I began my sacramental education in a rural Baptist church. There, every service ended with an altar call. Music plays as the pastor waits expectantly to receive anyone who is ready to make a decision to follow Christ. The decision, once made, indicates salvation. The rite is so important, that no Baptist pastor would dare…
A tumble of dancing memories, Bits of yesterday on parade, Inscribe their indelible signatures Upon the pink pavement. Those early childhood mornings; That first hunt; Daddy holding the hook, And I the worm; sore fingers Shelling peas picked, plucked Fresh from Grandmother’s garden. Chewing and eating is time well-tasted; Every morsel a moment, bittersweet. Each…
God has been good to Holy Cross Anglican Church, the parish I serve in the Milwaukee area. We routinely have visitors who are looking and seeking a deeper walk with Jesus. We’ve even had a whole family who converted to the faith. Holy Cross used to be St. Edmund’s Episcopal and left the Episcopal Diocese…
In the latest Miserable Offenders Episode, yours truly mentioned the need for Anglicans to be disciplined by the prayer book and to take up the rule of life it requires. Also, I mentioned in a past post on Through A Mirror Darkly how the 2019 ACNA BCP does not require fasting or abstinence but merely…
In childhood’s realm, I found a prize in earth: It was a tiny king and tiny queen Arranged upon a palanquin of gold, My memory insists they’re beautiful, The metal robes, enameled faces, crowns As sparkling-bright as cleft and burnished gems. The soil had changed the iris of an eye, And so the king had…
after Jack Gilbert’s ‘The Abnormal is Not Courage’ The Stylites stood on poles for thirty, forty yearsFlagellati scourging themselves with ropes. Bloody and merciless.A magnitude of heroism, of self-denial that allows me no peace.This poem would lessen their feats. QuestionThe piety. Say it’s not beatitude, not at it’s best.They were impossible, and too strife-driven. Too unique.“Whose…
It is more than fair to say that Christian catechesis in America has been largely ineffective for at least two generations. This is particularly true for sacramental traditions, many experiencing large rates of attrition to Evangelical traditions or no faith altogether. Thanks to the influx of work about intentional Christian living in a post-Christian world,…
Dear Mr. Keane — You wrote that you were confused by my comments, so I wanted to make an effort at public clarification. First, as a general proviso: In the podcast interview with Fr. Gerry, I was (as you noted) speaking off the cuff, not only that but also with an awareness of who I…
“The Church is in Christ as Eve was in Adam. … God made Eve of the rib of Adam. And His Church He formeth out of the very flesh, the very wounded and bleeding side of the Son of man.” — Richard Hooker Creating man from dust, And woman from his side, God…
“He stopped and looked up, recognising the place as a church. The thought quickly came to him that since he was tired he might rest there; so that after a moment he had in turn pushed up the leathern curtain and gone in. It was a temple of the old persuasion, and there had evidently…
