The personal writings of a liberal Anglo-Catholic living in Halifax
The On Faith Series is a collection of short dissertations of my views on various aspects of religion/spirituality.
They will be added and amended from time to time as my views on the subjects change.
Several have been written to date.
Future dissertations in the series:
-On Fasting
-On Rituals
-On Worship
-On Ecumencialism
-On Church community
-On Church music
-On the Eucharist
-On Spiritual mystery
-On Inter-faith relations and dialogue
One of the missions of a disciple of Christ is evangelism, or the spreading of the message of Christ to others. As my faith is deeply personal, I do not actively proselyze (as in hand out Bibles, try to actively convert someone to Christianity, or tell them they are going to Hell for not accepting Christ). Having grown up in a very evangelical Methodist family, I do not force religion on others, as I’ve experienced those pressures before and I find it doesn’t necessariliy achieve the goal. But at the same time, I expect others to respect my faith, and I will defend my faith and Christ is needed.
I spread the word of Christ indirectly; through my actions and example in the hope that others will come to the world of Christ, either through curiosity or admiration of my commitment to faith. Some have been intrigued enough to ask to come to church with me and I will never decline such a request, though I tend to be somewhat hesitant, as church me is very private and “in my own little world,” as it is my time with God.
One other things that I call my evangelism is showing the world the beauty of Christ through the churches built by his followers through the photos I take of churches that I visit or attend.
Through my social media and discussions, many of my friends have learned about Christianity that they may not have previously known, such as feast days and the liturgical calendar (like how the 12 days of Christmas doesn’t being until 25 December and that the Advent season is not the Christmas season). I am open to discuss religion and the church with my friends where we talk about different aspects of it such as basic theology, differences in denominations, interpretations, or random idiosyncracies. The key is that one must be able to approach religion with a sense of humour (as it is well known to my friends, I call communion, “getting the cookie and grape juice”). As G.K. Chesterston said, “it is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.”
I do hope that more people are able to find God and peace through faith, and I cannot “save all the souls,” but maybe I can bring a couple along with me.
I tread very carefully with this post since it I could end up in a great deal of trouble by accidentally spouting out some heresy. Maybe in another blog post, I will write about ancient church heresies (for those who want to read something written by a theologian, I recommend the Cruelty of Heresy: An Affirmation of Christian Orthodoxy by C. FitzSimons Allison).
The Holy Trinity is something that theologians have philosophized for centuries and I don’t believe there is an answer, at least not something that can be understood by man, especially a lay person. I consider it one of the mysteries of God, that there is only one God, but exists in three persons, co-eternal and consubstantial, distinct, but of the same substance. It is just something to be accepted and part of faith.
How I think of this subject is that God exists on a different plane of existence wouldn’t be able to comprehend it, even if we tried. I believe someone tried used the analogy of a two dimensional person could never properly/fully comprehend what a cube (which exists in three dimensions).
There have been many people who use analogies to try to explain the Trinity and they tread on very dangerous ground as they may accidentally stray into heresy despite their good intentions (I.e. the three leaf clover analogy of the Trinity or the three states of water analogy). I always feed bad for one giving the sermon on Trinity Sunday, because there’s no easy way of explaining the Trinity without either straying into heresy or losing the congregation because the explanation has become too philosophical or abstract.
I believe the Bible was divinely inspired, but written down by man (can man understand the Godly?), recopied over time by different people (copying errors), translated into different languages (translation errors), and therefore it is not a perfect document. It is not immutable to criticism, infallible, or to be followed without question or critical thinking. While the spirit of God is contained within the scriptures, I do not believe it is to be interpreted literally, especially the Old Testament; the important thing is the values and the teaching behind the scriptures. The Bible is not a scientific or history textbook, therefore it should not be viewed as such.
As an Anglican, the books of the Apocrypha are to be included in the Bible, but as Article VI of the 39 Articles of Religions states, “And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine”
As an Anglican, I follow the doctrine of prima scriptura (scripture first/above all) rather than sola scriptura (by scripture alone), with the Bible amplified by tradition and reason.
I prefer the King James Version, also known as the Authorized Version, of the Bible, but this is a personal preference. It is one of many translations of the Bible. With any translation of the Bible, it is not perfect and compromises must be made by the translator, but the KJV is deeply rooted in tradition, in use since 1611, its majestic language is how I imagine the voice of God. With modern biblical scholarship and archaeology, there exists translations which better express the original meaning found in the original texts written in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, and removed errors that occurred during the translation process during the 17th century. I accept there are errors in the King James Version, but I am not reading it for high level academic biblical study, if I was doing so, there are far better English translations, and if possible, I would strive to read the original Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek texts.
No translation is perfect, translators/scholars must find a balance between formal (translating literally, trying to keep the word for word fidelity) and dynamic equivalence (translating to keep the overall phrase meaning and possibly requiring paraphrasing). There are also requirements of maintain a certain poetic flow to the text and allowing for cultural idiosyncrasies. Translation is an art form and not an easy task.
