SUMMER A.D.

2020

VOL. 62 NO. 2

Raphael’s Transfiguration
in the Vatican Museum
 Published quarterly by the Society for Promoting and Encouraging
Arts and Knowledge of the Church (SPEAK, Inc.).

BOARD OF TRUSTEES
CHAIRMAN
THE REV. CHARLESTON D. WILSON
VICE CHAIRMAN
THE REV. CHRISTOPHER COLBY

SECRETARY/TREASURER
THE REV. DR. C. BRYAN OWEN
THE RT. REV. JOHN C. BAUERSCHMIDT,
THE RT. REV. ANTHONY J. BURTON,
MARIAN CHANCELLOR
THE REV. CANON NEAL O. MICHELL
DR. E. MITCHELL SINGLETON, HONORARY

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
THE REV. FREDRICK A. ROBINSON, EDITOR
THE RT. REV. ANTHONY F. M. CLAVIER, ASSISTANT EDITOR,

INQUIRIES AND CORRESPONDENCE

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do not necessarily represent those of the Board of Trustees.

ISSN 0003-3278 VOL. 62, NO. 2

PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

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2 anglicandigest.org
 Reflecting the words and work of the
faithful throughout the Anglican
Communion for more than fifty years.

connecting gathering telling

For sixty-two years, The Anglican Digest (TAD) has been the
leading quarterly publication serving the Anglican Communion.
From its inception, TAD’s mission has been “to reflect the words
and work of the faithful throughout the Anglican Communion.”
At a time when print editions are becoming an endangered
species, TAD remains a familiar presence in the homes and
offices of many Episcopalians.

Founded in 1958 by the Rev. Howard Lane Foland (1908-1989),

our heritage is “Prayer Book Catholic,” and is open to the needs
and accomplishments of all expressions of Anglicanism: Anglo-
Catholic, Broad, and Evangelical. Thus, TAD does not cater to
any one niche or segment of the Church, but finds its enduring
ethos in serving the Church, including her clergy and lay leaders,
those theologically educated and “babes in Christ.” Each issue,
therefore, is unique.

TAD is sent to anyone who desires to receive it, and is supported

by contributions. To receive your own copy, or to partner with
us in sharing the work of the faithful, visit anglicandigest.org or
call 479-253-9701.

summer 2020 3
 A Letter from the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Dear Friends in Christ,

On behalf of the entire Anglican Digest family, welcome to this spe-

cial summer issue of The Anglican Digest. This issue is unique for at
least two reasons. Its theme is faith in times of crisis, which certainly
touches home in these days of pandemic and fear. This is also the
first issue edited by the Rev. Fredrick Robinson, who succeeds Cath-
erine Salmon as Editor. All of us at the Digest thank Catherine for
her service, and we wish her every success in her new endeavors. The
Board of Trustees believes Fr. Fred’s leadership will lead to continued
growth. But, remember, we can’t do anything without your prayers
and support.

When Christians think about faith in times of crisis, perhaps it’s

helpful to consider the early church – those first followers of Jesus.
First-century Palestine was not exactly a bucolic oasis of peace and
prosperity. Roman occupation of the region led to severe economic
strife, famine, and deadly violence. Then, as now, Christians fought
fear with faith, finding living hope, power, and peace in the good
news of Jesus Christ. And that is what this issue is all about.

Christ is risen. Alleluia!

The Rev. Charleston D. Wilson

Chairman of the Board of Trustees

4 anglicandigest.org
 6 Letter from the Editor
9 A Bishop’s Response to the Pandemic
14 Not Since the 13th Century
17 When Trouble Comes Knockin’
21 Guided to Places We Would Rather Not Go
25 What’s at the Bottom of Your Soul?
29 Pandemic
37 The (Old) Pandemic
41 Going to Galilee
43 Church in the Cloud
46 Staying Quietly in Your Room
50 Vulnerable and Lonely
53 Pandemic Cancels Saint Patrick’s Day in
50 Ireland and Postpones Bishops’ Moves
56 Christian Faith in Times of Crisis

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
A Note on the Cover Photographs
“The Transfiguration,” by Raphael, was completed in 1520 and is now housed
in the Pinocoteca Vaticana in Vatican City. Peter, James, and John accompa-
nied our Lord Jesus as he went up on a mountain to pray. “As he was praying,
the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became daz-
zling white. And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who
appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at
Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:29-31) St. Luke’s account of the Gospel tells us that they
went from the mountain and immediately encountered a boy suffering from
demon possession, whom Jesus healed. The combining of the two themes of
the transfiguration and the healing of the child are the subject of Raphael‘s
painting. The Feast of the Transfiguration falls on 6 August.

summer 2020 5
connecting

A Letter from the Editor

Dear Readers of The Anglican Digest:

In this, my first issue as Editor, I thought it might be of interest

to tell you a little bit about myself. On 1 February of this year,
I retired from full-time parish ministry. The Church of the
Redeemer, in Sarasota, Florida, was my last parish, in which I
served as Rector for nearly 26 years. Prior to Redeemer, I was
Rector of Grace Church, Monroe, Louisiana; and prior to that I
was Rector of St. Andrew’s, Grand Prairie, Texas. Before Grand
Prairie, I was in Arlington, Texas, as Curate at St. Mark’s.

