Fruitful

I would like to announce with great joy and thanksgiving that Jenny and I are expecting our first child. That's right... my beautiful wife Jenny is pregnant. Please keep us (all three of us!) in your prayers. I have caught myself frequently humming, tearfully at times, a song by Josh Garrels called Little Blue:

Who is like my child
Who’s so lovely and wild?
Oh, my little bird
By the river I have heard
My lover calls
In fall and spring
She says
Keep your eyes on heron’s wings
She’s coming soon
Let’s dance and sing
For the joy a new life brings

Strong and graceful, too
Like your mother
In red and blue
Love I never knew
Filled my heart
When I held you
My lover calls
In fall and spring
She says
Keep your eyes on heron’s wings
She’s coming soon
Let’s dance and sing
For the joy that her life brings

It's coming soon, let's dance and sing, for the joy a new life brings!

A Word of Hope for Episcopalians

Following the Northern Plains Anglican's lead, I think this is very wise and timely remark from the comments section of The Deacon's Slant regarding the present situation of The Episcopal Church:

I do think TEC is still a church - just one in very bad shape - much like the Church before Francis or Dominic - intellicutaly lazy, adicted to secular power and taking its queues from the secular world. But it seems that everytime the Church gets into this position, God raises up a prophet (such as Francis - who was a Deacon by the way) to call the Church back into relationship with her Lord.

That is part of what I am trying to do in my little neck of the woods - be that prophet that calls the Church back to her Covenant.

YBIC,Phil Snyder

Unpacking the Archbishop's Statement

The Good Bishop NT Wright, in collaboration with ACI, has responded to Rowan's reflections here. This is an absolute MUST read if you are an Episcopalian or Anglican.

Rowan’s Reflections: Unpacking the Archbishop’s Statement

+++Rowan Williams Reflects

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has reflected (a very Rowan-esque thing to do) this week on the recent actions of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church to open the ordination process to homosexuals, transsexuals, and try-sexuals (people who will try anything sexual) and to "develop" liturgies for same sex blessings.

I won't post the whole reflection here, but I'd like to share and comment on a few pieces myself:

From 1.1, "No-one could be in any doubt about the eagerness of the Bishops and Deputies of the Episcopal Church at the General Convention to affirm their concern about the wider Anglican Communion."

This is perhaps the most amussing part of the whole reflection to me, because it seems to be that very thing that many, many poeple doubt, including his fellow senior bishop NT Wright.

From 2.8, "...a blessing for a same-sex union cannot have the authority of the Church Catholic, or even of the Communion as a whole. And if this is the case, a person living in such a union is in the same case as a heterosexual person living in a sexual relationship outside the marriage bond; whatever the human respect and pastoral sensitivity such persons must be given, their chosen lifestyle is not one that the Church's teaching sanctions, and thus it is hard to see how they can act in the necessarily representative role that the ordained ministry, especially the episcopate, requires."

This is one of the clearest statement I have ever seen +++Rowan make regarding same-sex relationships, and it seems he comes down here clearly on the side of orthodoxy.

An important point from 2.10, "...if society changes its attitudes, that change does not of itself count as a reason for the Church to change its discipline."

And finally, some very wise words about how the local church responses to various concerns from 3.12, "When a local church seeks to respond to a new question, to the challenge of possible change in its practice or discipline in the light of new facts, new pressures, or new contexts, as local churches have repeatedly sought to do, it needs some way of including in its discernment the judgement of the wider Church. Without this, it risks becoming unrecognisable to other local churches, pressing ahead with changes that render it strange to Christian sisters and brothers across the globe."

Rowan, without being unkind or vicious, manages to draw a line in the sand and spell out the consequenses for those who cross it. Not consequenses that he will impose with the heavy hand of the See of Canterbury, but consequenses that the line-crossers will bring upon themselves. It is not the clear anathama of the progressives that many of the orthodox were hoping for, but it is substantial none the less.

Also, a few commentaries of note on Archbishop William's reflection that I'd like to point out to my readers:

First, one by A.S. Haley (also known as the Anglican Curmudgeon) is probably the best one I have read so far, and I commend it to you heartily.

Others that are worth your time are those by Matt Kennedy, Peter Ould, and Jordan Hylden. I am still waiting for ACI to respond, and when they do, I'll let you know.

Overall, I am moderately pleased with Rowan's actions so far, although I am aware this puts me in a very, very, very small minority seeing that he has now managed to throw the progressives into a tantrum right along with the usual conservative poopooing of his efforts (here, here, and here). I will concede that Rowan's way forward is not altogether "strong" or "clear," but neither is is tyranical, mean-spirited, or proud. His prayerful, patient, and almost-to-a-fault-kindness and forebearance, though not a very popular way to lead, do have the smell of Christian to me. Many would accuse him of being "weak" or a "coward," but he seems to be attempting a difficult path of orthodoxy and unity that, to his mind, is faithful to the Jesus he worships, winning him precious few friends along the way. Quite a cross to bear and hardly the behavior of a coward. I will keep him in my prayers, and I hope others will do the same.

