The following is but a summary of a most commendable and thorough article exploring the dangers of revising a classic text (in this case the General Confession of the BCP dating back to 1552) by Professor Samuel L. Bray of UCLA and Notre Dame schools of Law. For the full text of the article go to http://northamanglican.com/and-apart-from-your-grace-there-is-no-health-in-us/ “AND (APART FROM YOUR GRACE) THERE IS NO HEALTH IN US” WEIGHING THE MERITS OF A LITURGICAL … [Read more...]
A Reflection — from the Grosvenor Chapel
Above: The Holy Roman Emperor Frederic II with Al-Kamil the Sultan of Egypt This short reflection: https://soundcloud.com/user-140188366/meditation-for-evening-of-26th-june-grosvenor-chapel by Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff features music performed by the Choir of the Grosvenor Chapel and opens with one to the Chandos Anthems by Handel: "In the voice of Praise and Thanksgiving". The reflection itself touches upon the life of St Edmund of Abingdon (1175-1240), who was … [Read more...]
Audio Recording of Liturgy for Whitsunday
Liturgy with Procession for The Day of Pentecost Whitsunday Missa “Dum complerentur" Tomás Luis de Victoria (c1548-1611) at The Church of the Advent, Boston / May 31, 2020 With music from the Sound Archive https://soundcloud.com/mark-dwyer-2/20200531-sunday-mass-webcast The Rev’d Douglas Anderson, Celebrant The Rev’d Jay C. James, … [Read more...]
The Feast of St Dunstan – A reflection
St Dunstan takes the Devil by the nose.... Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff reflects upon the life of this 10th Century Archbishop of Canterbury and the way in which his biography later became hotly contested terrain, used and interpreted in very different ways by polemicists of the Roman Catholic church as well as the High and Low church factions of the Church of … [Read more...]
Fifth Sunday After Easter (Sixth of Easter) Rogation Sunday
Above: Blessing of the Fields for a good harvest and walking of the parish bounds during WWII Book of Common Prayer Collect and Readings for the day and Sermon The Collect. O LORD, from whom all good things do come; Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The … [Read more...]
Second Sunday After Easter Sunday liturgical resources
Above: The Supper at Emmaus Rembrandt, 1648, The Dulwich Picture Gallery, London The Second Sunday after Easter Sunday For an Audio webcast of The Liturgy for the Second Sunday After Easter (From The Church of the Advent Boston) With Sermon by the Revd. Dr Jeff Hanson Click here For the Friday reflection on St Cyprian and the Early Church in a time of Plague (Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff) Click here St John's … [Read more...]
Allelulia, Christ is risen…..
(The Church of the Advent, Boston above) To hear the Easter Sunday Webcast CLICK HERE Holy Week EASTER DAY AT Morning Prayer, instead of the Venite, the following shall be said, and may be said throughout the Octave. CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us : therefore let us keep the feast, Not with [the]* old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness : but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. v. 7. CHRIST being … [Read more...]
Tuesday in Holy Week — audio and video resources
Entry into Jerusalem, Pietro Lorenzetti. (Assisi, Lower Basilica, San Francesco, southern transept) Public domain Holy Week ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility; Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his … [Read more...]
Some prayer resources for these difficult days
The Prayer Book Society offers the following short selection of resources at this time of crisis, when many of the Churches across the country have to be closed. More will be provided in the days ahead. To hear a short meditation with music for the day click here St John's Parish Savannah offers links to Morning and Evening Prayer with The PBS President Fr. Gavin Dunbar here as well as a selection of prayers from The Book of Common … [Read more...]
Choral Evensong – at such a time as this….
The Church of the Advent, Boston, (Photo: jonathunder GNU Free documentation) Choral Evensong for the Wednesday following the The Third Sunday of Lent To listen click here At this time of profound stress and dislocation both here and around the world, it is timely to be called back to the contemplation of the eternal verities of our faith which are so powerfully conveyed in the Anglican liturgical heritage of the Prayer Book It is a deeply poignant loss currently that,in the … [Read more...]
Why I am still an Anglican by Dr. Roberta Bayer
What possible reason could there be for someone who is Anglican/Episcopal and faithful to the theology of historic Christianity, not to be drawn to that greatest of churches within the Western tradition, the Roman Catholic Church? It is remarked by many that over the last few decades there has been a steady movement of Anglicans to Rome whenever the leaders in the Episcopal or Anglican Church advance teachings which do not accord with Scripture. Yet, the migration to Rome is … [Read more...]
Ten Reasons to be Anglican/Episcopal (Part II)
What is the Anglican Way and why is it good? Part II The following series of short reflections relates closely to a series first put out in the precursor to the Anglican Way which was then known as The Mandate by The Revd. Dr. Peter Toon, in 1997 A M-R (The final five of ten reflections are included in this second post under this heading) 6 The Anglican Way looks to the Early Church perspective When asked to explain the foundation of the Anglican Way as a living … [Read more...]
PART II of A Response to ACNA’s Proposed 2019 Prayer Book * by Drew N. Keane
By Drew Nathaniel Keane (*This original article was first published online on Covenant, the weblog of The Living Church to whom grateful thanks is most warmly extended) This first section of the article (published here earlier) covered the proposals for Morning Prayer, Baptism.This section now looks at the proposals for Holy Communion and the Lectionaries in the forthcoming ACNA Prayer Book By way of introducing this second Section of the original Article it … [Read more...]