I am what is affectionately and unofficially called in The Epis-

copal Church a retread. I started out as a “high church“ Meth-
odist. With a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Ohio State
University, I was graduated with a Master of Theology Degree
(now called Master of Divinity), from Perkins School of The-
ology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. When I
converted to Anglicanism, I went back to seminary, this time
to Nashotah House in Wisconsin, where I received a Master of
Sacred Theology Degree, in Liturgics.

My wife, Linda, and I have been married for 45 years. Our son,
Michael, 41, is married to Shayna, and they have a baby daugh-
ter, Ayla, and live in Providence, Rhode Island. Our daughter,
Rebecca, 37, lives in New York City.
6 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

The Anglican Digest has been a continuous presence through-

out my ministry. The articles not only have been interesting
and informative, but also a window into the life of the Church
at the parish level. Poetry, hymnody, liturgics, humor, theology,
church history, even cuisine, and more have been staples which
have fed me over the years. For nearly four decades, whenever I
found something in TAD that I thought was especially helpful,
I would put it on a 3 x 5 card, label it, and put it in my files. In-
deed, some of the material in this issue came from those files!
The Summer Issue is devoted to the topic, “Christian Faith in
Times of Crisis.” At the time of this writing in mid-April, Coro-
navirus has brought much of the world to a standstill, near-
ly 150,000 people worldwide have died and many more have
contracted the virus, the economy is suffering immeasurably
with corresponding job loss, and investments are plunging at
an alarming rate. Fear is common. For many, faith is the foun-
dation for how to deal with this crisis. For others, the pandem-
ic has provoked a crisis of faith.
The problem of evil in a world created by a just, omnipotent,
loving God is a subject that has occupied countless philosoph-
ical and theological volumes. In this edition, our writers all
grapple with this issue in one way or another. While we may
never find in this life a definitive answer that will satisfy every-
one regarding the existence of evil, we know the One who has
conquered evil and death, set us free from bondage to sin, and
given us everlasting life — our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
the Christian need fear nothing, for “nothing will be able to
summer 2020 7
connecting

separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.“

(Romans 8:39)
As we begin this journey together, I wish to thank the Board
for having the confidence in me to appoint me as the new Ed-
itor; previous Editor Catherine Salmon, for her excellent work
in the past and her help to me in getting started; Bishop An-
thony Clavier, for his guidance and continued editorial lead-
ership; and Tom Walker, our General Manager, Linda Crane,
his assistant, and Candace Doty, in charge of design, for their
patience with this newby, constant help, and guidance. Most
of all, I thank our many contributors, both in material for our
issues and in financial support, and all of you, our readers, who
are our reason for being.
God bless you all and stay safe!
(The Rev.) Fred Robinson+

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Br. Glen Weeks, OSF,
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e-mail minister-general@fodc.net
or call 716-652-6616
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8 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

A Bishop’s Response to the Pandemic

The following letter was sent to the clergy of the Diocese of
Southwesst Florida by their Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith
during the pandemic.

April 2, 2020

My dear friends in Christ,

I had the distinct honor of serving the Church as Rector of

Trinity Church in New Orleans before being elected the Fifth
Bishop of our wonderful diocese. Every time I stepped into the
pulpit at Trinity Church, I looked to my left and saw a mar-
ble grave marker that had been discovered and placed in the
church as a memorial. It was dedicated to the Rector, The Rev.
A. F. Dobbs who died in office in 1853, serving the congre-
gation and ministering to the sick during the ravaging Yellow
Fever epidemic. This virus, called Yellow Jack in New Orleans,
was finally practically eradicated with vector control and vac-
cinations. I rarely think about Yellow Fever now. The approach
to medical care and eradication was not known in 1853. This
priest served in uncertain times and gave his life in the Lord’s
service. I saw that every time I preached.

We are in new uncertain times and in the midst of it, God’s

people still serve empowered by the Hosts of Heaven and the
Saints who have gone before us. As we now enter into Holy
Week and the beginning of Eastertide, I am deeply mindful of
the abiding commitment of so many to their faith in God and
the practice of their faith.
summer 2020 9
connecting

Yesterday, Governor DeSantis issued Executive Order 20-

91 regarding Essential Services and Activities during the
COVID-19 Emergency. This Safer At Home order directs se-
nior citizens and those with compromised health conditions to
take all measures to limit the risk of exposure and stay home.
The order continues with, “all persons in Florida shall limit
their movements and personal interactions outside of their
home to only those necessary to obtain or provide essential
services or conduct essential activities.” Houses of worship are
considered essential under this order.

After discussion with the Chancellor of this Diocese, Mr. The-

odore L. Tripp, Jr., Esq. it is appropriate to state that the pre-
vious instructions given by me regarding no more than ten
people in any of our church facilities, for any purpose, still re-
mains in effect. This is now extended until at least May 1st. I
want to emphasize this, people who are senior with particular
compromised health issues … people like me … should take
special care to protect themselves and others by working Safer
At Home. This, I know means many other clergy members and
lay leaders in this diocese. Your work is essential, and yet so are
you. You are to serve compassionately with your care for each
other and be careful with your compassion.

