On the Liturgical Calendar

The Octave Day of Pentecost commonly called Trinity Sunday

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hast it given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech thee, that this holy faith may evermore be our defence against all adversities; who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Christian liturgical year has been developed over the years to highlight a number of feasts and seasons throughout the year that help us to, as Dr Charles Nienkirchen, once said, hitch our micro-story to Christ’s meta-story. Put another way, the Christian calendar helps us to keep our minds focused on the many things God has said or done for us over the course of the year. The seasons of the year, and days, all have colours associated with them and help individuals to understand and associate some of the values and ideas being honoured in a given season or day, and again to ensure the focus is on God and how we are to respond to what he has said and done for us.

Christian calendar begins with the season of advent, which is the first four Sundays prior to Christmas, which both recalls the anticipation held by Jews for the coming of the Messiah and also reviews the many prophecies that foretold the birth of Christ. The liturgical colour for advent is purple, which is a royal colour, and speaks to Christ’s status as King of Kings.

Advent leads in to Christmas Day and Christmastide, the twelve days after Christmas. It celebrates the birth of Christ and retells the story of that birth. It is a white season, the colour of celebration. It is a joyful season filled with celebratory hymns proclaiming the birth of the messiah and saviour. Christmas ends on Epiphany, January 6th, which celebrates the arrival of the three wise men. Epiphany and Epiphanytide is a green season, reflecting the epiphany of the wise men that Christ was the Messiah, and as the colour green is a colour of growth it further reflects the growth of their faith as they reflected on the implication of the epiphany they had had in Christ.

Epiphany ends on Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent. Lent returns to the colour purple, and is a season both of anticipation and of penitence, as Christians meditate on and anticipate the commemoration of Christ’s passion and death on the cross on Good Friday. Indeed here the colour purple anticipates the purple robe Christ was forced to wear by the soldiers as they mocked him shouting, “hail King of the Jews.” Lent is known as a season of fasting, when, as a discipline, Christians will seek to give up some comfort and take on spiritual disciplines to help them prepare for the coming Holy Week and Easter season.

Lent ends on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. Palm Sunday begins Holy Week and the commemoration of Christ’s final week. Holy Week is red for Christ’s blood which is about to be shed. Holy Week is perhaps the holiest time of the Christian calendar, marking Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Judas’s betrayal on Holy Wednesday or Spy Wednesday as it is sometimes called, the Last Supper, the washing of the disciple’s feet and the institution of the Eucharist is remembered on Maundy Thursday.

Good Friday begins the Easter Triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. The Eucharist is not administered on Good Friday, Christ’s Passion, or Holy Saturday, when Christ lay dead in his tomb. There is no liturgical colour associated with these days as the Altar and Sanctuary are usually stripped after Maundy Thursday. In the earliest days of the Church there were only two feasts celebrated, that of the Easter resurrection and that of Pentecost.

Easter Sunday is a white, or white and gold, season. It is the most joyful and celebratory of all Christian feasts, and indeed was one of the first of the Christian feasts. The Eastertide season remains white and celebratory and often seeks to emphasize the many changes that were evident in the early Church, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, as a result of the resurrection.

Easter ends at Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit, commemorated in Red for the description of the Holy Spirit as descending like tongues of fire. After Pentecost we return to the liturgical green of ordinary time. Like the Green during Epiphany, it symbolizes growth and is a time when we consider growth in our Christian life. During this time, however, there are a number of important feasts. The Sunday after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday, and is the celebratory white of Easter. It unsurprisingly celebrates the doctrine of the trinity. The Feast of Corpus Christi is the next Thursday, and is often commemorated on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday. It celebrates the institution of the Eucharist recognized on Maundy Thursday, but which cannot be properly celebrated so near to Good Friday, and during the sombre season of Lent. It in particular emphasises the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Finally, the last Sunday before Advent is  the Feast of Christ the King or the Reign of Christ. This final celebration recognizes Christ as King of Lord and all, and is a fitting end to a calendar which will begin again on the next Sunday with Advent and the anticipation of the coming of Christ the King.

