Thursday, April 24, 2008

Meditation between hospital appointments: Posture: Standing or Kneeling

By both modern liturgists and leaders of the praise-and-worship movement, we have been told that STANDING is the right and normal posture for the Sunday Eucharist of the Christian assembly. In the presence of God, they teach, the people of God normally stand—even as standing has been common in general culture in the presence of an authority figure.

There are, of course, biblical texts which describe people standing both to hear the Word of God read and also to pray. Then, in the early centuries of the Church, standing for worship was the norm and this was interpreted as being counted worthy to stand in the presence of God because of being united to the Resurrected Lord Jesus.

The same “experts” do not deny a place to KNEELING but, following general practice of the early centuries, say that it belongs particularly to times of prayer and fasting, penitence, and time of intense personal prayer (e.g., Jesus in Garden of Gethsemane). It is not to be used in Sunday worship and thus kneelers, hassocks and the like have disappeared—anyone who insists on kneeling does so on the floor!

So why was it that Anglicans were taught for four hundred years—stand when clergy enter, to sing, to hear the Gospel and recite the Creed; sit to hear the Epistle & sermon; and kneel to pray (be it thanksgiving, confession or petition)?

The answer has two sides: (a) the combination of standing, kneeling and sitting was practical and could be easily supported by biblical practices; (b) the primary posture of kneeling in the presence of God for prayer was inherited from the medieval Church.

In the West, there was a gradual but sure change from standing to kneeling as the primary posture, from the end of the patristic period into the early Middle Ages. Opinions differ as to why this move from a “community of celebration” to “a community of penitence” before God actually occurred, and as to how deep was the difference. One thing is clear is that a change occurred.

SITTING (apart from the bishop in his cathedra) is seen both by the “experts” and traditionalist Anglicans as not proper for Prayer (except for the disabled etc.). However, it is the proper posture for hearing, meditation and reflection.

Can anything be said in these days of innovations to defend the traditional Anglican posture of kneeling to pray? Is it merely and only the left-over of the medieval penitential mindset?

Here is my brief answer: Missing from the modern claim that we should follow the practice of the Church in the early centuries and make standing the primary posture is this— a failure to notice where modern western culture is, and to be realistic as to how posture is interpreted today. In other words, what standing symbolized then it may not now, and, indeed, standing may well point in a different direction today.

We agree that what dominates western culture is our absorption with rights –natural rights, civil rights and more importantly human rights. We stand in our self-worthiness and self-justification not desiring to be judged worthy by another for, we think, in and within ourselves we have that worth: we are worthy already by our innate dignity as human beings.

In this context, then kneeling is surely the primary posture we need to use for worship in order to help teach ourselves that before God we are not worthy, that we rely utterly on his mercy in Jesus Christ to be counted worthy before him. (Prostration would also work but it would be problematic in church buildings.)

“O come, let us worship and fall down and kneel before the LORD our Maker,” is the exhortation of Psalm 95.

END

drpetertoon@yahoo.com www.pbsusa.org

Friday, April 18, 2008

NO MORE TRACTS FROM TOON TO READ!

For over five years I have sent out tracts, meditations, and short studies; and several thousands of them are stored here and there. Not a few made their way into magazines and parish bulletins; some were sent on to people all over the world, and yet others became the first draft of part of a booklet or book. Happily most of these thousands of 1,000-word pieces are now forgotten.

This will be my last missive into cyber space—i.e., sending out in bulk, via the web, of a short message. I am retiring from this activity, which I have enjoyed and which has kept me alert and busy! There is much going through my mind that I could write about but the time is right now to stop where I have still much to say!

Also I shall be retiring later in 2008 from editing The Mandate (which I have done for 12 years) for The Prayer Book Society of the U.S.A. Further, my term as President of the PBS of the USA and Board membership run out this year. I rejoice to see a team of much younger persons taking the helm at the PBS.

As some of you know, I have had several major setbacks to my bodily health recently. Happily, I am not confined to bed and do seek to work a normal day! But I have not got the physical stamina that I had a year or six months ago.

In a few days time, I am due to spend 3 days as an outpatient at Boston University Hospital, at its specialized Amyloidosis Research and Treatment Center. Amyloid is a rogue protein produced by the human body, which seems only to exist in order to seek to injure or destroy primary bodily organs like brain, heart, kidneys and so on. Why, and how, one gets this rare disease, which affects only a minute proportion of the population, is a mystery. (But see the Service for the Visitation of the Sick in The BCP 1662 for a clue as to the why for baptized Christians!) Specialist centers dealing with it are very few in the U.S.A. and there are none in the Pacific NW, where we live. Thus the visit to Boston on the East Coast is going to where we know the experts are.

There is no known cure for this disease, but there are ways of slowing down or stopping its effects in those persons, where it is not already too advanced.

Thank you for your interest and attention. In your charity, kindly remember us in your prayers.

Goodbye and God bless you.

Peter
drpetertoon@yahoo.com Easter III, 2008

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

God and sickness according to The Book of Common Prayer

There are occasions over the centuries in the revision and “enrichment” of an edition of The BCP that the existing service is so radically changed as virtually to qualify as a new service. Such is so with regard to the Visitation of the Sick in The BCP 1928, where the inherited 1662/1789/1892 service is radically changed. “The Office for the Visitation of the Sick has been so changed as to be hardly recognizable in its new form. As it appeared in the old Prayer Book it was so gloomy, so medieval in its theology and so utterly lacking in any understanding of the psychological approach to sick persons, that it had almost ceased to be used in the church”, wrote one distinguished commentator in 1929; and he added, “In the new Book the whole tone of the service has been revolutionized.” Let us see whether or not he is right.