For the clergy, please be mindful of the ordinal which requires,

“You are to love and serve the people among whom you work,
caring alike for young and old, strong and weak, rich and
poor.” For all of God’s people remember the Baptismal Cov-
enant, in particular the question of how to use your personal
will….” Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving
your neighbor as yourself?” Note that we are all required to

10 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

love our selves too! Your work is essential, and yet so are you.
You are to serve compassionately with your care for each other
and be careful with your compassion.

I am immensely proud of the life giving and creative work be-

ing produced and offered in every area of the Diocese of South-
west Florida. Thank God for Technology! I am grateful for the
loving energies being abundantly poured out by the clergy
of this diocese. I am so humbled and proud of the thought-
ful leadership being offered by our Standing Committee, the
Diocesan Council, my staff working so diligently from remote
locations, and the leadership of my friend and bishop, the Pre-
siding Bishop Michael Curry.

Please take every measure to reach out to those who are par-
ticularly isolated. Offer worship and prayer in safety and bene-
ficial technology. Call on each other if you need help. Pray for
those who suffer. Mary and I have a particular concern for a
family friend who is a young pharmacist who is now in Inten-
sive Care isolation with Coronavirus. I know all of us have par-
ticular concerns. In the words of St. Paul, “Rejoice with those
who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” (Romans 12:15) For
our family friend my heart weeps. For the love I see being
poured out daily in this diocese giving deep compassion, my
heart rejoices.

This time of terrible uncertainty will end. I never worry about

Yellow Fever. Yet I personally think almost daily of the loving
service of The Rev. A.F. Dobbs in the 1850’s giving his whole
life because he loved Jesus. I am certain that he worships in
eternity now!

spring 2020 11
connecting

For our time now of uncertainty we have better knowledge,

better technology and the same challenge to live our faith in
practice facing the unknown. And I am so thankful for your
powerful expressions of faith. Thank you and God Bless you.
The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith
5th Bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

The Feast of St. Mary the Virgin is 15 August. Much of Angli-

canism shares this feast day with most all of Catholic Christen-
dom. The Roman Catholic Church knows it as the Feast of the
Assumption of Mary into Heaven and Eastern Orthodoxy ob-
serves it as the Dormition of the Mother of God. While it is not
a requirement for Anglicans to believe in the assumption into
heaven of the mother of our Lord, and while scripture neither
testifies to it nor denies it, many Anglicans believe that she was
assumed into heaven, body and soul, and observe 15 August
as a celebration of that reality. In fact, among Anglo-Catho-
lics, arguably one could say that the doctrine of the assump-
tion may be assumed! In the 1979 Book of Common Prayer,
the Collect of the Day hints at this belief, while not stating it
outright: “O God, you have taken to yourself the blessed Virgin
Mary, mother of your incarnate Son... “ Nevertheless, whether
or not one accepts the doctrine of the assumption of Mary, ob-
servance of her feast day is encouraged, for through the faith of
this extraordinary woman, the Savior of the world was enabled
to take her flesh and become a human being. (next page)

12 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

Sing of Mary, pure and lowly

Used by permission.

