Category Archives: Community

Friday Random Shuffle

(h/t LutherPunk and Anastasia (Can’t wait to see her songs-about-death list (or LP’s for that matter…)))

  1. Nobody’s Fault but Mine (Zeppelin)
  2. Tourniquet (Evanescence)
  3. The fiery spirit (Anonymous 4 [Hildegard])
  4. Lullaby (Leæther Strip’s cover of The Cure)
  5. Out of This World [Oakenfold remix] (The Cure)
  6. 1000 BPM (Beck)
  7. The Song Remains the Same (Zeppelin)
  8. Missa Brevis-Credo (Palestrina)
  9. We’re in This Together (Goth Acoustic Ensemble covering NIN)
  10. Rock and Roll (Zeppelin)
  11. Passover (Joy Division)
  12. Jimmy Hickey’s Waltz (The Waterboys)

A Must-Read Post from Caelius

I commend for your immediate perusal and digestion the latest post by Caelius. In it, he ponders a number of truly important things.

It’s not just about youth in church and confirmation, more importantly he is fussing with the key question of what we are teaching our children and how do we do it. And, based on his experience at his current parish, he reveals the danger at the heart of an intemperate social gospel built on the fantasies of the Jesus Seminar and like groups: transformation of life does not occur because a person has affinities for the teaching of a nice guy who died in a political accident a few thousand years ago. Rather, transformation happens when a person encounters the resurrection power of the Living Christ. This the Christ we proclaim in every Office and every Mass, whom we take into ourselves in every Eucharist.

I’m all for being reasonable.

I’m all for being critical and reflective.

But when our reason and our reflection denies the clear evidence of the movement and power of the God present in our lives, that’s when we have some serious problems…

The Entourage Grows…

Some children, I’m led to understand, have imaginary friends; Lil’ G has an entire entourage.

Some of them like the infamous Va-Va and Do-Do are entirely imaginary, though with complete and complicated back-stories. (Like the time that Lil’ G married Va-Va, whence we learned that Va-Va 1) is a boy 2) from India.) Others like Claire and Keaney are real friends from school, some like Audrey are friends she had before we moved. Kizzy is among the entourage and after the recent meet-up with LutherPunk, we learned this week that his two are now among the crowd as well.

Anglican Monasticism

Fr. Marshall Scott of Episcopal Chaplain at the Bedside has a great article up at the Episcopal Cafe on Anglican monasticism. Two points struck me in particular.

First, the monastic orders are one of the Episcopal Church’s best-kept secrets—and they shouldn’t be… Those of us who have experiences with them need to talk about them and invite other people to learn about them too.

Second, I confess that in the past I’ve sometimes considered the Anglican orders to be something less than the Roman ones—that the Roman ones were somehow more real or authentic. But the lives and commitments of modern Anglican monastics are no less real and no less earnest than those of Roman monastics.

Today I’d like to lift up in particular three groups who have influenced me and who have taught me about the monastic heart of Anglicanism:

  • The Order of the Holy Cross. Also, don’t miss the blog by the Prior. From my time in New York and afterward, I’ve met or have corresponded with a number of people connected to the order either as monks or associates.
  • The Order of Julian of Norwich. This is an order whose cause is close to my heart—it values tradition in its worship and common life and seeks to make the riches of the contemplative life better known and meaningful to those of us on the outside.
  • The All Saints’ Sisters of the Poor. This is a very Anglo-Catholic order of nuns who maintain the traditional hours of prayer and are situated on a beautiful rural campus (more than suitable for retreats…)

Those of us who are devoted to the Daily Office and to the Benedictine way of life in general owe it to ourselves to not just be in conversation with books. And, as great as blogs and blog communities are, even they are no substitute for actually spending time absorbing the monastic spirit from those who have really committed to living that way. Look some of these up. Look over the full range, see who’s near you, and start making some connections.

Mainline Renewal in the Next Generation

Here in this corner of the blogosphere, we’re hard at work at implementing various strategies for renewing the mainline denominations in the generations that follow. At our house, Lil’ G (the three-year old) already knows the abbreviated Compline by heart and has been clamoring for us to teach her the abbreviated Morning Prayer.

Lutheran Zephyr and his lovely wife have decided on another option: they’re well on their way to breeding themselves a new synod. Congratulations!!

“Common” Prayer in the 21st Century: A Modest Carnival

As I noted previously, things are quiet so this will be a modest carnival for the time being. At the moment we only have a few entries—feel free to write something and drop me a line—we’ll get it added.

First up, we have a post from Caelius from the Monastery of the Remarkable English Martyrs. Caelius gives us Praying Amid A Series of Tubes where he tackles a number of issues beginning with the technology of liturgy and moves to its implications and what the future world will do to notions of community. As a result, he foregrounds continuity over either unity or uniformity.

Second, Mother M–my wife–has a guest post up here where she collects a number of thoughts gathered around the central questions of 1) what’s “common” about common prayer and 2) what is the place of the local and organic in relation to the common. She lifts up but does not resolve the tensionbetween the two–and the implications for the Anglican Communion. What Communion is there without a common ordo? She also does some thinking about the next BCP…

Which leads us to our third entry. Not written for the carnival, nevertheless Micah Jackson’s post at Speaking to the Soul, the spirituality blog of the Episcopal Cafe, also reflects on the next prayer book and the guiding criteria that have been in place and that will move forward into this new century.

Like Mother M, LutherPunk also thinks about the importance of ordo but in relation to Lutheran liturgical traditions of recent years. Ordo is balanced by the notion of adiaphora for a meditation on what is common and what is at the discretion of the congregation and its worship leaders.