***UPDATE*** Roman Catholic church issues statement of support for Rowan Williams:
In a statement July 29, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity noted Archbishop Williams' concern for maintaining the unity of the Anglican Communion through common faith and practice based on Scripture and tradition. The Vatican office "supports the archbishop in his desire to strengthen these bonds of communion, and to articulate more fully the relationship between the local and the universal within the church," the statement said. "It is our prayer that the Anglican Communion, even in this difficult situation, may find a way to maintain its unity and its witness to Christ as a worldwide communion."
Read it all here.

Bishop NT Wright Weighs In

The man, the myth, the legend, the Bishop NT Wright has now weighed in on the recent moves by the Episcopal Church into what basically amounts to pan-sexuallity. It is so good, that I quote it here in full. From the Times of London Online:

In the slow-moving train crash of international Anglicanism, a decision taken in California has finally brought a large coach off the rails altogether. The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church (TEC) in the United States has voted decisively to allow in principle the appointment, to all orders of ministry, of persons in active same-sex relationships. This marks a clear break with the rest of the Anglican Communion.

Both the bishops and deputies (lay and clergy) of TEC knew exactly what they were doing. They were telling the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other “instruments of communion” that they were ignoring their plea for a moratorium on consecrating practising homosexuals as bishops. They were rejecting the two things the Archbishop of Canterbury has named as the pathway to the future — the Windsor Report (2004) and the proposed Covenant (whose aim is to provide a modus operandi for the Anglican Communion). They were formalising the schism they initiated six years ago when they consecrated as bishop a divorced man in an active same-sex relationship, against the Primates’ unanimous statement that this would “tear the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level”. In Windsor’s language, they have chosen to “walk apart”.

Granted, the TEC resolution indicates a strong willingness to remain within the Anglican Communion. But saying “we want to stay in, but we insist on rewriting the rules” is cynical double-think. We should not be fooled.
Of course, matters didn’t begin with the consecration of Gene Robinson. The floodgates opened several years before, particularly in 1996 when a church court acquitted a bishop who had ordained active homosexuals. Many in TEC have long embraced a theology in which chastity, as universally understood by the wider Christian tradition, has been optional.

That wider tradition always was counter-cultural as well as counter-intuitive. Our supposedly selfish genes crave a variety of sexual possibilities. But Jewish, Christian and Muslim teachers have always insisted that lifelong man-plus-woman marriage is the proper context for sexual intercourse. This is not (as is frequently suggested) an arbitrary rule, dualistic in overtone and killjoy in intention. It is a deep structural reflection of the belief in a creator God who has entered into covenant both with his creation and with his people (who carry forward his purposes for that creation).

Paganism ancient and modern has always found this ethic, and this belief, ridiculous and incredible. But the biblical witness is scarcely confined, as the shrill leader in yesterday’s Times suggests, to a few verses in St Paul. Jesus’s own stern denunciation of sexual immorality would certainly have carried, to his hearers, a clear implied rejection of all sexual behaviour outside heterosexual monogamy. This isn’t a matter of “private response to Scripture” but of the uniform teaching of the whole Bible, of Jesus himself, and of the entire Christian tradition.

The appeal to justice as a way of cutting the ethical knot in favour of including active homosexuals in Christian ministry simply begs the question. Nobody has a right to be ordained: it is always a gift of sheer and unmerited grace. The appeal also seriously misrepresents the notion of justice itself, not just in the Christian tradition of Augustine, Aquinas and others, but in the wider philosophical discussion from Aristotle to John Rawls. Justice never means “treating everybody the same way”, but “treating people appropriately”, which involves making distinctions between different people and situations. Justice has never meant “the right to give active expression to any and every sexual desire”.

Such a novel usage would also raise the further question of identity. It is a very recent innovation to consider sexual preferences as a marker of “identity” parallel to, say, being male or female, English or African, rich or poor. Within the “gay community” much postmodern reflection has turned away from “identity” as a modernist fiction. We simply “construct” ourselves from day to day.

We must insist, too, on the distinction between inclination and desire on the one hand and activity on the other — a distinction regularly obscured by references to “homosexual clergy” and so on. We all have all kinds of deep-rooted inclinations and desires. The question is, what shall we do with them? One of the great Prayer Book collects asks God that we may “love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise”. That is always tough, for all of us. Much easier to ask God to command what we already love, and promise what we already desire. But much less like the challenge of the Gospel.

