A Quick Tour of Anglican Church History for Our Parish Anglicanism 101 Series

 

The notes and illustrations on this page are meant to be prompts to me for Anglicanism 101 series in our Regional Ministry.  If you find this page, I hope it’s helpful to you and I’ll try and build this page out a bit and flew out the references as time permits.  MP+

Why Church History?

Rowan Williams, Why Study The Past?

“To engage with the Church’s past is to see something of the Church’s future.”

 

Church and Continuity

How far back should we go in studying the Anglican Church?

“We have always been here” (Stephen Neill, Anglicanism).  When you go into an old Anglican church in Britain or Ireland, you realize that our worship and church come out of a long continuity, that we have been gathering in these places worshipping together before we were Anglicans.    In other words, our the church didn’t start with the Reformation, as some Protestants believe.

 

St Mary’s, Limerick, Ireland

York Cathedral, York, England

But what of Canada?   What of the churches built here, like Prince of Peace (50ish years old) or St Margaret’s Barrie (30ish)

Do we see these churches as new, in that they are newer churches in a newer country, or as old churches, in that they come out of a centuries old tradition?   And where is tradition anyway in our life as a church and is it important?  And are there some unique aspects of our life together as Canadian Anglicans?  We’ll come back to that.

So Let’s Talk About The Reformation, Where Some Say it all Started

Was it just about Henry VIII and his wives?

To Be Sure it was about politics - that’s covered in the late Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about Thomas Cromwell, beginning with Wolf Hall

 

The Reformation was a real fight about superpower politics, about English independence from Europe (specifically the Catholic church - it was the first Brexit) and it was about land and money.

John Houghton, Dominican (d 1535), one of the the First (Catholic Martyrs of the Reformation), the most famous of which was Sir Thomas More, the Man for All Seasons.  There were martyrs on both sides.

But the Reformation was also a fight over theology.  It was about who could read and translate the Bible (eg, John Tyndale (d 1536), and it was about how Salvation worked (grace vs works) and the perceived monetization of grace by the Roman Catholic church.   It was driven by the writings of rebellious theologians from Europe, specifically Martin Luther

 

German Dominican Friar Johann Tetzel selling indulgences (pardons from Purgatory).

When Henry VIII asserts the independence of the English church, his key church supporter is Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury (which explains why Canterbury is the centre of the Church of England and was, until recently, the spiritual centre of the Anglican Communion)

Key Beliefs of the English Reformers

An English language book of common prayer that all the laity could use and pray with (hence the word common), which was rooted in the Roman tradition of worship but adapted both in the times of prayer (morning and evening prayer, Communion, compline)

An emphasis on theology of grace, hence the Prayer of Humble Access from the BCP:

WE do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, Trusting in our own righteousness, But in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy So much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord, Whose property is always to have mercy: Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, So to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, And to drink his Blood, That our sinful bodies may be made clean by his Body, And our souls washed through his most precious Blood, And that we may evermore dwell in him, And he in us. Amen.

An emphasis on doctrine (the sermons provided for English clergy, the Thirty Nine Articles of Faith)

A suspicion of the Roman doctrine of Transubstantiation and Real Presence, a tendency towards the idea that the Communion was a memorial rather than a sacrament.  Leftover bread was to be eaten by the priest for lunch, it wasn’t to be revered and paraded around.

Reformation, Counter Reformation, Compromise

However, after the death of Henry VIII, the reign of Catholic Queen Mary (a bad time for Cranmer and his associates) and the reign of the Protestant(ish) Queen Elizabeth, a sort of compromise evolved.As Elizabeth said, the Crown did not want to “make windows into men’s souls”, a certain amount of belief, eg, about what happened at Communion) was private.  

Thus there is a sort of compromise in the Words of Administration in our Prayer Books. 

THE Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life: Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.

And the Minister that delivers the Cup shall likewise say:

THE Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life: Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s Blood was shed for thee, and be thankful.

 

 

The Church in Upper Canada

The Anglican Church came to Canada as it did to the rest of the Empire, through commerce (whaling, fishing, the Hudson’s Bay Company) and through the military (army and navy garrisons).  This is true in Upper Canada (Ontario) where the English presence and the Anglican church were centred on Kingston and York.  Much of the work of the church on the ground was sponsored by missionary societies such as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel which paid for clergy, books, and buildings.

 

Bishop John Strachan

Bishop John Strachan was a key leader in the early Anglican Church in Upper Canada.  He was determined that the Anglican Church receive a monopoly (establishment).  He argued that a strong Church would help keep American influence at pay (he was worried about American Methodist clergy travelling back and forth over the border).  The government never really said yes for several reasons:

1) Precedent with French Quebec, which had been left free to be Roman Catholic

2) The trend in England was towards religious freedom and toleration

3) Many Canadian settlers and their provincial representatives were non-Anglican (eg Scots Presbyterians)

Nevertheless, the Anglican Church received considerable favours from the government including land and (the clergy reserves) and a near monopoly on its clergy being the only officials who could marry people.