summer 2020 13
connecting
Not Since the
13th Century
The Rev’d Dr Charles Miller,
Team Rector of
Abingdon-on-Thames and
Vicar of St. Helen’s Church
Early in the British response
to the Covid-19 crisis an
e-mail arrived. Dated March
24th and following a tele-
vised Prime Ministerial an-
nouncement of precautions
that should be taken as the
threat grew, the letter ‘From
the Archbishops and Bishops
of the Church of England,
to be shared with all clergy,’
declared that ‘the Church of
England strictly observes the
new guidelines on staying at
home and only making jour-
neys that are absolutely neces-
sary, such as shopping for es-
sential items and to take daily
exercise’. At the same time,
the government rolled out its
simple three-point strap-line:
‘Stay home. Protect the NHS
(National Health Service).
Save lives’. That exhortation is
14 anglicandigest.org
emblazoned on the podiums
at government briefings; it’s
reiterated on radio reminders
from the government; and it
has, at least in my parish – a
thriving Oxfordshire market
town, reduced daily life to an
eerie quietude.
The letter from the Church
of England’s hierarchy then
went on (with a precision and
directness usually unpalatable
to Anglicans):
Our buildings must now
be closed not only for
public worship, but for
private prayer as well and
this includes the priest
or lay person offering
prayer in church on their
own. A notice explaining
this should be put on the
church door (please find
template attached). We
must take a lead in show-
ing our communities how
we must behave in order
to slow down the spread
of Coronavirus.
gathering
Such a total shut-down of
church premises was a shock
to the ecclesial system and
was followed by strictures
on the pastoral offices too,
even those not performed on
church premises. In addition,
we must now restrict access
into the church building to
one designated person who is
allowed in once a week only
to check essential services
like electricity and water,
and to look out for damage.
While media reportage has
hero-ized the practitioners of
the National Health System
(quite rightly) and, as weeks
go by, others, too, who are
“keeping things going,” the
clergy are largely invisible.
We have ‘gone to ground’ only
to surface as faces and/or voi-
ces on social media for those
who know how to find us. It
remains to be seen whether
such a thorough-going ap-
proach to church closure will
have served its purpose. In
cities like London, of course,
it makes sense. Through-
telling
out the Church of England’s
sprawling network of rural
churches, well, that’s another
question. Since the roll-out
of the first strap-line another
one appeared in Holy Week.
‘Stay home this Easter’. It, too,
was affixed to the podiums of
the ministers and health offi-
cials presenting to the nation
from Downing Street.
It’s saddening to experience
Easter with no public wor-
ship, no Holy Communion. A
friend has reminded me that
no comparable situation has
arisen since 1208 when Pope
Innocent III, locked in con-
troversy with King John over
the terms of Stephen Lang-
ton’s appointment as Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, forbade
church services throughout
the land for six years! In a
religious age the re-opening
of churches after a gap, how-
ever short or long, could well
be expected to draw thank-
ful crowds. But nowadays,
with religious life in Britain
summer 2020 15
connecting
already at the edge of things,
it seems naive to suppose that
when our churches reopen
anyone except those already
committed will notice. I hope
I’m wrong.
There is always a lighter side
even in hard, dangerous times
like these. As a tonic to us all
the BBC Radio 3 morning pro-
gramme broadcasts a ‘march
for the day’ recommended
by the listening audience, the
sort of music that will get us
‘in gear’ - showered, preened,
and ready to turn on our elec-
tronic devices. Early in Holy
Week a Church of England
clergyman, voicing the an-
ger of many colleagues at be-
ing excluded from their own
churches, requested Men-
delssohn’s ‘War March of the
Priests’ from his oratorio ‘Eli-
jah’! It conjured in my mind
a solemn clerical assault on
Lambeth Palace with parish
priests bearing not swords or
spears, but lighted and uplift-
ed candles, passing through
16 anglicandigest.org
Morton’s Tower to the Great
Yard where they would turn
them over and extinguish
them in a corporate act of ex-
communicatory defiance.
Back to the hierarchy’s letter.
It concludes by reminding us
of what we know: these are
unprecedented times. It then
tells us that we all are having
to adjust ‘to being the Church
differently’. ‘However’, they
reassure us,
our belonging to Christ
has never been measured
by the number of people
in church on a Sunday
morning (though we long
for the day when this way
of knowing Christ can re-
turn) but by the service we
offer to others. Therefore,
and despite these very
harrowing restrictions,
please do all that you can
to minister to your peo-
ple safely, especially to the
sick, the vulnerable and
the poor.
gathering
There is, in fact, little we can
do to be (as Archbishop Wel-
by put it) “a different sort of
Church”, unless that means
claiming a bigger on-line
presence. But we can be our-
selves. That is, we clergy can
pray, intercede, reassure, and
encourage, sustained in that
ministry by Dame Julian of
Norwich’s words which come
to me most often in these un-
certain days: ‘All shall be well,
all shall be well, and all man-
ner of things shall be well’.
Even for the locked-down
Church of England, I hope.
telling
WHEN TROUBLE
COMES KNOCKIN’
Fr. C. Read Heydt, Retired
Sarasota, FL
An old black preacher said:
“Whenever trouble comes
knockin’, I send Jesus to the
door.”
Well … trouble in the guise
of a virus has come knock-
ing on our doors, just as si-
lent and contagious as the
first Passover in Egypt. Only
this time, there is no distinc-
tion between the faithful and
unfaithful. Its greatest threat
leans on the vulnerable …
the elderly and compromised.
And fear is its companion.
How can we defend our spirit
against the vagaries of life …
its random misfortune? Few
have met with more troubles
than St. Paul of Tarsus, ending
with his beheading in Rome
around 65 AD during Em-
peror Nero’s persecution of
Christians.
summer 2020 17
connecting

In Second Corinthians, he re- peace, and obedience. Humil-

counts his sufferings (chapter ity makes us one with Jesus
11): Imprisonments; count- in the Father’s will, within a
less beatings, often near death. divine and resolute plan that
“Five times I have received at banishes fear … with hope.
the hands of the Jews the forty
lashes less one. Three times I In his letter to the Ephesians,
have been beaten with rods; St. Paul urges his followers
once I was stoned. Three times to be “strong in the Lord.” In
I have been shipwrecked” … chapter 6 he writes: Put on the
on frequent journeys in dan- whole armor of God, that you
ger, from rivers, robbers, Gen- may be able to stand against
tiles, false brethren; danger inthe wiles of the devil. For we
the city, in the wilderness, andare not contending against
at sea; in hunger and thirst, inflesh and blood, but against the
cold and exposure. (2 Corin- principalities, against the pow-
thians 11:24-27) ers, against the world rulers of
this present darkness, against
Paul endures it all … the pain, the spiritual hosts of wicked-
the fear. He boasts through ness in the heavenly places.
weakness … his own, not (Ephesians 6:10-12)
God’s. The Prayer Book la-
bels that condition as having In addition to our own natu-
a “humble and contrite heart.” ral fears, fear is a weapon of
It’s a ready weapon in time of spiritual warfare … wielded
need. “by spiritual hosts of wick-
edness in the heavenly plac-
Why? Because it conforms our es.” The rebellion is waged on
heart to Jesus; arms us with earth … as in heaven. Before
the righteousness of Christ Jesus’ ministry begins, the
… binds us to His courage, devil tests Jesus in the wilder-

18 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

ness with the fear of doubt. the doleful actions of the sons
The big “If.” and daughters of Eve.