The question then presses: who, in the US, is now in communion with the great majority of the Anglican world? It would be too hasty to answer, the newly formed “province” of the “Anglican Church in North America”. One can sympathise with some of the motivations of these breakaway Episcopalians. But we should not forget the Episcopalian bishops, who, doggedly loyal to their own Church, and to the expressed mind of the wider Communion, voted against the current resolution. Nor should we forget the many parishes and worshippers who take the same stance. There are many American Episcopalians, inside and outside the present TEC, who are eager to sign the proposed Covenant. That aspiration must be honoured.

Contrary to some who have recently adopted the phrase, there is already a “fellowship of confessing Anglicans”. It is called the Anglican Communion. The Episcopal Church is now distancing itself from that fellowship. Ways must be found for all in America who want to be loyal to it, and to scripture, tradition and Jesus, to have that loyalty recognised and affirmed at the highest level.

Tom Wright is Bishop of Durham

Onward Into the Fog

As many of you are well aware, and as The New York Times is reporting, "The bishops of the Episcopal Church voted at the church’s convention on Monday to open 'any ordained ministry' to gay men and lesbians, a move that could effectively undermine a moratorium on ordaining gay bishops that the church passed at its last convention three years ago."

This after Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams addressed the General Convention by saying, "Along with many in the Communion, I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that could push us further apart..." and "Action to negate that resolution [the moratorium against ordaining gays] would instantly suggest to many people in the communion that The Episcopal Church would prefer not to go down the route of closer structural bonds and that particular kind of mutual responsibility."

This is a sad turn of events for a church that for so long seemed to have a special "charism" for eccumenical work among Christians, and a special place in proclaiming the apostolic "faith once delivered to all the saints" here in America.

The responses have been many but there are two in particular that I would like to point out. One comes from the Anglican Communion Institute and can be found in its entirety here: A Statement on the Repudiation of B033, but I'd also like to quote a short section,

It is our expectation that many dioceses will not follow The Episcopal Church out of the Anglican Communion and the mainstream of apostolic Christianity. Instead, they will take immediate action to assure the Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury of their continued commitment to [the communion]...To this end, we will continue to work closely with these dioceses and the Communion processes...

This points to what could ultimately be a hopeful future for orthodox Anglicans in America, though how it will all work out in the end is anyone's guess.

The second response to all of this of note comes from the other side of The Pond in England where a motion has been put forward for the Church of England to recognize the Anglican Church of North America, a recently created entity created by a coalition of orthodox Episcopal breakaways. The motion has picked up six Church of England bishops and 121 sponsors, and according to the London Times, this will "guarantee it a place on the next Synod agenda in February." The motion reads,

That this Synod express the desire that the Church of England be in communion with the Anglican Church in North America.

The London Times is reporting that "The Archbishop of Canterbury told General Synod today that he 'regrets' the decision by The Episcopal Church to overturn the moratorium on the ordination of gay bishops."

This could get very interesting for Episcopalians and Anglicans in North America for the foreseeable future, but it is beginning to look like there might be some light at the end of the tunnel for the orthodox, although it will likely not look exactly the way anyone would have expected. As for the progressives and revisionists in TEC, if they are not careful, they will find themselves throwing a party on the deck of a sinking ship.

As my readers will undoubtedly understand, this affects my wife and I very deeply as I am an aspirant to the priesthood. Please keep us, the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Communion in your prayers. I feel as if I am walking confidently into a fog.

"...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it...." -- Jesus as recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew

Liturgysmithing

One of the big projects I am working on here at St. Mark's right now is creating (or "smithing") a Saturday evening vespers prayer service that will be aimed at folks who are of no faith, or who have faith but have not found a place to call "home" and a community to call "family." I'm finding, though, that this is quite a challenge.

One of the things that the Anglican tradition offers as one of its strengths is an ethos of mysterium tremendum in our worship services. It was something that many of the free churches that I was a part of in the past were frankly not very good at. Sure, their music was good and the speaker was dynamic, but the gatherings were so domesticated and so like the surrounding cultural influences that I sometimes felt like Jesus was just my "homeboy," or even worse...my "prom date."

Yet, one of the weaknesses of the Anglican/Episcopal tradition as I have received it here in Beaumont is that though it does a great job of bringing to our awareness the transcendence of God, the worship forms (especially the music) can be so foreign to people that is as emotionally unintelligible as doing the service in Latin would be intellectually unintelligible.

So, how to create a service that both creates an awareness of God's transcendence AND imminence (nearness)? How to create a service that feels accessible, but not domestic? How to create a service of mysterium tremendum et fascinans, without it feeling detached or remote? That is the challenge before me. And perhaps the biggest pitfall: making St. Mark's the "new cool thing." I am scared to death of using all the little emotional and spiritual gimmicks that many churches fall into to get an emotional high out of people. I don't want to be a marketer or a spinster, I want to, in the words of the Book of Common Prayer, work to "perfect the praises offered by [God's] people on earth; and be granted, even now, glimpses of [His] beauty." Please pray for me.