Why So Many Kinds of Anglican Churches?

St Thomas, Huron Street, Toronto

St Paul’s, Middleport (nar Brantford)

To understand the somewhat bewildering variety of styles of Anglican church (both in architecture and liturgy), we need to briefly understand the terms High Church and Low Church.  Originally the two terms had to do with politics;  High Church thought authority came from the top down (through bishops) and Low Church thought authority came from the bottom up.

Once synods and elections of bishops became the norm, the terms High and Low Church eventually transferred to styles of doing church.

If you went to church in Upper Canada in the 1850s, it would have looked much like Anglican worship anywhere for the last 300 years.  The clergyman in a cassock, surplice, preaching scarf and hood, stationing himself at the north end of the altar.  In part the justifications for this were scriptural:

 we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens - Hebrews 8:1;

he sat down at the right hand of God - Hebrews 10:12;

Thou sittest at the right hand of God - Te Deum.

And also there was a desire that the priest’s actions be seen by the communicants.  Also, the priest with his back to the people was seen as too Catholic or Papist.

Typical services on Sunday would have been Mattins, the Litany, Ante Communion, with a long sermon, all lasting 2 plus hours.  Communion would have been infrequent.  This style was sometimes called “High and Dry”.

Many older dioceses in Canada were first established by clergy from the Church of Ireland, which tended to be much more conservative and “lower” than some.

Eventually the Ritual or Communion Movement changed much church practice.  Coloured vestments, frequent communion, incense, and other liturgical practices  were introduced in some parishes, which caused much controversy, anxiety, lawsuits, and riots.  

Cartoon from British magazine Punch making fun of ritualist clergy.

“If a clergyman took the ‘north-end’ at the Celebration of the Holy Communion h was a ‘Low Churchman’; if he took the eastward position he was a ‘High Churchman’.  If he spoke of the ‘Altar’ he was ‘High’; if he spoke of the ‘Table’, or the ‘Holy Table’, he was ‘Low’.  If he wore collard stoles he was very ‘High’; if he wore a black scarf or stole he was ‘Low’.  If he had a cross on the Altar, he was decidedly ‘High’;  if a cross was on the hangings, the book markers or the stole, he was ‘High’ (Hayes, Anglicans in Canada, 129).

Today these debates are largely lost in time, and most Anglican churches look the same, though there are some exceptions (All Saints Collingwood does things a little more “High” than some in our dealer).  It depends what seminary the clergy went to, what their personal practices are, what the local tradition of the parish is.  Most Anglican churches are happily Middle of the Road.

Other Canadian Changes

Election of Primates, loss of authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, reflects an overall trend in the Anglican Communion.  As the colonies of the British Empire became independent, their Anglican churches developed their own systems of independent governance and often changed their names, so the Anglican Church in Kenya for example is simply called “The Church of Kenya”, the name “Anglican” being dropped.

Likewise Primates of national Anglican churches had their own authority within their churches, which is why, whereas Rome can tell the Catholic Church what to do and believe, there is no one authority in Anglicanism.

Other Changes:

Ordination of Women

Rev Florence Li Tim Oi, ordained May 1941 Hong Kong

 

Changes in Liturgy (introduction of the Book of Alternative Services, 1980s)

Ecumenical Talks with United and Lutheran Churches

Debates Over Gender, Same-Sex Marriage (during this debate, the term “experience” is often added to the traditional Anglican triad of “Scripture, Reason, Tradition” 

Decline of the Church and Predictions of “Extinction” by 2040s

 

Indigenous Christians and Reconciliation

Most of us know the story of the Doctrine of Discovery, the Residential Schools, and the church’s complicity in the government practice of assimilation.

Fewer of us know that there are still many indigenous Canadians who identify as Christians and as Anglicans.

In the 2011 National Household Survey of Statistics Canada, of 1,400,685 persons who self-identified as Aboriginal in private households, 889,315 (63%) identified as Christian. Of these, over 500,000 identified as Roman Catholic, and about 130,000 identified as Anglican.

Some of their stores give us hope and remind us of the importance of indigenous voices in our church.

Tobasanakwut Kinew was an Anishnable elder, respected academic, and spiritual leader.  He was born on a trapline in northern Canada and was a survivor of a Roman Catholic Residential School.  He was involved in the process that led to the Catholic Church’s apology to Canadian indigenous peoples for their treatment in the schools.

In his book “The Reason You Walk”,  his son, Wab Kinew (now the new premier of Manitoba” wrote that “My father lived long enough to see an apology and now he has lived long enough to show forgiveness”.