Traditional doctrine, BCP 1662
Let us notice what theological principles are presupposed or articulated in the Visitation of the Sick in The BCP 1662:
  1. God the Father is the Creator and Sustainer of the cosmos and the One who, by his providence, guides the lives of nations and individual persons.
  2. For the sake of Jesus Christ, God the Father forgives, cleanses and adopts as his children, those who receive the Gospel and repent of their sins.
  3. In Paul’s words, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:29)
  4. In the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
  5. Therefore, whatever happens to a child of God is either directly willed or directly allowed by the sovereign grace and providence of God the Father.
  6. So a baptized believer, a child of God, catches a disease or becomes seriously ill by the express will or permission of God, who has his own gracious purpose in it.
  7. The right response from the sick child of God is to be humble, penitent and trusting, expecting the church to pray for him and minister to him in his sickness.
  8. Since God is THE LORD prayer for the sick cannot simply demand recovery or renewed health. Rather this prayer must be submissive, asking the Lord to minister to his sick servant and do for him what is according to the divine will, which will always including forgiveness and may include restoration to health.
Here is the address that the Minister may actually use as is, or as a guide, in speaking as a pastor to the sick person:

Dearly beloved, know this, that Almighty God is the Lord of life and death, and of all things to them pertaining, as youth, strength, health, age, weakness, and sickness. Wherefore, whatsoever your sickness is, know you certainly, that it is God’s visitation. And for what cause soever this sickness is sent unto you; whether it be to try your patience, for the example of others, and that your faith may be found in the day of the Lord laudable, glorious, and honourable, to the increase of glory and endless felicity; or else it be sent to you to correct and amend you in whatsoever doth offend the eyes of your heavenly Father; know you certainly, that if you truly repent you of your sins, and bear your sickness patiently, trusting in God’s mercy for his dear Son Jesus Christ’s sake, and render unto him thanks for his fatherly visitation, submitting yourself wholly unto his will, it shall turn to your profit, and help you forward in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting life.

Here the relation of the baptized believer with his heavenly Father by adoption and grace is a primary thought, and so sickness is placed in a large context, that of a vocation leading to everlasting life, which begins in this life and has no ending, for it is in and with the eternal God. In some cases the sickness appears to be unto physical death and so appropriate prayers are provided, along with absolution and the provision of holy communion.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this Service was increasingly seen as too much in the tradition of the medieval Service of Extreme Unction (but without the anointing oil) that it replaced: that is, it was seen as having in view more the person, who seemed to have a severe sickness unto death. rather than the person with a sickness, that was known to be possibly curable by God’s healing power acting directly or through means.

A change of mood
Thus from at least the beginning of the twentieth century, many parish priests believed that the Visitation of the Sick was not a suitable service to use. So what was called “revision and enrichment” of it began. and this is seen in the new edition of The BCP in Canada (1922) and then in all the further proposed and accepted revisions of The BCP of the century (e.g., England 1928, U.S.A. 1928 and Canada 1962).

Here, we enter a different sense of the relation of the heavenly Father to each baptized believer, his adopted child, than is present in The BCP 1662 service. Though God remains the LORD of life, grace and providence, the experience of sickness or disease as directly sent, or allowed, by God as the Father as the expression of his chastisement, or a means of discipline, is absent. Any indication that sickness and disease are anything other than unwelcome intruders into the life of the believer in an imperfect world is not suggested. It is, however, recognized as a minor theme that they do provide opportunities for growth in grace and spiritual maturity.

Further, the presence of sin in each and all of us, both sick and healthy, is assumed as a fact, and opportunity for confession by the sick person and absolution are provided. So also is the laying on of hands and the anointing with all. But there is no specific connection of personal sin with personal sickness. Prayer is offered for health of both soul and body, and both are presumed to be God’s normal provision for his children in this world, with the exception of that final sickness which is preparatory to death (and for which prayers are provided). While The BCP 1662 proceeds always in the assumption of healing “if it be thy will,” this is not obviously so in the more recent services.

Here are the first two prayers in the American service:

O Lord, look down from heaven, behold, visit, and relieve this thy servant. Look upon him with the eyes of thy mercy, give him comfort and sure confidence in thee, defend him in all danger, and keep him in perpetual peace and safety; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hear us, Almighty and most merciful God and Saviour; extend thy accustomed goodness to this thy servant who is grieved with sickness, Visit him, O Lord, with thy loving mercy, and so restore him to his former health, that he may give thanks to thee in thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

One of the forms of words for use in anointing with oil, or laying on of hands (or both), reads:

I anoint thee with oil [I lay my hand upon thee] In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; beseeching the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all thy pain and sickness of body being put to flight, the blessing of health may be restored unto thee. Amen.

And here from the Canadian Service two prayers:

O Lord and heavenly Father, who dost relieve those who suffer in soul and body: Stretch forth thine hand, we beseech thee, to heal thy servant N., and to ease his pain; that by thy mercy he may be restored to health of body and mind, and show forth his thankfulness in love and service to his fellow men; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Almighty God, giver of health and healing: Grant to this thy servant such a sense of thy presence that he may have perfect peace in thee. In all his sufferings may he cast his care upon thee, so that, enfolded in thy love and power, he may receive from thee health and salvation, according to thy gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Canadian form of words for the anointing with oil concludes thus: “May God of his great mercy restore unto thee health and strength to serve him, and send thee release from pain of body and mind. May he forgive thee all thy sins, preserve thee in all goodness, and bring thee to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The Scriptural basis for anointing is grounded in James 5:14-16 and Mark 6: 7, 12-13, either of which may be read at the laying on of hands with anointing.