A Prayer for Liturgysmithing:

O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music and liturgy to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

New Bishop of Texas is Seated

C. Andrew Doyle was seated at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston on June 7, 2009 with trumpets volleys and kettledrums reverberating among the 1000 plus congregation. Bishop Doyle promised to “be a faithful shepherd and servant,” and processed with the dean to the front of the church where, facing Bishop Don Wimberly, he petitioned to be recognized, invested and seated as the new head of the diocese. Marking the historic transition of leadership, Bishop Wimberly invited the two former diocesan bishops, Claude Payne and Maurice Benitez to participate in asking. All three stood side by side to ask Bishop Doyle to reaffirm the promises he made when he was ordained and consecrated a bishop on November 22, 2008. He promised to support all the baptized, guard the faith, unity and discipline of the Church and share in the government of the whole Church. Then with all three holding the 160 year old, ornate brass crosier as Bishop Wimberly said, “Now I, by the authority committed to me, and with the consent of those who have chosen you, do invest you, Charles Andrew Doyle, as Bishop of Texas, with all the temporal and spiritual rights and responsibilities that pertain to that office … On behalf of the people and clergy of the Diocese of Texas, I give into your hands this pastoral staff. May Christ the Good Shepherd uphold you and sustain you as you carry it in his name...”

Bishop Doyle received the pastoral staff as he promised to fulfill the responsibilities and obligations of the office as leader of the 154 congregations, 67 schools and 11 institutions of the Diocese of Texas. Dean Reynolds escorted him to the Bishop’s see, a highly carved chair to the left of the Cathedral’s altar saying, in the name of the Cathedral and on behalf of the people of the diocese, “I install you, Andrew, in the chair appointed to our office. May the Lord stir up in you the flame of holy charity, and the power of faith that overcomes the world. Amen.” Bishop Doyle took his seat momentarily before proclaiming the Peace and Celebrating the Holy Eucharist.

Nepal Church Bombing

Two persons, including a minor, were killed and 15 other injured when a powerful bomb went off at the Roman Catholic Church of Assumption in Lalitpur (a town near Kathmandu) on Saturday morning. The bomb exploded with about 100 people praying inside the church. Investigations are under way to determine who planted the bomb. The deceased have been identified as Cilesi Joseph, 15, and Deepa Patrick, 30.

A statement from the Anglican Church of Nepal:

We are shocked and saddened by the violence used against Christians while worshipping in Nepal this morning. We deplore the use of terror and the targeting of innocent civilians in this atrocity. May God comfort the families of the deceased in their grief and may they sense the presence of Jesus Christ with them in their sorrow and loss. We will keep them and the injured in our prayers. We extend our condolences to them, to the Roman Catholic community of the Church of the Assumption and to the wider Catholic community in Nepal. We are also aware that this leaves many other Christian Churches in Nepal in an unsettled and anxious state. We extend to all our prayers for peace and for safety.

The Revd Norman Beale

Dean

Anglican Church of Nepal

Prayer for the Persecuted Church:
Almighty and everlasting God, hear the cries of your people as we call to you for your suffering church throughout the world. As you heard the cries of your ancient people in bondage in Egypt and came down to deliver them, so now hearken to the suffering of the persecuted church in our time. Give bread to those who are hungry, comfort to the imprisoned, strength to the tortured and all for the sake of Jesus who lived and died for us, who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Memorial Day As Seen By Stanley Hauerwas

A Pacifist's Look at Memorial Day

Dan Brown’s America

The NYT online has a nice Op-Ed piece on Religion in America and the Dan Brown business:
Dan Brown's America

A few nice excerpts:

"...if you want to understand the state of American religion, you need to understand why so many people love Dan Brown. "

"The polls that show more Americans abandoning organized religion don’t suggest a dramatic uptick in atheism: They reveal the growth of do-it-yourself spirituality, with traditional religion’s dogmas and moral requirements shorn away. The same trend is at work within organized faiths as well, where both liberal and conservative believers often encounter a God who’s too busy validating their particular version of the American Dream to raise a peep about, say, how much money they’re making or how many times they’ve been married.

These are Dan Brown’s kind of readers. Piggybacking on the fascination with lost gospels and alternative Christianities, he serves up a Jesus who’s a thoroughly modern sort of messiah — sexy, worldly, and Goddess-worshiping, with a wife and kids, a house in the Galilean suburbs, and no delusions about his own divinity.

