An American commented that the church [in the early 19thc.] had fallen from a position of power to the condition of “a victim, dressed for the slaughter.” It was a ghastly picture, he declared, “when skepticism was rampant, and an insufferably insolent individualism paraded itself on the platform; when the men most alive were the Evangelicals, amongst whom there was hardly on who combined scholarship. Intellect, and address in a considerable degree, nor one who represented the principles and system in the Book of Common Prayer. Cited in John F. Nash’s “The Sacramental Church”
One of the challenges for Anglo Catholics in the 20th and 21st centuries is that we have won much.
Eucharist as the central act of worship? Check.
Confession in the Prayer Book? Check.
Holy Week services in the BCP? Check.
The Gloria at the beginning of the Mass and the Peace? Check and Check.
A faithful social consciousness restored? Check.
There is much that the Catholic movement within Anglicanism has “won.” Yet, now there seems to be a need for a new Oxford Movement within the Church.
Look at that quote above again. Skepticism rampant. Individualism unchecked. A quasi-evangelical Christianity as the dominant form of Christianity. A lack of seriousness in theology and scholarship. And a Prayer Book all too often ignored.
There is still much to do. The worry of the day is not that we have the externals in order. Our churches and clerics are also now adorned in ways which once would have caused scandal. Candles, vestments, and more are part of the standard Episcopal Church. The worry is that these things are the décor for a churchwide wake as we remember the good old days, are careful not to speak ill of wrongs that have contributed to the demise, and sing a song or two in fond farewell.
There has been much talk of restructuring the Church, this is good and proper, yet my fear is that we have no idea what we are building structures around. There are other Christian pan-Protestant denominations about that hover at the gates of universalism. There are social service agencies that can deliver needed services more efficiently than us.
We are facing not just a collapse of large parts of the Church, we are facing a collapse of leadership, nerve, and vision.
The answer is not Hymnal revision, new governance structures, Communing the UnBaptized, a Kalendar of Saints with non-Christians, guitar Masses, digital Prayer Books, more liturgies about the Earth, or many of the other countless ways many seem to think will lead us to the dawn of a kinder, gentler Church that will usher in the Kingdom.
We have to begin, now, to rediscover what it means to be an Anglican Christian.
A new Oxford Movement can do this. There is a desperate need for a movement that takes seriously the issues of the day while committing to delving into the Tradition and carefully reading Scripture. There is a need for a movement that is unabashed in its proclamation of Jesus Christ. There is a need for a movement that sees social service not as a goal of the Church but as a means for us to be drawn closer to the mind of Christ. There is a need for a movement that is grounded in disciplined prayer and lovingly offered worship. There is a need for a movement that sees the Sacraments as the means by which we know the Incarnate Lord. There is a need for a movement that is ready to move beyond zero-sum church politics to transform hearts and souls.
What could such a movement offer?
- A focus on the adoration of God.
- A focus on careful preparation to receive the Sacraments.
- A heightened awareness of Healing and Confession.
- An understanding of the Real Presence in our life together.
- A renewed focus on the disciplines of daily prayer for all believers.
- A focus on devotion to Our Lady and all the Saints.
- A view of the Church as extending through time and across boundaries.
- A commitment to forming young people in devotion to Christ.
- A commitment to justice work grounded in the Incarnation.
- A commitment to fostering a renewed sense of Anglican identity.
A new Oxford Movement offers distinct gifts for this time.
In a time when younger believers seem to be reaching for the transcendent and the mysterious we have an understanding of God that is rooted in more than tidy chats about Him. We offer a way of coming into the Presence of the Holy One. Worship is no didactic lecture on the merits of God but a chance to be in relationship with Him through His Son.
As many Christians are rightly offended by the degradation of the Earth and the plunder of its resources we have an understanding of the created order that revels in its most essential quality – it communicates something of God. We use the most common elements to receive the grace of Christ. God makes Himself known in the world all about us and we gather the best that creation as to offer in art, music, architecture, flowers, incense, and more as we worship.
We see in the Incarnation that embrace of the whole of humanity. As we live and move in an evermore diverse and pluralistic society, understanding the nature of God as revealed in human flesh is more vital than ever. For we see all of humanity bound up in the humanity of Jesus Christ. The challenge is not to see Christ in every person for that leads to the exaltation of the individual – our challenge is to see every person in Christ so that their totality is caught up in the divine personhood of Jesus.
