1. I never can see a churchyard old, With its mossy stones and mounds, And green-trees weeping the unforgot That rest in its hallowed bounds ; I never can see the old churchyard, But I breathe to God a prayer, That, sleep as I may in this fevered life, I may rest when I slumber…
Variations on a line by Sorina Higgins The Garden of Eden is a waiting room. The waiting of the painted is a still palace. The watching of the pained is an error. The panting of the weaned is a gratitude. The parching of the great is a watershed. The parting of the water is…
Article XXIV. Of speaking in the Congregation in such a tongue as the people understandeth. IT is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church to have Publick Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people. De loquendo…
J.R.R. Tolkien tells a short story about an ordinary fellow who just wants to finish a painting. Over time, he is constantly distracted by the requests of his neighbors, and eventually he grows sick and dies, leaving his painting unfinished. As he navigates the afterlife, he finds that much of his character is judged by…
Sparks flying over beaten metal In the gloom of a smithy; Drops of dew upon a petal In the grandeur of a city; Strike a bell and there is music In the late-spring streets, But there is a sound of pity When the blacksmith beats; The sighs of the lovesick, The sparkling of artificial stars,…
In 1845, on a winter evening in the Church of the Holy Communion in New York City, Anne Ayres was consecrated the first Sister of the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion by the Rev. Dr. William Augustus Muhlenberg. This momentous event receives the sparsest mention by Sister Ayres herself within the 524 pages of her…
Article XXIII. Of Ministering in the Congregation. IT is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching, or ministering the Sacraments in the Congregation, before he be lawfully called, and sent to execute the same. And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and…
As I have mentioned elsewhere, whenever I am asked about the difference between the Anglican Tradition and Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy, I answer that it ultimately boils down to authority. Per the Anglican Formularies, found in the Book of Common Prayer, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, the Ordinal, and the two Books of Homilies,…
In 1970 the Episcopal Church USA eliminated the canon for deaconesses and included women in the canon on deacons. In 1976 its General Convention approved the ordination of women to both the diaconate and priesthood. Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church condemned both moves, protesting that these changes were made unilaterally and against…
I You were shuttering light With your triggered eye, Locking the cool, humid light Into phosphorescent memory. “As the light gets better,” you said, And commanded the play Of peonies, white tulle, And laughter on the cusp of a cliff. The light got better. And the pines Which bristled endlessly Became something of green and…