 

 

 “My father lived long enough to see an apology and now he had lived long enough to show us forgiveness as well.” p. 246 

 

Other changes in the Anglican Church of Canada that show our church’s indigenous heritage:

Practice of “land acknowledgements"

Decisions reached by consensus (eg, talking circles) rather than by parliamentary style motions and votes

Educational initiatives: (Mapping Our Ground, Blanket Exercise)

Cultural practices such as smudging, sweat lodges becoming more familiar

Use of the term “settler"

Indigenous Archbishops

Indigenous Archbishop the Rt Rev. Chris Harper

Ordinary Saints: A Homily for the Feast of All Saints

Ordinary Saints:  A Homily for The Feast of All Saints.  Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, Sunday, Nov 5th.

Readings for All Saints:  Revelation 7:9-17; Psalm 34:1-10, 22; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12

 

 

What does it mean to be a saint?   Who can be a saint?    Today we celebrate our parish’s patronal or namesake festival, The Feast of All Saints, and while its calendar day is always 1 November, we use the readings and prayers for today because we as Anglicans always enjoy a good party.

 

All Saints, like its companion feast, All Souls, which we celebrated on November 2nd, invites us to remember that we keep good company.  Today, as we do every day of our lives, we live and move and have our being amidst those believers across the centuries that we call the saints.   

 

All of us, if we were pressed to define what it means to be a saint, might appeal to different strands of our Anglican tradition.    Some of us, comfortable with the Catholic heritage of our faith, might think of the saints spiritual superheroes in life and who now act as special conduits of grace, as friends and advocates who ask God’s mercy and favour on our behalf.   Others, schooled in our Church’ Reformed heritage, might simply say that the saints are especially notable Christians whose lives and stories provide us with models on which to fashion our own faith lives.  

 

The problem with both of these ways of thinking is that they tend to elevate the saints to, well, sainthood.   It’s difficult for us to relate saints to our daily lives, unless we’re searching for our keys and we invoke the help of St. Anthony of Padua, patron saint of lost items!

 

Rudyard Kipling, in his poem “Tommy”, wrote that “single men in barracks don’t grow into plaster saints”.   Kipling’s poem was written in defence of the rough, common soldiers who defended Britain.  However, his phrase “plaster saints” draws on the idea that saints are somehow remote, fragile, even irrelevant figures is unfortunate, as  I suspect that most of us could say that we have known a saint in our lives.  

 

I’m sure that each of you could name some particular person who was a role model of faith to you and whose memory you still cherish.   As Isaac Villegas notes, saints can simply be those “who’ve made possible our faith”,  who have shown us how to be disciples, and to whose faith we are still indebted.   

 

These saints are obscure.  They are not mentioned in books and they are not depicted on icons, but they live in our hearts and they accompany us. me there’s one particular person I come back to, someone who was a cherished part of my early teen years.

 

Father Wilbur was the priest in the small parish that my family attended in rural British Columbia.   He happened to follow a rector who was tall, handsome, and eloquent.  Fr. Wilbur was none of these things, but he was funny, kind, and generous with his time to the awkward and lonely boy that I was.   He let me spend many hours with his unruly family in the rectory, he taught me to be an altar server, and, thrill of thrills, and he allowed a thirteen year old to swing a metal orb full of flaming coals to produce thick clouds of incense.   Nothing could have been cooler!

 

Five years later I returned to that small town and met Fr. Wilbur in the last summer of his life.   He was still kind and he remembered me fondly, though he had trouble talking because of a sizeable and inoperable brain tumour.  I wish I could have promised him my prayers, but by then, after a year at university, I was foolish and arrogant and already cooling on religion.   I regret that I wasn’t more moved by his serenity and by the same, simple holiness that was his great gift as a priest.  Alas, I used him as an excuse to walk away from the church, reasoning, as only a callow youth can, that if God could treat Fr. Wilbur so poorly, then God wasn’t really worth knowing.

 

It took me many years to discover the truth of what the author of Hebrews says, that “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Her 12.1).    Fr Wilbur’s memory never really left me, and after my life had run aground in disastrous ways, I came to see his simple and generous heart for the gift that it truly was.  

 

I came to realize that God had never abandoned Wilbur.    It was I that had abandoned God, and yet I am convinced that Wilbur’s love and even his prayers from his place in the heavenly host pulled me through some dark places and times.   And since, in the twenty years I’ve been ordained, I’ve always tried to be as good a priest as Fr. Wilbur.

 

For me this example pulls together several strands in our thinking about sainthood.   A saint can be a role model and also be a conduit of grace, and perhaps the best saints of all are the ordinary ones.   Not all saints need be martyrs, nor do they have to embrace some austere and impoverished vocation.   We need these ordinary saints, for most of us are called to ordinary things; not all of us, to quote a beloved hymn, are called “to kiss the leper clean”.  

