On Charisms

The Feast of St John the Apostle and Evangelist

MERCIFUL Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it being enlightened by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to the light of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Sunday After Christmas Day

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Nativity of our Lord in Octave

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

St Paul tells us that, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us,” (Rm 5. 5). This love takes not simply the form of adoption through Christ into an intimate and personal relationship with God, but also through a number of gifts of the Spirit.

The Greek word charis is most commonly translated as a gift of grace. As we are told in Holy Scripture, it is the Holy Spirit who pours these gifts of grace upon us, so when we think of the Christian term charismatic, which is derived from the root charis, we can define it as a person who has received the gift and anointing of the Holy Spirit.

In its modern Christian context, charismatics are a particular type of Christian, but when considering the origin of the term, if you are not charismatic, it means you have not received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and in that sense all Christians should strive to be charismatics! In the ancient Church, those who received the Holy Spirit were known as the anointed ones, in Greek Christos, from which we derive Christian.

There remains in modern Christianity a lack of familiarity with the Holy Spirit, and gifts of the Spirit, but there is a treasury of information available, both in Holy Scripture and through the witness of saints in every age.

St Paul in his epistles listed many of the gifts of the Spirit. These include the utterance of wisdom, the utterance of knowledge, the gift of healing, the working of miracles, prophesy, the ability to distinguish between spirits, speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues, (I Cor 12. 8-10), service, teaching, exhortation or evangelism, generosity, leadership, mercy (Rm 12. 7, 8), and to this could also be added the fruits of the Spirit which are also gifts of grace granted by the indwelling of the Spirit (Gal 5. 22, 23, 25).

Some of these gifts have fairly straight-forward meanings and interpretations. The gift of leadership, for instance, or even the gift of teaching. We all know what it means to be a leader, and all Christians understand the Holy Spirit’s role in inspiring the teaching we receive when we gather to hear God’s written word. Yet some of the other gifts are a bit more complex. What is the difference, for instance, between the gift of knowledge and the gift of wisdom? What is a prophet and the gift of prophesy, and how does that relate to the office of Prophet?

These types of questions are all natural for anyone who lacks instruction and familiarity with these parts of Holy Scripture, and as with any part of Scripture we must always keep in mind the response of the Ethiopian Eunuch, who asked, “How can I [understand], unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8. 31).

While there are no universally accepted definitions for the exact nature of all gifts—and it should be understood that the Spirit gives these gifts as he wills and does not need to be conformed to earthly definitions—there are some general understandings that can be helpful.

The historic Prophets of the Old Testament were given particular words for God’s chosen people, and were commanded by God to proclaim them. They would preface their statements by saying, “This is what the Lord says,” to make clear that they were messengers for God. For most, their words were not so much prophetic as we think of it in terms of foretelling the future, but rather their words were warnings. They would call God’s people to repentance, pointing out where they had fallen away from God’s law, and explain what calamities would fall upon them if they did not return to God. Whereas the Prophets of the Old Testament received very specific words to say, the gift of prophecy today may involve less specific prophetic words. There has been no accepted or recorded instance of someone being given the specific words of God since the time of Christ. Indeed, some of the prophetic aspects of the office of Prophet have been split into multiple gifts. Some of the references to the gift of prophecy also suggest it may simply refer to the collection of other gifts related to supernatural revelation from God, rather than a specific gift relating to foretelling the future.

The gift of knowledge and the gift of wisdom relate to the office of Prophet. They are other gifts that require some level of explanation as they seemingly refer to the same thing, however there are important distinctions. In both cases they refer to something supernatural and beyond ourselves. In the case of wisdom, it is wisdom from God that cannot be explained as simply the application of our own God-given wisdom. It refers to wisdom for a particular situation, and it can be for ourselves or more often for the situation of another person. Conversely, the gift of knowledge refers to some form of supernatural knowledge. Again the gift of knowledge is often for someone else, and because of that, it can be a complicated gift in that the knowledge does not necessarily make sense to us.

The Rev. Can. Gene Packwood has described a situation in which he received a word of knowledge for a particular woman, “God likes your french fries.” This seemed to him, and indeed to anyone else, a silly word of knowledge. Yet when he shared this word with the woman, it bore deep meaning to her, encouraged her and brought healing to her. She had been moved by the efforts of a youth group and had sought to show her appreciation for them by buying them some french fries. Others within her church had reacted negatively, saying she had sought to draw attention to herself for her charitable act, yet the word given to Gene encouraged the woman to know that God had seen the charity and love in her heart.

The gift of healing and miracles are more easily understood gifts, that involve simply supernatural occurrences of healing or some other unexplainable phenomenon. While it is only natural to level some amount of scepticism towards these events, thinking that they are merely natural phenomena we don’t have the scientific understanding to explain, there are also occurrences in which God’s hand is at work. Holy Scripture tells us to expect them and we should remain open to accepting that in his sovereignty, God continues to intervene supernaturally in our lives.

The gift of tongues is probably one of the gifts the most associated with charismatics due in large part to the Pentecostal movement, and is also a gift that can be misunderstood. Among Pentecostals, it has been the belief in the past that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit was predicated on the gift of tongues. In the historic context there have been two forms of the gift of tongues, both in the speaking of an Angelic language, which we are most familiar with today, or the speaking in other human languages which the person does not know. This is the historic first example of the gift of the Spirit when the Apostles began to speak in all tongues after the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

What should always be noted about the gift of tongues is how St Paul explicitly pairs it with the gift of the interpretation of tongues, and even later goes on to say, “For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit,” (I Cor 14. 2) and continues on explaining the need to pray for interpretation.

St Paul’s instructions on the use of the gift of tongues and interpretation in that chapter form a key practical example of the purposes and uses of gifts of the spirit, which ultimately helps further to explain what they are, and will be explored in the next part of this series on the Holy Spirit.

The Nativity of our Lord, 2015

Christmas Day

O GOD, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that as we joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come again to be our Judge; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

The Nativity of our Lord

ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin: Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us,
that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

1 St John 4. 9

    GLORY be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost;
    As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

The Holy Gospel is written in the second chapter of the Gospel according to Saint Luke beginning at the first verse.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

On the Comforter

The Fourth Sunday in Advent

RAISE up, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.

Advent

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

Christianity is trinitarian. We are all exposed to it. Whether it be in the reciting of classic prayers such as the Gloria Patri or solely through Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we have experience in hearing about it. We experience the Father in most of our Old Testament readings. Much of our Sunday services are dedicated to the Son, as indeed is the season of Advent in which we anticipate his coming in history, his coming now and his coming again. But what about the other guy?

For many Christians, they may as well have been baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the other guy. Who are we talking about? Who is the other guy? Why does he matter? That is an easy question to ask and a longer one to answer, and will occupy a series of posts over the following weeks.

For some Christians, the reality is that they are uncomfortable with the Holy Spirit. The Acts of the Apostles tell of a number of great miracles that the Apostles performed under the inspiration of and by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is far easier for us, with our modern sensibilities, to look upon those miracles, and even upon Christ, and acknowledge them as something that may have historically happened, but maybe were just exaggerations and embellishments to the written record to enhance the authority of the Apostles. Surely there is no way that those things could still be happening today.

Cessasionists make that argument that the gifts of the Spirit are no longer provided, and this viewpoint is one that ultimately suggests there is little activity or purpose for the Holy Spirit today. By suggesting this, it shifts an emphasis in empowerment away from the Holy Spirit and back to God, particularly when the suggestion is made that the gifts of the Spirit ended due at least in part to God’s judgement against unbelief, as some cessasionists argue.

Lack of familiarity, which can come from this and other viewpoints that marginalize the activity of the Holy Spirit, can make Christians ultimately uncomfortable with the Holy Spirit. When our day is spent in praise of God for his Son, with no reference to the Holy Spirit or to Gifts of the Spirit, especially if Gifts of the Spirit are characterized as something meant for a previous time, it can necessarily lead to us feeling discomfort or confusion.

Who is the Holy Spirit? To paraphrase Origen, let us return to the evangelical and apostolic, and consider what Holy Scripture tells us.

The Holy Spirit is not an innovation of Christ’s time, and the Spirit of God is referenced a number of times in the Old Testament. From the Spirit of Creation (Ps 104. 30) to the teacher of truth (Job 32. 8) and even as a companion and manifestation of God’s presence among his people (Hag 2. 5). There is a rich tapestry that forms the foundation of the clearer revelation of the Holy Spirit, who is sent to continue these tasks in a new way in the New Testament.