These seasons have more importance than merely helping us to see the narrative of Christ. They are observed with a lectionary that provides for thematically appropriate readings for the day, which also takes you through a multi-year cycle of Scripture readings that cover the vast majority of Scripture. The Anglican Church of Canada uses the Revised Common Lectionary, which is used by many other Christians including the Roman Catholic Church, Lutherans and others.

The importance of this becomes all too clear when you consider that in almost every Anglican service there is an opportunity for a homily to be preached, for the purpose of helping to explain the word of God. In many Protestant denominations neither the Christian calendar nor the lectionary are observed. Preachers may discuss any themes or any Scripture readings they like at any point in the season.

Explaining the word of God is often described as exegesis, a Greek word which generally means to draw out the meaning of something. The opposite of this is eisegesis, which means to read into a passage a meaning which is not there. When dealing with the word of God, clearly the desire is to explain God’s meaning and intent, and not to simply use the Holy Scriptures as a tool to proclaim our own views.

When you are forced by the lectionary to move through the Christian calendar with its themes, and the lectionary with its associated readings, you are confronted with God’s meaning already. If you have nothing to tell you which Scripture to look at, what the theme of the week is and what part of God’s meta-story we are exploring, it is much easier to accidentally or intentionally move towards eisegesis by picking and choosing verses that support whatever argument you happen to want to make. Doctrine and teaching must be rooted in Scripture and not merely scriptural verses, because those verses alone can be presented out of context and not have their proper meaning.

The further you depart from the original context in which a given piece of writing was created, the easier it is to misunderstand it’s context, even if the plain text is understandable to you. The famous story of Philip and the Ethiopian in the Acts of the Apostles illustrates this point. The Ethiopian is reading from the Book of Isaiah when Philip comes upon him. Philip heard him reading, and he asks if the Ethiopian understands. Clearly the man understands the words, because he is reading them, but his response is, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” Here he is not looking for someone to translate the words because they are in another language or read them to him because he is illiterate. The passage makes clear that he has read them. He wants Philip to draw out the meaning of the passage to him, to explain it to him as a priest would in a homily. Philip does this, explaining how Christ fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecies, and ultimately the man comes to Christ.

Today, we are all Ethiopians, and luckily for us, the Christian calendar and the lectionary are there to help provide some guidance, just as the Holy Spirit guided Philip to the Ethiopian.

On Judicial Review

The Day of Pentecost

GOD, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

Whitsunday

O GOD, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon thy disciples in Jerusalem: Grant that we who celebrate before thee the Feast of Pentecost may continue thine for ever, and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit, until we come to thine eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect for the Unity of the Christian Church

O LORD Jesus Christ who didst say unto thine Apostles, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: Regard not our sins, but the faith of thy Church, and grant unto it that peace and unity which is agreeable to thy will; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

In law, the term judicial review refers to the process by which laws passed by legislatures are scrutinized by the courts against existing higher orders of law. In Canada, this generally means the Constitution Acts 1867 and 1982, with in the US this would be the US Constitution and its amendments, including the Bill of Rights.

This process creates an interaction between the governments which pass laws and the courts which interpret them, and in the late 1990s and early 2000s, two prominent Canadian constitutional scholars began to debate the nature of this relationship.

First, Prof. Peter Hogg advanced Dialogue Theory. In Hogg's theory, legislatures and courts interact in a dialogue, because when the courts making a judicial review ruling, legislatures have the ability to respond to that statement in a number of ways. For instance, the legislature could appeal a ruling to a higher court, enact a change to avoid the ruling in some way, retain the legislation in question by amending it or abandon it entirely. In Canada, where a court ruling invalidates legislation on the basis of the Charter of Rights, the legislature has an over-ride clause in the Charter that allows the law to operate notwithstanding the Court's ruling.

Two years later, Prof. F.L. Morten responded with a criticism and advanced what he called Monologue Theory that said that interactions were not a dialogue as Hogg had said, but a one-sided monologue from the courts. First, there is a lack of equality when the two bodies speak, because the courts speak with greater authority than legislatures. While the legislatures can act to get around the rulings, there is a status quo created when the courts rule that cannot be avoided.