As we see suffering all about us in the world, our view of the Incarnation, Creation, and the Glory of God leads us to serve. We have long understood that worship without service and service without worship are dead ends. The liturgy is not simply blessing or encounter with the Holy, it is a divine imperative to go forth and transform lives in the world around us. We do this not because it is the nice thing to do, we do this because we can do no other as we are transformed evermore into the likeness of Christ.
We have also always understood that it is the humanity and divinity of Jesus, in their fullness, that bring saving health. Whether through Stations of the Cross or Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, we seek to know Jesus more fully so that his story becomes ours and ours his as we are bound together in the love of God. We are in a life-long journey of redemption living as we continue to turn from sin to newness of life. As vague spiritualities and syncretistic propositions capture the devotion of too many, we offer a way of understanding the life of Christ who makes us whole.
As the Church struggles, we offer a view of the Church that is more than a voluntary society of well-intentioned men and women. It is a Divine Society given to us by Christ as we have been made His Body. The Church’s mission is God’s mission – the restoration of all with and in God. The Church exists for this one purpose – for the same purpose as Christ was sent – to bring men and women to the knowledge and love of God.
That Church extends back in time and is not a passing thing. In a culture obsessed with falsity and peddled images of self, we offer a Body that is real. We offer a Church that is authentic and rooted in millennia of faith and prayer. Moreover, we offer an Anglican Church that, for centuries, has straddled theological divides, wrestled with thorny issues of church-state relationship, and has been responsive to the needs of the day while maintaining the faith.
We are facing serious challenges as a Church, of this there is no doubt. Yet all the restructuring we can achieve will be for naught if we have no sense of self, no reason for being the Church, and no hope of connecting with those outside our walls.
We offer hope in the face of the predations of fundamentalism and humanism. On the one hand, fundamentalists define the faith in such a way as to make it a laughingstock in the face of human progress and scientific achievement. Yet, equally destructive is the path of humanism which has given us liberal Protestantism. Humanism and liberal Protestantism have stripped mystery, spirituality, and symbolism away to the point where we have no compelling reason for people to even come to our churches – let alone for us to go out and evangelize.
Each has taken its toll on Christianity. There must be something else that the Church offers than knee-jerk reaction or hollow affirmation.
We offer, simply put, the sacred. We offer the sense that God is calling us to be a holy and living sacrifice as we are brought into his redeeming love. This happens in ways beyond understanding and can only be termed mystery. We offer a sacred way of being that sees all of our lives as consecrated for God’s use so that our selves and souls and bodies are fed and we, in turn, go out into the world, rejoicing as we draw others to Christ.
Robert+
More about much of this will follow!
A Desert Father 
Amen! Whether the structures survive or not, those who are devoted to the Lord and are willing to minister to his people in the way you described above will be here long after the structure has passed into irrelevance. I think you make a brilliant point here that if a faith grounded in the sacraments and the salvation story aren’t at the center of our work, we are wasting our time.
I look forward to more of your ideas about what this looks like practically, and am willing to help in whatever way I can.
You might like this video from the Catholic Archdiocese of New York. It speaks to some of the themes you’re writing about here, I think; the video’s been around for about 5 years or so.
I know I would like to belong to a church like this….
I would also include the following:
1) Serious theological thinking and conversation grounded in the patristics;
2) Spiritual formation at the core of parish identity and purpose; and
3) A priesthood understood as physicians of the soul whose work is to guide others to theosis.
Peace,
Mike+
Such a great point – thank you for offering this. You further illustrate the complexity of the question and terms. I know many high churchmen, as you fleshed out the term, that are hardly ritualists.
Good additions, Fr. Mike.
Great additions! I hope that others will add some as well. It would be great to have a range of ideas and topics as we wrestle with how to make this come alive in a practical way. R+
I do find it interesting that the Holy Spirit raised up renewal movements throughout the history of God’s people, in the Old Testament time and in the church. Consider the Desert Fathers, Benedictine communities, Franciscans, the 14th century New Devotion movement, the 16th century Reformation,William Law, George Herbert, Little Gidding, the Wesley brothers and Whitfield, the effect of Pietism, Charles Simeon, William Augustus Muhlenberg, the work of Cursillo, Evelyn Underhill, the Charismatic renewal from the 1970’s and others too numerous to mention in a brief post. It appears that their is a pattern of such divine interventions by the Lord. All of them were sent to address periods of deep decline in faith and holiness. Spiritual theology is replete with such examples. I pray that this new movement could be one of those.
