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Eastertide
The hermit hangs his habit out to dryIn new sun. Once upon a time he hadTwo habits: one good habit and one bad.Down to one, he’s bare. Today God’s eyeProbes every part of him. The tumbled skyThat shines through broken tesserae of cloudQuickens and touches him. The creek is loudWith springtime. Wading in, he wonders…
Annual Cycles of Bible Reading in the Prayer Book: Part II
In my last piece, the first part of this overview of the annual cycles of Bible reading in the Prayer Book, I discussed the Calendar with Table of Lessons for Morning and Evening Prayer (that is, the daily lectionary) and the Epistles and Gospels for the Lord’s Supper (that is the Communion lectionary). These are…
Of Altar Books and Additions to Common Prayer: An Open Letter to Mr. Ramsey
This letter is in response to an article found here. Dear Mr. Ramsey — It is of course discouraging to pour your heart and soul into something and for the first response to be a total broadside, but I shall try not to be bitter. I wish to address: (1) implied over-statements, (2) the principle…
Anglicanism’s One Manual Ritual
Liturgically speaking, Anglicanism is remarkably simple. Sure, the Prayer Book requires something of a learning curve, especially modern Prayer Books with all their options and possibilities and multi-year lectionaries. But when you compare the historic Prayer Book tradition to the other great liturgical traditions, particularly Rome and the East, ours is far simpler to follow,…
Judgments on Judgment
Reading the thoughts of many of the highest profile Christian writers and leaders, we are led to believe that God must have very little to do with great and calamitous events like the COVID-19 pandemic. N.T. Wright’s encouragement to lament instead of advance to explain might have come as welcome pastoral advice if it was…
Suger and the Golden Eagle
1137 What were you? What benighted ritual functionserved you? Did you catch from slaughtered calvesthe ruby of their veins, and mete its halvesbetween strange gods and men who begged their unction?Would still man’s breast rekindle dark desireshould I from Eve’s lips wrest the unbit apple?I wrought the pagan archway in my chapel,yet still the kings…
In Praise of 1552: a High Church appreciation
The Book of Common Prayer 1552: it is the bête noire of Anglican liturgy. Frere famously declared that with it “English religion reached its low water mark.”[1] Dix damned it with the most horrible imprecation he could summon: Zwinglian.[2] We all know, of course, that to be High Church means always choosing 1549 over 1552….
The Place of Holy Tradition, Part I
Sacra Scriptura | Holy Scripture Introduction Within my preliminary essay Principles and Distinctives of Anglican Ceremonial, I included a brief page discussing the Anglican view, as differentiated from the Roman and Eastern view, of Tradition and the role it plays in the framing of doctrine. As this piece has been read by friends and colleagues…
Grand Isle
for Edgar Bowers, i.m. The clouds this night collapse with violence Into themselves, the frothing Gulf their score, Then rise to forge a new design, each tense With struggle to hold form, impermanence Their constant state. Below, the fitful shore Endeavors to maintain a faithful line, Establishing frail boundaries once more, Demanding less than what…
A Crisis of Communion: Implied Eucharistologies in the midst of COVID-19
Introduction As Anglican churches across the country have scrambled to adapt to mandates from civil and ecclesial authorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of tenets of Eucharistic theology have been asserted and circulated across the province that have been received without sufficient theological analysis. In a time of crisis, quick decisions are…
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