Shortly before his arrest and trial, Christ famously promised to send the Holy Spirit, saying, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you,” (St Jn 14. 16, 17). He continues two chapters later saying that the Holy Spirit, “will guide you in all truth,” (St Jn 16. 14).

The promise Christ makes in the Gospel is fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles:

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2. 1-4)

What is notable as that the Holy Spirit came with a visible sign of empowerment. The Apostles were emboldened and equipped for the task Christ had given them, just as Christ had foretold at his Ascension when he said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,” (Acts 1. 8).

The Bible speaks in several other places of the continued power and effect of the Holy Spirit. St Paul in particular spoke voluminously on the gifts of the Spirit, and the role of the Holy Spirit in our Christian lives. Familiarity with the Holy Spirit requires only reading of Scripture, and as the Holy Spirit is himself (note him, a person of the trinity and not an impersonal force as is suggested by saying it) part of the Trinity, to know the Father and to know the Son is to know the Holy Spirit.

For Anglicans, our familiarity with the Holy Spirit ought to extend beyond that. In our common prayer, we pray to and by the Holy Spirit in many different occasions. Whether it be through some of those ancient prayers, such as the Gloria Patri, references to the Holy Spirit in the creeds, or through numerous collects and other prayers, the Holy Spirit is central to Christian belief and Anglican practice.

he arguments of cessationists simply don’t have merit. Christ didn’t send the Holy Spirit to astonish or amaze, but to equip! Anyone who holds true to Christianity ought not to be concerned, surprised or anxious about reference to the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts or empowerment by the Holy Spirit. Christ himself has sent the Holy Spirit to be our comforter, to come beside us, to guide and strengthen us, to sustain and equip us for his good work.

The Fourth Sunday in Advent is our final Sunday spent focused on the anticipation of his coming. That coming does not simply refer to his coming in history through his incarnation and nativity, however. It is his coming in history, how he comes in the Eucharist and his coming again on the last day. The theme of this fourth Sunday in Advent is love. The collect calls for God to stir up his power among us. While Christ’s coming in history is the ultimate display of his love (St Jn 3. 16) it could equally be seen that the sending of the Holy Spirit is another great testament to God’s love for mankind as the Holy Spirit truly is God’s power among us today. For it is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to live in Christ, and through living in Christ to be adopted into the family of God. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit, therefore, that, by Christ, we are to come to know God, one of the primary emphases of the season of Advent.

On Anticipation

The Third Sunday in Advent

O LORD Jesu Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee: Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Advent

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

 For many people, even Christians, this is not the season of Advent, but rather Christmas. This is a cultural rather than Christian influence. It is a season of peace and joy. That peace and joy are often found not in reflecting upon Holy Scripture, but rather in the gathering of family, sharing veritable feats with friends and family and the exchange of gifts. This is understandable, because even those who try to oppose the secularization and commercialization of the Christmas do so from the perspective that, “the reason for the season,” is exclusively found in the birth of Christ.

If you ask most Christians why that is important, they would probably focus on the atonement. The logic effectively becomes we celebrate Christ’s birth so that he can die for our sins and bring us repentance. This is entirely understandable.  In the Nicene Creed, it describes the incarnation thus, “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven...” There is nothing untrue in the logic that the reason for the incarnation is salvation, though it perhaps misses the point. “The reason for the season,” argument doesn’t fully express the issue because it points to the wrong season. We aren’t yet in the season of Christmas, but in Advent.

Advent is derived from Latin and means coming. It is the season prior to Christmas in which we anticipate Christ’s coming. That can be a confusing statement and leads to another issue. It is simple for many people to say they are anticipating Christmas, but that is not really what we are meant to anticipate, even though the fact that we think of the Nativity in terms of a past historical event, which is therefore hard to anticipate. This leads to the anticipation of Christmas as a holiday rather than Christmas as a holy day.

When we say Christ’s coming, though, there is a three-fold meaning to it. It means first and foremost his coming in history, celebrated at Christ’s mass, the feast of the Nativity. It also refers to our anticipation of how he continues to come in the sacrament of the Eucharist. Finally, it reminds us to anticipate his coming again on the last day.

When looking at Advent in this traditional three-fold lens, it is much easier to see how we are called to anticipate Christ’s coming. It still is not the complete picture, however!

We anticipate his coming in history in and of itself, and not simply for its final victory in Christ’s crucifixion. His incarnation in and of itself is worthy to be recognized for the change it brought to our understanding of God.

St Athanasius the Great wrote, “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.”   This statement requires a little bit of unpacking. Perhaps a bit lengthier way of expressing this sentiment, that more clearly articulates its meaning, would be to say, “The Son of God, fully God, became Man, fully man apart from sin, in order to make clear the nature of God to Man, that Man might become more God-like.” In other words, St Athanasius is not referring to some kind of apotheosis but rather is suggesting that it is through the incarnation that we become more like we were meant to be, having been created originally in the image and likeness  of God.

Anyone who is familiar with the Old Testament would recognize the biographical elements of it. Through different authors, we are given a picture of God’s nature. His mercy, his judgement, his love for mankind and particularly for his chosen people. We see times in which God was close to particular people. Great saints of the Old Testament like Abraham and Moses were counted as friends of God. In Exodus, Moses spends so much time conversing with God that his face glows (Ex 34. 29) and yet through this friendship, Moses continues to refer to God using the same style as any other Jew would. God also tells Moses that no man may see God’s face for they would die (Ex 33. 20). Moses was a friend to God but there were limits to how well Moses could know God.

Yet today, almost every Christian recites the Lord’s Prayer in which God is given the far more intimate address of Father. It is through Christ’s incarnation that we have come to know God. Colossians tells us that Christ, “is the image of the invisible God,” (Col 1. 15) and through him we can now see not just the Lord, but our Father. Whereas the Old Testament might be an objective historical account of God’s nature, the New Testament presents us with an intimate and personal portrait of who God is and his love for us. Indeed, to paraphrase CS Lewis, it is through the incarnation that we go from being creatures of God, looking upon him from afar, to being children of God, adopted into his family.

This concept that we have become adopted into God’s family is at the heart of the connection between Christ’s historic coming and how he continues to come. It is in that adoption that we now do not simply look into God from afar, but intimately participate in life with God. In his first epistle, St John tells us that he testifies to Christ’s life, in which the Father was made manifest, so that we might share in this intimate fellowship and participation with our fellow believers and with the Father (I St Jn 1. 1-3)! St Paul then uses the same language of intimate fellowship, communion and participation when he asks of the Eucharist, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (I Cor 10. 16).

We continue to anticipate his coming because just as the incarnation was a sign promised by the Father (Isa 7. 14) for Christ’s incarnation, the sign of his grace reminds us that he continues to love and support us and he seeks to prepare us for his coming again on the last day. It is by grace that we will be judged righteous on that last day, and so again that same sign which he gives to us in the Eucharist is a reminder of is coming for us in the future. Joy in advent is reflection that by his continued coming, by the grace he imparts, we are able to anticipate his coming again with joy and not with dread.

That is the true reason for the season.

On Beauty

The Second Sunday in Advent

BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Advent

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

The Feast of Nicolas, Bishop of Myra, c. 343

O ALMIGHTY God, who willest to be glorified in thy Saints, and didst raise up thy servant Nicholas to shine as a light in the world: Shine, we pray thee, in our hearts, that we also in our generation may show forth thy praises, who hast called us out of darkness into thy marvellous light; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

As we continue to journey through the season of advent, it is important to reflect on the fact that we hold to a three-fold anticipation of his coming. We reflect on the anticipation of Christ’s nativity in the past, we continue to anticipate and receive him through his coming in the mystery of the Holy Eucharist, and just as we pray, “We believe that thou shalt come to be our judge,” in the Te Deum Laudamus, in Advent we anticipate Christ’s coming again on the last day.

There is much to say about Christ’s coming again, too much really, but that is perhaps not the point we are to consider in Advent, so much as to reflect on how we are to anticipate his coming. We sing those memorable words, “O come, O come, Emmanuel,” but what do we mean? What are our hopes by calling on Christ to come? How are we preparing ourselves for it?