In 1978 the Lambeth Conference passed the following Resolution on the Ministry of Healing:

The Conference praises God for the renewal of the ministry of healing within the Churches in recent times and reaffirms:

1. that the healing of the sick in his name is as much a part of the proclamation of the Kingdom as the preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ;
2. that to neglect this aspect of ministry is to diminish our part in Christ's total redemptive activity;
3. that the ministry to the sick should be an essential element in any revision of the liturgy.


Perhaps we may say that this Resolution overstates its point in order to bring attention to it!

The Gospel of forgiveness and cleansing with acceptance as a child of God surely is primary!

Brief Reflection
Obviously many advances in the understanding of the origin and nature of disease and sickness, as well as in public health and the treatment of disease, were made between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. And the practical experience of these advances, taken for granted in western life, can make the possibility of having a sense of a specific, personal intervention of God in the lives of all of his adopted children, with respect to health and sickness of the mortal body, difficult to hope for or justify.

We have moved as it were from thinking in terms of primary causation (BCP 1662) to secondary or tertiary causation at best (1928 & 1962) with respect to considering how God deals with us and allows sickness to visit his adopted children, to whom he has already given the gift of everlasting salvation and life. Further, it appears that we do not see this life, and its ups and downs, so clearly and obviously in the light of our eternal vocation in Christ, as did our foremothers and forefathers. Our sense of God as the present, active Creator and Preserver of the cosmos and of his Providence ruling our lives seems weak in comparison with that of our Christian fore-parents—after all we are all children of the Enlightenment.

Yet, though there is no little or no sense of direct divine agency with respect to the arrival in God’s children of sickness and disease in the theology of The BCP 1928 and 1962, there seems to be present in that theology a sense of direct divine agency with respect to the gift of healing and restoration to full health. The wording of prayers for healing, and the form of words for anointing, suggest a distinct, clear relation to God as the healer, who either sends healing directly or through means (medicine and the like), and both in direct answer to petition made.

The doctrine of The BCP 1662 (following the major Christian traditions, Catholic and Protestant at that time) is of personal, direct causation by God both for the gift of healing (“if it by thy will”) and for sickness as a sign of the gracious, correcting, chastising grace and mercy of an eternally loving heavenly Father. It is of course the latter, which is wholly absent from editions of The BCP of the twentieth century, as well as the many other newer forms of liturgy of the Anglican Churches of the same century, which is a real problem for many.

But does this loss/omission matter? I strongly suspect that it does, for it appears that we have encouraged in popular “charismatic” and “evangelical”, in these days of “rights monism,” the view that it is a human right for any Christian to pray to, and “demand” of God, instant healing and health—“heal now, Lord, in Jesus’ Name! Amen.” Of course, the truth of the matter is that we have no rights before God! We begin by fearing him in order that by grace we may learn to love and adore him. Bodily healing is a gift not a right, and without spiritual renewal of the mind, bodily health may not be a blessing at all.

END
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Monday, April 14, 2008

The Queerness of Jesus' Body: modern TEC doctrine

Peter Toon

Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass, lists this course for its June 2008 Term. (EDS trains future Episcopal clergy, and where I was a guest lecturer there when John Booty was aa professor there in the 1980s.)

the link is:
http://www.eds.edu/sec.asp?cat=1&page=125


T 3150 Queer Incarnation
Jordan
7:00-9:00 pm
The incarnation is sometimes presented as an arithmetic problem: What do you get when you add some divinity to a human body? But thinking about incarnation has to start much further back, in the realization that accounts of Jesus show us how little we understand about either divinity or bodies, much less about how bodies can show, act, and becomes divine. Just here and theology of the incarnation can learn from works of queer theory and the writings of queer thinkers. The body of Jesus- despised, de-sexed, and yet miraculously distributed- invites us to an exchange of bodies along the margins of human power and its certainties. We will think about the queerness of Jesus? body with the help of some traditional texts on incarnation and passion (Athanasius, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Julian) and much more recent work on gender performance, bodily transition or transformation, and the rituals of camp.


Another EDS page,

http://www.eds.edu/sec.asp?cat=7&page=14

explains that their worship 'draws on the Book of Common Prayer, but also incorporates inclusive and expansive language liturgies...'

The Episcopal Church has been talking about creating such liturgies for many years, beginning with its 1979 Prayer Book where the process began in earnest, but it got bold in doing so in the 1990s.

a book to read!

From Christianity Today's Books and Culture:

"Both Read the Same Bible"
Mark Noll on the Civil War as a theological crisis.
by Robert Tracy McKenzie


The Civil War as a Theological Crisis
Mark Noll
Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2006
216 pp., $29.95
Only in the last ten to fifteen years has the serious study of the Civil War's religious dimension become commonplace. Thanks to scholars such as Mitchell Snay, Steven Woodworth, James McPherson, Richard Carwardine, Eugene Genovese, and Harry Stout, we now know much more than ever before concerning the role of religious bodies and religious beliefs in the unfolding of the sectional crisis.

On the crest of this historiographical wave comes The Civil War as a Theological Crisis, the latest work from the nation's premier historian of Christian thought. In the opening pages, Mark Noll explains that his goal is not primarily to shed light on the causes or course of the war but rather "to show how and why the cultural conflict that led to such a crisis for the nation also constituted a crisis for theology." That crisis centered on two questions: what the Bible had to say about slavery, and what the conflict seemed to suggest about God's providential design for the country. Although "both read the same Bible," as Lincoln famously observed in his second inaugural, Protestants North and South discovered that "the Bible they had relied on for building up America's republican civilization was not nearly … as inherently unifying for an overwhelmingly Christian people as they once had thought." In the end it was the force of arms, not the Word of God, that would resolve the sectional dispute.

READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW

Anglicanism in North America--polity and liturgy, especially written for folks abroad

Peter Toon

On the old Anglican map of the world, North America comprised two provinces , both in communion with the Church of England through the See of Canterbury, and both in the Global Anglican Communion. They were the Anglican Church of Canada and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the U.S.A.

In 2008, many Anglicans (Episcopalians) around the world both in the North and in the South still use this old map. However, a growing number uses a revised map, which is not yet stable for revisions continue monthly. The revised map indicates that the Anglican Way is no longer solely represented by two national provinces, but that five other provinces of the Global Anglican Family have entered the territory, and are seeking through missions to create their own outposts in North America. Their arrival may be traced to three sources: partly by invitation from dissident locals, partly by their distaste of the innovatory, religious agendas of the two provinces, and partly out of their own missionary spirit. In mid-2008 these provinces are: Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and the Southern Cone of South America. In their entry into North America, they treat the two resident provinces as no longer authentically Anglican in doctrine and morals, and thus they neither seek permission to enter or on entering seek to cooperate.

To understand the new map aright, we need also to be aware that before the arrival of these overseas provinces on American soil, there were other, small Anglican groups usually known as “The Continuing Anglicans.” They are found in several small jurisdictions in both Canada and the U.S.A. (e.g., the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, and in the U.S.A., the Anglican Catholic Church, The United Episcopal Church and The Anglican Province of Christ the King). Their origins were in secession from the two provinces in 1977. However, since these traditionalists had nothing to do with the Global Anglican Communion, they were not normally included on the Anglican map of that Communion. Further, they have had very little if anything to do with the seceders from The Protestant Episcopal Church in the twenty-first century, that is with the Episcopal dissidents who have been embraced by the overseas provinces in the last few years.
When one asks what kind of liturgies are used in the varied churches found on this map, then one receives an answer which points to pluralism. Let us try to indicate the main content of this pluralism.

(a) In Canada both in some parts of the Anglican Church of Canada and throughout the “Continuing churches” (from 1977 or before) the primary prayer book used is The Book of Common Prayer (1962) of the Anglican Church of Canada. This is a revision of the classic, English edition of 1662.
(b) In Canada both in most parts of the Anglican Church of Canada and throughout the churches that have recently allied with overseas provinces, the primary prayer book used is known as The Book of Alternative Services (1985).
(c) In the U.S.A. in the “Continuing churches” the primary prayer book is The Book of Common Prayer (1928) which is an edition of the American form of the Prayer Book, first issued in 1789. This is also used in a few parishes of The Protestant Episcopal Church.
(d) In the U.S.A., in The Protestant Episcopal Church the primary prayer book is known as The Book of Common Prayer (1979). This represents a new kind of prayer book with multiple alternatives and varied theologies, very different from the traditional Book of Common Prayer. The Canadian Book of Alternative Services is based upon it. Also used in this Church are newer liturgies, approved locally by diocesan bishops, which incorporate basic concerns of modern, progressively liberal liberationism and feminism.
(e) In the U.S.A., in the new Anglicanism, outside the Protestant Episcopal Church and usually in some relation to an overseas Anglican province or diocese, the primary Prayer Book is that of the Church that the seceders have left, The Book of Common Prayer (1979); and also there is some use of the prayer books of the overseas Anglican provinces working in the U.S.A. (e.g., the 1995 Prayer Book of Nigeria which is similar to the 1979 American one). A growing number are beginning to use An Anglican Prayer Book (2008) which is a contemporary language form of the classic “Book of Common Prayer” services as used in North America over the centuries, in the editions of 1662, 1928 and 1962.

So we have the situation both in Canada and the U.S.A. where most of the recent seceders continue to use without hesitation, and as part of their “orthodoxy,” the very prayer book of the Church they have left behind, and also the very prayer books that certainly gave the context and support for many of the innovations pursued by these Churches from the 1970s to the present.

There is, however, some recognition that a sound theological basis is needed by the new Anglicanism. To this end the Common Cause Partners (dissident and seceding groups in relations with overseas provinces) have drawn up such a basis which includes the classic Anglican formularies, those of the Church of England of 1662, and the very formularies written into the constitution of many provinces of the Global Anglican Communion. There is little evidence as yet that this is seriously guiding the forms of liturgy used in the new Anglicanism.

[The Prayer Book Societies in both the U.S.A. and Canada seek both to make Anglicans of all kinds aware of their strong tradition of Common Prayer, and also to encourage them to use it both for personal devotion and public worship, via one or other of the three editions of the classic Common Prayer Tradition known and used in North America—the editions of 1662, 1928 and 1962. These three belong to one distinct family of Anglican liturgy, whereas the American 1979 and the Canadian 1985 books represent a new and unstable form of modern liturgy with ecumenical roots and constantly open to revision to accommodate evolving concerns.]

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One of the finest prayers of The BCP (1549, 1662, USA 1928)

A meditation by Peter Toon on, The Collect for The Second Sunday after Easter:

Almighty God, who has given thine only Son to be unto us both a sacrifice for sin, and also an ensample of godly life: Give us grace that we may always most thankfully receive that his inestimable benefit, and daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Almighty God, you who have given your only Son to be for us both a sacrifice for sin and also an example of godly living: Give us grace that we may always most thankfully receive this amazing sacrifice, and also attempt daily to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.]

[The Epistle is 1 Peter 2:19-25 (Christ who suffered for us.), and The Gospel is St John 10:11-16 (The good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.) ]

This Collect was written by Archbishop Cranmer for The Book of Common Prayer 1549. It has been well said that “with two masterly touches it summarizes the whole benefit of Redemption, consisting of a sin-offering and a perfect example. “ Further, that no less happily, “it summarizes the duty of a Christian as consisting, first, in reception, and, secondly, in imitation.” We may say that the richness of thought compressed into less than sixty words is really remarkable. Further, it relates well to the content of the appointed Epistle and Gospel.