At this point, the real question is what does this have to do with a blog on Christianity? It is, however, an interesting model to use to examine how humans relate to God, and is particularly pertinent to discuss on the Day of Pentecost.

In the Old Testament, prayer and offerings were the normal part of the life of a believing Jew. The way they interacted with God was far different, however. While all prayed and might bring offerings, it was the priests who were set apart who made the sacrifices to God, and only particular priests were permitted into the temple--into the presence of God. Only the High Priest was permitted to use the name of God, and then only in the holiest place in the temple and only on Yom Kippur.

Throughout the history of the Old Testament, God spoke to many different people, but it was always particular people for particular purposes. Raising up great kings and leaders or prophets and priests.

Morten's arguments about the disparity in power between parties seems very much to apply here. And why would it not? Who could argue with the majesty and greatness of God being incomprehensibly greater than that of humanity? God interacted with humanity almost exclusively in a monologue.

In the new covenant, however, there is a significant change. God no longer speaks only to particular individuals, he speaks to all. He doesn't speak to us for particular purposes and at particular times. He does not do it to raise up prophets or kings for the chosen people. He speaks to every person and for every purpose.

The point at which this changes comes with the fulfilment of Christ's promise recorded in the Gospel of St John: “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).

In this passage, Christ promises the sending of the Holy Spirit, something which is recorded in Holy Scripture as happening on the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and all believers like tongues of flame, and they were empowered by the Spirit.

In the Holy Spirit, the gift of dialogue was offered. God now speaks to all people, and not just for particular purposes, but for the greater purpose of of our sanctification. Christ was sent to bring about our reconciliation and through the Spirit, sent at Pentecost, we now are given the means by which we can now not simply pray to God, but hear him and converse with him.

It is astonishing that in reflection on prayer, most Christians first and foremost think of the promises made that when prayers are offered in Christ's name, they will be answered. Instead, should we not consider with great joy first and foremost that through the these gifts, God has made all believers equal in status with the great prophets of the Old Testament? Moses and Abraham, who spoke with God and received his instructions for them? Now it is a matter for all Christians to discern God's discussions with them and his will for them.

At Pentecost, it is customary to consider gifts of the Spirit. It is only natural given that they are one of the more visible results of the Holy Spirit alive in the life of a Christian. Yet, it is the gift of relationship, of conversation, with God which is truly the distinguishing characteristic for Christians, and which is not nearly celebrated enough. Everyone recognizes that one of the central tenets of Christianity is that personal relationship with God, which is enabled by Christ's passion on the cross, but it must also be recognized that once we are reconciled to God in Christ, it is by the Holy Spirit that our relationship with God is built. The opportunity for dialogue exists, and any Christian that ignores that, sticking to the monologues of the Old Testament, will be missing out on the full joy of a true, personal relationship with God the Father.

On Catechesis

The Sunday after Ascension Day

O GOD the King of Glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven: We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Reorienting the skopos of the Church towards a culture of invitation and discipleship is one key in bucking the cultural trends that have contributed to the demographic decline. Last week focused largely on the issue of invitation, while this week delves into the second challenge that primarily involves discipleship by addressing the theology gap and catechesis.

One of the aspects of modernism described was a reinterpretation of Scripture in light of modern understanding. St Anselm of Canterbury once famously stated, “I believe in order that I may understand.” What he meant was that faith must precede intellectual understanding, or more precisely spiritual experience must first occur before it can be comprehended by the intellect. In attempts to create a culture of attraction it is entirely possible to create a reverse of that in which understanding precedes and informs faith.

Just look at Canada today. On all the issues of major theological controversy affecting the Anglican Church of Canada in the last 50 years, the move to change doctrine has ultimately been based on a desire to “catch up” to the beliefs of secular society. Whether it be calls for the ordination of women rooted in secular arguments of gender equality, or similar calls for the ongoing move to permit same-sex marriage in the Church. In these arguments, implicit in them is the idea that if the Church does not conform its doctrines to the beliefs of secular society, the Church will be rejected. Given how the Church has thus far, and seems to be in the case of same-sex marriage, moving with the tide of secular culture, it seems to suggest that Canada is the holiest state on the planet, beating the Church to God's punch.