During the Last Supper with But to the Creator, night and
Jesus, Judas is given a morsel day are both alike. His mira-
from his master’s hand. “Then cles include both.
after the morsel, Satan entered
into him. After receiving the “And there was evening and
morsel, Judas immediately there was morning. And God
went out; and it was night.” saw everything that he had
(John 13:27,30) made, and behold, it was very
Because we are blind in the good.” (Genesis) The night
darkness, we assume the Passover in Egypt brings lib-
worst. Night brings forebod- eration to God’s people. God
ing to man. calls the boy Samuel at night.
In God’s presence within a
After his betrayal by Judas, Je- cloud of darkness, the Law is
sus says to the officers of the given to Moses.
Temple who come to arrest
him: “But this is your hour, At evening, in the Upper
and the power of darkness.” Room, Jesus tells his disciples:
(Luke 22:53) “I am not alone, for the Father
is with me. I have said this to
While fear may often accom- you, that in me you may have
pany man, shame always ac- peace. In the world you have
companies evil. It chooses tribulation; but be of good
darkness. It is in its nature cheer, I have overcome the
to hide. From whom? From world.” (John 16:32f)
God … which says a great
deal about the power of the The prologue to John’s Gos-
Ultimate Source! And about pel underscores this truth:

summer 2020 19
connecting
“In him was life, and the life
was the light of men. The light
shines in the darkness, and
the darkness has not over-
come it. (John 1:4-5)
But perhaps the greatest mir-
acle wrought was on the hill
of Golgotha, under threaten-
ing skies outside the gates of
Jerusalem, when man cru-
cifies his only Mediator and
Advocate. Evil’s moment of
victory, suddenly, is snatched
by divine loving obedience …
and Easter beckons.
The devil hopes to dance at
the foot of the Cross. Instead,
his doom is sure!
In an affectionate letter to the
Christian church at Philippi,
Paul says it best: “Rejoice in
the Lord always; again I say
Rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4)
To be sure, the lives of some
men mirror the suffering ser-
vant described by Isaiah …
“a man of sorrows, and ac-
20 anglicandigest.org
quainted with grief.” (Isaiah
53:3) Certainly Jesus did. We
worship a God who has gone
before us … adopted our flesh
and sorrow.
In the words of an old spiritu-
al: “Nobody knows the trou-
ble I’ve seen; nobody knows
my sorrow.” God knows …
and so does his Son. But be-
hold. He is Risen. He is risen
indeed! Hallelujah!
Is God Calling You?
The Sisters of Saint Gregory
welcome inquiries from
women who are seeking a
deepening call of devotion in
their spiritual journey. If you
feel drawn to a religious life
supported by like-minded
women who live in their own
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www.sistersof
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gathering telling

Guided to Places chapter of the book we adopt-

We Would Rather ed for Lent: Henri Nouwen’s
Not Go Following Jesus: Finding Our
Way Home in an Age of Anx-
The Rev. Dr. Bryan Owen iety.

The following is a slightly re- I was struck by this paragraph:

vised version of a communi-
cation sent to the members of
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in
Baton Rouge, Louisiana on
March 18, 2020.
The unfolding situation with
the COVID-19 pandemic
has caused many changes in
our daily lives, including the
cancellation of all church ac-
tivities and worship services
for the foreseeable future. In
making these difficult deci-
sions, we are following our
Bishop’s pastoral direction
and the guidance of our Gov-
ernor.
“The spiritual life is a life
in which we are more and
more able to be led, to be
guided to hard places, to
places we would rather
not go. For Jesus it was the
cross. For Peter it was the
cross. For Paul and all the
disciples, it meant a lot of
suffering. It is not mas-
ochism. It is not self-flag-
ellation. It is not being
hard on ourselves. It is be-
ing in love. It is being so
fully and so totally in love
that we go to places we
would rather not go.”