The Address:

The prayer is addressed to “Almighty God,” the first Person of the Blessed, Holy and Undivided Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. (Last week he was named, “Almighty Father.”)

In the Christmas Collect, we recalled that God the Father gave his Son, Christ Jesus, to us, sinful human beings, on the occasion of his Birth; and in the Easter 1 Collect, we recalled that God the Father gave the same Jesus to die for our sins and to rise from the dead (resurrection being like a second birth, but from the tomb).

And here we recall that Jesus was given by the Father as a sacrifice for our sins and also as a perfect example of a holy life, pleasing to God. These two go together in the Collect because they do so in the Epistle: “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in his steps.” The theologians of an earlier time spoke of the active and the passive obedience of Jesus: the active being his obedience to the Law of God and will of his Father throughout his whole life right up to his death on the cross, and the passive being his suffering as the slain Son of Man as Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

This double theme may also be expressed in terms of the theme of sacrifice as set forth in the Torah, the Law of Moses. There are three kinds of sacrifice: that for sin, being a propitiation and expiation of sin; that of dedication or consecration of self, or something belonging to the self, to God; and that of acknowledgement of God’s mercy or deliverance, a thank-offering. The life of Jesus and his death were sacrificial from beginning to end comprising all three senses.

The Petition:

We pray first for the grace not only to receive but to receive with thanks what God has given, and gives us, for our eternal benefit in Christ Jesus, our Sacrifice. Reception and faith are one, for “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). To believe on, and to trust in, the Name of the Lord Jesus is the same as receiving him as the Son of God incarnate, Saviour of the world. There is a sense that we are always at the foot of the Saviour’s Cross even as we are also always with Christ the Lord in the heavenly places.

Faith is only real when it is faithful; faith works by love; and so to believe on the Lord Jesus is also of necessity to follow him, in his very footsteps. The verb used by Cranmer “daily endeavour ourselves” is a reflexive verb and not in use these days. However, its meaning is clear, to make a genuine daily effort, as assisted by the grace and Spirit of the Lord, to live a godly live in imitation of the Lord Jesus himself.

Let us both trust and obey relying on what God the Father has given us in the active and passive obedience of his incarnate Son.

April 6, 2008 2nd Sunday after Easter. www.pbsusa.org www.anglicanmarketplace.com

END

Thursday, April 03, 2008

GAFCON and AKINOLA

A section of the Pastoral Letter to the Anglican Church of Nigeria from its Primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola, dated April 2nd

“GAFCON

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) was introduced in our earlier pastoral letter written from the Bishops retreat in January. The planning of this conference, coming up in Jerusalem in the month of June, has reached an advanced stage. The choice of Jerusalem as the venue is to take us back in a pilgrimage to the biblical and historical roots of our faith to draw inspiration in the face of major attempts to undermine the sufficiency of Scripture by some of our brothers and sisters in the West. Knowing that this is not merely a cultural or theological struggle alone, but more importantly a spiritual battle, we urge earnest and concerted prayers that the Spirit of the Lord will show us the way ahead for our beloved Anglican Communion.
When the proposal was first discussed in January, we were staggered by the enormity of the cost, but we trusted that if God hand was in it, He would provide. Indeed the Lord has gone beyond our expectations by raising up from among us those who have felt sufficiently committed to the need to preserve the sanctity of our historic faith that they have committed huge resources to cover all the cost of the conference. May our gracious God reward these people abundantly and may they never be confounded as they continue to trust in Him and give themselves to His glad service.


The Bishops also resolved that Dioceses that had paid the required amount but have an outstanding balance in their Endowment Fund commitment should have their accounts credited with the money meant for the travel costs. This should enable us to make further progress in our desire to resource our Seminaries and other major projects in our vision. This will be a tremendous blessing to the seminaries where our clergy are trained. We have made resources available to meet their most critical needs so that our candidates for ordination and the future shepherds of our church will be well prepared for their ministry without being subjected to the usual handicaps in their training. We hope our postulants and the staff of the seminaries will reward this gesture.”

Comment on the above:

First,
The choice of Jerusalem as the venue is to take us back in a pilgrimage to the biblical and historical roots of our faith to draw inspiration in the face of major attempts to undermine the sufficiency of Scripture by some of our brothers and sisters in the West.

1 On the choice of Jerusalem
There is no suggestion at all in the extensive writings of St Paul in the NT that Christian Faith for Gentiles requires any physical relation at all to the so called “holy land” or “the city of David.” For Paul, our mother is the new Jerusalem which is above (Galatians 4:26)!

Certainly pilgrimages to the sites referred to in the OT and NT began in the fourth century and continued thereafter. However, to refer to the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem as “the biblical roots of our faith” is misleading. Our Faith is only and totally in our God and Father and in his Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and as an evangelically-minded pastor Peter Akinola obviously knows this. A visit to Israel may increase our appreciation of the context and background of the Bible; but faith comes from hearing and receiving the Word of God, wherever one is located to hear. 99 per cent or more of baptized believing Christians have never been to Jerusalem!
So why these notions of pilgrimage and roots of faith. The answer seems to be (from within the specific Nigerian context of Muslim presence) of the pastoral need of Christians having the dynamic equivalent of what the Muslims have in their required pilgrimage to Mecca in Arabia. If you like, taking a leaf out of the Muslim book!

2 Drawing inspiration and recovering a sense of the sufficiency of Scripture
In classic Protestant thinking, the sufficiency of Scripture relates primarily to what the books of the Bible deliver to us concerning salvation from sin and everlasting life, and the type of living in this world that necessarily goes with receiving such a gift of grace. It is a sufficiency of the biblical message of faith and related conduct by the church and each Christian and not – except by extension—sufficiency in terms of historical and geographical information.

