Salve Regina

"Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary Most Holy."

The rector recently had this lovely statue of the Blessed Mother installed in the chapel at St. Mark's. It originally comes from an old Roman parish somewhere in Baltimore, but came to us via the Conrad Pickel Studio here in Vero Beach. A devout couple purchased it from the studio and generously donated it to the church.

Now when we pray the Angelus there will be a statue to look at! Thanks be to God.

Coat of Many Colors

Okay, so the Roman Catholics are not the only ones who can play schmaltzy tear-jerkers. This is me doing a cover of Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors" during my last visit to the local homeless shelter, The Source. I have had the pleasure of ministering there for the last two years, going once or twice a month to play music and preach.

Modern Day Erastianism?

The World Youth Day coverage on EWTN was just too much to bear. I though I could handle the awful "show tunes"used at mass. And I though I could handle the "chip & dip"/self-intinction being done by priests and deacons coming up for communion (not just laity, but clergy who should know better). But when I saw the tacky "Australian flag" vestments being worn that was just too much. I had to change the channel. It's not that there is anything wrong with that great country, or its gorgeous flag. I just don't think design elements from flags look good pasted onto vestments.

The Holy Eucharist

I do a mass followed by class ("Mass & Class") on Tuesday mornings at St. Mark's which has been very well attended and very successful, thanks be to God. The last little series we are doing in the class portion before I move is on the Holy Eucharist. I am basing it on the book "Christ, The Christian, and The Church" by E.L. Mascall. Some parishioners have a daughter who was brought up Anglican but now attends a non-denominational church in Texas, and they suggested that we study something to help people equip themselves to explain and defend the liturgy, and the centrality of the Holy Eucharist to such folk. No doubt there are many people out there like that.

The Holy Eucharist is rooted in the life of the Trinity. Within the Blessed Trinity exists the only true, acceptable, and perfect worship of God: God offering God to God. Humanity is brought into this via the incarnation. The Eucharistic sacrifice is the sacramental manifestation of this. The sacramental Body of Christ is offered to God through the mystical Body of Christ; Jesus, the ascended Lord, worships God the Father through His all aspects of His glorified body. As St. Augustine said: "The mystery of yourselves is laid upon the altar."

What we need to do as Anglicans is develop a stronger eucharistic devotion. The mass is the most sacred and wonderful mystery in the world, and it gets neglected, and put aside all too often in favor of gimmicks, church marketing techniques, etc. I really believe that we need to preach and teach more on the Holy Eucharist, and promote other forms of eucharistic devotion (such as prayer vigils before the Blessed Sacrament) in order to revitalize classical Anglicanism. Doing so not only will help people appreciate and understand that doctrine, but also related doctrines, such as the apostolic succession, the sacramental priesthood, the Church, and more.

Spiritual Garbage Men

I have heard lots of metaphors for the priesthood - the most prominent being "alter christus". But the most interesting one that I have heard lately is from Dr. Peter Kreeft in his talk "Women and the Priesthood". In this talk he says that priests are "spiritual garbage men". The priesthood, which is of and for the Church, exists for the salvation and sanctity of souls, not for personal empowerment. He says: "Like Christ, they [priests] are sewers, who drain off the world's sins. They clean up our spiritual garbage, and wash dirty, smelly feet like Christ did before He died." Being a "garbage dump" is the essence of priesthood. Listen to the lecture. It is quite good.

GAFCON

Here is a really good statement and summation of GAFCON.

Putting the Cart before the Horse

As I prepare to leave St. Mark's and take my new title at St. Francis, there is a lot that I am mulling over in my head in terms of planning and the future of the new parish. Obviously one can only plan so much from afar. With the weekly schedule, for instance, one has to get a feel for the parish, and what times work best for people for masses, classes, and such before deciding that all weekday and holy day masses will be at noon, or whatever.

But it is possible to think in generalities, so I ask myself the question: "What do I hope to accomplish as rector of St. Francis? What is the point of it all?" And the answer is not anything like: grow the parish into 300+ people; get new members; start a great youth ministry program and other 'programs'; become an anglo-catholic/anglo-papalist liturgical museum; fulfill the MDGs established by the U.N. The answer is none of those things. The answer is to be found in the pages of the BCP, in the ordinal, specifically. There the vocation of a priest is laid out. A priest is to be devoted to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. (p. 560) A priest is to work for the perfecting of the saints. (p. 538) A priest is to be a shepherd of souls, and to lead men to everlasting life. (p.539) A priest is to be a messenger, watchman, and steward of the Lord. He is to teach, and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord's family; to seek for Christ's sheep and for his children in this world that they might be saved through Christ forever. (pp.539-540) I will not type out the whole charge here, but would commend it to anyone who is interested. That is my number one purpose as a priest: to help people get to heaven, and God willing to make it there myself one day. If a priest doesn't build his ministry on that basic foundation, everything else he does will come tumbling down. If he does build off of that, everything else will develop naturally at the appropriate time. The parish will grow; youth ministry will be developed; programs will be initiated; the holy sacrifice of the mass will be the most glorious thing this side of heaven. Why? Because Christ, when He is lifted up draws all men to himself (John 12:32). Those things will all come about if I, and the people of the parish, are faithful in our various vocations, and if we keep the main goal in mind: salvation from sin, hopelessness, and death through the Lord Jesus Christ. All of these things are means to that end.

I think that churches get it completely backwards when they talk about "growth" and "programs" before they talk about Jesus Christ, and glorifying Him, and worshiping Him in spirit and in truth - in word and in sacrament.

Anglican & Episcopal History

A guy at St. Mark's subscribes to the journal "Anglican and Episcopal History", and he gives his copies to the church when he's through with them. So naturally I have taken to reading them, and let me tell you there is some great stuff in this journal. Recently I read an article by Alan Hayes, a professor of church history at Wycliffe College in Toronto, Ontario about tradition in the Anglican liturgical movement (1945-1989). The article traces how the importance of "tradition" developed and became more and more pronounced as time went on in the Anglican liturgical movement. The fruit of all those years of study of liturgy and "tradition" was the radical liturgical changes of the 70's and 80's. But then he goes on to say that confidence in the "tradition" rediscovered by liturgiologists began to erode, as the postmodern/post-liberal understanding of history shows these "liturgical discoveries" to be constructs that reflect more the current state and mind of the church rather than revealing anything "real" about the liturgies of the past. He also argues that the interest in the "inculturation" of the liturgy has helped people see that there is more to liturgy than what "happened" in the Mediterranean in the first four centuries. He talks at length about "lex orandi, lex credendi" and the problems associated with that in this sort of horizon. But I can't say anything about that now for lack of space. In the end, the liturgical archaeologists/scientists succeeded in re-creating Anglicanism based on their faulty and biased presuppositions and research.

When I studied this stuff in seminary (and when I read about it now) - the "Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus", etc. - I always was suspicious of it. How does one take a snippet from one ancient writer and form a whole new liturgy around it? And just because something was done centuries ago in the ancient church doesn't mean that it is right or wise to adopt that practice today. The liturgical movement, like the ecumenical movement, has been nothing but a spectacular failure in my opinion. If people would just leave the liturgy alone and let it organically change and develop like it always has everything would be so much better in the church and in the world.