laudable Practice

On Christmas Day 1710, Francis Atterbury's preached his ' Sermon on the Incarnation of our Lord '. The sermon set forth why the "Doctrine of the Day" brought forth festive joy, as we share in the in praises of the angelic host: All Thanks and Praise therefore be given given to him, that our Tongues can possibly express, or our Hearts conceive! Abraham, at a mighty Distance, and upon a very Dim and Imperfect View of it, rejoiced to see this Day:  The Angels, who themselves had no Interest in this Deliverance, yet were highly pleased with the Prospect of those Blessings it derived on their Fellow-creature, Man; and therefore sang that Hymn on this Occasion, which the Evangelist has Glory be to God on High, on Earth Peace, Good-will towards Men. And shall not We, for whose Sake this Peace was sent on Earth, and to whom all this Good-will was meant, shall not We also give Glory to God on high, and rejoice before him with Reverence? Surely this is News, at which (as Is...

Our  Advent series of Marian reflections from Jeremy Taylor's The Great Exemplar concludes with the Nativity. Taylor draws us to behold the intimacy of Nativity, implied in Saint Luke's words, "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn": She had no ministers to attend but angels, and neither her poverty nor her piety would permit her to provide other nurses; but herself did the offices of a tender and pious parent. She kissed him, and worshipped him, and thanked him that he would be born of her, and she suckled him, and bound him in her arms and swaddling bands; and when she had represented to God her first scene of joy and eucharist, she softly laid him in the manger, till her desires and his own necessities called her to take him, and to rock him softly in her arms. And from this deportment she read a lecture of piety and maternal care, which mothers should ...

My three favourite books of 2025 were not only all written by Anglicans. They also have each something significant to say to contemporary Anglicanism.  Fergus Butler-Gallie's Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings That Made Christianity is an excellent reflection on place within Christianity. Church buildings, particular locations, national identity: the theological significance of each is considered. The book, then, provides a most welcome and necessary alternative to those voices who would suggest that none of these actually matter for Christian faith. But the thing is that as soon as a person encounters God in a place, it becomes a somewhere. Christians call these 'somewheres' churches.  God in Christ, we might say, makes Anywhere to be Somewhere. To be more precise, God in Christ makes every Anywhere to be Somewhere. This, the book suggests, is the significance of the Incarnation occurring in the provincial backwater of Bethlehem: Bethlehem, therefore, i...

For many us, this coming Sunday will be be marked the service of Nine Lessons and Carols. The late Sir Roger Scruton described it, in  Our Church  (2013), as "that quintessentially Anglican ceremony". With this in mind, and to aid the "quintessentially Anglican" character of this glorious expression of popular Anglicanism, I am offering a laudable Practice check list for the service, heartily formed by my own prejudices.  1. Keep the traditional readings. There are, of course, alternative reading schemes. Common Worship offers 'Good news for the poor' and 'The Gospel of Luke'. Both are rather trite and entirely fail to rival the traditional scheme's proclamation "of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious redemption brought us by this Holy Child". With four of the readings from the Old Testament, the traditional scheme ensures that the Lord's Nativity is rightly understood within the c...

That it may please thee to illuminate all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of thy Word; and that both by their preaching and living they may set it forth and shew it accordingly, We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord. This petition in the Litany has, I think, a particular resonance in Advent Ember Week. Many bishops, priests, and deacons will be preparing Christmas sermons during this week. As they prepare to preach on the great festival of the Incarnation, it is right that this petition in the Litany is offered with particular intention, that the truth of the Incarnation will be proclaimed from pulpits at Christmas. 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 ... The petition in the Litany is not only a prayer that error will not be taught from pulpits by bishops, priests, and deacons in Christmas sermons; it is also a prayer that the saving truth will be procla...

At 10pm on the Sundays of Advent, the prayers, psalms, and anthems of Compline are to be heard on BBC Radio 3 . As Gerry Lynch said in his Church Times review, "these seasonal broadcasts of Compline continue to be a reminder that radio does not need to be pacy to be engaging". Amidst the ecclesiastical, domestic, social, and commercial activities of the season, these broadcast services of Compline offer thirty minutes of contemplation on Sunday evenings, rooted in the Church's prayer and the Advent hope. It is an immersion in prayer and liturgical music that calls us to be still.  There is nothing rushed, loud, or demanding. We are invited to a stillness as distractions abound, even late on a Sunday evening. It is in the stillness that the words and music of Compline hold us before the One who is, and was, and is to come.  The broadcasts reflect the generous ecumenism of the Anglican choral tradition, with texts, music, and composers from across the Christian traditions....