I completely agree with your thesis, Robert.+ Of course, the complexion of this new movement would be very different because of the presence of female clergy, but something tells me that there are more than a few of us women who are concerned about the issues you’ve raised and see the need for a renewal movement in TEC.
Karen+
Recently, I found a reference to an ancient feast, long time lapsed–The Conversion of St. Augustine, on May 4. The revival of this feast day might help fit into a new Oxford Movement. FYI.
The church exists for the worship of God and the life of the spirit, simply put – and until it reclaims this as its primary focus it’s going to be merely a thinly-disguised social work or political advocacy organization that meets on Sundays. (No disrespect to social work or political advocacy; both are good and necessary. Social workers and political advocates are a lot better than we are at it, though; without faith, churchpeople are, at best, merely redundant.)
Faith, hope, and charity – i.e., “love” – are the Christian virtues. “Mission” can’t come before “faith” in the first place; in the second: I can do political and social action without ever coming to church at all – but I can’t find faith anywhere except through a religious/spiritual organization. The church exists to help real people through and by faith.
In my case – I’m not alone, either – the life of faith is actually quite necessary for me to keep in balance and alive. And if the church can’t help individuals – its own members and others – who need help, what’s the point? What’s the point of doing “mission” work if people don’t feel welcomed and loved in the parish? The greatest of these, said the Apostle, is charity – i.e. “love”; without it we are just sounding brass and clanging cymbals. This kind of love isn’t easy, of course – but then, the spiritual life really is rigorous. That’s a good thing; this is the real adventure of life, and we’re not even emphasizing it.
The Christian virtues all require a certain teachability: a willingness to let go of one’s previous convictions and ideas – and to allow something brand new to take root. (Often the willingness to do this comes about only as a result of a total failure of some kind; it’s a last-resort effort, IOW. Human resistance to change is indeed very deep; as monastics have put it: “The ego does not willingly go.” That’s why Philippians says what it does: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” It’s at the very center of the faith itself.)
But that’s the real stuff, right there – and it’s not always easy, but often quite difficult. And it’s an entree into the exhilarating unknown; what could be better and more fascinating than that? I think we should be talking much more about it, personally….
(And the movement into the unknown – and the spiritual rearrangement that makes this possible and desirable – is exactly why worship needs to have a set pattern. When you let go of things – when the supports get kicked out from under your conception of self and from under your ego – you need the regularity of the liturgy and the Great Church Year to lean on.
C.S. Lewis talked about acquiring “the habit of worship”; he said we can make no progress in the practice of prayer if it’s always changing. Every year, I experience Pentecost (or Advent, or Ash Wednesday) differently, precisely because the liturgy itself doesn’t change. I change, instead, and see the feast day from a different angle. I experience something new and (hopefully) deeper each year.
That’s the whole point of it, as far as I can see: inner churn, not outer novelty. That’s what’s really radical, and really interesting. Hold on! It’s a wild ride….)
Tom Oden is a good example of the revival of orthodox faith. He was formerly a standard liberal Methodist theologian, and now is the publisher of the wonderful Patristic Bible ckommentary quotation series and related books. He also wrote several good books on the bankruptcy of liberal theology and the recovery of historic and Biblical classical Christian faith. Robert Webber also had a lot of impact with his Ancient/Future series.
I think there are two related movements — one mostly American, another mostly British, one more focused on Scripture another on philosophy and the Sacraments — that are actually fulfilling the academic side of this call, namely Post-liberalism and Radical Orthodoxy.
I would say that what these need are the kinds of on-the-ground practices for discipleship and holiness that you addressed above. For that, I’m afraid, we’ll have to wait out the generation now in charge of our most of our institutions.
Just look to the Pentecost hymn, to see the Pearl of Great Price that the church has to offer!
Come down, O love divine, seek Thou this soul of mine,
And visit it with Thine own ardor glowing.
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
And kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.
O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn
To dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
And let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,
And clothe me round, the while my path illuming.
Let holy charity mine outward vesture be,
And lowliness become mine inner clothing;
True lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part,
And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.
And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long,
Shall far out pass the power of human telling;
For none can guess its grace, till he become the place
Wherein the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.