But the success of this message — which also shows up in the work of Brown’s many thriller-writing imitators— can’t be separated from its dishonesty. The “secret” history of Christendom that unspools in “The Da Vinci Code” is false from start to finish. The lost gospels are real enough, but they neither confirm the portrait of Christ that Brown is peddling — they’re far, far weirder than that — nor provide a persuasive alternative to the New Testament account. The Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — jealous, demanding, apocalyptic — may not be congenial to contemporary sensibilities, but he’s the only historically-plausible Jesus there is.

For millions of readers, Brown’s novels have helped smooth over the tension between ancient Christianity and modern American faith. But the tension endures. You can have Jesus or Dan Brown. But you can’t have both."

The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner responds to ACC

The Wisdom of the Cross: Some Reflections on ACC-14 and the Anglican Covenant

My respect for this man continues to increase.

What Happened at ACC (for those who care)

At the Battle in Jamaica for the Anglican Covenant there was a strategic loss for the Anglican Covenant Design Group that anticipated the timeline to go from the ACC-14 to the churches.

815 won a strategic decision to delay the Anglican Covenant.

815 won a strategic decision in separating Section IV from the rest of the Covenant.

Lambeth won a strategic decision in not divorcing Section IV from the Covenant, but keeping the Covenant together as a whole.

Lambeth won a strategic decision to gain control over who "studies" Section IV. There's a split decision between 815 and Lambeth on the establishment of the Joint Standing Committee as the final arbiter (thereby lifting the JSC as a near equal "instrument of communion") on the Anglican Covenant before it's sent on for ratification.

There is a win for ACNA and the Communion Partners in that there are still no restrictions in place for them to vote on the Anglican Covenant.

There is a loss for the Communion Partners in the delay of the Anglican Covenant to go before General Convention 2009 and the possible pieces of legislation that could both delay the Anglican Covenant to years after they have all retired, as well as possible legislation that will isolate them from their province.

There is a win for Katharine Jefferts Schori in successfully delaying the Anglican Covenant as long as she remains in office.

There is a win/loss for Rowan Williams in that he was able to keep the Covenant together and not fragment, but he was isolated and unable to bridge the widening chasm that separates provinces in the Anglican Communion. In fact, we saw evidence of a widening gap between Canterbury and the Church of England as the CoE representative seemed to side with 815, along with Wales and Ireland and Scotland, while the New Zealand and Australian delegations seemed to be split.And there is a loss to the Global South in the realization that they are merely bit players in this larger power struggle between Lambeth and 815.

But there was a major win for the Global South for through it all they hung together, even as chaos broke out on the floor and in the backrooms, they hung together. This is a key point for ACNA and the Communion Partners and, God willing, the Archbishop of Canterbury himself.

Source: Baby Blue

One Year In...

My journey into Anglicanism has been nothing short of interesting so far. I think I have had as good a tour of my new church as anyone can in the first year... I have been confirmed, met the Bishop of Durham, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, gone to two theological conferences, spent a day with the Archbishop of Burundi, not to mention meeting three bishops of Texas, and securing employment as a lay minister at my local parish. Phew! What a year.

So what has that got me? Well, for starters, I am as spiritually happy and healthy as I have ever been. The Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion have given me a good sense of both God's transcendence (greatness and majesty) and his immenence (nearness and closeness) which I found difficult, if not impossible, to hold together in my former protestantism. The Liturgy especially creates a wonderful sense of the mysterium tremendum right here in American-as-apple-pie Beaumont. Also, I feel a sense of connectedness with other Christians, both those around the world and those who have come before me, that I have never felt before. More and more, that "great cloud of witnesses" and our "oneness in Christ" are becomeing not simply abstractions, but living realities for me. This, in turn, has given rise in me to a burning desire to see the reunification of The Church of Jesus. May it be so, Lord.

With the structure provided by the Daily Office, I have found prayer both more accessible and richer that when I felt prayer had to always be an extemporanious list of petitions and praise. Not only that, it has made it much easier to pray together with my wife. I had often, as a protestant, heard said that liturgy and written prayer was constraining, but I have found it to be exactly the opposite. Oh, the freedom of consistency and commitment! And lastly, though I still call myself an evangelical, I am finding the "high church" and "anglo-catholicism" more and more appealing. Who knows where all this will lead next?

Brilliant Commentary

This is the best commentary I have seen so far on the recession. Brilliant...just brilliant.

My New Job

As of this coming Wednesday I will no longer be a forester. I have been offered, and have accepted, the position of Director of Lay Ministries and Evangelism at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Beaumont.

I could hardly have wished for a better opportunity and church community when we moved to Texas, and yet here I go. I am beside myself with excitement, and very grateful for this tremendous opportunity (especially for an unordained aspirant). I covet your prayers this coming year as I try to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in bringing the Gospel, the Kingdom, and Redemption to Southeast Texas.

Those of you who know me, know that I am always scheming and dreaming about what things the church could be doing different or better here in America. Well, I'm about to find out the difference between speculating and doing. Again, please keep Jenny and I in your daily prayers.

