laudable Practice

In truth, I don’t much care for memorial services. The purpose of them is to speak well of the dead; literally, to eulogise. Such events work well for the powerful, the famous and the righteous. “A man of rare ability and distinction, rightly honoured and celebrated, he ever directed our attention away from himself,” said the Dean of Westminster of Prince Phillip. Memorial services don’t require much religion either, which is part of their popularity in a secular age. They are sandwiches of hymns and readings and speeches — and songs can be easily substituted for hymns, poems for Bible passages. So said Giles Fraser in a recent Unherd column.  I happen to profoundly disagree.  It is noticeable that while Cranmer's Burial Office - quite rightly - has a robust focus on grace in Christ and the hope of the resurrection through Christ, Anglican funeral sermons quickly recognised the need to pay tribute to the deceased.  Consider, for example, Jeremy Taylor's sermon at the fun...

The 1662 proper preface for the Easter Day and its octave proclaims of Christ that "he is the very Paschal Lamb, which was offered for us".  During Easter Week I came across Thomas Lancaster's The Right and True Understanding of the Supper of the Lord (1550), a thoroughly Reformed expression of sacramental theology. Lancaster - certainly one of the 'hotter' sort of Protestants - was consecrated Bishop of Kildare in the Church of Ireland in 1550, later becoming Archbishop of Armagh under Elizabeth.  Lancaster, anything but a Hooker-like advocate of the Elizabethan Settlement, is not exactly normal reading material for laudable Practice . What struck me while reading this work, however, was the passage below and its comparison of the Sacrament of the Supper with the Passover lamb.  It communicates something of the Reformation recovery of the significance of eating and drinking - rather than watching - the Sacrament, the power of the "Take and eat this, Drink t...

Responding to the Puritan critique that daily use at Mattins and Evensong of Benedictus , Magnificat , and Nunc Dimittis equated to repetition of the angelic greeting to the Blessed Virgin  ("the Ave Maria"), and thus it was not appropriate "to make ordinary prayers of them", Hooker offered a powerful defence of the use of these Gospel canticles as "the most lucent testimonies that Christian religion hath" ( LEP V.40.2). In doing so, however, he also referenced the fact that alternatives were offered from the Psalter for each of these canticles - Psalms 100 ( Jubilate ), 98 ( Cantate Domino ), and 67 ( Deus Misereatur ) respectively - "and in every of them the choice left free for the minister to use indifferently the one or the other".  The alternative provision from the Psalter had been introduced in 1552, retained in both 1559 and 1662. The fact that they were retained in the Prayer Book - when Puritan proposals for reform of the liturgy wer...

From  A Course of Sermons, for the Lord's Day throughout the Year , Volume I (1817) by Joseph Holden Pott - associated with the Hackney Phalanx - an extract from a sermon for the First Sunday after Easter, on the disciples encountering the Risen Christ on the road to Emmaus.  Reading this passage, it is difficult not to think of similarities with Newman's Sermons Plain and Parochial , which itself reminds us that Newman's theologically rich and engaging preaching stood in continuity with earlier Old High preaching, rather than contrasting with supposed 'High and Dry' sermons. ... a wide field opens to our view at this season, when we stand, as it were, between the periods of our Redeemer's resurrection and his return to the realms of light; and when the public offices and service of our Church invite us to commemorate that term of our Lord's continuance in the scene of his ministry and converse upon earth ... the state to which we belong, is by avowed profes...

The peace of Easter At early Communion on Low Sunday, 2022  John 20:19-31 “Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’ … Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you’ ... [And a third time] Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’." At one level, 'Peace be with you' was an ordinary, everyday Hebrew greeting: wishing another flourishing and well-being. The circumstances, however, give these words of the Risen Jesus deeper meaning. The circumstances mean that these words are much more than a pleasant formality. They speak of what the Resurrection means; of what Easter means. The words have deep roots in the Scriptures of Israel.  When the Prophet Isaiah glimpses the time of the Messiah, he describes him as “Prince of Peace”; he speaks of the Messiah’s reign inaugurating the time of peace, when swords are beaten into ploughshares, the wolf living with the lamb. Jesus, on the night of his betrayal, had drawn on this when he said to the di...

From  A Course of Sermons, for the Lord's Day throughout the Year , Volume I (1817) by Joseph Holden Pott - associated with the Hackney Phalanx - an extract from a sermon for Easter Day. Here we see the lively sacramental piety of the pre-1833 Old High tradition, with the Holy Communion received on this greatest of feasts being the means by which our participation in the Risen Christ is "sealed and effected": They began to apprehend the special operation and effects of his triumphant resurrection, as it formed a demonstration of the life to come, and as it became the earnest and commencement of that living intercession by which men were invested with the benefits of Christ's death as a sacrifice for sin, and enriched with every other privilege of his glorious kingdom. It was then that the measures of divine grace, which had been before applied in secret streams, and by smaller currents, began to be poured out, and openly entailed upon that Church which was quickened a...