It was my turn to facilitate our Living in this time of

now cancelled Lenten series
on March 18, so I thought I
would offer a brief reflection
on a passage from the fourth
COVID-19, we are called in-
creasingly to live into the pro-
active caution of social and
physical distancing. As a con-
summer 2020 21
connecting
sequence, we are all being led
and guided to places we would
rather not go. We are all being
asked to do things we would
rather not do, things that cut
against the grain of our desire
to be personally present with
each other. We are all now
called to carry the cross of
dying to the taken-for-grant-
ed practices of going to work
and school, and gathering as
a community of faith in our
church building to hear God’s
Word and be fed at God’s Ta-
ble.
There’s no question that for all
of us – clergy and laity alike –
this is painful.
But we are going to this place
we would rather not go be-
cause we are in love. We are in
love with each other as broth-
ers and sisters in Christ. And
so, out of that self-sacrificial,
Christ-like love, we are will-
ing at this time to go to the
place of distancing from each
other. And we do so in the
22 anglicandigest.org
hope that no one of us gives
or receives this virus to an-
other member of our family
of faith or anyone else in the
larger community.
We cannot say with certainty
when we can lay down this
cross that COVID-19 has giv-
en us. But as Easter people
living in a Good Friday world,
we know that the sufferings
of the cross lead through the
open door of an empty tomb
to the joys of abundant and
eternal life.
So “be strong and let your
heart take courage, all you
who wait for the Lord” (Psalm
31:24). For this time of trou-
ble shall pass. Our faith shall
be stronger. And we can look
forward with joy to the day
when we gather in person
again as one family in Christ.
I ask not for a lighter
burden, but for broader
shoulders. Jewish proverb
gathering
Compassion
Compassion includes various
moments. In the first place it
shows you that your neighbor
is a man who shares his hu-
manity with you. This part-
nership cuts through all walls
which might have kept you
separate. Across all barriers
of land and language, wealth
and poverty, knowledge and
ignorance, we are still one,
created from the same dust,
subject to the same laws, and
destined for the same end.
With this compassion you
can say, “In the expression of
the oppressed I recognize my
own face and in the hands of
the oppressed I recognize my
own hands which speak of
powerlessness and helpless-
ness. His flesh is my flesh, his
blood is my blood, his pain is
my pain, and his smile is my
smile. There is nothing in me
that he would find strange,
and there is nothing in him
that I would not recognize. In
my heart, I know his yearning
telling
for love, and down to my en-
trails I can feel his cruelty. In
his eyes, I see my plea for for-
giveness and in his heart and
frown, I see my refusal. When
he murders, I know that I too
could have done that, and
when he gives birth, I know
that I am capable of that as
well. In the depths of my be-
ing, I have met my fellow man
for whom nothing is strange,
neither love nor hate, nor life,
nor death.
From Henri Nouwen’s
With Open Hands
vvv
THE ORDER OF ST. ANDREW
A Religious Order of men and
women, both married and single,
not living in community.
For information contact:
The Father or Mother General
The Order of Saint Andrew
2 Creighton Lane
Scarborough, NY 10510
(914) 941-1265; 762-0398
http://www.osa-anglican.org
Advertisement
summer 2020 23
connecting

real suffering need to be nailed to the cross

with Christ. In fact, they re-
Some Christians claim that gard themselves as sinless.
the sufferings of our Lord
Jesus Christ were not real, Beloved brethren, be on your
but a kind of fantasy. They guard against these false-
argue that a man who is di- hoods. You may be tempted
vine could not truly suffer; to believe these lies, but Jesus
and that they themselves, if Christ was born of a human
they share in his divinity, will mother, with a body of flesh
also escape suffering. What like ours; and in flesh he rose
they are saying is that Christ to life. After his resurrection
was not truly clothed in flesh, he even asked the disciples to
but that his body was a kind touch him, to prove that he
of corpse, a lifeless thing that was no ghost, but truly flesh.
gave the appearance of a body. – Epistle of Polycarp to the
And this leads them to imag- Philippians, Chapter 14
ine that they can enjoy the (Roots of Faith, Eerdmans)
resurrection to eternal life (St. Polycarp was the mar-
without sharing in the cruci- tyred Bishop of Smyrna
fixion; that their sins do not who lived AD 69-155
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
A holiday-harried working mother in Baton Rouge, LA, told
Columnist Smiley Anders of the Baton Rouge Advocate that
she boiled the Easter eggs, but because she had little time, de-
cided not to dye the eggs.
She simply got a marking pen and labeled each egg with an
appropriate color name: “pink,” “green,” “red,” “blue,” etc.
“My family seemed to find it just as rewarding to select an egg
by name as by color,” she said, adding “Of course, their expec-
tations of me as a domestic goddess were realistically low.”.
24 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

What’s at the tian music there was. When

Bottom of your I slowed down enough to be
Soul? silent, I would get sleepy and
take a nap — several naps.
The Very Rev’d Then, each time I met with
Dr. Neal Michell my spiritual director she
would ask me, “So, what are
When I was in seminary, I you hearing the Lord saying
went on a silent retreat at to you?” On the fourth full
a Jesuit retreat center for a day of the retreat I was finally
five-day silent retreat. That is able to relax and begin to be
not three days of silence plus comfortable with the silence.
parts of two other days; nor That prolonged silence start-
was it a time of sporadic med- ed me on an inward journey
itations with bits and snatch- of discovering — actually, dis-
es of silent times to reflect on cerning — what was actually
the what was said in the med- at the bottom of my soul.
itation. No, it was five days of
During my next two days I
silence plus dinner and break-
explored some deeper issues
fast before and after, and com-
— nothing really serious,
plete silence, except for 30-45
minutes of time each day withmind you, just enough to go
away feeling like I had had a
a spiritual director. I was in
no way ready for what I was profound spiritual experience
to experience. during that retreat. But, over
the next several months af-
For the first three days I terward, I came to discover
fidgeted and fretted. I read what was really at the bottom
some, rather distractedly. of my soul. What was really
Walked here and there. Lis- there was chaos, unresolved
tened to what bits of Chris- issues with my mother from