He Paints

A dear artist friend (and groomsman) of mine has started a website to showcase his works. It is more than worth your time. From his website Jared Paints:

"the desire and ability to create and behold things we deem beautiful, ultimately reflects the one who created us. as humans we create because we were made in the image of God (the One True Creator/Artist), so in doing this work i hope to bear a small and true reality of the image of God in His creativity. "

So, hop on over and check it out at: http://www.jaredpaints.com/

The Best Books I Read in 2008

1. Encountering the Mystery by His All Holiness Eccumenical Patriarch Bartholemew:

Orthodoxy is neither just a theological system nor just a set of liturgical disciplines; it is in the most serious and full sense wisdom – a perspective of Spirit-led insight that transforms both vision and action. In this exceptional book, Patriarch Bartholomew inducts his readers into this wisdom and demonstrates with authority how it bears upon a range of global issues. There is nothing archaic here, though plenty that is traditional; nothing merely fashionable, though plenty that is sharply contemporary. It is a treasury of sane and generous theology, from one of the truly great figures in the Christian world today

2. Surprised by Hope by NT Wright:

Subtitled, Rethingking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, I could have just as easily listed this one as number one. N.T. Wright can write. . . when it comes to questions of Christ’s resurrection and what that means, no one is more persuasive. Wright’s new book, Surprised by Hope, builds on C.S. Lewis’ succinct defense of the faith and takes it to a new level. A crystal-clear, powerful course-correction for all of us--Christian or otherwise. If you want to know what Easter is about, get yourself a copy of Surprised by Hope and hunker down for the read of a lifetime....literally.

3. Tokens of Trust by Rowan Williams:

The first book I have read by the renowned Archbishop of Canterbury, and I was not let down in the least. In this thematic group of reflections based on the ancient creeds of Christendom, the 104th archbishop of Canterbury once again demonstrates his stature as a scholar with a deep concern for the spiritual welfare of contemporary believers. At times sober, but rarely inaccessible, the learned archbishop brings a restrained passion to these meditations that will make them more available to readers seeking pastoral guidance along with their theology.

4. Jayber Crow & Selected Poems by Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry is an American man of letters, academic, cultural and economic critic, and farmer. He is a prolific author of novels, shorts stories, poems, and essays. If you have never heard of him or read him, this is a great place to start. A breath of fresh air in our day and age.

Archbishop of Canterbury's Advent Reflections

The Orthodox Resistance

Here in the Episcopal Church, the Orcs of Mordor have taken the castle (metaphorically speaking). Meet the worthy, peaceful resistance:

American Anglican Council

The Anglican Communion Institute

May God give them humility, wisdom, long-suffering patience, and love.

"Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” - Daniel 3:17-18

Post Tenabras, Lux!

What the ...?

Snow in Orange, Texas? You betcha. As you can see, it isn't much, but they have announced that all the schools will be starting two hours later to give people a chance to get a grip on this turn of events. You'd think unicorns and centaurs were walking around town. As far as people in Orange County are concerned, this isn't far removed from sorcery or magic.

Meeting a Hero

A picture of me meeting NT Wright in Toronto, Canada at the Anglicanism: A Gift in Christ conference last week.

Advent Underground: The Resistance Movement

The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love. So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists. And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas? What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?

Welcome to Advent Conspiracy.

Bound for the Black Hills

My wife and I are flying out tomorrow morning to South Dakota to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family there. I am one of those rare people who deeply enjoy their in-laws. My in-laws, Jenny's whole family (parents, siblings, aunts & uncles, cousins, etc.), are precious people, brothers and sisters of the Faith, with great senses of humor and tremendous loyalty. Time with them is always such a refreshment to me. My own private favorite tradition is early morning coffee on a cool morning with my Mother and Father-in-law. The landscape of the Black Hills is enchanting and I am looking eagerly forward to some easy walks through the granite, junipers, aspens, and sage as well.

Two other items of excitement for the holiday: 1.) I'm going to Toronto quickly for an Anglican conference at which NT Wright+ will be the keynote speaker. As most of you know, to say that Bishop Wright has been an inspiration to me would be an understatement. I'll be there with a few people from our church and my dear brother Matt Larsen. 2.) Jenny's beloved friend from college, Britta, is going to be joining us in South Dakota for the holiday. Few people bring as much joy to my wife's heart as Britta, and for her company this holiday I am very grateful.

Also, you never know when we might drop in to Boulder when we are in that part of the world.

Reading list for the Holiday:

The Hauerwas Reader by Stanley Hauerwas and Jayber Crow by Wendel Berry.

Traveling Tunes:

Josh Garell's new album, Jacaranda.

A Monastery in Beaumont?

