Dear readers,

George Herbert bid us welcome this season as the “deare feast of Lent.” This season of fasting facilitates feasting on the Word – ‘sweeter than honey unto my mouth’ (Ps. 119:103) – indulging in prayer, and gorging on generosity. We hope this Lenten issue of Anglican Way may contribute comfort and encouragement along the way.

Benjamin Crosby opens this issue with an exploration of the historic Anglican doctrine of ordained ministry, which views all ministrations in terms of showing forth the Divine Word – audibly in preaching and sensibly in sacraments. My article considers the centrality of the Prayer Book, Articles, and Canons in forming an Anglican identity beyond the Church of England. Christopher Coome argues that the Anglican way offers an alternative route forward for Christianity, away from fragmented and fractured denominationalism. Rounding out the main articles in this issue, Richard Mammana introduces Joseph Ingersoll’s 1845 Address to the Bishop White Prayer Book Society on the great advantage of liturgical prayer.

In Arts & Music, Bach’s Quinquagesima Cantata (BWV23), based on the ancient propers for the Sunday next before Lent, frames this season, in terms of healing through Holy Charity. In the Great Anglican Profiles series, this issue features a rich reflection on the irenic Herbert and his teaching on Lent, from Laudible Practice. LP’s conclusion ‘Anglican comprehensiveness… rather than being a mushy fear of doctrine [is] profoundly doctrinal, rooted in that which is primary: solus Christus’ points right back to Crosby’s thesis on the Anglican doctrine of ministry, and points ahead towards this issue’s final piece. Gavin Dunbar explains what the Prayer Book Catechism teaches about the person and work of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the next installment of I Am His.

Let us keep the feast!