When this trap of simply accepting secular wisdom is followed in an effort to attract the unchurched, it leads to hollow theology. Hollow theology is a theology which has no real substance to it. It relies on proclamations of what God is like or what God wants with limited support from Scripture. To use a contemporary example, when someone argues in favour of same-sex marriage in the Church solely from the perspective that Christ instructs us to love one another in the gospel, there is no substance to it, because it relies on one or two verses about love being interpreted as superseding and contradicting other parts of Scripture.

More accurately this type of theology causes a problem I call a theology gap. When our theology is generated in some way that is not explained consistently through the words of Holy Scripture, the Church Fathers and the Anglican formularies or when we simply lack the ability to explain our theology using that basis, there is a theology gap.

This reflects poor theological education and training both among clergy and laity alike. When someone asks a question and the answer is some variation on, “because I said so,” there is a theology gap. This affects modernists and theological liberals as provided in the example, but can also affect traditionalists in the second way. If a priest is unable to answer a theological question and resorts to saying something like, “that's the way it's always been,” or, “that's just how it is,” they have fallen into a theology gap as well. Whatever the cause of it, a theology gap will encourage or confirm scepticism towards Christianity and the church.

When there is a theology gap, we should not be surprised that it turns away seekers. When your theology lacks substance, it lacks God, and God is ultimately what keeps the faithful in Church. Similarly, if your theology only speaks to the wisdom of the world, what is the point of being in the church? Divorced from God, the church is merely an extremely inefficient charity organization, and inauthentic if it pays lip service to God whom it ignores when God's word conflicts with society. If society has already got it right, what is the point of church? God's grace transforms and sanctifies us, but if we enter into a church only to be told we've got it all right to begin with, what is the point of God's grace?

Such a church is not authentic and will not build disciples. In order to avoid this, theology must be authentic and done well. Theology done well in the Anglican tradition looks first to Holy Scripture, the interpretation and practice of the Church fathers and the writings of the Anglican formularies, which is to say the Book of Common Prayer, 39 Articles of Religion and the Ordinal. Using this process, any question on Anglican theology can be explored and explained. Bearing that in mind can address the first problem of doing theology poorly.

In order to address the second aspect of the theology gap, the solution is proper catechesis. The Book of Acts contains a famous passage in which Philip meets an Ethiopian who is reading the Book of Isaiah. Philip asks him if he understands what he has been reading, to which he answers, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8. 31). The practice of catechesis—instruction through word of mouth—is one referenced several times in the Scriptures. The authors recognized that the further removed from the context in which the Scriptures were written, the more difficult they would become to understand.

It is essential that all Christians have understanding of fundamental concepts. The Alpha course does a great job of introducing some of the fundamentals in a format which seeks to stoke the curiosity of the participants and allow them to further refine their questions in order to be able to come to the answers. This is great for some basic issues such as who Christ is, the nature of the Holy Spirit, and some similar basic issues. It does not address more complex issues, such as the nature of the sacraments, the doctrines of the church, the theology of suffering or other more complex issues. For that, a proper course of catechism is needed.

There is a short catechism in the Book of Common Prayer which addresses some of these issues, but the catechism is more meant as a final profession of faith at confirmation, rather than purely as an instructional tool. That said, the Prayer Book Society of Canada is developing something called 622. Named after the page on which the Book of Common Prayer's service for young people commences, it is designed as a 42 week exploration of issues in Christianity, aimed at teenagers. The Anglican Church of North America has also released their own catechism which provides, in question and answer format, 345 theological questions and answers along with Scriptural references, and is a good starting point for encouraging the exploration of faith in the Anglican tradition.

More than ever, seekers need Christian education resources that can orient them towards the God who deeply desires that they come to know him.

It may seem simple to say, but connecting people with God is the only way to address decline in the Church.