My wife and I spent this past Saturday at a spiritual retreat at the Holy Cross Monastery in Beaumont, Texas. I had never before been to a monastery, and having grown up in the Church of Christ and Southern Baptist Church, I suppose my disposition is to be suspicious of such enterprises. Yet, I found the day to be entirely pleasant and of great spiritual benefit.

We started the day celebrating the Holy Eucharist. It was a lovely celbration, appropriately punctuated by periods of meditative silence when the wind could be heard blowing through the trees outside and the scripture lessons we were reading could be ruminated upon and digested. We then ate a meal together prepared for us by the monks, and had an afternoon's discussion on humility and how it is attained. We ended the day by chanting Psalms 119 and praying together. Through the course of the day it dawned upon me anew how good silence, prayer, nature and meditation are for the soul. I confess to having far less than would be good for me, and hope to make those disciplines part of my regular practice as a disciple of Christ. My wife said the day was beautiful and relaxing... a bit of heaven come to earth. Apparently, they have similar retreats the third Saturday of every month. I suspect those monks have not seen the last of the Ballards.

The Early Church on War and Violence

I say as often as I can that I am, as a Christian, a pacifist and that I believe all Christians should be pacifists. Along those lines, I was very pleased when I discovered that the peer reviewed theological journal Themelios put out by The Gospel Coalition recently included an article entitled, Nonviolence in the Ancient Church and Christian Obedience. I thought some of the quotes from the early church were worth posting here:

"We who once murdered each other indeed no longer wage war against our enemies; moreover, so as not to bear false witness before our interrogators, we cheerfully die confessing Christ." -- Justin Martyr (110–165), the early church’s foremost apologist.

"But now inquiry is being made concerning these issues. First, can any believer enlist in the military? Second, can any soldier, even those of the rank and file or lesser grades who neither engage in pagan sacrifices nor capital punishment, be admitted into the church? No on both counts—for there is no agreement between the divine sacrament and the human sacrament, the standard of Christ and the standard of the devil, the camp of light and the camp of darkness. One soul cannot serve two masters—God and Caesar. And yet some people toy with the subject by saying, "Moses carried a rod, Aaron wore a buckle, John the Baptist girded himself with leather just like soldiers do belts, and Joshua the son of Nun led troops into battle, such that the people waged war." But how will a Christian engage in war—indeed, how will a Christian even engage in military service during peacetime—without the sword, which the Lord has taken away? For although soldiers had approached John to receive instructions and a centurion believed, this does not change the fact that afterward, the Lord, by disarming Peter, disarmed every soldier." -- Tertullian (197–212)

"Shall it be regarded lawful to make an occupation of the sword, when the Lord proclaims that he who takes the sword shall die by the sword? Shall the child of peace join in the battle when he is not even permitted to sue at law? . . . Shall he carry a flag, despite its hostility to Christ? Shall he request a command from the Emperor who has already received one from God? . . . The very transporting of the Christian name from the camp of light over to the camp of darkness constitutes a violation of God’s law." -- Tertullian

"It needs to be emphasized that when someone becomes a believer and his faith is sealed, there must be an immediate abandonment of military service." -- Tertullian

"A soldier, being inferior in rank to God, must not kill anyone. If ordered to, he must not carry out the order, nor may he take an oath (sacramentum) to do so. If he does not accept this, let him be dismissed from the church. Anyone bearing the power of the sword, or any city magistrate, who wears purple, let him cease from wearing it at once or be dismissed from the church. Any catechumen or believer who wishes to become a soldier must be dismissed from the church because they have despised God." -- Hippolytus (199–217)

"Rulers entrusted with the authority to take life and soldiers must not kill anyone, even if they are commanded to do so. . . . Anyone holding a prominent position of leadership or a ruler’s authority who does not keep himself disarmed, as the gospel necessitates, must be dismissed from the flock. Let no Christian become a soldier. Any official obligated to carry a sword must not bring bloodguilt upon himself; if he does, he must not participate in the mysteries until he is purified through correction, tears, and groans." -- Hippolytus (199–217)

"We must delightfully come to the counsels of Jesus by cutting down our hostile and impudent swords into plowshares and transforming into pruning-hooks the spears formerly employed in war. So we no longer take up the sword against nations, nor do we learn war anymore, since we have become children of peace, for the sake of Jesus, who is our leader, instead of those whom our ancestors followed." -- Origen (240–48)

Anglican History

Since my wife and I have become Episcopalian/Anglican, the questions that I have been asked the most regarding that decison have, surprisingly, been questions regarding the history of the Anglican church. So, I thought perhaps a well researched answer was in order. Enjoy:

Christianity arrived in Britain in the first or second century (probably via the tin trade route through Ireland and Iberia), and existed independently of the Church of Rome, as did virtually all other Christian communities of that era. Most scholars believe that Christianity arrived in Brittania about A.D. 44 around Glastonbury (roughly 11 years after Christ's Crucifixion!) The first English martyr is Alban in A.D. 209. Alban reportedly sheltered a Christian missionary from Gaul and was executed because Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire at that time. The earliest historical written evidence of an organized Christian church in England is found in the writings of such early Christian fathers as Tertullian and Origen in the first years of the 3rd century. Three English bishops, including Restitutus, are known to have been present at the Council of Arles 314, and bishops from Britannia were present at the council of Nicea in 325. Others attended the Council of Sardica in 347 and that of Ariminum in 360, and a number of references to the church in Britain are found in the writings of 4th-century Christian fathers.