And this, since at least the 14th Century! “Glorious light illuming” one’s path – and Grace that passes understanding. Or see the Sequence Hymn on the day:
Holy Spirit, Lord of light,
From the clear celestial height
Thy pure beaming radiance give.
Come, thou Father of the poor,
Come with treasures which endure;
Come, thou light of all that live!
Thou, of all consolers best,
Thou, the soul’s delightful guest,
Dost refreshing peace bestow.
Thou in toil art comfort sweet,
Pleasant coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
Light immortal, light divine,
Visit thou these hearts of thine,
And our inmost being fill.
If thou take thy grace away,
Nothing pure in man will stay;
All his good is turned to ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour thy dew,
Wash the stains of guilt away.
Bend the stubborn heart and will,
Melt the frozen, warm the chill,
Guide the steps that go astray.
Thou, on us who evermore
Thee confess and thee adore,
With thy sevenfold gifts descend.
Give us comfort when we die,
Give us life with thee on high,
Give us joys that never end.
Amen.
The church offers a way to attain the things people long deepest for, in other words. If nobody knows this, we’re truly not communicating….
Just look to the Pentecost hymn, to see the Pearl of Great Price that the church has to offer!
Come down, O love divine, seek Thou this soul of mine,
And visit it with Thine own ardor glowing.
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
And kindle it, Thy holy flame bestowing.
O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn
To dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
And let Thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,
And clothe me round, the while my path illuming.
Let holy charity mine outward vesture be,
And lowliness become mine inner clothing;
True lowliness of heart, which takes the humbler part,
And o’er its own shortcomings weeps with loathing.
And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long,
Shall far out pass the power of human telling;
For none can guess its grace, till he become the place
Wherein the Holy Spirit makes His dwelling.
Imagine being “clothed in glorious light” that “illumines” the path before you – and experiencing Grace that passes understanding! That’s what we can offer; not for nothing, but it’s the promise.
Or, see the Sequence Hymn on the day:
Holy Spirit, Lord of light,
From the clear celestial height
Thy pure beaming radiance give.
Come, thou Father of the poor,
Come with treasures which endure;
Come, thou light of all that live!
Thou, of all consolers best,
Thou, the soul’s delightful guest,
Dost refreshing peace bestow.
Thou in toil art comfort sweet,
Pleasant coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.
Light immortal, light divine,
Visit thou these hearts of thine,
And our inmost being fill.
If thou take thy grace away,
Nothing pure in man will stay;
All his good is turned to ill.
Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour thy dew,
Wash the stains of guilt away.
Bend the stubborn heart and will,
Melt the frozen, warm the chill,
Guide the steps that go astray.
Thou, on us who evermore
Thee confess and thee adore,
With thy sevenfold gifts descend.
Give us comfort when we die,
Give us life with thee on high,
Give us joys that never end.
The church offers a way to attain the things for which human beings people long most deeply, in other words. This is its value; this is what it’s for. If nobody knows this, we’re truly not communicating very well.
So I vote for Pentecost as the Feast Day of the new movement – and it should be a deeply mystical one, IMO…..
Really good comment, bls. May I quote you?
Sure. Here’s a lovely recording of Down Ampney, BTW: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6HPKL1wOVXk#!
Sign me up sir!
Amen and amen! I would also add that we need an Anglo-Catholics Socialist movement. Surely what has helped to augment the slide into individualism, skepticism, etc. is a rampant capitalist ontology. The great Anglo-Catholic slum priests understood this.
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May I add to the list of offerings from this movement?:
1. The full use and appreciation of the charisms of all three orders: bishop, priest AND deacon.
amen, amen
May I add to the list of offerings from this movement?
1. The full use and appreciation of the charisms of all three orders: bishop, priest, AND deacon.
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It will need to be free of the trappings of and stand as an alternative to the ever-expanding, ever-tightening-down of the plutocratic corporatist consumerist fear-mongering imperialist draconian surveillance detaining torturing liquidating monstrous juggernaut of state terror and control.