summer 2020 25
connecting
my childhood, which also led
me to unresolved issues with
my wife.
I finally dealt with those is-
sues with the help of a spiri-
tual director. The chaos that
had been there for over twen-
ty-five years was ugly, and
frightening, and surprising.
I learned that I was not the
calm and collected person
I thought I was. I came to
recognize that the calm and
collected persona that I had
constructed for myself was
actually the false bottom of
my soul. I also learned that
the chaos that I discovered
below that calm and collected
surface was also not truly the
bottom of my soul. I eventual-
ly discovered God at the bot-
tom of my soul. I discovered
that the bottom of my soul
was like a splinter embed-
ded in my skin; but although
the skin had healed over, the
splinter was still there, fester-
ing, erupting in pain when it
was hit in a certain way, and
26 anglicandigest.org
would continue to hurt from
time to time until the splinter
was finally removed, thus al-
lowing the skin to heal com-
pletely.
These days of quarantine and
isolation are like those days of
silent retreat. As we sit around
completely out of our routine,
wondering whether we are
going to be infected with the
coronavirus, worried about
how we’re going to pay the
bills, worrying about fami-
ly and friends, God wants us
to encounter Him, below the
deep pain, and to get really
still enough to hear His still,
small voice. But we may have
to work through some chaos
before we can get to that still,
small voice of God.
So, during this time of quar-
antine, and isolation, and
loneliness, as you begin to be
in touch with deeper parts of
your soul, don’t be afraid of
the chaos of those wounds
and unhealed issues. They are
gathering
not distractions but actually
doorways to go deeper; door-
ways to go beyond the surface
leads ultimately to the deepest
level of silence as God says to
you,
“Fear not, for I have
redeemed you;
I have called you by name,
you are mine.
When you pass through the
waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they
shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire
you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not
consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your
Savior.
Isaiah 43:1-3
vvv
A man died and went to heav-
en. He met St. Peter, but be-
fore he was permitted to enter
heaven, St. Peter took him to
hell, to see what it was like.
In hell, all were seated in long
telling
rows of tables, and all had one
hand tied behind their back.
A delicious meal was spread
out before them, each person
having a spoon with which
to eat. The only problem was
that the spoons were incredi-
bly long, too long to eat with.
The result was that everyone
was starving at a meal that
contained more than enough
for everyone.
St. Peter then took the man to
heaven. There were the same
long tables with everyone
seated before a great feast.
They, too, had one hand tied
behind their back, and each
person had one long spoon,
too long with which to eat.
Yet everyone was eating to the
full, for they were using their
spoons to feed one another.
Source unknown
Kind words can be short
and easy to speak, but their
echoes are truly endless.
Mother Teresa
summer 2020 27
connecting

