Merry Christmas! Yes, you heard me correctly: Merry Christmas! Christmastide has just begun, and the Christmas feast continues through Epiphany. The world does not understand salutations of “Merry Christmas” after December 25—much less keeping up the decorations—as the nations have fallen back into the dark bleakness of midwinter. Meanwhile, the Church rejoices, for Christ is…
Christ is born! Behold the Almighty Lord God in such a tender and fragile package. He is presented to us as a gift who is in need of one of His image-bearers to swaddle, feed, and tend to His every need. Peer over the manger and glimpse God enfleshed opening His eyes upon the world…
Isaiah 11:6 I learned a new phrase yesterday. That new phrase was, “Our canine child.” The speaker then went on to say, “We rescued him when he was wild— But don’t you think he rescued us?” I nodded, smiled like I agreed, Yet deep inside was curious About where all of this will lead. I…
“My cup runneth over.”—Psalm 23:5 Gracious God, for this glorious day poured From your upsidedown goblet the size of the scarlet-rimmed skies, We raise our praise as a longstemmed glass that glints With intimations of Your higher world’s glow, Trying to catch the overflow that hints At things not known by sight—yet partly known From…
O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. O come, thou Wisdom from on high, who orderest all things mightily; to us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go. “Emmanuel…Wisdom” The dark days are over. Despite…
Part 5. Architecture Until the mid-nineteenth century, most of England’s churches were mediaeval structures swiftly adapted to reformed worship in 1559-1562, with the introduction of the 1559 Prayer Book and the accompanying Elizabethan Injunctions. These had then been subjected to a process of slow evolution over the next two centuries as reformed worship matured and…
Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters. By Carmen Joy Imes. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2023. 248 pp. $22.99 (paper). Carmen Joy Imes’s Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters is a timely exploration of the doctrine of the imago Dei. It reflects significant trends in contemporary evangelical theology, three of which stand out…
I was heartened to see the Rev. Canon Phil Ashey’s series of articles which respond to and build upon Warren Cole Smith’s assessment of the existential challenges affecting the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). I was particularly interested in his second installment: Turning the Church into the Winds: Church Discipline, Canon Law, and Women’s…
On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry announces that the Lord is nigh; awake and hearken, for he brings glad tidings of the King of kings. Advent is a season of preparation. Oftentimes, we see it as a time of preparing the People of God for His return. However, we are called to always be…
Part 4. Ceremonial We do not think of 1700s Anglicanism as being particularly interested in ceremonial, but there was a good deal left over from Lancelot Andrewes and his school, with their concern for the beauty of holiness. There was a basic decorum to public worship, which included the basic Anglican rule of “sit to…