Joel is co-chair of the Domestic Missions Committee for the Diocese of the Holy Trinity of the Anglican Catholic Church, co-founder of Continuing Forward, and managing editor of Cranmer Theological Journal. A researcher on hymnody, liturgy and church planting, he is a graduate of Cranmer Theological House and a current student at Nashotah House.
Sing Unto the Lord: A Liturgical Hymnal. Anglican Music Publishing, 2023. 942 pp. $29.95 (hardcover). In my earlier article, I discussed the various criteria for picking an Anglican hymnal.[1] I did so as a starting point for writing a review of Sing Unto the Lord (SUL). As noted in the earlier article, this 2023 hymnal…
This year, we mark the 500th anniversary of the congregational hymnal. It was created in 1524 out of the Reformation with hymns by (who else?) Martin Luther, that great advocate of catechizing church members by singing doctrine in the vernacular. Lutherans got a head start on Anglicans, who had to wait more than three centuries for…
Cranmer Theological Journal (cranmerjournal.org), a new peer-reviewed journal of Anglican theology, recently published its first issue. CTJ was created to fill a void by addressing the needs of biblically orthodox Anglicans in North America, at a time when the existing journals reflect the same doctrinal issues that prompted numerous Anglicans to leave the Episcopal Church…
Many liturgical Christians find that the beginning of the church year — Advent — is their favorite time of the year. I think this is particularly true for those who love Anglican hymnody, as I do. Christmas and Easter get all the attention — with the embarrassment of riches that is too much to fit…
Part I of this story reported on efforts of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) to double its size, as part of its REC 100 initiative unveiled in 2017, and discussed the Covidtide experience of two new REC churches. Within Anglicanism, the REC has a similar theology and liturgy to the Continuing Anglican churches; Part II…
As the disruption of Covidtide begins to wane and possibly end, the Church must now reorient itself from survival back to the Great Commission. However, some churches have been hurt more than others. A nationwide study of offertory collections by The Pillar showed that giving was down dramatically during Lent and Easter in 2020, but…
On Wednesday, Anglicans and other liturgical Christians will begin their second Lent during the interminable season of Covidtide. If ever there were a time to turn our focus away from things temporal to things eternal, now would be it. Even in normal times, picking a hymn for Ash Wednesday poses some unique problems. Many churches…
As we near the end of a surreal year of turmoil and disruption, it may be a little harder for Americans to give thanks this year (other than for a temporary cessation of political advertising). But of course God’s people have been commanded to give thanks for thousands of years, whether Noah’s family after the…
One of the potential (but now rarely realized) delights of the Anglican lectionary is the number of saints and other holy days during the year, and the opportunities it presents for the choir or even the congregation to sing the faith. If you’re an English cathedral musician running a tourist service — or a medieval…
While Watts and Wesley got an earlier start, the Church of England didn’t really begin its widespread use of hymnals until the mid-19th century. In part it was due to doctrinal reasons, in part due to cost, and partly because there weren’t any good Anglican hymnals. One of the earliest examples of the latter was…