Often on a personal level we prepare ourselves through beauty. We clean ourselves, men often shave and women often put on cosmetics, and then we dress ourselves in clothing we deem appropriate for the dignity of our coming to meet Christ in his Sacrament. What is the symbolism behind this? Why do we do it?

The best possible answer is to perhaps suggest that our outward emphasis on beauty is a representation and extension

I recently attended a church service for dementia patients at a nursing home. It was interesting to me in that the emphasis was on song with brief periods of teaching, and did not follow the format of any particular service book or authorized liturgy for any tradition. The residents in attendance varied from those who seemed relatively functioning and who could speak to those who spoke only in groans and shouts. Some might hum along or only mutter at some of the songs, while others could actually read the songbooks and sing along.

One gentleman in particular, who was unable to read and sing along for the most part, who had otherwise been humming or muttering throughout the service, caught my attention when the chaplain announced we would next sing Amazing Grace. He caught my attention because as we began singing, so did he. His voice was distinctive, loud and not particularly in tune, but all the same I was struck by the true beauty of his singing.

It was not professional singing. It wasn’t even all that good for an amateur. He was dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt with a large stain on his shirt. Many of the other residents were similarly dressed. Yet at that moment, I felt he was better prepared for the coming of the Lord than anyone else in the room.

Sometimes you can simply hear the joy and anticipating coming through someone in song. When he was finally able to join in, there was no way to misconstrue why he was singing. It was a deep love of God.

Sometimes, when we dress ourselves up and go to Church, or perhaps choose to attend a choral evensong, we ought to consider asking ourselves why. Is the beauty there in the worship of God or is it internally in the act of worship only? When we go and listen to a choir, is there the same offering unto God of ourselves, our souls and our bodies that is represented in how we dress, what we say and what we pray? JB Philips once remarked that:

it is natural and right, of course, that the worship we offer to God in public should be of the highest possible quality. But that must not lead us to conceive of a musically “Third-Programme” god who prefers the exquisite rendering of a cynical professional choir to the ragged bawling of sincere but untutored hearts.

The man I heard singing is perhaps a perfect example of the “ragged bawling,” of a sincere heart, and in that moment I was struck by how much his singing likely pleased God.

This is not to say that God does not find the voices of a professional choir pleasing, but rather a reminder that even if a choir sings off-key or there is no choir, God is always looking at what is in the heart. Are voices raised to create a sound pleasing to His ear, or to ours?

Aesthetic beauty, be it in the architectural design of a parish church, its appointments, the music and even in some cases the poetic words and imagery of the liturgy itself, is designed intentionally that way because we are inviting God into our presence. In the same way that we might groom ourselves and dress in a way that we feel honours God, our surroundings are designed to honour God. Stained glass windows, cruciform buildings, and Gothic spires that reach to the heavens. They are there for two reasons, to keep us focused on God and to honour God.

The primary purpose of beauty in Church is not to be aesthetically pleasing to people. It has a dual purpose of reminding us of God—the stained glass window depicting a Christian saint or historical event, the cruciform building reminding us of Christ’s death on the cross, the spires pointing to heaven as we are to turn our hearts and minds to God—and also of being pleasing to God. When we look to the beauty in something like song, the beauty of a professional choir is lost when in effect what we are doing is placing the emphasis on our hearing the professionals sing, rather than ourselves lifting our voices in praise of God. We have outsourced, in effect, our praise.

There is nothing inherently wrong with beauty in the Church. Indeed, there is much to be lauded. A well appointed nave and sanctuary can help us to draw ourselves out of our secular world and lives and remember we are in God’s presence. A professional choir can help to lead our singing, perhaps helping it to be as pleasing as possible to God. In all things, however, we should remember that intentions matter, and we should concern ourselves first and foremost with what we are giving to God, rather than what we are receiving temporally from the Church building and others. Keep in mind the man who sang with passion, without concern for key or tempo, but only to express his joy found in God.

Wisdom of Saints: St Clement of Alexandria

Feast of Clement of Alexandria, Doctor, c. 210

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Clement, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Feast of Clement of Alexandria, Doctor, c. 210
O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Clement, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Clement of Alexandria is another Father for whom there is little concrete evidence of his early life, however a number of his writings continue to exist and his apologies and legacy as a teacher at the catechetical school of Alexandria have left a continues impact on Christianity. Perhaps one of his greatest impacts is on perhaps his most famous pupil, Origen, one of the most prolific writers in the early Church.

The 4th century bishop Epiphanius wrote that St Clement was born to a pagan family in Athens around the year 150. This correlates to assumptions made by numerous others who have examined his work and make the claim that his command of the Greek language suggests an Athenian origin and education. All of this, however, remains supposition.

His parents were likely quite wealthy as he received the best possible education. As a part of that education he travelled considerably. He, much like a later Egyptian bishop St Augustine of Hippo, travelled because he was seeking higher instruction and knowledge. He learned from numerous different masters, the final of which was Pantaenus of Alexandria who converted St Clement to Christianity. Pantaenus was a stoic philosopher who had converted to Christianity and is the first recorded president of the Christian catechetical school of Alexandria. St Clement would become the second when he succeeded his mentor around 180.

It was during this time when he settled in Alexandria that he began to write his Christian works. Apologies and discourses that gained him some notoriety as Christian theologian and apologist. Much of his lasting influence stems from his position at the Alexandrian school, developing its school of thought which was passed on to a number of notable students and became influential throughout the Early Church.

Perhaps the person most influenced by St Clement’s teachings was Origin, one of the most prolific Christian writers of all time. While not all of Origen’s works survive, the many that do show a clear influence from St Clement’s works which also survive.

St Clement lived in the age prior to the legitimization of Christianity, that period between the first and fourth centuries when the Church faced numerous waves of persecution by the Roman authorities. At the start of the 3rd century during the persecution of Septimius Severus, he sought refuge with Alexander of Jerusalem, then Bishop of Flaviada in Cappadocia. After his departure, St Clement lived out the remainder of his life outside of Egypt, never again returning to Alexandria. He died c.210, though the exact details of his death are unknown, but a martyr’s death was never reported.

Many of St Clement’s works remain and perhaps his most famous are the trilogy of the Protrepticus (Exhortation), Paedagogus (Instruction) and Stromata (Miscellaneous). This trilogy provides an outline of St Clement’s theology, which sought to unite the Greek pagan philosophy of his youth with Christianity. It contains a number of beautiful passages and theological observations that make it well worth consulting nearly 2,000 after St Clement first wrote it.

In the opening of his exhortation, he began by criticizing Greek mythology. Over the centuries the Greeks had become somewhat embarrassed by their own mythology, in particular by the pettiness of their gods. They sought to interpret their mythology not in literal, but in spiritual terms. In Greek philosophy, this interpretation was further bolstered by the idea that the physical world is inherently corrupt and only the spiritual world can be pure, thus a more literal interpretation of any text or philosophy would be viewed with scepticism by the Greek mind.

This led to a criticism of the Hebrew Scriptures by the Greeks. To them, the stories, interpreted literally, were laughable and of a very low level of understanding. In his opening chapter of his exhortation to the Greeks, St Clement points out that much of their criticism stems from an enforced interpretation of the Scriptures, including now the writings of the Apostles which would ultimately be canonized in the New Testament, that they no longer apply to their own mythologies to which they contrast the Scriptures. After discussing two famous Greek minstrels who vanquished their foes simply with the power of their music, St Clement asks, “How, let me ask, have you believed vain fables and supposed animals to be charmed by music; while Truth’s shining face alone, as would seem, appears to you disguised, and is looked on with incredulous eyes?”

He continues, noting that the subject matter of Greek myth often involves tragedy, whether due to the capriciousness of the Gods or due to the character failings of the hero. “For me, I am pained at such calamities as form the subjects of tragedy, though but myths; but by you the records of miseries are turned into dramatic compositions.” In his argument, he wonders at how this is to be celebrated, and how even when examined through a spiritual interpretation the Greek tragedies to which they are holding do not provide a good example of life to live up to. He continues contrasting that with God revealed in Scripture:

But let us bring from above out of heaven, Truth, with Wisdom in all its brightness, and the sacred prophetic choir, down to the holy mount of God; and let Truth, darting her light to the most distant points, cast her rays all around on those that are involved in darkness, and deliver men from delusion, stretching out her very strong right hand, which is wisdom, for their salvation.

In contrast to the dourness of the Greek tragedies, Holy Scripture promises God’s truth and wisdom. Where the tragedies seem to idolize crime, excess and human woe, the Scriptures promise salvation.