On a Culture of Invitation

The Fifth Sunday after Easter

O LORD, from whom all good things do come: Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Having identified some of the issues linked to decline in the Church, before addressing possible solutions, there is one major question which must be answered. In the early Church, one of the early methods of exegesis used by the Church Fathers was that of skopos, a Greek word which means goal or purpose. The fathers would seek to identify the goal or purpose of the Biblical writer for writing a given passage. Whenever anyone presents a response for what the Church must do to address decline, they must explain their skopos: what the goal is. Is it just to fill pews and reverse a demographic trend?

Christian rock concerts and similar events may fill pews, associated altar calls may even bring many to profess Christ as their Lord, but does it truly bring about a conversion of faith that leads to discipleship? Discipleship should always be the skopos of any efforts to reverse any kind of decline in the Church. And it's simple enough to see how discipleship no longer plays front and centre in the language and skopos of the Church.

As discussed previously a significant part of decline in the church is cultural. Sixty years ago, Christianity was a cultural norm. The Church did not need to reach out to the world, it simply existed inside of it and people came as a matter of course. It was what their parents and grandparents had done and there was no reason for that to change. Until it did. During the massive cultural changes seen in the 1960s and the Post-War baby boomer generation, religion took on a more minimal role as society itself was restructured. Women had entered the workforce, jobs were plentiful, new conveniences were being introduced to the home that shifted society, a new wave of urbanisation hit as jobs again migrated to the cities, cars were more plentiful meaning people were no longer geographically centred and could commute longer distances to work and church. Throughout this process of social and economic change, the Church was complacent. What was needed was an invitation to Church.

Today, we still do not proper foster a culture of invitation, but rather seek to foster a culture of attraction. Rather than seeking to invite non-believers to, as Jesus said, “follow me,” our skopos is merely to get them through the Church doors. To that end, we are marketing Church to youth. What's more, we're doing it poorly.

Do away with vestments. Do away with stuffy hymns and complex liturgy. Update the words. Be inclusive. Fudge sin. Be energetic. Stir up the room. Be trendy. Relate to non-believers. Say what they want to hear. Church isn't hard; it's fun! No need to change or to be changed by it!

Each of these is something that can be seen today in different ways in how we market to the unchurched. Each of these propositions ultimately comes down to an attempt to modernise the church. It's about trying to conform the church to the world so that it can be consumed. Traditional vestments and hymns don't sell well, so do away with them, dress in stylish and hip clothes and play modern music. Kids wont cross the door if they think it's just to hear from a stuffy old cleric and sing boring tunes.

Traditions have meaning. Vestments have meaning. Traditional hymnody speaks clearly to the theology of the church. What priests wear, what they say and how they act speaks to the traditions and doctrines of the church throughout the centuries. In attempting to market the church, that is being lost. While it might get people through the doors, it doesn't do anything to make them stay. When the Church is simply asking, “how can we get them through the doors?” it isn't asking the far more important question of, “how can we encourage them to follow Christ?”

Seekers from every age have always, in their hearts, wanted one thing: the living water that Christ himself promised. They seek the authentic heart of God. You can get a sort of worship high out of modern music with its loud, repetitive chords and the excitement of a charismatic speaker. But if it does not carry with it the living water of Christ, those who consume it will still thirst.

When what they are offered is based on what is believed to appeal to people, the offering is shallow. Worse than that, it is rightly viewed as inauthentic. Modern generations are constantly bombarded by media. Buy this, consume that. This will make your life better. When Church is conformed to the world, even in the best case scenario the authentic word of God is lost in that tumultuous noise.

Church needs to stand out. Church needs to be different. Church needs to be authentic. Church needs to invite, not market. Fostering a culture of invitation doesn't mean that the church has to change its appearance or its doctrines, it means that those who remain it it must become more Christ-like.

Christ was the one who asked others to follow him. When Christ gave the great commission, it was a charge to all believers, and remains one that applies to all Christians today. It is the responsibility of every believer to themselves be a proper disciple of Christ, attempting to live his life of grace and truth, and to foster a culture of invitation where anyone can be invited and welcomed into Christ's presence, and where they can hear his gospel.