See the Ordinal of the BCP 1662, the question of the Bishop to the man to be ordained priest which speaks eloquently of the sufficiency of Scripture.

It is true that the modern TEC seems not to believe in the sufficiency of Scripture for the purposes stated in the Ordinal; but, adds to the Bible the category of modern “Experience,” as the joint basis of faith and conduct.

A question? Is not Peter Akinola adding “experience” to the sufficiency of the Bible by the way he speaks of this “pilgrimage” to Jerusalem? If one does not go one appears to be missing out on something fundamental! Possibly Evangelicals like progressive liberals can make mistakes!

Second,
Knowing that this is not merely a cultural or theological struggle alone, but more importantly a spiritual battle, we urge earnest and concerted prayers that the Spirit of the Lord will show us the way ahead for our beloved Anglican Communion

A Spiritual Battle
Probably Peter Akinola, certainly a man of fervent prayer, has in mind the famous passage of St Paul in Ephesians 6, where he speaks in detail about the whole armor of God and clearly explains that we wrestle not against merely earthly forces, but rather against evil spiritual forces, which seek to do to us eternal harm. There is little doubt from an evangelical perspective that the whole modern agenda about same-sex relations and its claims to scriptural support arise from Satanic influence upon contemporary church thinking; thus he is absolutely right to call for sustained and fervent prayer for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.
And it is prayer for the Anglican Family that it may walk forward in the right way in the right path, a path where it is not invaded and possessed by devilish doctrines, innovations, practices and ceremonies.

From what the Archbishop and his spokesmen have said publicly over the last year, he already believes (as led by the Holy Spirit) that the future for the Anglican Family lies in being much more committed to the classic, biblical faith and evangelical mission, with deep social involvement with the poor and needy. It will also most probably include much less, or virtually, no leadership from the provinces of the North (West) which are, he knows, so influenced by secularization and have thus lost their moral right to lead the Family, as they have done hitherto.

The Lord shall provide
When the proposal was first discussed in January, we were staggered by the enormity of the cost, but we trusted that if God hand was in it, He would provide. Indeed the Lord has gone beyond our expectations by raising up from among us those who have felt sufficiently committed to the need to preserve the sanctity of our historic faith that they have committed huge resources to cover all the cost of the conference. May our gracious God reward these people abundantly and may they never be confounded as they continue to trust in Him and give themselves to His glad service.

The cost of this conference and pilgrimage is very expensive indeed! One week costs more than what the average Nigerian earns in a whole year! Then there is the high air cost in high season! But there is wealth in Nigeria with its oil and other natural resources and the Lord has provided by his own sovereign means the necessary costs for the bishops and their wives, plus others to go –and maybe enough to help the much poorer Ugandans and Kenyans and Rwandans.

In the sovereign providence and guidance of God, and under his abundant mercy may the Conference, whatever be its human weaknesses, be a real means of bringing needed reform and renewal to the Anglican Way worldwide!

drpetertoon@yahoo.com April 3 2008

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Pastoral Letter from the Church of Nigeria Standing Committee

Posted On : April 2, 2008 5:01 PM Posted By : Admin ACO
Related Categories: Nigeria

ACNS: 4385


The Most Revd Peter J. Akinola

My Dear People of God,

Alleluia, Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Alleluia. May the power that raised Christ from the grave continue to empower and inspire our witness for Him as we daily identify with His death and resurrection in our lives.

The Bishops and their wives, Clergy and Laity, representing all our dioceses, with the Mothers Union and Women Guild delegates came together for the Standing Committee meeting of our Church which was hosted by the Diocese of Nnewi. The Bishop, Rt. Revd Godwin Okpala and his dear wife, led the clergy and people of the diocese to give a warm welcome to us all. We are grateful for their generosity demonstrated in so many ways, and pray for God continual blessing upon the Diocese.

Our theme for the meeting was: Being in the World but not of the World, taken from our Lord high priestly prayer in John 17 (focusing on verses 14-19). The sermons and Bible Studies were drawn from the passage with penetrating insights and heart-searching applications.


We came under the conviction that our identity has been compromised in that our witness for Christ has suffered so much embarrassment and indictment from the watching world. We acknowledged that if our Lord should be physically present in the in the world to see the Church today, He would be shocked and utterly disappointed by the extent to which His Church has lost its identity. Hardly anyone in the Church is free from this serious spiritual sickness.

Leadership in the Church has often reflected the leadership style of the gentile rulers who lord it over their subjects rather than the standard of servant leadership commended and modelled by our Lord Himself. We have become so obsessed with an endless multiplicity of titles and positions without a corresponding passion for Kingdom values to advance the course of Christ. We reminded ourselves afresh that we are called to exemplify godliness in every sphere of life and teach others in society to do what is right before God. We must extol the dignity of honest work and legal enterprise as the means to acquire wealth in a way that honours God. We must beware of celebrating those who have acquired wealth through unwholesome means or those who have stolen positions through illegal processes. If we fail to condemn these serious issues we will lose credibility before those who should take our leadership seriously.

The Diaconate Ministry

At our General Synod in Ibadan in September 2002, we opened the door to those who sense a call to the diaconate ministry in order to fulfil that important caring ministry in our parish life. We are still waiting for the trailblazers in this venture. Much time has been devoted to further discussion with a view to clarifying the dimensions and potentials of this ministry. It is a biblical ministry that addresses a key point in our vision statement: ..a Church that epitomizes the genuine love of Christ We agreed that this is a vital ministry that must be implemented as soon as possible.

