Trinitytide, An Evensong

Evening comes late, yet even the darkened earth refuses to shake off the moist heat hanging over the backyard. It is as though the Lord has spread a warm wool blanket over the earth and all His creatures. Even the oppressive heat of the day cannot remove our enlightened spirits as we pray evening prayer. Nor can the setting sun and enveloping darkness overcome the sparkles of stars descending upon our backyard. These stars descend upon my family and me in the backyard: the lightning bugs have arrived. It’s Trinitytide. “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness; let the whole earth stand in awe of him.” 

Doves continue their love songs, cooing back and forth. Slowly their whimsical tales of love fade into the early evening as the Southern pines emerge with the cascade of cicadas picking up in their rhythm and subsequently abating. Back and forth. The echoes of God’s creation surround us. “O Lord, open thou our lips. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.” 

Between the ever-prevalent and evergreen pines rises the maples and oaks. The Japanese maples are finally shedding their maroon color and transforming – transfiguring – into a perfect green. Everywhere it is green. Life is everywhere. The Trinity is everywhere. “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” 

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Formulating Orthodoxy: The Centrality of Canon Law for Common Prayer and Doctrine

NOTE – This article is available for a limited time at The North American Anglican before it will solely be available through the printed version of The North American Anglican Journal. Check it out while you can.

The general deviation from a standard does not justify ignoring a standard. Unfortunately, this is precisely what we find in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as laity and clergy alike wholly ignore or are ignorant of the Anglican formularies codified within the Constitution and Canons of the Province. Canon law is the fundamental source of authority for our formularies and statements of our faith. Failure to abide by these formularies and statements of doctrine and worship leads to deviations from the standard. Widespread ignorance of the governing documents of the Province does not render the formularies nonauthoritative. Instead, ignoring the authorities embedded in canon law renders one out of line with the canons and subject to potential disciplinary action. Contemporary Anglicanism has avoided the third mark of the church – “the right use of discipline”^[1] and adopted a libertine “live and let live” ethos, resulting in unnecessary doctrinal confusion and ecclesial doublespeak.

As my seventh-grade science teacher emphasized, “Words have meaning.” Words govern multiple matters within our lives, such as interpreting contracts, Scripture, and doctrine. Redefining or ignoring the written word causes confusion and imperils the faith and the faithful. One letter (“i”) in a single word (“homoiousios”) made the difference to St. Athanasius and the orthodox fathers of the First Council of Nicaea, the difference between the catholic faith and Arian heresy. The decisions of the universally accepted ecumenical councils maintained the boundaries of orthodoxy through carefully formulated words. Since “words have meaning” and our Lord commands us to let our “yes” be “yes” and our “no” be “no,”^[2] then it is crucial that our Province and the orthodox global Anglican movement be centered on the “literal and grammatical sense”^[3] of our formularies.

This article’s purpose is to demonstrate why canon law is fundamental to defining orthodox Anglicanism and requires enforcement if Anglicanism is to have an identity. We will begin by exploring the meaning of canon law and how it defines the rule of faith. Next, we will explore a brief history of canon law and early church orders before the Reformation. This exploration will bring us to contemporary canon law at the provincial and diocesan level, using ACNA and the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy (JAFC)^[4] as examples. This article will explore the organization of the Anglican Communion and its ability, or inability, to enforce doctrinal statements within the GAFCON movement. Finally, we will acknowledge the role of canon law in defining ACNA’s formularies and thereby articulating North American Anglicanism.

DEFINING AUTHORITY

“Canon” comes from the Greek word for yardstick or measuring rod.^[5] Therefore the Church uses the term “canon” to refer to Holy Scripture, for it is the ultimate and true measuring rod of our faith. Additionally, the Church refers to its own law as “canon.” Before we review the Church’s canon law, however, this fact leads us to another question: What is the Church? Where does authority derive from? Let us turn to the second part of the Homily of Whitsunday from the Second Book of Homilies:

The true Church is an universal congregation or fellowship of God’s faithful and elect people built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the head corner stone. And it hath always three notes or marks, whereby it is known; pure and sounds doctrine, the Sacraments ministered according to Christ’s holy institution, and the right use of ecclesiastical discipline. This description of the church is agreeable to both the scriptures and God and to the doctrine of the ancient fathers so none may find justly fault therewith.^[6]

Anglicans concur that the Church is “one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic” as we confess in the Nicene Creed. During the Reformation, the Church of England further pinpointed that the means by which the church maintains its catholicity is preaching of the Word and delivering of the sacraments. But far too often Anglicanism has forgotten the third mark of the Church: ecclesiastical discipline. When a church neglects to apply the measuring rod, heterodoxy or heresy is preached; the sacraments are abused and not delivered; unlawful ministers are wrongly appointed or go without reprimand; scandals arise; and thus the standards are abandoned. The marks of the Church are lost, and it becomes questionable at best whether a particular church remains part of the one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic body of Jesus Christ.

Because the Church is tasked with maintaining the “faith once delivered,”^[7] it must lay forth guardrails protecting and passing on Christ’s doctrines. When disputes arose in the early church, measuring rods as to orthodoxy and orthopraxy were made after bishops gathered in council, and we call these statements, canons. Canons are necessary to define doctrine, defend doctrine, and discipline deviants therefrom. Simply put, canons keep us within the bounds of orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Originally, canons flowed forth from the decisions of councils. For example, ecumenical councils and lesser synods would publish canons after convening.