Invitation may be difficult, but it isn't complicated. During the push for the Alpha Course in 2013, Michael Harvey discussed the difficulty in inviting people to Alpha. He offered this simple model of invitation, “Would you like to come to Alpha with me?” It is no more complicated to invite someone to Church saying, “Would you like to come to Church with me?”

Michael Harvey offers this other piece of advice. Getting an answer of Yes is the destination, but No is the way you get there. In other words, don't be afraid of rejection, and invite!

Being inviting means also that once someone has entered the Church, the culture of welcoming must exist. All of these relate to two things. Being authentic disciples of Christ, and having a skopos that doesn't end just with getting someone in the door. This is the first step in addressing decline in the church.

On Decline and Renewal

The Fourth Sunday after Easter

O ALMIGHTY God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men: Grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Anglicanism in the West is in decline. Where growth exists, it is often from immigrants coming from the global south where Anglicanism is still growing. Everyone has an opinion on what the cause of decline is and what the solution is. Ultimately, demographic decline can be summed up quite simply: the Church is failing to build up new disciples of Christ. Simple! The solution is simple, too: revival! Both simple, both true. How to achieve that, though, beyond simply prayer and miraculous intervention?

In 2010, a demographic report was released that showed an in-depth look into the trends that everyone had been witnessing in Canada for decades. The report showed a gradual but steady decline in membership, which was even starker when looking at attendance, since the mid-1960s. In the immediate post-War years there was an increase in membership, however much of that can be tied to immigration which was a significant demographic factor throughout Canada in the post-War world. Europe had been shattered by the Second World War. In the 1940s and 1950s, the United Kingdom itself was suffering heavily with rationing continuing for several years after the end of the war. Many war brides, who had met their husbands in the service during the war, returned to Canada with them. They started families and as their baby boomer children were born and baptised, they caused an increase in overall membership of the Anglican Church of Canada for the twenty years or so following the war.

When comparing the overall membership numbers to Sunday school enrolment, it’s easy to see the correlation. Growth in the 1950s and 1960s corresponds to young children being brought to church by their parents. As the membership growth trend plateaus and the trend enters into decline you see a decline in new enrolments in Sunday school, which corresponds to the overall demographic trends in Canada at the time. There was a post-War population boom that flattened out and declined by the late 1960s and beyond.

That trend explains events surrounding the boom, however it doesn’t tell the whole story of the Anglican Church of Canada. The trend continues towards decline, and outside of the boom in the 1960s, the number of children being baptised, confirmed and attending Sunday school continues to decline while the number of births stabilises in the 1970s and 1980s and even grows somewhat by the mid-90s before declining again into the 21st century. Interestingly, however, bucking the trend of rapid decline are two statistics. The first is the number of communicants at Easter, a figure which has remained relatively stable despite membership decline and the decline in baptisms. The second is the number of identifiable givers; parishioners who make contributions which can be identified in some way, generally by virtue of a numbered envelope.

There are a number of questions raised regarding the demographic results of this survey. First, if there is a high correlation with overall demographic trends in the 1950s and 1960s, what occurs in the 1970s and 1980s that causes the trend in the Anglican Church to split from the Canadian trend? Why, even if overall membership is declining, are the number of communicants at Easter remaining relatively stable? Similarly, what is the cause for the number of identifiable givers remaining stable, and does it suggest the possibility of an impending financial struggle if these identifiable givers are from an age cohort which is about to die? Finally, how does the experience of the Anglican Church of Canada compare with other Christians in Canada, and thus to what degree are these trends reflective of overall trends with respect to Christianity or religion as opposed to something specific to the Anglican Church of Canada?

Many people have attempted to answer these questions, and provide many different, often conflicting, reasons. Based on this demographic report, there can be some broad generalizations taken, the first of which is that the status of religion in Canada has changed generationally. When you look at the trends not just among Anglicanism, but among all religions in Canada, there is a clear shift. In Quebec, for instance, the Quiet Revolution saw the role of the Roman Catholic Church dramatically scaled back in public life. While affiliation with Roman Catholicism remains strong in Quebec according to Statistics Canada, attendance is only a tiny fraction of that, particularly in larger cities, while in some more rural communities, the role of the Church remains much more central. Most Christian churches have observed decline to some degree over the same period. The Roman Catholic Church has not suffered the same, though much of this seems to relate to immigration rates rather than continued births, baptisms and retention of youths into adulthood. Non-Christian religions such as Islam and Hinduism have gone from non-existent to representing several per cent of the population, and notably Islam is a significantly younger religion in terms of adherents. In 2010, the average Muslim was only 28 while the average Anglican was in their mid-forties.