In his second book, he opens by defining the titular instructor, saying:

The Instructor being practical, not theoretical, His aim is thus to improve the soul, not to teach, and to train it up to a virtuous, not to an intellectual life… For the word which, in matters of doctrine, explains and reveals, is that whose province it is to teach. But our Educator being practical, first exhorts to the attainment of right dispositions and character, and then persuades us to the energetic practice of our duties, enjoining on us pure commandments, and exhibiting to such as come after representations of those who formerly wandered in error.

See how he stresses not merely teaching the Scriptures, but rather teaching holiness, and not simply through explicating the principles revealed through Scripture, but also by example of holy living. From this foundation, he establishes broad guidelines not merely for the instructor, but also students, when he explains that both men and women are equally deserving and in need of instruction:

the virtue of man and woman is the same. For if the God of both is one, the master of both is also one; one church, one temperance, one modesty; their food is common, marriage an equal yoke; respiration, sight, hearing, knowledge, hope, obedience, love all alike. And those whose life is common, have common graces and a common salvation; common to them are love and training. “For in this world,” he says, “they marry, and are given in marriage,” in which alone the female is distinguished from the male; “but in that world it is so no more.”

After speaking extensively over three volumes he provides a brilliantly simple conclusion when he writes, “All that remains therefore now, in such a celebration of the Word as this, is that we address to the Word our prayer.” Once we have come to knowledge of Christ, through instruction, then all that is left is to pray to him.

St Clement’s wisdom is easily apparent when reading through his works, and his thoughts influenced the course of Christian exegesis, encouraging countless Fathers of the Church to explore the spiritual meaning of Holy Scripture with the same diligence and zeal as displayed by St Clement.

On Human Nature

The First Sunday in Advent

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

 For most children, at some point in their school career they will be asked that basic philosophical question about the nature of humanity. Are humans, by nature, evil or good? It is a complex question that many philosophers throughout the ages have struggled with. For children, it is perhaps a simpler question of examining the world around them and reporting on it.

They see evil, murder, theft, sexual violence, war and conclude that it is part of human nature to do evil. Others might, in the midst of that evil, particularly if they are not touched by it directly or are perhaps by virtue of their parents shielded from it in some way, conclude that humanity is by nature good.

Children who are shielded from the news and other sources of violence might conclude that humans are generally good because that is what they experience around themselves. Those who see evil—murder, theft, sexual violence and immorality and war—might conclude that humans are by nature evil. Sure enough, when something bad happens or someone sins, how common is it for someone to suggest that it is human nature?

Even within Christian communities, when someone speaks of their own trouble with temptation and sin, how common is it for someone to suggest that it is simply human nature that we sin or otherwise succumb to temptation? Is that correct?

It is not. God did not create humanity to sin. Indeed, we are made in his image and likeness.

In the ancient Church, worship was for the saints while it was adoration that was reserved for God. Today, we worship God and adore babies. As Fr Michael McKinnon once joked, however, there is only one adorable baby in human history, and that is Christ himself.

Yet when we consider the nativity and incarnation, it’s not simply to think about the adorable baby he was born as (in both senses, certainly), but rather what the implications of the incarnation are. In this season of Advent, as we anticipate the incarnation, it seems appropriate to consider what Christ’s taking on a human nature implies about our own humanity.

Isaiah contains a number of prophesies related to the coming and incarnation of Christ the Messiah. St John of Damascus, in considering Isaiah 7 which contains the famous prophesy that, “the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,” (Isa 7. 14), suggested that Christ’s incarnation reflects on human nature itself, that, “by the transgression [of Adam and Eve] we were driven from the natural to the unnatural, but the Lord led us back from the unnatural to the natural. For this is what is the meaning of in our image, after our likeness.”

To St John, then, humans are by nature good, and this is reflected in Scripture both in the creation story of Genesis, but further in the discussion of Christ’s nature and explication on why the incarnation occurred as it did. This view of the natural state of humanity being good, impaired by sin to the unnatural state of sin, was shared by other early fathers of the Church.

St Gregory of Palamas, a 14th century theologian venerated primarily in the East, wrote extensively on the incarnation, again affirming the beliefs of the fathers. He describes how Adam was created undefiled, until he turned aside from God, tempted by the pleasures of the flesh and underwent the defilement of sin. In so saying, he argues again that by nature, man is good and it is the tyranny of sin which, contrary to our created nature, pushes humanity towards evil.

In his own words, “originally God created the first Adam undefiled and he was new until he voluntarily obeyed the devil. He turned aside after the pleasures of the flesh, underwent the defilement of sin, grew old and fell into what is contrary to nature.”

St Gregory spoke to the incarnation of Christ, noting that the purpose of the incarnation was that in coming among as us as man, Christ could take our sins upon himself, a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice for all and for all time. In order to do this, though, a number of things were needed.

Christ was not conceived by ordinary means, but by the Holy Spirit, such that:

he was the only one neither shapen in iniquity nor conceived in sin, that is to say in the fleshy pleasure, passion and unclean thoughts that belong to our nature defiled by transgression. The point of this was that the nature he assumed should be entirely pure and unsullied, so that he himself would not need to be purified but would, in his wisdom, accept everything for our sake.

Note again how St Gregory stresses, as St John of Damascus did, that human nature had been defiled by the transgression of Adam, yet in Christ’s incarnation and pure life he was able to die, not because of his own sins, but in order that he be a sacrifice for ours. He writes further, “Born of a woman that he might restore the human nature created by him.”

Sin and evil are not humanity’s nature, they are a corruption of our natural state. In as much as Christ had a dual nature, both fully God and fully man, humans too can be viewed, in some respects, as being of a dual nature: our natural state, as we were created before the fall, and our current state, corrupted in sin. In his sacrifice St Gregory writes, Christ has made, “his flesh an inexhaustible source of sanctification with abundant power to wash away the defilement of our first parents, and sufficient to sanctify everyone who came after them.”

When we see evil in the world, injustice, violence, hatred or any other kind, it should not be viewed as part of our nature. It is alien to us. What we are seeing is the nature of sin, and often enough lives lived in slavery to it.

St Paul wrote often using the imagery of our slavery and bondage to sin. He also wrote, however, that in Christ there is freedom. Our shackles will be removed. Our sins will be wiped clean. In Christ, we come closer and closer to true human nature, the image and likeness of God in which we were first created.

In this season of advent, it is this reality that we are called to reflect upon. The true meaning of the Nativity of our Lord.

On Christ’s Nature

The Feast of the Reign of Christ

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in thy well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Sunday Next before Advent

STIR Up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

One of the early controversy’s over Christ’s nature in the early Church involved acceptance of his humanity. This seems a bit off for Christians and non-Christians today, for whom acceptance of his humanity is easy and it is the acceptance of his divinity which proves troubling for many, but which is a mandatory matter of faith for Christians, as it says in the Nicene Creed, Christ is, “God, of God; Light, of Light; Very God, of very God… Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, And was made man.” Christ is fully God and fully man. In St Paul’s letters, and indeed throughout the entire New Testament, there is another narrative on Christ, one which can perhaps be traced back to some of Isaiah’s prophecies on Christ.

Isaiah 53 is the famous prophecy of the suffering servant. Famous among Christians because it is often read in Advent, foretelling the coming of Christ:

He was despised and rejected by men;
    a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isa 53. 3)

The idea of the suffering servant was something difficult for Jews to reconcile with the the Messiah. To them, he was going to be like one of the Judges; a military leader sent to unity the Jews and drive out the oppressors, in this case the Romans.

It is from some of these earliest prophetic Scriptures about Christ that we begin to understand that the earlier conception of Christ as being only glory and hope were incomplete.

Suffering and hope function together in Scripture. St Paul famously recounts in his epistle to the Romans how suffering produces endurance and character which leads to hope. He then goes on to more explicitly state that our hope is found in Christ, in that, “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” (Rm 5. 6, 8).

In our Christian walk, it is common to look with anticipation for glory and hope. Our faith is, after all, the writer of Hebrews says, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” (Heb 11. 1). We have hope in salvation through Christ. It is through his sacrifice that we have hope for reconciliation with him and anointing in the Holy Spirit. This is no mean thing, and it is on Christ’s death and resurrection that Christian faith hinges.