Presently, we use the term “canon” for instruments more akin to bylaws, but nevertheless they reflect the doctrine and the discipline of the church. Arguably, some rubrics in the Book of Common Prayer are canons, since they prescribe doctrinal teaching and impose restrictions upon clergy and laity alike. Such are the “Black Rubric” within the 1662 Book of Common Prayer^[8] and the requirements regarding excommunication.^[9] Currently, when the bishops gather as the College of Bishops at the Provincial (ACNA) level – or at GAFCON when they have a gathering (typically every five years) – they issue “statements” instead of canons.^[10] Although the church has at times changed its terminology or the manner in which it issues canons, canons and canonical statements reflect the doctrine and discipline of the church. When rightly crafted, canons are rooted in the Holy Scripture and catholic tradition. Therefore, they truly are a measuring rod, a yard stick, and a guide to each of us.

An Ambrosian Moment

“This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of bishop, he desireth a good work.”
1 Timothy 3:1 (Authorized Version)

St. Paul encourages St. Timothy as he is discerning appropriate episcopal candidates that should the man desire the position, he is reaching out for it, it is a beautiful undertaking to want. However, St. Paul then explains the qualifications for a bishop. The standards cannot be any higher, as Scripture holds, he must be: 

Blameless, a faithful husband only to one wife, vigilant, sober in an age of addiction, behaving as a Christian ought, prone to feed and house the stranger, a teacher, not struggling with alcohol, not violent and striking others, not seeking worldly riches, instead a patient man, not one to start or pursue a brawl, nor coveting with his eyes and heart, but one who governs his own household well and able to lead his children, not a new Christian who is ripe for Satan to lift “up with pride [and] he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” (1 Timothy 3:6, AV). Finally, the man selected must be respected by those outside the church, for the bishop represents the body of Christ wherever he goes and whatever he says or does.  

These qualifications from 1 Timothy 3:1-7 are extensive and disqualify the majority of men from eligibility. Further, these standards require deep reflection and prayerful reflection by the ACNA College of Bishops as they elect the next Archbishop from among their ranks. (Article X, Section 3, ACNA Constitution). Since all the candidates are bishops, theoretically each of the men present is required to meet St. Paul’s standard reflected in Scripture. I pray it is so. However, because we are all sinners it further demonstrates why we must join Archbishop Foley’s request for prayer and fasting as we approach the election. 

My prayer is simple: Lord, grant the electors the wisdom and discernment to see who you are calling to serve as Archbishop. May he reflect the Ordinal’s call to “teach and exhort with wholesome Doctrine, and to withstand and convince the gainsayers” and “banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God’s Word.” (The Ordinal).

Read the rest at The North American Anglican.

Whither Goes Anglicanism? Diagnosing the Disease

A Review of The Rev. Dr. Charles Erlandson’s Orthodox Anglican Identity: The Quest for Unity in a Diverse Religious Tradition

WHERE ARE WE HEADED?

The trajectory of Anglicanism is bleak or blossoming – depending on how you define Anglicanism. The Rev. Dr. Charles Erlandson provides a multifaceted definition for Anglicanism after weighing a variety of possible definitions along trajectories of ecclesial, normative, practical, and historical lines in his book, Orthodox Anglican Identity: The Quest for Unity in a Diverse Religious Tradition. The long title of this book indicates how difficult it is to adequately, much less sufficiently, and succinctly define Anglicanism. The Rev. Dr. Erlandson’s analysis is crucial for understanding why under the banner “Anglican” there exists contradictory diversities and dual “integrities” – much to the confusion of outsiders. This inability to articulate and define Anglicanism as a comprehensive and singular entity or theology frustrates non-Anglicans and Anglicans alike. Difficult as it may be, the Rev. Dr. Erlandson provides the clearest and most succinct definition of Anglicanism presently available: “Anglicanism is the life of the catholic church that was planted in England in the first few centuries after Christ; reshaped decisively by the English Reformation that reformed the received catholic traditions and also by the Evangelical and Catholic Revivals and other historical movements of the Spirit; and that has now been inculturated [sic] into independent, global churches.”[ii] However, such a definition fails to reveal an Anglican ethos that can guide orthodox Anglicans in the 21^st Century and beyond. Before such a definition can be realized, Anglicanism’s present crisis must be properly diagnosed before a more sufficient and clear description can be articulated.

TROUBLE DEFINING ANGLICANISM

The ultimate definition chosen by the Rev. Dr. Erlandson is historical in nature, albeit through a healthy lens of the three stages (and emerging fourth stage) of Anglicanism he outlines in his work.[iii] Unfortunately, he rejects a normative definition in favor of a historical definition. He rejects a normative framework due to the present crisis in Anglican identity – namely the failure of ecclesial authority to enforce Anglican formularies.[iv] But this begs the question. Anglicanism’s present crisis, nay its disease, is a failure in ecclesial discipline enforcing its normative identity. Were Anglican provinces and the Anglican Communion as a whole to agree to enforce its normative foundations, the formularies, then it would not suffer from the disease of being ill-defined due to lax canonical discipline. As the author notes, “Anglicanism may be defined in terms of two kinds of formularies: general and special.”[v] These formularies include the universal catholic orthodox Church formularies[vi] and the uniquely Anglican formularies: “The Book of Common Prayer (especially the 1662), the Ordinal, the Thirty-nine Articles, and the canon law” of Anglican churches.[vii]

Defining Anglicanism – actual Anglicanism and not those who merely use the term “Anglican” in their name or as a description of their ecclesial tradition – must occur at the normative level.

Read the rest at The North American Anglican