This overall trend suggests a significant decline in the role of religion in Canadian public life, and a broader cultural dissatisfaction with religion as a whole, rather than Christianity in particular, by assimilated Westerners.

For good reason, when examining demographic changes in the church, a significant emphasis is placed on youth, and particularly on Millennials. Millennials is a term that has come to supplant Generation Y to denote the age cohort that follows Generation X. While there are no fixed absolute dates, it generally refers to those born from the mid-1980s to the 2000s, and thus today those who are in their teens and twenties.

They represent a generation that was less likely to have been brought up religiously, though there may have been some cultural attachment to a given church (they were baptised or christened at birth, but attend only for Christmas or Easter, or possibly in some other capacity with their grandparents rather than regularly with their parents).

That taken into account, the largest exposure to Christianity many Millennials receive would therefore be from popular media. Popular media, particularly in Canada where much of our media consumption is American, has two popular depictions of Christianity. First, the hypocritical, fire and brimstone Evangelical Fundamentalist and second the paedophile Roman Catholic priest.

The first challenge in the demographic decline is in overcoming preconceived notions of Church and being inviting towards Millennials.

Even among those who are brought up in faith, there is a greater tendency to leave the Church in the teenage years or adulthood. Pew Research has done a number of polls in the United States which show significantly higher scepticism towards religion in the United States among young people compared to previous generations. Scepticism of this sort can easily overcome poor theology, or even simple questions to which priests or youth leaders are ill-equipped to answer.

The second challenge therefore is overcoming the theology gap. In a society in which we are all bombarded with secularism and marketing half-truths, it requires a solid theology and a clear catechetical strategy to ensure that theology is transmitted to youth.

Contained within these two challenges are countless ways in which the Church and commentators have identified issues and proposed solutions to demographic decline. From the desire to be more modern or trendy, to changing theological demands in order to be responsive to modern sensibilities, to changing Church architecture.

The next few weeks will further explore some of these issues and some possible ways forward.

Wisdom of the Saints: St Athanasius of Alexandria

Feast of Athanasius, Doctor, Bishop of Alexandria, 373

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 Athanasius, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Athanasius is another of the Doctor's of the Church who lived in an age of significant schism within the Church, but who lived out his calling to teach right doctrine and rebuke heresy. He is sometimes regarded as the “Father of Orthodoxy” and is viewed as a great champion of orthodox Nicene Christianity during an age when heresy threatened to split the Church in half.

St Athanasius was born into a pagan family in 298. Not much is known of his family, but based on his writings, it would appear St Athanasius came from a moderately wealthy family that enabled him to have a traditional Greek education.

The historian Rufinus records in his Historia Ecclesiastica that one day Athanasius found some young Christians re-enacting the liturgy of Baptism on the beach. He joined in, ultimately playing the part of the bishop. The Patriarch of Alexandria, Pope St Alexander of Alexandria, was hosting a meeting of bishops nearby and witnessed the event. He called the boys to him to inquire about what they were doing, and ultimately decided to validate the baptisms. He further predicted that Athanasius would one day hold great position within the Church, and determined to encourage all of the boys into clerical vocations.