Many thanks to the North American Anglican for publishing my essay ' Do we need the Easter Vigil? The liturgical and theological coherence of an Old High Easter Eve '.  The essay emerged, firstly, from my own experiences of the Vigil in smaller congregations and, secondly, from serving in parishes which do not observe the Vigil.   To be clear, this essay is not for those who observe the Vigil and who do it well.  It is for those of us who do not observe it, assuring us that the liturgical and theological coherence of a traditional Prayer Book Easter Eve has much to commend it. Below, the section of the essay which considers Ante-Communion on Easter Even. Alongside Mattins and Evensong, there is also the Ante-Communion of Easter Eve. Ante-Communion on this day has a particular resonance, gathering the Church before the Tomb, “the grave, and gate of death,” in the knowledge of the Resurrection. It orients us towards and assists in preparing us for the celebration of t...

Cranmer's translation of the pre-Reformation Good Friday collect - derived from the Gregorian Sacramentary - allows us to pray this ancient Christian prayer of the Lord's Passion in noble vernacular.  Indeed, Cranmer enhances the ancient prayer, its opening words Respice domine quaesumus super hanc familiam tuam becoming the more memorable, poetic, and evocative 'Almighty God, we beseech graciously to behold'. The 'graciously' also tenderly reminds us that it is grace which is supremely manifested in the Cross; it is grace alone which gathers us before the Cross. Similarly, at the collect's conclusion,  et crucis subire tormentum ('the torture of the cross') becomes the more wholesome 'and to suffer death upon the cross', restoring a Scriptural and patristic sense of the Cross in place of a reference which could have been understood as expressing an unhealthy late medieval Latin cult of the agonies of the Crucified. This short meditation on...

From  A Course of Sermons, for the Lord's Day throughout the Year , Volume I (1817) by Joseph Holden Pott - associated with the Hackney Phalanx - an extract from a sermon for Good Friday.  Here Pott appears to make reference to the custom of not celebrating the holy Sacrament on Good Friday, regarding this as a means of emphasising the commemoration of the Lord's sacrifice, for "our humble sacrifices of praise" (a reference to the Prayer of Oblation) are "not in addition to the one great sacrifice". And thus we offer eucharistic praise and thanksgivings -  "our bounden and perpetual duty" (again, echoing the Prayer Book Holy Communion) -  on Easter Day,  amidst "the joy and triumph of our Redeemer's resurrection": In a word, the whole history of our Redeemer's passion, this day recited in our ears, sets forth, at how great a price that violation of the sacred law and righteous government of God, and that fatal injury done to the n...

The first lesson at Mattins on Tuesday of last week was Numbers 6, concluding with the blessing to be given by the Aaronic priesthood: "On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel". Calvin's commentary on this - "And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them" - applies it to the Church's ordained ministers:  The promise, which is finally subjoined, gives assurance that this was no empty or useless ceremony, when He declares that He will bless the people. And hence we gather, that whatsoever the ministers of the Church do by God’s command, is ratified by Him with a real and solid result; since He declares nothing by His ministers which He will not Himself fulfill and perform by the efficacy of His Spirit. Reading Calvin's words immediately brought to mind those of Cranmer in the absolution at Morning and Evening Prayer: Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desireth not the death of a sinner, but ra...

Amongst the general principles highlighted by the 2019 report by the Faith and Order Commission of the Church of England, God's Unfailing Word: Theological and Practical Perspectives on Christian-Jewish Relations , is a recognition of the "gift" of the relationship between Christianity and Judaism: The Christian–Jewish relationship is a gift of God to the Church, which is to be received with care, respect and gratitude, so that we may learn more fully about God’s purposes for us and all the world. This gift has, however, often shamefully been obscured or denied in the Church's life and witness, as recognised by a further general principle: Christians have been guilty of promoting and fostering negative stereotypes of Jewish people that have contributed to grave suffering and injustice. They therefore have a duty to be alert to the continuation of such stereotyping and to resist it. In light of these principles,  God's Unfailing Word rightly questions the status o...

From  A Course of Sermons, for the Lord's Day throughout the Year , Volume I (1817) by Joseph Holden Pott - associated with the Hackney Phalanx - an extract from a sermon for the Sixth Sunday in Lent, Palm Sunday.  Yet again, the sermon is significant testimony to the observance of the liturgical calendar in pre-1833 Anglicanism, and the presence of a lively liturgical spirituality. ... let us learn to make that use of the sacred narrative, which the present season more especially demands. Let us be careful to improve the opportunities for prayer, and to cultivate, as we shall be able, these hours, which are so particularly set apart for forming good resolutions, and for repairing that which may have been neglected. Let us not refuse the call to self-examination, to vigilance, to religious exercises of those kinds more especially, which are best fitted to that portion of our lives, when we are invited to consider the particulars of those sufferings which were undertaken for ou...