 

For those of us called to live ordinary lives, and to serve in ordinary ways, we need ordinary s4aints.   A simple priest in a small town, a greeter, a lay visitor, a hospice volunteer, a cancer patient who still takes part in the parish prayer group, these are all examples of saints who touch the lives of others and push them with graceful hands into the paths of righteousness.   We need ordinary saints to remind us that we too can be ordinary saints, for really, what is a saint but someone who has heard and answered Jesus question to each of us, will you follow me?

 

Rowan Williams has written that there are two people named in the Apostles’ Creed, Mary and Pilate.   Mary says yes to God, while Pilate says no.  As Isaac Villegas writes, most days “we wobble  from one figure to another”, but if on our best days we can say yes to God with Mary,  follow Mary’s example and say yes to God and because we do so, it is because we have been given the gift of sainthood.  

 

Sainthood is simply the grace that allows us to say yes to God and follow Christ.   Thus Saint Paul in the openings of his letters, always greets the hagioi, the holy ones or saints of the churches he addresses.   Paul is writing to ordinary Jesus followers, ordinary saints doing ordinary saint things, and sometimes falling short, but still saints because God in Christ has made them his holy people.

 

Ordinary saints doing ordinary saint things.   Recently we held an event called a Ministry Fair, where we showcased the various volunteer positions and jobs that make our parish so lively.    What are the qualifications for these positions?  Well, you have to be a saint,  which simply means all ministries, arises out of our response to God’s call, the yes we have given to Jesus as his followers.   Together, your ministries will be local, specific, ordinary, and yet terribly important to those whom they serve.  

 

So, are saints special avenues or sources of grace that bring us closer to God?  I would say yes.  Are saints also role models for our own discipleship?  Again, I would say, yes.   So. tonight we rejoice in the great cloud of witnesses, the communion of saints, some great, and some known only to a few, who have shaped our lives and shown us God’s grace, love, and wisdom.   We give thanks for their life and witness, we entrust them to God’s love and care, and and we open ourselves to their influence in our lives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Narnia: Our Parish Book Study on Prince Caspian

 

 

 

Our project to read the entire Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis is now half way through.   Last Tuesday, about a dozen of us “Narnians” met to discuss the third book in the series,  Prince Caspian (PC).   We continue to be amazed and delighted at how these apparently simple children’s fantasies contain depths of meaning and offer insights into how we live our faith.

 

Written in 1950, PC is set one English year after the events described in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, but when the four Pevensie children (Peter, Susan, Lucy and Edmund) are summoned back to Narnia, they find themselves in the ancient ruins of the castle, Cair Paravel, where they were once kings and queens.  Slowly, the children realize that during one English year, centuries have gone by in Narnian time (time travel and alternate worlds always fascinated Lewis).

 

During those centuries, catastrophe has again befallen Narnia.    The realm has been conquered by an evil king, Miraz,  and Aslan, the Talking Animals, and Old Narnia are now just legends spoken of in hushed tones.    Miraz’s nephew, Caspian, is told these legends by his nurse and then by his tutor, but learns that his uncle has forbidden any mention of them, for the tyrant Miraz and his people secretly fear the return of Aslan.

 

When Caspian flees his uncle’s castle, he discovers that the Old Narnians - dwarves, fauns, Talking Animals - are real and live in remote places where they yearn for freedom.    Caspian is proclaimed rightful king of Narnia, and with the help of the Pevenisie children (who realize they have been summoned back to Narnia to help Caspian), and with Aslan’s return, they defeat Miraz and bring freedom back to Narnia.

 

In our reading, we noted the fragility of Narnia (it was previously conquered by the White Witch in the first book) and the longing of the Old Narnians for the return of their rightful king, which is a very Christian theme.   Soon in the season of Advent we will once again wait expectantly for the king who will save us from captivity to sin and death.  

 

Likewise PC is about the importance of memory and the need to tell and retell the stories of who we really are and the hope we have in God’s son (whom Aslan often represents).   As Caspian’s tutor says, “my old heart has carried these secret memories for so long that it aches with them”.  At a time in our history where the Christian stories are falling into neglect, PC has much to teach us about the need to re-learn and keep telling these stories.

 

Our identity as Christians is likewise shared by the stories we hear and retell during our worship, stories of hope, of the goodness of our king, and of his coming again.     Our stories also tell us that we have great potential, that God wants us to be more than we are, in the way that the children of Narnia can become heroes, kings and queens.   Thus these simple stories can lead us to the truths at the centre of our faith.

 

Our next Narnia book study is on Wednesday, Nov 29, at 1:30 pm, when we discuss The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.   We’d love to welcome you to our company of “Narnians”.