The truthfulness of that account has been debated through the ages, but what is known is that shortly after embarking on his ecclesiastical career, Poke Alexander invited the well-educated Athanasius to be his secretary. Many around him seemed impressed with his intelligence, ability and faith. Around the age of 20 and while he was still a deacon, he wrote his first treatise entitled On the Incarnation, exploring the dual nature of Christ as both God and man. His treatise concludes with these thoughtful words that the reader should test his arguments against Scripture:

This will give you a beginning, and you must go on to prove its truth by the study of the Scriptures. They were written and inspired by God; and we, who have learned from inspired teachers who read the Scriptures and became martyrs for the Godhead of Christ, make further contribution to your eagerness to learn… But for the searching and right understanding of the Scriptures there is need of a good life and a pure soul, and for Christian virtue to guide the mind to grasp, so far as human nature can, the truth concerning God the Word. One cannot possibly understand the teaching of the saints unless one has a pure mind and is trying to imitate their life. [9: 56, 57]

His early writings show fidelity to the patristic principles of prima scriptura, Christian orthodoxy and prescience that would become all too clear shortly after the treatise was first published.

Around 319, an Alexandrian presbyter named Arius began teaching that God the Son was not eternal, and the Son was part of the created order. Pope Alexander condemned Arius’s teachings as anti-Trinitarian, but Arius persisted in his teachings. He lent his name to the doctrine, known as Arianism, which was supported and developed by many other theologians from around the Christian world. He was condemned as a heretic by a council of Alexandrian bishops in 321 and excommunicated from the Church. He fled to Palestine and then Bithynia, and earned the protection and support of Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia who supported these teachings. Despite his excommunication from Alexandria, Arius and his teachings grew in prominence.

In 325, the controversy between Trinitarian Christians and Arians was becoming so great that the Emperor Constantine called for a Council of all Christian bishops to be held at Nicaea to resolve the matter once and for all. Pope St Alexander led the anti-Arians, with his deacon and secretary Athanasius at his side. After great debate, the Trinitarian Christians, who would then become known as Nicene Christians, were victorious, and Arianism was declared anathema and heresy throughout Christendom. Despite this, however, the controversy would not be laid to rest.

Shortly after the Council, Pope St Alexander died, and Athanasius was declared his successor. As Patriarch of Alexandria, St Athanasius would be a continued staunch foe of Arian heresy and defender of Nicene orthodoxy. After being appointed as Bishop while still quite young, he would ultimately serve for the next 46 years, though of those some 16 were spent in exile due to the rising influence of Arianism, particularly among some of the Imperial family. During his periodic exiles, he would spend most of his time among the Desert Fathers and also in writing some of his many prolific works.

St Athanasius was exiled so many times by so many different Emperors due to his absolute and unwavering commitment to Christian orthodoxy. Some of the lasting works of his writings include his Statement of Faith, probably written around the time of accession to the Episcopate, in which he writes:

We believe in one Unbegotten God, Father Almighty, maker of all things both visible and invisible, that hath His being from Himself. And in one Only-begotten Word, Wisdom, Son, begotten of the Father without beginning and eternally; word not pronounced nor mental, nor an effluence of the Perfect, nor a dividing of the impassible Essence, nor an issue; but absolutely perfect Son, living and powerful, the true Image of the Father, equal in honour and glory. For this, he says, ‘is the will of the Father, that as they honour the Father, so they may honour the Son also’: very God of very God, as John says in his general Epistles, ‘And we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ: this is the true God and everlasting life’: Almighty of Almighty…  He is then by nature an Offspring, perfect from the Perfect, begotten before all the hills, that is before every rational and intelligent essence, as Paul also in another place calls Him ‘first-born of all creation’. But by calling Him First-born, He shews that He is not a Creature, but Offspring of the Father. For it would be inconsistent with His deity for Him to be called a creature. For all things were created by the Father through the Son, but the Son alone was eternally begotten from the Father, whence God the Word is ‘first-born of all creation,’ unchangeable from unchangeable… The Father, possessing His existence from Himself, begat the Son, as we said, and did not create Him, as a river from a well and as a branch from a root, and as brightness from a light, things which nature knows to be indivisible; through whom to the Father be glory and power and greatness before all ages, and unto all the ages of the ages. Amen.

The Athanasian Creed remains one of the three traditional creeds of the Anglican Church, though now modern Scholars recognize that it was likely not written by St Athanasius himself, but rather attributed to him by virtue of his own reputation as such a staunch defender of Christian Orthodoxy. The creed is available in the Book of Common Prayer, where it is permitted to be used instead of the Apostle’s Creed as a confession of the Christian faith.