For some, there are times when they cannot see God’s love and when hope seems beyond reason. There are times when all we can see is Christ’s suffering, or read about the oppression and captivity of the Jews in the Old Testament. St Paul himself suffered greatly during his ministry, but never allowed his perspective to become dominated by his own suffering. No matter what, he  held to the hope of salvation offered in Christ.

The wholeness of Christ is to recognize that he came both with suffering and with joy. As Nicky Gumbel points out, “the Christian faith uniquely combines laughter and tears, joy and solemnity.” In Psalm 126 we are told:

Those who sow in tears
    shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
    bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
    bringing his sheaves with him. (Ps 126. 5, 6)

The duality of Christ is held in these verses. Christ does not promise that we will live a life of ease, he promises truth and asks us to follow him to come to know his Father. Very explicitly, Christ says, “And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me,” (St Mt 10. 38). There is promise of great glory, but never to the exclusion of suffering or pain.

In the midst of suffering, it is possible that it cane dominate our perspective, excluding any consideration of hope or glory. St Paul reminds us, though, that, “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us,” (Rm 8. 18). When we place our sufferings in their eternal context, they are made incomparably small next to the glory that awaits those who have faith in Christ Jesus.

There is comfort for those who suffer both in their future prospects and also in the present time. Christ foretold the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. In a number of places throughout Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit is described as a comforter. The Holy Spirit comes alongside us and dwells within us to comfort and strengthen us. Perhaps most comfortingly, in those times of extreme suffering when we cannot form words to express our suffering and petitions to God to help us endure, St Paul tells us that, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words,” (Rm 8. 26). God hears our hearts, and indeed through Christ’s human nature is able to share in our human suffering. Indeed, St James reminds us of the hope in our suffering in that he who perseveres in suffering is blessed, “for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him,” (Jas 1. 12).

Christ’s dual nature is one that reminds us of his own teachings: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world,” (St Jn 16. 33). This life is one of tears and joy, one in which we, in Christ, have married together suffering and endurance with hope and joy. When we are faced with suffering, it is not an indication of the absence of God, but rather a natural course of our lives in which we are called to mirror Christ’s suffering and endure, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, so that in the end we will inherit the joy and glory that has been promised to us.

Wisdom of Saints: St Hilda of Whitby

Feast of Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, 680

O GOD Most High, the creator of all mankind, we bless thy holy Name for the virtue and grace which thou hast given unto holy women in all ages, especially thy servant Hilda; and we pray that the example of her faith and purity, and courage unto death, may inspire many souls in this generation to look unto thee, and to follow thy blessed Son Jesus Christ our Saviour; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

Details of St Hilda’s life are few and far between, with most of the account coming from St Bede’s history of the English Church in which he devotes a chapter to her life (Book 4, Chapter 23). Her story is notable for her piety, devotion to Scripture, her wisdom and role in the Synod at Whitby and finally by virtue of the fact that as a woman she retained the respect and influence that she did in seventh century Christendom.

St Hilda was born in 614 in Northumbria in England. Her father was Prince Hereric of Deira and her mother Lady Bregswith. Her father was the nephew of King Edwin of Northumbria. Born pagan, King Edwin was converted to Christianity around 627 and the royal household followed suit, with St Hilda being baptised that year at the age of thirteen.

While there is justifiable scepticism over whether or not someone has truly come to faith when they are converted to Christianity as the result of a monarch of head of their household being converted, St Hilda demonstrated throughout her life a profound commitment to Christ, and deep wisdom that comes from God (Jas 1. 5; 3. 17). St Bede records that when Hilda was still young and at a point when they were living in exile under Cedric, king of the Britons, her mother, Lady Bregswith, had a dream in which her husband, Hereric, was taken away from her and she was searching for him. No matter where she looked, she couldn’t find him. Finally she found a necklace and as she examined it the necklace blazed with bright light that filled all Britain with its brilliance. The dream is considered prophetic of St Hilda’s life, as her love of Christ, the wisdom she gave and the exemplar life she lived shone forth Christ’s light throughout Britain.

While she is viewed as having a devout and chaste youth, it wasn’t until she had reached maturity that she became determined to fully dedicate her life to Christ. At the age of 33, St Hilda chose the consecrated life, having become a nun in the Benedictine order. She had originally sought to travel to the continent. St Bede describes her determination, saying she sought, “to live an exile for our Lord’s sake… so that she might the more easily attain her eternal heavenly home.” St Bede goes on to record that St Aidan of Lindisfarne, known as the Apostle of Northumbria due to his missionary work throughout Northumbria, called on St Hilda to establish monasteries in Northumbria rather than simply living abroad. While himself a bishop, St Aidan was firmly rooted in the monastic Celtic traditions which had Christianised Britain from Iona in the north, rather than in the Roman tradition which had begun at Canterbury in the south.

St Hilda remained in Northumbria, and her noble upbringing aided in her establishment of a number of successful monasteries throughout the region. She was first made Abbess of the monastery called Heruteu (modern Hartlepool). There she earned an even greater reputation for piety and devotion to God. While she herself was Benedictine, she organized the monsastery using the traditions of St Columba and the Rule of the Irish Church. After some time as Abbess there, she established a new double monastery called Streanaeshalch, known more commonly as Whitby in 657. It was established under the same strict disciplines and Rule of Life as her previous monastery had been governed, but in this case the double monastery provided both for monks and nuns. Hilda as Abbess was considered both just, fair and wise, and as her reputation, particularly for wisdom, grew she began to be sought out for counsel by all manner of people, from bishops to kings.

She was extremely devoted to the study of Holy Scripture—a notable commonality among many of the wisest of saints—and it should be no surprise that no less than five of the monks who entered her monastery would eventually go on to ordination and consecration as bishops.

It should be noted that as an Abbess in the Celtic tradition, she was the supreme authority in the area, above even the bishops. This historical development stemmed from the missionary reality that bishops were based in cities which were connected by roads, whereas when St Patrick arrived in Ireland there were no cities or roads and so it was the monasteries that he formed which became central to the administration and maintenance of faith. When St Columba brought to the faith to Iona, that monastic-based form of Christianity began to spread throughout Britain, and was the tradition in which St Hilda had been raised.

This placed St Hilda in an important position when her monastery played host to the Synod at Whitby in 664, a synod convened to seek to determine the future of the Church in the region and whether it would continue in the Celtic tradition or would seek to adopt the more Roman styled Christianity which had arrived in Kent. St Hilda herself was a supporter of her own tradition, though the Synod ultimately sided with Rome.

In 673 and for the remainder of her life, she was afflicted with a painful illness. St Bede described it, saying God gave:

her holy soul the trial of a long infirmity of the flesh, to the end that, according to the Apostle’s example, her virtue might be made perfect in weakness. Struck down with a fever, she suffered from a burning heat, and was afflicted with the same trouble for six years continually; during all which time she never failed either to return thanks to her Maker, or publicly and privately to instruct the flock committed to her charge; for taught by her own experience she admonished all men to serve the Lord dutifully, when health of body is granted to them, and always to return thanks faithfully to Him in adversity, or bodily infirmity.

Her ability to endure and rejoice in suffering and her continued faith and rejoicing in the midst of great physical pain was an example to many, and again helped to bring many to faith in Christ by her example.

St Hilda was a patron of the arts and writing, beyond promoting learning, particularly study of the Scriptures, and some of the only words of her own in existance are a poem attributed to her, which if not written by the saint herself, certainly exemplifies her faith and teachings:

Trade with the gifts God has given you.
Bend your minds to holy learning,
that you may escape the fretting moth of
littleness of mind that would wear out your souls.

Brace your wills to action
that they may not be the spoils of weak desires.

Train your hearts and lips to song
which gives courage to the soul.
Being buffeted by trials, learn to laugh.
Being reproved, give thanks.
Having failed, determine to succeed.

On the Marks of Mission

The Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity

O LORD, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences; that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed. Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour. Amen.

While the four Marks of the Church, that it is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, might be the four traditional marks used to identify the Church, and which are referenced in the Apostle’s Creed and listed in the Nicene Creed, the Marks of Mission are much more commonly referenced in Church documents in the modern Anglican Church of Canada. The Marks of Mission were articulated by the Anglican Communion in the mid-1980s as a means of describing the central mission of the Anglican Communion as a church. There are five marks, of which only the first two are distinctly Christian, namely to proclaim the Good News of Christ and to teach, baptise and nurture new believers. The remaining three Marks are characterized more as social activism, namely to respond to human need in loving service, to transform unjust power structures in society and to promote peace and reconciliation and finally to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew life on the earth.