GAFCON

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) was introduced in our earlier pastoral letter written from the Bishops retreat in January. The planning of this conference, coming up in Jerusalem in the month of June, has reached an advanced stage. The choice of Jerusalem as the venue is to take us back in a pilgrimage to the biblical and historical roots of our faith to draw inspiration in the face of major attempts to undermine the sufficiency of Scripture by some of our brother and sisters in the West. Knowing that this is not merely a cultural or theological struggle alone, but more importantly a spiritual battle, we urge earnest and concerted prayers that the Spirit of the Lord will show us the way ahead for our beloved Anglican Communion.

When the proposal was first discussed in January, we were staggered by the enormity of the cost, but we trusted that if God hand was in it, He would provide. Indeed the Lord has gone beyond our expectations by raising up from among us those who have felt sufficiently committed to the need to preserve the sanctity of our historic faith that they have committed huge resources to cover all the cost of the conference. May our gracious God reward these people abundantly and may they never be confounded as they continue to trust in Him and give themselves to His glad service.

The Bishops also resolved that Dioceses that had paid the required amount but have an outstanding balance in their Endowment Fund commitment should have their accounts credited with the money meant for the travel costs. This should enable us to make further progress in our desire to resource our Seminaries and other major projects in our vision. This will be a tremendous blessing to the seminaries where our clergy are trained. We have made resources available to meet their most critical needs so that our candidates for ordination and the future shepherds of our church will be well prepared for their ministry without being subjected to the usual handicaps in their training. We hope our postulants and the staff of the seminaries will reward this gesture.

Polygamy in Our Church

As those who are in the forefront of the prophetic call for a return to biblical truth, we cannot close our eyes to the increasingly blatant disregard of the teaching of the Bible on family life. These aberrations will destroy our witness if not firmly addressed. We cannot claim to be a bible believing church and yet be selective in our obedience. We must all come under the authority of the whole Bible, whoever is involved. Indeed, any attempt to trivialize the clear teaching of the Bible will make a mockery of whatever else we stand for. The integrity of our faith is far more important than the reputation of those who turn their back on the word of God. Sadly sometimes, even our leadership has looked the other way on this matter.

Our time together in Nnewi has been a great blessing. We have seen God hand at work and to keep pace with what God is doing among us we have created eighteen new missionary dioceses and prayerfully elected bishops to serve them. It is a privilege to be members of the Church Nigeria at this time. All that we have heard and seen has encouraged us, we know that the Spirit of God is being poured out on us all.

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Every Blessing,

Signed

The Most Revd Peter J. Akinola
Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate of All Nigeria.

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Wednesday, April 02, 2008

ONE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER: Three Editions in North America

To speak of The Book of Common Prayer in The Episcopal Church [TEC], and in much of the new Anglicanism in the U.S.A. since 2000 (AMIA, CANA etc.), is to refer to that new and experimental prayer book that was authorized by the General Conventions of 1976 and 1979 and which therefore carries the date of 1979.

Before 1979, the same Episcopal Church (then known as The Protestant Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. [PECUSA]) called a rather different prayer book by the title, The Book of Common Prayer. This was dated 1928 because it was finally authorized by the General Convention of 1928. However, this prayer book was not a new prayer book; but a gentle revision of The Book of Common Prayer that had been the official prayer book of PECUSA since 1892. And to complete the story, the 1892 edition of The BCP was itself a gentle revision of the first edition of the American form of The BCP, dated 1789. So the editions of 1789, 1892 and 1928 are three of a kind, while the 1979 belongs to a new genre.

The differences between 1928 (together with 1892 and 1789) and 1979 are very obvious when the two are compared (see Appendix 1); and, further, the similarities of 1979 to other experimental prayer books in terms of structure and content and produced within the Anglican Family at this period are also obvious. However, the new prayer books in Canada, England, Australia and South Africa were deliberately not called The BCP but by another title to distinguish them from the traditional Book of Common Prayer.

If we cross the northern border of the U.S.A. and enter Canada, and there listen in to Anglican conversation, we learn the following. That “The Prayer Book” refers to that which is called “The Book of Common Prayer” and that which is called “BAS” is a book of services existing as an alternative to The BCP. Strangely “The Book of Alternative Services” of 1985 in Canada is very similar to “The Book of Common Prayer” of 1979 in the U.S.A. and both are very different from the official “Book of Common Prayer” of the Church of Canada.

If we cross the Atlantic Ocean and visit parishes of The Church of England. The situation is similar to that of Canada, although more up-to-date. “The Prayer Book” for everyone is the classic “Book of Common Prayer” used for centuries in this Church. The alternative to it was until 2000 known as “ASB” [The Alternative Service Book,1980], which is not unlike the American 1979, but since 2000 it has been the massive Common Worship in multiple volumes.

Let us now return to the United States and listen to conversation amongst members of The Prayer Book Society of the U.S.A. , parishioners in a small minority of parishes in TEC, and parishioners of parishes in what is called “The Continuing Anglican Church[es]” (origins in 1977 by secession from PECUSA). Here we hear references to “the 1928 Book,” and “the classical Prayer Book,” and “the real and genuine Prayer Book.” And this book is contrasted with “the 1979 Book.” What is going on here is that this people believe that the genuine form of The Book of Common Prayer is that found in the 1928 edition authorized by PECUSA and that the 1979 edition is a very different kind of prayer book. And some of this number would add that TEC gave the wrong title to the 1979 prayer book, arguing that the edition of 1928 should have been retained as The BCP and the 1979 prayer book called by a title that distinguished it from the historic, classic prayer book.