From Donne's Sermon CXXI , on 2 Corinthians 5:20, a deeply Laudian account of the orders of the ecclesia Anglicana,  stressing succession, the sacramental nature of holy orders, and the power of the ministerial priesthood. And no less like the Laudians, Donne explicitly states that this view of Anglican orders is "not to disparage, or draw in question any other of our neighbour churches", the non-episcopal Churches of the Reformation.  It is an important example of how the Laudian view of episcopacy, order, and the non-episcopal Churches stood in continuity with with earlier Conformity. When our adversaries do so violently, so impetuously cry out, that we have no church, no sacrament, no priesthood, because none are sent, that is, none have a right calling, for internal calling, who are called by the Spirit of God, they can be no judges, and for external calling, we admit them for judges, and are content to be tried by their own canons, and their own evidences, for our mi...

Following on from last week's post on Bramhall and the non-episcopal continental Churches, an important passage in which Bramhall describes the absence of the episcopacy in Calvin's Geneva as "out of necessity": No more did Calvin himself out of judgment, but out of necessity, to comply with the present estate of Geneva, after the expulsion of their Bishop: as might be made appear, it were needful, by his public profession of their readiness to receive such Bishops as the primitive Bishops were, or otherwise that they were to be reputed " nullo non anathemate dignid "; by his subscription to the Augustan Confession, which is for Episcopacy ... by his confession to the King of Polonia - "The ancient Church instituted Patriarchates, and assigned primacy to single provinces, that Bishops might be better knit together in the bond of Unity"; by his description of the charge of a Bishop that should join himself to the reformed Church, "to do his end...

From  A Course of Sermons, for the Lord's Day throughout the Year , Volume I (1817) by Joseph Holden Pott - associated with the Hackney Phalanx - a sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent. This extract is yet further evidence of the ascetic seriousness which can be found in pre-1833 Anglican Lenten preaching, suggesting something rather different to the Tractarian critique of the supposedly 'High and Dry' tradition: Let us then be careful how we misapply the pleas of natural infirmity. Let not the sense of weakness lead us to forget the remedies which are placed within our reach; the remedies of grace and truth; the remedies of seasonable recollections, of humble thoughts, and timely exercises of religious culture. Above all, let us learn to despise the gross folly of pretended frailties, when the sad and voluntary servitude to base and unworthy objects of pursuit is manifested in our whole choice, and evident in all our conduct.  The lowest estimate which we can frame of the h...

... hugely inspiring worship ... dramatic liturgy ... awe-inspiring architecture ... The finest choral music in the world ... or making music with fellow musicians in a worship band has been even more profound. My sense of being led by the Holy Spirit in a common purpose has taken me to a level which one could only experience worshipping God. The words are from a recent blog post examining experiences of public worship, entitled ' Boring Ourselves to Death '. While the above extracts emphasise experiences of the inspiring and the dramatic, the post also addresses quite different experiences in the Church of England: That said, I’ve also been bored and, at times, deeply frustrated at what passes for worship. Sometimes, preaching has been dull, or liturgy has been badly led. Other times, music has been poorly executed. Occasionally, I’ve sensed a complete lack of joy or engagement from those leading or worshipping. As suggested by the title, 'boring' worship is the target...

The Aroma of the Passion of the Lord At the early Eucharist on Passion Sunday, 2022 John 12:1-8 “For the day of my burial.”  The words of Jesus in the Gospel reading for this Passion Sunday starkly tell us that the focus of Lent is shifting. Shifting from the forty days in the wilderness to the journey towards Jerusalem ... The journey towards the crowd and the trial, betrayal and denial, Cross and Tomb. Jesus talks of his burial after one of his disciples, Mary of Bethany, anoints him with incredibly expensive perfume. The Gospel notes, “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume”. The aroma filled the air, a sign of the deep significance and rich meaning of what was about to unfold. We also get more than a hint of that deep significance and rich meaning when we consider that this is at the beginning of only chapter twelve of John’s Gospel, with its twenty-one chapters.  Eleven chapters have reflected on the three years of Jesus’ public ministry.  The next te...

Accused by a Roman apologist of avoiding discussion of continental non-episcopal Protestant Churches, Bramhall's response shares the generosity - contrary to generalisations often made in historical accounts - of other Laudian responses .   To begin with, in rather Hookerian fashion, invokes Proverbs 6:16f, an exhortation against behaviour and attitudes which are "an abomination unto" the Lord, significantly concluding with "him that soweth discord among brethren".  This immediately signals how Bramhall the Laudian views the continental Protestant churches: "brethren". Bramhall then points to those foreign Protestant churches which were episcopal: "the Bohemian brethren, the Danish, Swedish, and some German Protestants, all which have Bishops".  This was a characteristic Conformist and Laudian reminder that significant portions of the continental Protestant churches had an episcopacy. Turning to the non-episcopal churches, Bramhall robustly r...