To be clear, while there are no Christian distinctives in the majority of the Marks (unless one considers describing the earth in terms of creation as distinctly Christian), that does not mean the Marks of Mission are un-Christian. Far from it. Yet at the same time, when the final three marks are pursued far more vigorously than the first two, it does leave one to pause and question the purposes of the marks and the broader vision of the church in terms of mission.

One could argue that the goal of the Marks is to sanctify society. It envisions a society in which violence is never considered as a tool, there is some form of justice for all, creation is respected, the Gospel is proclaimed and all people are brought to Christ. And yet, centuries before the Marks of Mission were proclaimed, St Francis of Assisi noted that, “if you sanctify yourself, you will sanctify society.”

His point was that the Anglican Church of Canada seems to be doing things backwards: focusing on, as an institutional priority, sanctifying society in some way, or rather advocating for it, while assuming that the sanctification of individuals will come later. It should not be ignored that the first Mark is to proclaim the Gospel, and yet a quick search of ‘mark of mission’ on the Anglican.ca website or on anglicanjournal.ca turns up references almost exclusively to the fourth mark of mission, that of transforming unjust structures of society and opposing violence. One news article describes a church seeking to live out the marks of mission, and its description of that points exclusively to human service, social activism but with no connection to the first two marks, and indeed an emphasis on how they avoid evangelism at their events.

The view that the social justice marks must be persued as a priority places an emphasis on social activism rather than personal sanctification, and thus implies that sanctification is a result of those good works. Yet St Paul suggests in Romans 14 that works that do not proceed from faith proceed from sin (Rm 14. 23b) and this interpretation is supported by the work of the scholastics and Article XIII. This viewpoint seems stringent, but reinforces the fact that without God’s grace, we are slaves to sin. It is in Christ that we are set free from sin, and it is through the strengthening and empowering of the Holy Spirit that we do good works in faith. Just as we are saved by faith and not works, society will be sanctified by our faith, with in turn sanctifies us, and not by our attempts simply to sanctify society through works alone.

It is important to remember this distinction between the individual, the Church and society. To go back to the Marks of the Church, rather than the Marks of Mission, which Mark is it that suggests the Church is meant to be an institution of social change? What part of Holy Scripture describes the goal for a sanctified society for which the Church is working towards?

The only real argument that could be made would be for the society of the law called for in the Old Testament for the Jews, and yet Christ fulfilled the law and the New Testament proclaims freedom from the particular laws of the Jews. The Good News of the Gospel, which the first mark calls to be proclaimed, along with Christ himself, is that there is a route to personal salvation and sanctification through faith in Christ and the reception of the Holy Spirit! It is not something that occurs through the actions of the Church, rather the Church itself is established in order to transmit this Good News and the teachings of Christ to all people in all times. The Great Commission is to do so. The Church was created to fulfil that commission, yet so far as the Anglican Church of Canada is concerned that is a lower priority.

When the Church moves beyond salvation and Scripture, as the church is doing in Canada, it risks its own authority. Looking at the third Mark of Mission, for instance, in some cases it might be clear how we are to respond to human need. Feed the hungry and clothe the poor is a simple enough prospect, but what about more complex issues? By what metric do we determine what is unjust? To some, closed communion is unjust, and yet to others it is for their benefit on the basis of Holy Scripture (I Cor 11. 27-29). Secular views of justice would suggest turning anyone away is unjust, yet Scripture itself suggests that if someone receives communion without proper preparation they receive it to their condemnation and it is therefore just that the church prevent them from receiving without proper preparation.

Exploring deeper issues of poverty, discrimination, criminal justice all go well beyond Biblical teaching and open the door to questions of how the church will base its decisions on what is unjust. It also shows the dangerous precedent of using secular reasoning to inform the Marks of Mission. Scripture makes it clear that we are to care for the poor, but when the Marks demand addressing systematic issues of injustice, it requires proscriptive efforts that go beyond what Scripture teaches. Are priests now to be political scientists and sociologists, working to determine what policies a government ought to apply in order to address issues of injustice in the world? Does it in any way fulfil a Christian calling to simply seek to use institutional powers of the church to draw awareness of outsiders to these issues?

Coming back to St Francis of Assisi it is through the individual that change must occur. It is the invisible church—the gathering of all the faithful—that must make the difference. Good works are the proceeds of faith as the Epistle of James tells us (Jas 2. 26), and it is the individuals who are called to make the difference.

When the Church speaks to outsiders, it is moralizing. When it is the faithful, inspired by their faith and empowered by the Spirit, who act, it is a witness to others. As we are sanctified, we will sanctify society. The Marks of Mission may not be the best guide for the Church, but they remind us of what we as individual Christians are called to do, and in particular the order in which we are to fulfil them, first by coming to faith, being nurtured in it and when it is mature to act upon it and by our good works transform society and be a witness to others that they might come to faith in Christ themselves.

On the Marks of the Church

Remembrance Sunday

ALMIGHTY Lord and everlasting Father, who wouldest have the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of thy Son Jesus Christ: Bestow thy blessing, we beseech thee, upon all who labour for peace and righteousness among the nations, that the day may be hastened when war shall be no more, and thou shalt take the nations for thine inheritance; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Octave Day of All Saints

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity

O GOD, our refuge and strength, who art the author of all godliness: Be ready, we beseech thee, to hear the devout prayers of thy Church; and grant that those things which we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Each Sunday, the Nicene Creed is recited and contained within it is the line “And I believe One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.” This is known as the four marks of the Church, four characteristics which help to define what the church is. Some of these characteristics, such as what it means to be Catholic, have already been addressed in part previously, but taken together as the marks, they paint a particular picture of what we as Christians profess to believe in.

We profess belief in one church. There are a number of points that can be taken from this. First and foremost, it must be remembered that Christ ordained one visible Church. As Christ said, “on this rock I will build my Church.” St Paul describes it saying the Church is:

“built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit,” (Eph 2. 20-22).

When we speak of the Church, it is a reference not just to the collection of all those who confess the name of Christ, but a reference to the institution Christ created by which his Apostles were sent out to the world. The goal of the Church is made clear in both Christ’s Great Commission (St Mt 28. 16-20) and his prayer that we be one (St Jn 17. 11). It is clear also that this distinguishes the Church from God’s people in the Old Testament. The Church is one for all people, as the words of the Nunc dimittis say, “my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel,” (St Lk 2. 30-32).  Christ invites all people to him and offers the graces invested in his Church to all people. One Church, created by Christ for all people.

The second mark of the Church is that it is Holy, and it presents an interesting duality. To be Holy is to be set apart. It is clear from Holy Scripture that all Christians are called to a life that is set apart, and it is also true that the Church itself is set apart because its doctrines come not from the world, but from the teachings of Christ handed down through the Apostles. In I Timothy, St Paul exhorts Timothy to guard the deposit of true teaching that has been entrusted to him (I Tim 6. 20). This establishes an interesting duality for the Church, in that it is both holy and set apart and that it is being transformed by God’s grace and made holy, just as those who are in Christ are  holy and are being made holy by his grace.

It is perhaps easier to look at this concept in the personal sense, in that it is easier to see how as Christians we are made holy, and yet that does not prevent us from sinning. Yet still, by God’s grace, we are continually transformed and sanctified (Heb 10. 14). It is no different when speaking of the Church which, while established by Christ, is lived in and maintained by those of us who fall short. It was set apart and made holy, yet it is by God’s grace that it is continually being made holy.

The third mark of the Church is that it is Catholic. Indeed, in the Apostle’s creed only the middle two marks (holy and Catholic) are mentioned. Catholicity here is sometimes, particularly among protestants, viewed as meaning universal, but it speaks to a greater truth relating to Christ’s foundation of the Church as being for all people, not that all people are universally the Church. This speaks to those teachings and doctrines which were received and held by Christ’s Church east and west when it truly was one in unity of faith, word, Sacrament and ministry.

These principles are an expanded core of Christian unity today and ought to be considered universal, though they are not. It remains in that sense that the mark of Catholicity of the Church is also a mark of universality. Holy Scripture was not made for any one person, but the canon of Scripture was made for all people, to draw them all to Christ. Similarly the Sacraments, chiefly speaking here of Holy Baptism and the Eucharist, initiate all people and feed all people in their faith.