Pagan Anglo-Saxons from Germany and Scandinavia began to occupy Britain without resistance from the passive (Christian) Britons in around 370. (Wales remained unconquered and Christian.) The Roman empire fell in Britain and no evidence of Roman occupation is found after about 407. The conquest of Britain is greatly accelerated in 410 when Britons under Vortigern invite Saxon mercenaries to their land to help keep order. The Briton Christians are on their own at this point. On the mainland, the Roman empire and therefore the church (Christianity being the official religion of the empire) were in significant turmoil and disarray. Meanwhile, back in Britain, it is the era of Celtic Christianity. The Celts effectively preserve Christianity on the British Isles while the Roman empire (and seemingly, the whole world) falls apart. For nearly 200 years, the scholarship and culture of Celtic/Anglo-Saxon Christianity developed utterly unconnected with Rome, though some correspondence and unity with mainland Christianity continues. For instance, we know that Deacon Palladius was sent by the bishop of Rome (not Pope!) as a "bishop to the Scotti [Irish] who believe in Christ."

Previous to the fall of the Roman Empire, the church was governed by the Patriarchs (bishops) of the ancient and influential sees of Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, as well as by Councils of bishops held periodically to make important decisions. As the Roman empire fell apart, and the world and the church was in disarray, people generally, and Christians included, looked to the ancient capital of the empire for leadership. Hence the development of the office of Pope. Leo the Great was the bishop of Rome at this time, and he was the first bishop to assert the universal jurisdiction of the Roman bishop and the doctrine of "Petrine supremacy." He was declared Pope in 451 by the Council of Chalcedon which declared, "Peter has spoken by Leo." He solidified his role as the primary patriarch and leader of the Church when he met Attila the Hun outside the gates of Rome in 452 and persuaded him not to raze the city to the ground and to withdraw. With the rest of the empire in such a mess, no one was really in a position to disagree with him. In fact, they were glad to have such an able, intelligent, charismatic, brave, and strong leader. Anglicans still celebrate a feast day in his honor on November 10 as the Bishop of Rome.

When things began to settle down, and the world began to reorganize post-empire, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine from Rome to evangelise the Angles in 597. When he got there, he discovered that they were already a number of Christians and established churches. He declared them Roman Catholic, and with the help of Christians already residing in Kent he established his church in Canterbury, the former capital of Kent, and became the first in the series of Archbishops of Canterbury. Augustine developed a liturgy and other practices especially for the English-speaking people, which was a combination of the Celtic and Roman rites. Later archbishop, the Greek Theodore of Tarsus, also contributed to the organisation of English Christianity in that period. Simultaneously, the "Celtic Church" continued to evangelize Scotland. The Celtic Church of North Britain finally submitted in some sense to the "authority" of Rome at the Synod of Whitby in 664. Over the next few centuries, the Roman system introduced by Augustine gradually absorbed the pre-existing Celtic, Britannia, Saxon, and Angle churches. Anglicans still celebrate a feast in Gregory's honor as "the Apostle of the English" and the Bishop of Rome on March 12.

The Anglican church then was under the purview of Rome for roughly 870 years. When the Great Schism occurred in 1054 and split the church into Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, the Anglican church being in the West, sided with Rome. There is a public perception, especially in the United States, that Henry VIII created the formal Anglican split from Rome in 1534 because of the Pope's refusal to grant his divorce, but the historical record indicates that Henry spent most of his reign challenging the authority of Rome, and that the divorce issue was just one of a series of acts that collectively split the English church from the Roman church in much the same way that the Orthodox church had split off five hundred years before. A theological separation had been foreshadowed by various movements within the English Church for years, and there was significant pressure put on Henry by his Reformation-minded clergy to, in fact, separate from Rome. Under the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, a thorough reformation proceeded. A new pattern of worship was set out in the Book of Common Prayer which was based on the older and more ancient liturgies, without the developments of the middle ages such as Maryology, the Papacy, and the Cult of Saints. It is this Book of Common prayer and form of worship that is still the framework for Anglicanism worldwide. Anglicanism represents the third largest Christian communion in the world, after the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox communions. The number of Anglicans in the world is slightly over 77 million.