into world?  That’s a reasonable perspective.  

Alternatively, as Jesus stepped (proceeded) into the world to save sinners it would be more in line with his character if we, his followers, understood that we too are proceeding into the world, for the purpose of bearing his gifts into the same.

What is Anglicanism? Prophetic Witness Article 12 of 12

 Prophetic Witness: “The prophet has never been popular among his other contemporaries.  He has been stoned, beheaded, crucified and shot.  If not killed, we have been all too ready to vilify him or her in the name of God, little realizing that it may well be God who sent the prophet to challenge our complacency.” Urban T. Holmes III.

The final article in this series is a call to action.  Holmes concludes his book on Anglicanism with the understanding that the previous chapters lead us to our individual and corporate actions to work in the world.  We are the ongoing fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer “…thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  This is incarnational, making our prayers come to life.

This is an impossible task for one generation of believers so each generation works to move closer and closer to the Kingdom images that Jesus declared.  Our job is to bring the values that Jesus taught into our lives and into the lives of people in the world.

One of the most obvious prophetic voices in the Anglican past was William Wilberforce Anglican layman and parliamentarian who pushed for the end of the English slave trade in the late 1700s until his death in 1833.  Clergy such as John Newton (author of Amazing Grace) who worked as a slave trader until his conversion to Christ empowered Wilberforce to use his voice in the early abolitionist movement.

What happens when the Gospel is truly preached?  What do we expect to hear when the Good News of Jesus Christ is truly preached?  And how should we act in response to it?  Some erroneously, interpret the Gospel to say that the sufferings of this world are simply to be endured by those who suffer, so that their place in heaven can be greater.(As in slavery)  Some interpret the Gospel to say that as we enjoy the luxuries of our economic system this is God’s tacit approval of our religious state and culture. (today called the Prosperity Gospel).  The problem with these two outlooks is that both are static and accept the status quo.  These mentalities do not bring healing to the sick, or freedom to the oppressed as such they do not reflect the mentality of Christ to bring about his Kingdom.  There is something about the Gospel of Jesus that enacts change in persons and subsequently in cultures.

Upon hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ and accepting his gift of God’s grace, love, and life to us, we are changed and desire a change in the lives of the world around us.  Upon hearing this message, a desire within us is awakened to bring about the Kingdom, a longing for heaven here on Earth.

Through history and today, bishops and clergy will often come alongside political movements hoping to affect changes in our culture.  These often come in the passing of legislation, constitutional amendments and the like which have been both freeing and catastrophic for some communities.  The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s certainly helped confront overt racist policies and mentalities in our culture.  At the same time there have injurious effects to the African American family in the last 50 years.  These are not just political talking points.  These are people suffering.

How do we respond to that suffering?  We must first listen.  We must listen to God.  What is God’s desire for all people?  To be reconciled to God and one another.  We must listen to the sufferer.  Give room for him or her to convey the suffering instead of assuming we know what it is and that we can fix it.  Finally, we must work with others to bring about God’s healing and reconciliation for all of us.

What is Anglicanism? Church and State Article 11 of 12

Church and State:  The Church got a big boost in attendance and membership when Constantine legalized and then declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman state (313-323 AD).  You could make a solid argument those acts were simultaneously the Rise and Fall of Christianity.  On one hand it brought to the forefront the values that shaped Western Civilization: honesty, forgiveness, mercy, egalitarianism.  On the other hand, it brought unchallenged earthly power into the movement of the Church for over 1200 years.  Along with faithful leaders, establishment opened the door for godless leaders to wield power in the church.  The marriage of Church and State brought forth philosophies that existed through the Reformation of the 16^th and 17^th centuries.

Erastianism is the belief that when the church and state are united, the state is supreme to the church as regards ecclesiastical (church) matters.  More specifically it has to do with punishment meted out upon the people for violating ecclesiastical laws.  Proponents of this philosophy would be seen as encouraging the state to burn heretics or deny the sacraments to notorious sinners while the church abdicated its role to maintain order in the church. It appears similar to how the Sanhedrin handed Jesus over to the Roman authorities for punishment.

Anglicans have a long history of standing in opposition to the supremacy of the state over ecclesiastic affairs.  St. Dunstan, St. Thomas a Becket, St. Thomas More are known for their desires to purify the church in ways that were not commensurate with the desires of the sitting king.  This often led to martyrdom.  A more modern example can be found in the life of Archbishop Janani Luwum of Uganda.  During Idi Amin’s rise to power Luwum worked with the administration to build unity between various tribal groups including Christian and Muslim tribes.  The archbishop successfully worked with the government to help unify a Christian tribe that threatened to break free from Uganda early in Amin’s administration.  Later, in order to maintain power, Amin used anti-Christian sentiment to bring a wedge between groups and began persecutions.  Realizing Amin’s intentions Luwum and other bishops wrote a letter condemning Amin’s evil actions.  Ultimately these challenges were used to bring charges of insurrection against the bishops who were summarily murdered. 

What this history points to isn’t so much a picture of political unity between the church and state. It acknowledges that there are times for the sake of the Gospel of Christ when bishops, clergy, and Christian laity must stand in opposition to the abuses of the state.  That line is clearest when the state is totalitarian, persecuting or murdering innocent people.

History has seen Anglicans take on roles within politics. This is revealed in the prominent roles of the founding fathers and presidents of our country.  Many (not all) stood in opposition to the felt totalitarianism of King George III.  Controversially, many Episcopalians (e.g. Robert E. Lee, Leonidas Polk-Bishop of Louisiana) stood in opposition to the government of the United States during the American Civil War.  The point here isn’t that these people were right or wrong in their cause.  Often these examples were balancing conflicting values and loyalties.