The final mark of the Church is that it is Apostolic. The office of Apostle is now defunct, but the meaning of the word remains critical to all Christians. It again speaks to multiple meanings. First and foremost it informs the idea of maintaining that which is Catholic. Christ established his Church and that Church is the Catholic Church. He ordained his Apostles to pass on what they had received. Today bishops hold that role as guardians of the faith and Apostolic Succession refers more than to simply being able to trace a line of bishops back to the first century, but rather speaks to that maintenance of the faith, word, sacrament and ministry of that Church.

Fr Michael McKinnon summarizes this sentiment saying it refers to:

Those communions or fellowships of the once undivided Catholic church who have maintained the one canon of Scripture, the one faith, articulated in the creeds and councils of the Church, the one Sacramental life, emphasizing the sacraments of Baptism, and being born to new life, and the Supper of the Lord, and being nourished in new life, and the one apostolic ministry, with the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons, and which taken together comprise the once undivided Catholic Church.

The emphasis in his statement is on the maintenance of those beliefs and practices, with an emphasis on the threefold order of ministry as the chief method of maintaining those beliefs.

These marks of the Church teach provide a valuable statement about our faith, and rightly so as an integral component of the Nicene Creed, itself and sufficient statement of Christian belief. When we recite the Creed, fully understanding what is meant by One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and further when we seek to live out our faith in that Church, we are responding to and answering Christ’s prayer that we be one.

On Burdens

The Feast of All Saints

O ALMIGHTY God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Twenty-Second Sunday after Trinity

LORD, we beseech thee to keep thy houseahold the Church in continual godliness; that through thy protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve thee in good works, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For several weeks now, I have often been attending Great Vespers at a local Eastern Orthodox Church. This past Saturday in particular, I drove past a Roman Catholic parish on my way to grab a friend who was joining me for Great Vespers, and saw their parking lot packed to the brim with cars for a Saturday evening mass. Arriving for Great Vespers, I was again struck by the number of people I saw there week after week, most of whom also attend Divine Liturgy the next morning.

The final blow came in that the Eastern Orthodox parish I attend recently moved and began meeting in an Anglican Parish as their old building had become too small and was becoming run down. The Anglican Church could easily accommodate them because their congregating had been declining for some time and they did not offer any Evening Prayer services, and were able to fit Divine Liturgy between their two Sunday morning services of Holy Communion.

My own experience in Anglicanism suggests there is much more of a culture of viewing Church as a burden on one’s time. Fitting Church in between the more important events. It’s too much to ask someone to come for Holy Communion on Sunday morning, let alone something on an evening as well. It’s too much of an imposition to suggest we attend an evening service. Especially if it’s on a Saturday or Sunday. And forget asking people to spend a minute more than two hours on Church on a Sunday. In and out.

To some, this almost becomes a burden on their time and their lives. These days we are all busy as the pace of the modern world continues to increase and more and more pressures are placed on our time, particularly on families who have children who all are interested in being participants in various after school teams and activities.

Where does the Church fit into all of this? How much time should be made for faith? The answer to that question is ultimately personal. St Paul recognized that different Christians at different times in their lives required different things in order to nurture their faith (I Cor 3. 2). For someone who is new to Christianity and faith, it could be overly burdensome to ask them to give up significant portions of their time when they’re still trying to figure out what everything means. For those who are more mature in their faith, however, more might be expected.

So if the expectation is not too much for all Christians, why is it that week after week Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians will attend multiple services a week, whereas in Anglican parishes it seems the congregation will get antsy if the homily is a minute longer than normal.

Records exist of similar complaints throughout the history of the Church. In the fourth century, St John Chrysostom wrote in response to those who were failing to come for the Eucharist on Sundays, saying:

I hear of their saying things of this kind, “the present stifling heat is excessive, the scorching sun is intolerable, we cannot bear being trampled and crushed in the crowd, and to be steaming all over with perspiration and oppressed by the heat and confined space...” What then am I to say to those who advance these pretexts? I would remind them of the three children in the furnace and the flame, who when they saw the fire encircling them on all sides, enveloping their mouth and their eyes and even their breath, did not cease singing that sacred and mystical hymn to God, in company with the universe, but standing in the midst to the pyre sent up their song of praise to the common Lord of all with greater cheerfulness than they who abide in some flowery field: and together with these three children I should think it proper to remind them also of the lions which were in Babylon, and of Daniel and the den: and not of this one only but also of another den, and the prophet Jeremiah, and the mire in which he was smothered up to the neck. And emerging from these dens, I would conduct these per sons who put forward heat as an excuse into the prison and exhibit Paul to them there, and Silas bound fast in the stocks, covered with bruises and wounds lacerated all over their body with a mass of stripes, yet singing praises to God at midnight and celebrating their holy vigil. For is it not a monstrous thing that those holy men, both in the furnace and the fire, and the den, and amongst wild beasts, and mire, and in a prison and the stocks, and amidst stripes and gaolers, and intolerable sufferings, never complained of any of these things, but were continually uttering prayers and sacred songs with much energy and fervent zeal, whilst we who have not undergone any of their innumerable sufferings small or great, neglect our own salvation on account of a scorching sun?

These words are particularly appropriate to refer to given that it is All Saints’ Day, when we recall the lives, joys and sufferings of countless saints throughout the years who have lived and died in the love of Christ. As St John Chrysostom puts it, who are we to complain of the heat of the sun when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace but did no more than continue to praise God.

Could it be, to a degree, that the answer is cultural? Anglicanism is ultimately the cultural incarnation of Catholic Christianity within the Anglosphere, whereas Roman Catholicism is more culturally representative of continental Western Europe and Eastern Orthodoxy of Greek in particular and Eastern European in general Christianity. As their cultural backgrounds are foreign to North America and the United Kingdom, it is easier for them to turn to their church community as a cultural enclave, and further to see themselves are remaining in some ways outside of mainstream culture of those countries in which they live. To that degree, it becomes easier to avoid the Church being influenced by secular society in the way in which Anglicanism seems to be.

This ought to be cause for concern. Anyone who accepts the truth of Christianity, ought to recognize its importance. When we gather, it is to be nourished in our faith, either directly by God’s grace through the Eucharist or encouraged through teaching or simply to show our love of God in worship together. To be unwilling to accept the importance of gathering in community for these purposes, particularly when other traditions show it remains an entirely viable possibility within our society, shows another sign of our unwillingness to submit completely to God, the desire only to commit on our own terms and to withhold, knowingly or unknowingly, parts of our lives from him.

All Saints’ Day is a day in which we commemorate all those saints that came before us, and it is a time in which we ought to consider and reflect upon their lives and the examples of faith they gave to us. If St Paul could endure torture and persecution and rejoice in his suffering, perhaps it’s not such a burden to ask modern Anglicans to endure an extra minute or two of teaching without complaint. If the New Martyrs of Libya can be executed while confessing their faith in Christ Jesus as Lord, perhaps it is not too much of a burden in our society to ask of us to give up a few hours of our Saturday evening to turn our hearts to God in praise and thanksgiving?

On Tables

The Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity

GRANT, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace; that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Amen. 

Imagine a party held by a community association meant to bring the people together. All are welcome and signs outside invite everyone in, even non-members. At the door, unfamiliar faces are warmly greeted and told where to go. Yet halfway into the evening, the master of ceremony announces that food is to be served, but only members of the community association will be allowed to sit at the table and eat.

Would anyone feel welcomed in such a situation? That is the argument presented against the practice of closed communion, or versions of it, which deny the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to any guests, in contrast to open communion in which it is offered to all, even non-Christians, who desire to receive.

Even within the Anglican Church of Canada, there are those who argue that the sacraments ought not to be denied to anyone. This argument has been advanced in relation to the recent discussion over the amendment of the marriage canon to allow same-sex persons to receive the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, saying that the Anglican Church of Canada will never be truly welcoming and accepting until sacraments are open to all.

The perspective of the community association makes complete sense in the secular sense. It is downright rude and nonsensical to invite others in and, without warning them until the food is presented, tell them that they must be a member before they will be invited to eat. And yet, with the Eucharist, it is not at all the same. The Church is not offering physical or carnal nourishment, but the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which nourishes us spiritually by God’s grace.