I am a high-churchman, also called Anglo-Catholic. I would rate myself as a mid-high-churchman. There are certain aspects of Anglo-Catholicism (and the Oxford Movement) which just makes me uncomfortable, such as Mary worship, invocation of saints, adoration of the Eucharist; these are, as the 39 Articles of Religions state, Romish in doctrine and not founded in scripture. Also, while I admire the language of Latin, I believe that worship should be done in the vernacular, i.e. English. An occasional sprinkle of Latin is fine, but worshippers should know what is going on and not be lost in the liturgy.
I believe that liturgy remains an important aspect of church, continuing the traditions and history of the church is something important, as it reflects from where we came and those who worshipped before us. High church Anglicanism maintains the structure and formality in liturgy that I seek, formalism is a display of piety, and like dressing up for church, shows the proper respect for God. Additionally, keeping with traditional liturgy gives a sense of routine and allows me to know what is coming next. There is nothing worse than getting lost during a worship service because you don’t know what’s coming next, or change the sequence of events (i.e. change when the Lord’s Prayer is said or when the Gloria is sung or recited). (I will probably write a post about my pet peeves of Anglicanism, which includes my feeling that no two Anglican churches worship in the same manner, and attending a particular church for the first time will always result in some degree of confusion.)
I also feel low church/evangelical/contemporary services are too “loosey-goosey” and casual, which takes away from the sanctity and mystique of church. As some have heard me say, “once the guitars come out, I start walking out.” There is nothing wrong with less formal church services, and while others may prefer it, it is just not for me (I also won’t actually walk out of a service if they use guitars, that would just be plain rude).
I prefer the usage of the Book of Common Prayer, but not opposed to the Book of Alternative Services, and I understand that many prefer the contemporary language and not the archaic language found in the BCP. In contemporary Canadian Anglican churches, the higher high churches will typically use the BCP more often than lower churches.
I do like it when traditional vestments are worn for worship. It makes worship seem more sacred and formal. Though I understand due to financial issues, having vestments of all liturgical colours may be cost prohibitive, and I’m fine with just cassocks, albs, and surplices, which still gives a sense of tradition.
Religion comes in many forms, but a key part of it is faith. The point of this post is not to analyze the religions of the world, but remain grounded in Christianity/Anglicanism. Each person’s approach to faith and religion will differ, and I do not subscribe that there is a “right way” to worship, the only correct way is the way that allows one to connect with God.
The church is not merely a building or an organization; while it sounds sappy, I believe the church is inside each of us.
As a building, it is a place to worship and glorify God, a place for the gathering of community, and often a place of beauty. Contemporary society has moved away from the church and it is no longer the centre of the community (which I find a shame, as the space/building could be used for non-worship functions, such as gatherings, concerts, etc.). I try to regularly worship God at church, whether it be a Sunday/weekday communion or one of the daily offices. However, at the same time, the church is not confined to the building, and there may be times when people cannot attend church for a variety of reasons, but worship can still occur.
As
an organization (i.e. the Anglican church), it is a community of like-minded
people who share a common understanding/set of beliefs, and depending on how
you want to define it, it is the Christian Church, or a specific denomination. I see the Anglican Church as a community with
common traditions, doctrines, worship practices. As a branch of Christianity, it is catholic (small
c) and reformed (of the Reformation), existing in an in-between world of the
Roman Catholic church and other protestant denominations.
Though the church
should embody the ideals of Jesus Christ and Christianity, one cannot deny that
the church is run by man (people), and is therefore not perfect. The church/organized religion has made many mistakes in the past, it has caused a
lot of suffering, injustices, and conflict in the name of God, but those were
acts of man. Even at the local church
level, there is often a lot of drama between parishioners, which at times can
be very unchristian. However, one hopes
that the Church should strive to transcend the weaknesses of man and follow the
teachings of Jesus: to love, to accept that we are all imperfect (sinners), to
forgive, to respect the dignity of others, to do good works and contribute
positively to society.
“O Lord, let our prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense, and the lifting up of our hands as an evening sacrifice.”
As a high churchman, I believe the use of incense helps intensify worship. The smell of incense creates a more sacred atmosphere for prayer and worship. Like sacred music, the smell of incense stimulates the senses and puts me in a better place for prayer.
I prefer to worship at churches that use incense, and when visiting churches in my travels, I will seek out the smokiest of churches (i.e. Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square, New York City).
At home, I typically burn incense for Evening Prayer or Compline when I feel I need a little bit more to focus me in prayer, when I feel a need for a bit more formality, or a special occasion.
I have tried types of incenses as well as different blends of incenses. I now exclusively use resin incense burned over hot charcoal in a thurible. I use mostly frankincense or frankincense heavy blends.
High Anglican Haligonian 