World Of Wonders: A Spirituality of Reading. By Jeff Crosby. Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2025. 176 pp. $18.99 (paper). I have put forth the suggestion that books are a way that our lives can be opened up, expanded, sharpened, deepened, and made more vibrant and whole. Reading as part of our practice of spiritual disciplines is…
Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me, As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea; Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord; My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word! Preparation is key before any trek into the wilderness. There are essentials one must consider prior to stepping out into the great outdoors. Packing requires prep work,…
St. Thomas Aquinas, concerning the order of the Decalogue, wrote, “the end of human life and society is God. Consequently it was necessary for the precepts of the decalogue, first of all, to direct man to God.”[1] The decalogue begins with our end because the goal of human life and action is God. Man’s happiness,…
As Browne observes, it is commonly agreed with respect to the Homilies that The kind of assent, which we are here called on to give to them, is general, not specific. We are not expected to express full concurrence with every statement, or every exposition of Holy Scripture contained in them, but merely in the…
Broad is the road that leads to death, And thousands walk together there; But wisdom shows a narrow path, With here and there a traveler. The Sixth Sunday after Trinity We all begin our journey the same: dead on the side of the road. Then the Stranger approaches and sees our predicament. Compassion overflows from…
This is the first of a number of planned meditations upon the Decalogue (from the Greek, meaning “ten words”) or Ten Commandments. The Decalogue has an enduring place in the life of all Abraham’s children, Jews and Christians alike,[1] and forms one of the three basic building blocks of Christian catechesis for those entering the…
This Article upholds the logic of Article XX—in which the normative principle of worship is affirmed—and extends it. As the church “hath power to decree rites or ceremonies,” so “every particular or national Church hath authority to ordain, change, and abolish, ceremonies or rites of the Church, ordained only by man’s authority.” Hence, “It is…
The Fifth Sunday after Trinity Trekking in the heat is a beast. It is slow trodding and akin to wrestling an opponent towards the end of the match. Your body is bruised and aching, your sweat no longer cools your body, it just gets in the way of your eyesight, and yet the challenger still…
Hear, Read, Mark, Learn and Inwardly Digest: Preaching for the People of God. By Justin D. Clemente. Self-Published, 2025. 89 pp. $9.99 (paper). No one can doubt that the sermon or homily is an important part of Sunday worship. Some traditions emphasize it more, and some emphasize it less. In our own Anglican tradition, we…
The nature of excommunication is one of those topics about which there seems to be little room for dispute in the Anglican tradition. The Article states that those worthy of excommunication are to be cut off by “the Church” and, upon repentance, received into the Church by “a Judge,” both of which phrases are widely…