To understand the difference, first look to Scripture and this famous exhortation from St Paul:

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement on himself. (I Cor 11. 27-29)

Here, St Paul calls on those who are about the receive to do two things. First, to repent and approach in purity as opposed to approaching in an unworthy manner. Second, to discern the body. This passage has been taken by many to refer to the need to understand the sacramental nature of the body and blood before receiving. To understand the Real Presence which is presented in the sacrament. The Fathers speak to this as well.

St Ambrose of Milan, in his On the Mysteries, speaks to the sacramental nature of the Eucharist when he says:

The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: “This is My Body.” Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name, after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what the voice speaks… Christ, then, feeds His Church with these sacraments, by means of which the substance of the soul is strengthened, and seeing the continual progress of her grace… He signifies that the mystery ought to remain sealed up with you, that it be not violated by the deeds of an evil life, and pollution of chastity, that it be not made known to thou, for whom it is not fitting, nor by garrulous talkativeness it be spread abroad amongst unbelievers.

St Ambrose’s views of the efficacy of the sacraments are mirrored in the works of many others of the Fathers. Perhaps the most notable work of which are the catechetical lectures of St Cyril of Jerusalem. St Cyril’s teaching itself begins by referring specifically to St Paul’s teachings previously cited (as opposed to St Ambrose’s emphasis on Christ’s institution in the gospels and the broader Biblical narrative of God’s grace), and then to begin a discussion of the Real Presence asks if a Christian accepts the transformation of water into wine at Cana, why not wine into Blood in the Eucharist? He goes on to explore Christ’s words in St John’s gospel where he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you,” (St Jn 6. 53).

These interpretations leave little to the imagination. The Fathers believed in the Real Presence, and so to in Anglicanism are we reminded in Article XXV of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion that the:

Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses, and effectual signs of grace, and God’s good will towards us, by the which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our Faith in him.

And again in Article XXVIII, where it says, “insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith, receive the same, the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ; and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ.” The emphasis here again shows that there is true grace transmitted through the Body and Blood and that it must be rightly, worthily and with faith received.

The Anglican Communion as a whole actually practices a form of open communion, in that you are not required to be a member of the Anglican tradition, but rather just that you be baptised. Most protestant denominations practice some form of open communion, generally without requirement of baptism because communion is viewed as being merely symbolic.

We must never forget that in being welcoming we must be mindful of showing both love and truth, and the truth is that it is not loving to invite someone to their condemnation if they ignore St Paul’s warnings about receiving the Eucharist.

While the limitation of reception only by baptised Christians is good, it sometimes seems insufficient. St Paul’s first warning was against receiving while impure. This is why the confession is said prior to reception of the Eucharist. However for someone who does not believe, they do not approach the confession in faith. They cannot truly confess their sins for they do not believe that they are sins, nor do they believe that by the blood of Christ their sins may be forgiven.

The second point, however, that they must discern the body, is more problematic. Many Christians do not discern the body, contrary to the teachings of the Fathers. Indeed, many Anglicans do not either. By the practice of closed communion, the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church ensure that those who receive do not receive to their condemnation. While it is possible that someone outside their tradition could receive, it is for the protection of all that they not receive.

A happy compromise might be to make clear as a policy of the Church that when others are invited to receive, those Baptised Christians who have examined their conscience and who believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist be invited to come forward and receive, and for others to be limited to a blessing.

On Pudding

Feast of St Luke the Evangelist

ALMIGHTY God, who calledst Luke the Physician, whose praise is in the Gospel, to be an Evangelist, and Physician of the soul: May it please thee that, by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed; through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Twentieth Sunday after Trinity

O ALMIGHTY and most merciful God, of thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we,being ready both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that thou wouldest have done; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Last month, the lectionary took us through the Epistle of James. James contains a number of verses many Christians are familiar with. One that really strikes me is Jas 2. 17: “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” This verse, and the broader discussion of faith, works and salvation from Jas 2. 14-26, was mentioned in a homily by my priest who suggested the way to view this is that St James is saying, so far as faith is concerned, the proof is in the pudding.

This verse in itself leads to a number of interesting discussion topics on the nature of justification, saving faith or true faith versus the profession of faith and whether works proceed from true faith or play some role in salvation, justification and sanctification.

A perhaps more interesting question is can this verse be applied more generally to the Church or just to the individual? If the proof is in the pudding for the individual, how might that apply to the Church?

To begin, what specifically does St James suggest? “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled”, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (Jas 2. 15, 16). Here St James suggests that our faith and deeds must connect, but to break that down a bit more, what is he saying? The faith is to be rooted in Christ’s teachings.

The fact that you would be concerned for a brother or sister who is lacking in basic necessities is related to the faith imparted by Christ. So it is not enough to have some kind of faith, it must be true faith, rooted in Christ’s teachings. Next, it is insufficient to simply teach or preach Christ’s teachings, they are to be lived out if they are to be truly taught.

The real key is not simply that something should happen based on our faith, but that part of that faith is doing something. If you truly believe in Christ Jesus then you will want to do these things. This is perhaps made clear further on in the chapter, where he writes, “You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works,” (Jas 2. 22). Here he introduces the discussion of Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac to show the connection between Abraham’s faith in God and his willingness to act on that faith by sacrificing his son Isaac.

So to conclude, there are really three things being discussed here. Christ’s teachings, belief in them, and willingness to act upon them based on that faith.

How might this be seen to apply to the Church?

Christ’s teachings are simple enough. It is clear the Church cannot teach what is contrary to Christ. Article XX of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion says, “it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another.” That is simple enough, until you realise that God’s Word written is not always clear.

Just as the term true faith was used previously to describe the type of faith which reflects the teachings of Christ and moves the individual to good works to live out that faith, so to must there be good doctrine.

Luckily, there is a way of deciding whether or not an interpretation of Scripture is good or not and that is to test it against the understanding of the Church Fathers. If you look back and since the patristic age it has been taught that a given verse means A and you suggest it means B, it is likely that your interpretation is somehow in error. While it is true that not all of the fathers were always correct—some fell into error quite often, St Augustine of Hippo even revised many of his early views as he matured in faith—the greater body of their work is an accepted standard by which Christians today can judge the interpretation of Scripture. The Creeds are another great example of something by which we can test interpretation of Scripture. For centuries, the Nicene Creed has been the sufficient Christian statement of faith accepted East and West. If a doctrine similarly runs counter to the Nicene Creed it is incorrect.

It is important to remember this grounding in Scripture. In modern times, arguments for innovation are often presented in the form of “I sense it is the movement of the Spirit that we do X.” This view seeks to ground doctrine not in God’s word, but in personal revelation. For those who have a background in some charismatic protestant denominations, this can actually be a common occurrence leading to discord within a local church community. When you claim authority directly from the Spirit, you are claiming it cannot be tested simply against Scripture because it is a new revelation.  However, Scripture itself points in some cases to this being untrue.

In St John’s Gospel, Christ offers a prayer for the Church: “And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one,” (St Jn 17. 11). This is Christ’s singular prayer, that the Church be one, be united. Also here, he reaffirms the previous teaching that he and the Father speak as one. It suggests that when the Holy Spirit comes, the helper Christ spoke of when he had just said:

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (St Jn 16. 13-15)

Here, Christ again says that there will be unity between what he has said and what the Spirit has said. Just as he says in Chapter 17 that he and the Father are one, here he had said that he and the Spirit are one. What the Spirit reveals will not contradict what Christ has taught. Similarly, Christ’s prayer was that the Church would be one, and if that is the case, God would not send the Holy Spirit to grant new revelation only to small subsets of Christians, but to all Christians.

So if doctrine is to be rooted in the teachings of Christ that is held in accord with orthodox faith and understanding of those teachings, what then is works? The work of the Church is found in the liturgy, which encourages and nurtures the body to do good works.

Doctrine of the Church ought to be reflected in the words said each week, and ought to inspire the people to fulfil those doctrines throughout the week. As St Teresa of Avila once said, “Christ has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.” The liturgy is when we gather each week to be nourished in God’s grace and then go forth to do what he teaches. To evangelize, to comfort the sick and afflicted and to care for the poor.

Doctrines of the Church, and our understanding of them, ought to be rooted in the same understanding of our personal faith that sees the need for true faith to give birth to good works. Perhaps the most important consideration here then becomes, if faith without works is dead, what might that imply for the Church if it strays from the model which St James provides with respect to true faith?