Early Christianity grew by leaps and bounds as they stood up to and did not quail or rescind faith or restrain their charity or give up their gatherings and worship in the treasonous name of their Lord and Savior, Jesus. All this in the face of proven loss of everything, including torture and death. The people of the Roman Empire took note and saw that the Christians we’re not afraid of what the Roman Imperial apparatus would do to them. Because of this, the obligatory terror and quailing and falling back into one’s miserable lot, was called into question and replaced by blessed assurance and courage. Everyone saw this and the Roman Terror State was brought to its knees as fear slipped out their hands. The Empire had to co-op the Church or the Empire was doomed. From this historical point we are obliged to be critically-thinking consumers of the “received tradition.” We are responsible for weeding out the corruptions of co-option by empire, particularly just war rationales, and subsequent substitutionary atonement theologies. For a 1,000 years Christianity was a pacifist religion with no depictions of a Crucified Lord.
Then came the cult of the Crucified Christ, where all Jesus apparently could do was die, imperial Christendom, the Crusades, the Age of Discovery, Colonialism, etc. If your theology can take that onboard and bring us patristic catholic Christianity that takes risks, and is radically accepting of people, à la Galatian Chapter 3, concluding, “24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” then there’s likely to be something there.
Just like rejecting slavery and rejecting the restriction of rights for women, we must stand by our charism toward accepting all the baptized into ministry, lay, ordained and consecrated, as well as providing means to sanctify human love in family regardless of orientation.
If you can do that then I’m in. If not it is a vain Pharisaic FAIL.
Wow-so Jesus was Che Guevara? I had no idea. Just like I had no idea that Jesus was whatever Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell thought he was.
Projecting much?
Great, you want to be disestablished! Have you told the English yet? Or the churches that get tax breaks for their clergy or their clergy housing? You want to pretend to be “radical”? Great, but you’ve got to stop taking money from the government-otherwise, it’s just pathetic and you look like aging Hippies who still go to town twice a month to pick up welfare checks.
I keep hearing things like this. What are we going to do to start pulling all of the desperate threads together into a movement?
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You may have hit upon something here. I shared this on Facebook and found it liked and reshared by a couple of people I didn’t expect to find supportive.
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Amen! I hope that the Society for Catholic Priests might be a vehicle through which we could do this work. I would like to see this passion infuse our Society. Personally, I am far more interested in learning the Tradition and engaging with it in our contemporary context than I am knowing what vestments I should wear or how to bless candles for Candlemas. As a new deacon in the Church, I need this kind of mentorship. I hope the SCP or some other group can be that vehicle.
The Rev. Shawn Strout
Diocese of Washington
Fr. Hendrickson, thank you for this post, and for this blog. I’ve just started a new blog at http://dominusilluminatio.blogspot.com/ . Would you mind if I added you to my blog roll? As someone who is seeking to discern a call to ministry, I am finding myself increasingly drawn to an Anglo-catholic understanding of the faith.
I don’t think you are alone here. And I very much appreciate how well you have articulated this call. I have also appreciated the comments above. I have a couple of thoughts, disparate though they may be…
1) I don’t find the hard-and-fast lines between Anglo-Catholicism and Evangelicalism helpful. In my parish ministry, the most vital and grounded folks seem to have combined the two – Scripture & Tradition, a grounded fervor of spirit & intellect. I also see no mention of Anglo-Orthodoxy as a viable influence, which I very much believe it is! Theosis, some Eastern views of the Trinity, and a conciliar hierarchy have been very helpful to Anglicans.
2) How were past renewal/revival movements begun? Was it the spontaneous synergistic energies of God in the People of God (i.e. did it ‘just happen’)? Was it an inspired administration and stewardship of skill (i.e. was it ‘planned’ or ‘organized’)? I can’t answer that myself, though I suspect either/or isn’t the answer.
On this last point, I suspect that gathering a cohort with similar convictions and a common mission is key. I’ve heard of several conferences that have done this, but the synergism (i.e. fervent communion) seems to dissipate soon after the attendees have gone their separate ways.
So how can a common community focused on these missional principles of renewal be created and sustained?
Do you have any idea how boring this all sounds?
The main reason people don’t like going to church, any church? The tedium.
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I would add with some of the other commenters that one of the needful things for Christians of every denomination is a greater grounding in the patristic literature. To that end, this group Read the Fathers might be of interest to you.
Which form of current versions of faith did that of the early Christians most match? That may hold a clue, if the goal is to regain their fervor.
But, on another note, I wonder if you realize how judmental it is to assume those outside ones particular spiritual view lack a sense of mystery and awe? I find this offensive, as do many who have realized that all of that is wonderfully present with or without ancient myths, or with any sort of myths one might choose, or with none of them at all.
Reblogged this on A DARING ADVENTURE.
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