A Response to ACNA’s Proposed 2019 Prayer Book * (PART I)
By Drew Nathaniel Keane (*This article was first published online on Covenant, the weblog of The Living Church) The Anglican Church in North America has been preparing a new revision of the Book of Common Prayer for several years. Its Liturgy and Common Worship Task Force began gathering feedback once working drafts were made available for use in 2013. The task force is near the end of the work, and the texts now available can be found … [Read more...]
Two Statements Issued before and after the TEC General Convention: from Communion Partners and Province IX Bishops
The first of the two statements made in regard to provisions for same-sex partnerships and the relation of these to the Anglican Communion was issued by the Communion Partners of the Episcopal Church following the 79th General Convention, meeting in Austin, TX, The second Statement below was issued earlier by the Province IX Bishops and in it they draw attention to their resolve to walk apart if need be in order to uphold their fidelity Scripture. (At the very end below will also be found the … [Read more...]
Proposals from the Task Force on Marriage to the coming TEC General Convention
TASK FORCE ON THE STUDY OF MARRIAGE proposals to the TEC General Convention 2018 It is important to note that the first proposed resolution from this Task Force (A085) if approved would constitute a first reading of a set of amendments to the 1979 Prayer Book itself, which means that if the General Convention approves a second reading in 2021, the changes will change the Prayer Book, and this will be so quite aside from anything undertaken or proposed by way of the … [Read more...]
Drawing a line: From Gallicanist Anglicans to an Anglicanist Pope?
For the Anglican eWay of June 2nd 2018 Manifestly, through most of its existence, the Church of England both before and after the Reformation has been shaped and influenced by developments in the Continental Christianity of the West and thus Catholicism and the Reformers. In recent times both Anglican and Catholic liturgical approaches have been influenced by parallel intellectual currents, as the post-Vatican II Eucharistic texts amply demonstrate. But looked at … [Read more...]
What is Common Prayer? – From the Archives – by the late Dr Peter Toon
What is Common Prayer? The word “common” is used in all kinds of ways, and so what do Anglicans mean by the word “common” when it is associated with public prayer and worship? Since we are referring to the worship of our Creator and Redeemer, Almighty God, we can dismiss quickly the popular meaning of “common” as that which is ordinary, undistinguished or even of inferior quality. The texts of the services and rites used before God to address him are surely intended to be of high not low … [Read more...]
Revising the Liturgy of the Episcopal Church: Can a thousand flowers bloom ? – A PBS Colloquium in Dallas on 20th October
A One Day Colloquium of the Prayer Book Society USA at the Church of the Incarnation Dallas 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Friday 20th October, 2017 Tickets available via the following links: http://liturgyrevisionpbs.bpt.me http://liturgyrevisionpbs.brownpapertickets.com Exploring the proposals for a “Comprehensive Revision” of the liturgy of the Episcopal Church to be considered by the General Convention in 2018 This Colloquium will explore the implications of the mandate from … [Read more...]
Audio of Drs. Joan O’Donovan, George Westhaver and Jesse Billet, from the PBS Conference 2017
Audio recordings of the Papers given by three more of our principal speakers at the 2017 Conference can be accessed below: The Papers given were: The Public Authority of the Church in the Cranmerian Tradition, by Dr. Joan O’Donovan, University of Edinburgh Incarnational Reading: A Tractarian View of the Authority of Scripture by The Revd. Dr. George Westhaver, Principal of Pusey House, Oxford “The Holy Scriptures, or … [Read more...]
The Fear of the Lord
Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto the Lord; and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray … [Read more...]
Ascension I 2015
Christ's Ascension is therefore also our own, upon the glory of the Head rests the hope of the body. On this holy day, we have received not only the assurance of entering into possession of eternal glory, but we have already entered into the heights of heaven with Christ Jesus. (Leo, Sermon 1 De Ascensione Domini c. iv) This is the first Sunday after the Ascension. We find ourselves situated between our Lord's Ascension back to the Father and the coming of … [Read more...]
The Fall…
The author of Genesis does not always provide the literal details of the creation he describes. This is because he assumes that his readers are rational creatures who analyze and study the material he provides. From their contemplation of the text they are meant to elicit the rational truth that lurks necessarily beneath its surface. One such example of this process can be found in the description of man’s creation. There we seem to find scarce few details of man’s nature in relation to nature … [Read more...]
Easter I
As my Father has sent me, so send I you. (St. John xx. 21) You and I have just emerged from a rigorous Holy Week and Easter, when we tried to walk with Jesus Christ through his Passion and into His Resurrection. Here are my prayers. I pray that we have striven to move from death into new life. First we meditated upon the external and visible events that comprised the last days of our Lord Jesus Christ. They were contemplated with a view to see exactly what happened. And second, … [Read more...]
Quinquagesima’s Love
St. Paul uses a word for love rarely employed among his contemporaries. It seems as if he carefully avoided any of those terms, and they were many, which make it easy to associate the supreme virtue with desires which spend themselves in their own satisfactions, and through instinctive in human nature, are often degraded by man's perversity. English people have never found a word entirely equivalent to St. Paul's term. Our word love stands for a wide range of feeling. It may represent merely … [Read more...]