My reflection thinks about the implications of common prayer on the coming shape of ecumenism and ecumenical discussions.

Fr. Chris Tessone has posted a piece in response to mine. Instead of a simplified rite as an ecumenical bridge–why not use one that already exists, that lacks the theological/sacramental barriers…and is spreading: the Daily Office.

The most wide-ranging and comprehensive comes to us from *Christopher at his new blog Betwixt and Between. *Christopher examines common prayer with an eye to lay participation in the world in a way not commonly experienced or discussed in America.

There are some good different directions represented here–and I’d love to see us continue the conversation on this topic. There’s more to be said on the relation between liturgical authority and uniformity in relation to the local and the organic as well as the issue of technology and liturgy addressing cultural change. In particular–I think it’d be great to see some more posts addressing these issues from Lutheran/Roman/Independent Catholic perspectives as well as more Anglicans… *nudge, nudge*

Let’s have a Party!

I’m intrigued by LutherPunk’s comment below about what he sees as the coming growth and development of local organic liturgies. Especially since he says in the context of ecclesial bodies with well-determined liturgical structures. I want to hear more about what he thinks on that. Furthermore–I’m wondering what the rest of us think–or hope–will be emerging as the Body of Christ continues to gather and form itself liturgical in the unfolding century. So–I’m announcing a blog carnival entitled:

“Common” Prayer in the 21st Century

You’ll note the quotes around the word common… I’m choosing to highlight that for a number of reasons. What does it mean for our prayer common in this day and age? What is the internet doing to our notions of common prayer? One of the hallmarks of the post-Vatican II era is the notion of indigenous liturgies; how does this fit into our understanding of common prayer? Furthermore, the denominational structures and lines that we currently inhabit will–I’m convinced–be shifting, perhaps radically, in the coming years. What will it mean to have common prayer between, across and along these? I ask in particular because the possibility of separated Anglican brethren seems but a few months away–what liturgical bonds of affection may we share? What if the much rumored motu proprio appears and the Tridentine Mass reappears on the scene; what might this mean for us all–on both banks of the Tiber?

All you have to do to participate is post something that relates to this wild mass of questions, and drop me a comment here or an email at haligweorc at hotmail before May 14th. As before, if you’d like me to post something here on your behalf, I’ll be happy to accommodate, just contact me…

So–smooth your wax, sharpen up your stylus, and drop me a note before the 14th!

Random Thoughts

  • bls had an interesting parish visit yesterday and thinks about the spread of “traditionalist-yet-welcoming” priests–specifically young women priests.
  • Speaking of young female “traditionalist-yet-welcoming” priests…M did some supply work yesterday at a parish in the area. (Did I mention “beautiful” in that list of attributes…?) It’s a very interesting parish; it’s a blend of long-time locals in what’s generously referred to as a “transitioned” neighborhood, some new people moving in with a revitalization initiative but the majority of the congregants are people with mental illness/special needs who live in nearby group homes. M had done spent a couple of months there several years ago and it was wonderful to see some of the faces and personalities I remember from that time. It was also wonderful to see M behind the pulpit and altar again (they have a nice east-wall altar but supply clergy don’t have the option of rearranging furniture) and to participate in a beautiful sung mass by some who takes the time to practice it beforehand…
  • Speaking of singing, looking at the Google click-throughs that have been directing people to the site, I think I may need to put up some resources on how to point various things for chanting and also something on Anglican chant.
  • I will also be putting up–as time allows–a page with some of the trial liturgies I’ve had here including the Anglican Offices of the Dead, a cleaned up version of my Anglican Lauds/Vespers (aka the commute liturgies), and an ordo for the standard BCP Offices. This one is my inspiration; while it presents a completely proper ordo that follows the intention of the Rite II service, I’ll post the version I use with Rite I that takes its cues from the 1662 book. It’s a version that tries to honor both the classical Anglican pattern while falling entirely within the rubrics of the current authorized American use. I’ll just warn you that time is rather limited; these may be a bit in coming…
  • If I had time, I might watch some movies… Two have come to my attention recently. The first is a review of “The Lives of Others” commended to us by Raspberry Rabbit. The other is, of course, Into Great Silence commended by quite a host of people including Caelius and, most recently, Anhaga of Old English in New York with whom I once sang Compline though neither of us knew it at the time…

The Ex- Church

Apropos the discussion on denominational demographics, I was thinking about another feature of the Episcopal Church… Of the people I know and hang out with–particularly online–I can think of very few cradle Episcopalians. Let’s think…
* I was Lutheran
* M was Presbyterian, then Methodist
* Anastasia was Conservative Evangelical
* The Twins were Methodist (then headed off to Rome after their Anglican stint)
* *Christopher was Pentecost than Catholic
* Gaunilo was Fundamentalist
* Texanglican was–something else (Baptist?)
* I don’t know what bls was raised–not Episcopal I think
Only a few remain as potential cradle Episcopalians (Caelius, Annie, etal.)

I wonder what this means or could mean for us as a church. On one hand, it means that we lack a certain institutional history. We are in danger of not knowing the whole story and of missing important parts of the heritage and tradition. Like…it’s easy for us to think Anglican=sacramental. But…how often did average non-Anglo-Catholic Episcopal churches celebrate Mass on Sundays; wasn’t Morning Prayer the normal Sunday service until this prayer book?

On the other hand we’re more likely to have convert-zeal. This is, of course, most common in Orthodox and Catholic converts, especally since zeal has some un-Episcopalian connotations. It might make you sweat on your seer-sucker suit, for instance–and we can’t have that…

I don’t know. I don’t have anything profound to say about it–I’m just wondering. How is this both a challenge and an opportunity? And if it is an opportunity, what do we do with it?