Now it is time to go back in history to the time when much of the East of North America was in British control as various colonies. As part of the British Empire, the official prayer book in the colonies for those who were not Nonconformists or Scottish Presbyterians was The Book of Common Prayer as used in the national and established Church of England, of which the monarch was the supreme governor.

Only after the revolutionary wars and the birth of the United States of America, did the former Church of England members of the thirteen former colonies organize themselves into what they called “The Protestant Episcopal Church of the U.S.A.” and begin the work of preparing their own form and edition of The Book of Common Prayer. This was approved in 1789. In Canada, which became independent later, the relation with the British crown continued after independence and so, when eventually a Canadian edition of The Book of Common Prayer was published in 1918, it was very different (e.g., in its prayers for the State than the U.S.A. edition of 1789 or 1892), for Canada was not a republic.

We are all familiar with the fact that significant books are both reprinted and also revised to make new editions—e.g., text-books and dictionaries. The Book of Common Prayer began its life in England as an official, printed book in 1549, was revised for a 1552 edition and then was further gently revised for re-publication at the beginning of the reigns of the English monarchs from Elizabeth I to Charles II. It has been re-printed hundreds of times. The edition of 1662 from the beginning of the reign of Charles II became the edition that went forth into the British Empire and was eventually translated in whole or part into over one hundred and fifty languages. It is still used widely especially in Africa, and is beginning to be used again in the U.S.A.

In North America since the arrival of the British in the seventeenth century and until the present, there has been the use of The Book of Common Prayer in one or another of its authentic editions—first of all, the English edition of 1662 until the end of the eighteenth century in the U.S.A., and in Canada until 1918; and the use of the 1789-1892-1928 editions in the U.S.A. with the use of the 1918-1962 editions in Canada. Both the U.S.A. and Canada have official alternatives to the classic BCP, in Canada the “BAS” of 1985 and in the U.S.A. the innovatory “Book of Common Prayer” of 1979. Regrettably TEC has effectively placed the 1928 edition in its archives, from which only a few in this Church recover it for use in public worship.

The Prayer Book Society of the U.S.A. (founded in 1971 as The Society for the Preservation of The Book of Common Prayer) exists to keep the BCP 1928 in print and to encourage its use with understanding. It also supports the use of the other two editions of the classic Common Prayer Tradition in North America, the 1662 (now being “discovered” by the new Anglicanism outside TEC and in relation to African provinces) and the Canadian 1962.

Visit www.pbsusa.org and www.anglicanmarketplace.com for more details.

[Note that AN ANGLICAN PRAYER BOOK (2008) published for use by the AMIA and its friends is a contemporary language attempt to bring together the main contribution of all these Three editions of TheBCP for use in North America, USA and Canada.

available from www.anglicanmarketplace.com or for bulk 1 800 727 1928]

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drpetertoon@yahoo.com April 2, 2008

What’s the Purpose of a Prayer Book?

You may say in reply, “What a silly question! You use a prayer book to pray.” But what if the question is: What is the purpose of The Book of Common Prayer in one of its classic editions (e.g., 1662)? Here the answer, “You use The BCP to pray,” is correct, but is only a partial and incomplete answer.

So is the answer, “The purpose of The BCP is to provide the text of the services of worship that Anglicans use in church services”? Or is it the longer answer, “ The purpose of The BCP is to provide the text of the services for public worship, for family prayers and for individual, personal prayer”?

Let us accept these two related answers and seek to clarify them as far as we are able.

First of all, we need to explain the fact that The BCP is the standard text and form of public worship in a given Church or Province. So The BCP is the Prayer Book of this or that specific Church. There is no BCP that stands alone in and of itself, for each edition is that of a Church or Province. Of course, other texts and rites may be authorized, but these are supplementary and not primary.

In the second place, we need state—and rather forcefully in these days where variety and choice are so highly valued— that The BCP with its multiple services and provision of collects and prayers is not intended to be used as a kind of quarry to take out of, or a resource to choose from, in order to provide a kind of mix-and-match product for use in church or anywhere else. The integrity of The BCP lies in its own internal structure and arrangement. There is a logic and flow to each of its services and to the order of them which, if disturbed, reduces the value and efficacy of the text.

Thirdly, The BCP in its original and definitive purpose is intended to be a godly provision — always hand in hand with the Bible in English — for the whole of the Year and for the whole of life. That is, it provides Daily Services for Morning and Evening (with required Bible readings, canticles, psalms and prayers) for every day of the year; The Litany for use on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays; The Order for Holy Communion for every Lord’s Day and Holy Day; Baptism for entrance into the Church and Kingdom of God; A Catechism to instruct youth; Confirmation for those baptized and instructed in the Faith; Holy Matrimony for those called to this honorable estate; Visitation and Communion Provisions for those who are sick, The Burial of the Dead for those who die as baptized Christians, and other things.

So the congregation has services for each and every day, and each and every Sunday and holy Day; and each person is provided the essentials beginning with baptism for his pilgrimage through life to the heavenly Jerusalem. All this together is intended to provide a godly discipline , leading to godly habits, for public worship, family life and personal discipleship. So all that is truly needed to walk in the way of holiness and to worship the Lord our God in the beauty of holiness is the guidance and structure of The BCP, which is always dependent upon the Bible, and which is read daily. Of course, these two essentials can be supplemented by additions such as a hymn or song book and appropriate music, but if any of these extras are treated as essentials, then the godly discipline is easily lost.

Unless I am mistaken, what is stated above is a message rarely passed on in today’s Anglicanism in the North or West. Nevertheless, though it is an ancient message, it is at the same time a message ever new to those who want to walk in the way of the Lord and within the Body of Christ, a fellowship where the saints of yesterday have a full vote today!

drpetertoon@yahoo.com www.pbsusa.com & www.anglicanmarketplace.com April 1.08

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