laudable Practice

'Christ has always been in Christmas.' So says a new campaign by the Church of England .  Reassuring, isn't it? The established Church has decided to confidently challenge the prevailing secularist presentation of Christmas as a midwinter commercial festival, 'liberated' from its unfortunate Christian roots, repackaged in a manner that conforms to the norms of ideological multiculturalism and EDI concerns. Except, of course, that this is not at all the intention behind the Church of England campaign. 'Christ has always been in Christmas' is not directed at secularism. It is, rather, directed at the disreputable anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson and - that new spectre haunting the Church of England hierarchy - ' Christian Nationalism ' (a desperately confused concept with little real meaning in the United Kingdom and Europe).  Odd, isn't it, that the Church of England has found its voice now. After decades of cold, haughty aloofness to cult...

Today's post is part of an occasional series on paintings which capture experiences of magisterial Protestantism. The picture found at the head of this blog, William Teulon Blandford Fletcher's 'Sacrament Sunday', c.1897, is a particular example of this. I have previously posted on ' Preaching to the Congregation ' by German artist Jacobs Alberts, c.1910. This post reflects on two paintings from the 1860s by Norwegian artist Adolph Tidemand (b. 1814, d. 1876). Both depict the administration of Holy Communion to the dying, according to the rites of  Den norske kirke , the Church of Norway. They provide us with significant insights into magisterial Protestant piety. This is particularly evident in an important detail in the paintings. In both cases - and this, I think, must surely be Tidemand's informed intention - they portray the chalice being administered to the dying. This expresses the importance to the magisterial Protestant traditions of communion in bo...

Recent days have witnessed the Church of England yet again clumsily demonstrate the default progressive views of its senior hierarchy. With widespread and significant public concern regarding illegal immigration - immigration has overtaken the economy as the primary concern of UK voters - the Archbishop of York responded to Reform's proposal for deporting those who illegally entered the UK by saying "we should actively resist the kind of isolationist, short term kneejerk 'send them home'". In other words, illegally entering the UK should carry no sanction. Attempting to control the UK's borders, according to the Archbishop of York, is "isolationist".  As one commentator stated, the Archbishop's statement "is not part of Christian teaching, it is not a logical outworking of any Christian principle ... It is just the personal view of a generic leftish middle-class English person in 2025". There is significantly increasing public disdai...

It was odd that the Presiding Bishop of TEC chose the Fourth of July this year - the 249th anniversary of the United States declaring its independence - to denounce and renounce "the Protestant tradition of patriotism ... as a tool of dominion". One might wonder why "the Protestant tradition of patriotism" is the particular target of the Presiding Bishop: Catholic and Orthodox patriotisms, after all, cannot be seriously claimed to have avoided the failures known to the Protestant tradition. As for the Presiding Bishop suggesting that TEC in 2025 equates to the Confessing Church in Nazi Germany, this is nothing more than the progressive version of  Eric Metaxas'  partisan manipulation of Bonhoeffer - equally unserious, no less delusional. Leaving aside the fact that this clumsy stance only succeeds in handing over to others the formative and influential "tradition of Protestant patriotism", it is also reveals a deep dislike of the heritage of the Prote...

On 28th June this year, as every year, the very fine St. Michael's Church, Charleston , South Carolina, observed ' Carolina Day ', recalling the Battle of Sullivan's Island - fought on the same date in 1776 - which marked the first victory for the forces of the Continental Congress.  The service was Morning Prayer from the BCP 1662, the liturgy which would have been in use in St. Michael's throughout the Revolutionary War - with, of course, the prayers for the monarch removed (as they would have been in this church in 1776, more of which below). The collect of Independence Day was used, giving thanks for the liberty secured by the Revolution: O Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn:  Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who ...

Members of the General Synod heard a debate brought by Burnley vicar Father Alex Frost, calling on the Church of England to be 'bold and ambitious' in its work to attract people from working class backgrounds to lay and ordained vocations ... He said ... "On the ground, in working class communities, there is some wonderful and outstanding work going on, that is fighting injustice, that is saving lives through foodbanks and community projects, that is educating children and standing up for the most vulnerable people in our society." Backing the debate brought by Fr Frost, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said there were many 'inbuilt prejudices and barriers' to welcoming people from outside the Church ... "There are so many – in our system – inbuilt prejudices and barriers and cultural difficulties," he said ... Bishop Mark Tanner, Chair of the Church of England’s Ministry Development Board, welcoming the debate, emphasised that vocations wer...

Let me begin this post with an assumption that will be rejected by some readers of laudable Practice , but affirmed by other readers. Observing Pride is an understandable aspect of the public ministry of TEC.  On previous occasions , I have rather robustly called for TEC to be much more aware and respectful of the social conservatism of the Red states and regions in which it ministers. A failure to do so risks TEC declining yet further into the irrelevance of progressive sectarianism.  At the same time, TEC also obviously ministers in deep Blue states and metropolitan areas - and is the only Mainline Protestant tradition in which a majority of its members vote Democrat .* With Pride now an established civic commemoration, particularly in such contexts, there is a case for TEC affirming those aspects of Pride - the dignity of gay men and lesbian women, their contribution to civic life, and their place in the church's life - which cohere with a Christian moral vision. (I will n...

From the 1872 primary visitation charge of William Connor Magee, Bishop of Peterborough, a classic Old High account of the heart of the Reformation of the Church of England - the restoration of the rights and liberties of a national church: As a Church National, moreover, our Church of England has her inherent and inalienable rights and powers, as distinguished from those of the Church Catholic of which she is a part. The visible Catholic Church is not a despotism, it is a Confederation of independent States, "a republic," as it has been called, "composed of many monarchies," in which each State, that is to say, each National Church, has, if we may so speak, its own distinct and independent State rights. What these rights are, as defined by our own Church, we shall presently have occasion to consider: enough if I observe at present that it was the assertion of these, far more than of any particular doctrines, which was of the essence of the Reformation. Doctrinally...

Dear friends, we have come together on this day to commemorate the anniversary of Victory in Europe. We come together conscious of our need for God’s forgiveness for the sin and the desire to dominate others that leads to conflict between people, and war between nation ... We gather joyfully  today, as those who gathered on that first Victory day, glad of each other's  company, and grateful for the laughter and love that follows times of sadness  and loss Such is the sterile, flat and distinctly uninspiring introduction to the Church of England's ' Outline Service for VE Day '. If this was not bad enough, there are the suggestions for the prayers - written by someone who appears to have been absolutely determined not to acknowledge the need for victory over Nazi Germany: Prayers may include the following:  - an expression of sorrow for the atrocities of war;  - that former enemies may be forgiven,  - that we may be freed from feelings of fear, revenge,...