The point is that Anglicans understand that personal faith has a role in shaping culture and society.  The instruments of government (particularly representative government) are molded by individuals to achieve those higher values that faith upholds.  Those values are enlightened by God through our conversation with Holy Scripture and one another.

What is Anglicanism? Mission article 10 of 12

During the Second World War allied pilots that were downed in the Melanesian Islands of the Pacific were initially fearful of the native people.  The natives were lightly clothed, carried primitive tools, and with uncut hair matched the stereotypes learned in grade school about savages.  The Allies were surprised to find the Melanesians were a very gentle people, who took them in, bandaged their wounds, and hid them from the Japanese.  These Melanesians were Christian and were the legacy of Anglican Missionaries in the previous century. 

In 1841 at the age of 14, John Coleridge Patteson was inspired by the Bishop to New Zealand, George Augustus Selwyn.  Patteson set a course toward ministry and missions to the other side of the world.  He committed his life to ordained ministry and in 1853 made his way to the missionary regions of New Zealand under the episcopacy of Selwyn. 

Building schools, he focused on the education of the young.  That primitive setting was plagued with various diseases. So, at times a school cafeteria became a hospital from which he would later bury adults and children alike.  He cared for them all.  Expanding his ministry with a boat dubbed the Southern Cross his journey brought him to the Loyalty Islands where he quickly befriended native peoples communicating in 30 different languages, fluent in 5 or 6.  He was known as a friend to all the people, and one who came from a Christian caring community.

Upon Selwyn’s call to the Bishopric of Lichfield, Patteson took his place as bishop of New Zealand.  Along with his episcopal duties he continued his island hopping campaigns through1871 when he landed on the island of Nukapu.  In an optimistic letter penned to Selwyn the night before landing he expressed his hope that the opportunity would finally open for this island to hear the gospel.  Bishop Patteson was killed the next day, not for preaching the gospel but rather as retribution for an unrelated labor kidnapping from the island of Fiji.  Almost a hundred years later the church he established was still thriving and ministering.

Patteson was one of many Anglican missionaries who brought the gospel to various new peoples: Patrick to the Irish, Boniface to the Germans, Willibrord to the Frisians to name a few. “The British are a traveling people.”

After the Reformation, Missions in the Anglican tradition took two main pathways, one to the British dispersion and two, through Missionary Societies.   Missionaries to the British dispersion function still today in traditional ways as parish priests working to grow English speaking congregation in Europe, the Americas, and the other habitable continents.  On the other hand, missionary societies were established to target various regions and populations of non-Anglo groups in Africa, South America, Asia, and Oceana.  These Anglican groups distinguished themselves as high and low churchmanship, Protestant and Anglo-Catholic.

In 1837 The Episcopal Church in the United States dispelled with the complexities of multiple missionary societies naming itself The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States.  It’s first missionaries were sent to Persia where a small Anglican community existed up to 1979 when the Islamic Revolution outlawed Christianity.  Their witness has added to the count of martyrs in recent decades.  The visible church along with its bishop is currently in exile. 

Missionary work in the Anglican tradition is about bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people in need.  Missionary work uses temporal needs as a medium for the message of salvation through Jesus.

 

What is Anglicanism: Spirituality article 9 of 12

 

Spirituality:  “I’m spiritual but not religious.” I encounter that phrase in a lot of pop cultural settings.  To be honest what I take from that phrase is: I like the concept of God, but I don’t want to be bothered with doing anything about it.  It’s helpful to actually have working definitions of these words. 

Religion is best understood to be the actions that you habitually do as a person.  We are all religious as human beings.  Perhaps you religiously shop at HEB or always buy your gas at the same gas station.  When it comes to faith you religiously attend Sunday service, you kneel, make the sign of the cross, receive communion.  Out of devotion during the week you talk to God, you read scripture, you volunteer at the food pantry, the choir, or the altar guild.  These are a part of a variety of religious actions, and they reflect how we offer God our devotion, and we benefit from these actions in the spiritual sense.

The spiritual is the benefit of these actions.  When you pick up your groceries at HEB you are satisfied with the completion of shopping and having a full pantry again.  When you set the altar in preparation for the following day’s worship you are satisfied/blessed with knowledge that you have done service for God.

The Christian who says, “I’m spiritual but not religious” does not quite understand the meanings of the words.  One cannot receive the benefit of spiritual blessing without some action that has brought about the benefit whether it is our action or God’s action in us.  Even meditation in some of its forms is a religious practice in which you sit and “do nothing” yet receive a spiritual blessing because you’ve taken time to be with God.  This is where spiritual growth takes place, encountering God in these intentional religious moments or actions.

The Anglican tradition understands the spiritual life is one in which we experience God’s presence in our lives and in the world.  Urban Holmes summarizes Anglican Spirituality as sharing four common attributes. 

First, Anglican Spirituality is earthy.  God reveals himself in the material world, through gardens, sky colors, flickering candles, flowing water.  Simple elements of our daily life exhibit the Divine Hand at work.  Secondly, in liturgical prayer God shows his presence through the human senses of Sight (colors of glass, icons, architecture), Sound (recitation of prayer and song), Smell (incense), Taste (bread and wine), Touch (kneeling, bowing, sign of the cross).  Anglican spirituality is intended to engage the Body and the Mind.

The third attribute of Anglican Spirituality is reliance on biblical imagery.  Holmes describes the Bible as our poetry.  It is more than a guidebook of rules on living our lives wholesomely.  It is a collection of texts that transcends cultures, time, and geography in which God reveals himself.  The final attribute of Anglican Spirituality is that it is collaborative.  We may pray or meditate individually and receive blessing.  But Anglicanism calls us to corporate (bodily) religious actions in order to fulfill the church’s role on earth.  We come together with our different experiences of God and work for the fulfillment of the Kingdom that Jesus established while he walked the Earth.