Something to add some pizzazz to your day. Having just plant-

ed a tomato plant, I’m looking forward to making this with my
own home growns!
Gazpacho
1 clove garlic
1 med. onion
1 large cucumber
3 med. tomatoes, peeled
1 green or red bell pepper, diced
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper or dash hot sauce
1/4 c. lemon juice or vinegar
1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
3/4 c. tomato juice or V8
Garnish
1 c. garlic croutons
1 small cucumber, diced
1 green onion, chopped fine, or chopped chives
1 green or red bell pepper, diced
Pepper to taste
Put lemon juice, olive oil, tomato juice, salt and pepper/hot
sauce in blender. Add cut up garlic, onion, cucumber, toma-
toes, and red bell pepper; pulse to blend finely. You may have
to divide ingredients and make two blenders’ full. Chill well.
May require a reblend just before serving as the oil and other
ingredients tend to separate. Add the croutons, cucumber,
onion, and pepper just before serving.
Carl Stockton
A Centennial of Episcopal Epicures
Church of the Redeemer, Sarasota, Florida
28 anglicandigest.org
gathering
pandemic
The Rev’d Canon Jeremy M
Haselock, Retired
Vice-Dean and Precentor of
Norwich Cathedral, England
The coronavirus pandemic is
a crisis point for the world.
How we, as people, nations,
and institutions, respond to
it will define the next one
hundred years. Certain insti-
tutions have responded well
– the National Health Service
in Britain is a good example,
spawning a new Thursday
evening liturgy when Britain
opens its windows at 8:00 pm
and applauds the dedication
of medics, nurses and staff,
by clapping, banging sauce-
pans with spoons and ringing
handbells. Other institutions
have responded badly, and
the Church of England is, I
fear, one whose response will
be seen in retrospect to have
been catastrophically bad and
for which there is little ap-
plause.
Its public pronouncements
telling
moved from complacent to
quixotic to over-zealous in
three weeks – without pausing
for any serious public discus-
sion of the enormous theo-
logical and pastoral questions
being faced by our country. In
those three weeks instructions
from the church moved from
telling us that we need not
withhold the chalice (based
on one, small sample, study
from decades ago) to instruct-
ing us to leave vestments in
the sun for 48 hours (where
they expected us to find sun in
England in early March I don’t
know) to banning priests from
entering their churches even
to pray (especially to pray –
we are, however, allowed in
to check the lights and ensure
the security of the building).
In contrast to every other faith
group the Bishops original-
ly issued national guidelines
banning newly upscaled chap-
laincy teams from engaging in
patient-facing ministry, from
which position they had to
summer 2020 29
connecting
climb down when faced with
national uproar and the vocal
dissent from every other faith
group, who pledged to contin-
ue end of life care, always pro-
viding they are allowed to by
their local Health Trusts.
A national uproar about the
ban on clergy broadcasting
from their own churches,
in contrast to governmental
guidelines and the practice of
all of our ecumenical partners
and our fellow Anglicans in
Scotland, Wales, and North-
ern Ireland, led first to an ex-
traordinary video from Lam-
beth Palace in which Zoom
Eucharists were compared fa-
vourably with the practice of
the early church and then to a
disorderly retreat live on tele-
vision, when the Archbishop
of Canterbury admitted that
what had appeared on paper
to be instructions were, in
fact, merely guidelines.
The Archbishop’s first piece
to camera is the only piece
of public theology which the
30 anglicandigest.org
Church of England has put
out during this emergen-
cy so far. Its public worship
has been, at best, quotidian
and, at worst, embarrassing.
While the Pope’s dramatic and
moving liturgy of the Passion
and Resurrection was being
broadcast from an empty Vati-
can on the BBC, the Archbish-
op’s offering, over his kitchen
table, appeared as thin gruel.
The Archbishop of York of-
fered the beating of Ugandan
drums from the Strawberry
Hill gothic of Bishopthorpe.
While many individual cler-
gy have worked hard in their
homes or outside their church
buildings to provide sustain-
ing liturgies, frankly, none of
the worship put out by the of-
ficial church has risen to the
occasion. Its offerings have
been homely and folksy, fo-
cusing on the reality of most
that they are stuck indoors
watching endless repeats on
television but failing to notice
that there is a major pandem-
ic killing and crippling tens of
gathering
thousands. Far, far better than
Canterbury’s kitchen sink
Communion and York’s en-
thusiastic drumming was the
Supreme Governor’s address
to the nation on Easter Day:
liturgically aware, theologi-
cally sound, in less than 250
words Her Majesty preached
the Gospel and raised the
spirits of her people.
The extraordinary attitude of
the Bishops has been noticed
in the national press. Arti-
cles and editorial leaders have
lamented the locked doors
of their national church and
excoriated its leadership. We
are seen to have deserted our
flock in its time of greatest
need, and social media posts
by bishops tending to their
gardens do nothing to dispel
that impression.
Our churches have been
through war and plague.
Christianity earned its spurs
by its priests who wouldn’t
leave their parishes during
the cholera epidemic or who
telling
lived and died in the trench-
es with their regiments. Its
buildings are places of ref-
uge, built and nurtured over
centuries, the oasis to which
people repair when in need of
solace and prayer. Even when
for good reason church peo-
ple cannot gather together,
they still expect their priest
to be offering the sacrifice of
praise and thanksgiving there
on their behalf. The buildings
lie closed, dark and silent; the
priests are at home, directed
not to enter the church.
I write this in love. I adore
our Church. I see it wilting
before my eyes, failing to rise
to the occasion; failing even
to realise there is an occasion
to rise to. It has become ob-
sessed with process, terrified
by risk, incapable of hearing
dissenting voices. It has be-
come a bureaucracy which
will, sooner rather than later,
succeed in destroying whatev-
er remains of the credibility of
the Church of England.
summer 2020 31
connecting

The Anglican Bookstore

HELP MY UNBELIEF,
20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Fleming Rutledge
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Noth-
ing has motivated Fleming Rutledge in
her preaching more than addressing peo-
ple’s struggles with doubt. Now with a new
preface from the author, Help My Unbelief
speaks directly to the “faithful doubters”
and the “unbelieving believers” of the church who wrestle with
questions and uncertainties about Christian faith: What if I’m
not very religious? Why isn’t it enough just to be good and
loving? How can I respond to an abstraction like the Trinity?
Isn’t Christianity outmoded? Can we still believe in the Resur-
rection today? The author approaches these questions with a
combination of pastoral warmth and theological fearlessness,
aligning herself with those seeking answers and pointing read-
ers toward the One who creates and sustains faith.
ITEM E1292 (hardcover, 290 pages, $26)

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Hildegard of Bingen
This easy-to-use devotional encourages you
to experience the light of God in your dai-
ly life. It offers a personal, thirty-day retreat
based on the spiritual insight and wisdom
of Hildegard of Bingen. This is an excellent
prayer companion for busy people who want

32 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

to root their spiritual practice in the solid ground of Hilde-

gard’s timeless and timely teachings on living in the light of
God. As you reflect on the images offered to her by God, Hilde-
gard offers you a path to live in the light of God each moment
of the day. This book offers a brief and accessible morning
meditation drawn from the author’s writings, a simple mantra
for use throughout the day, and a night prayer to focus your
thoughts as the day ends, helping you find your way through
the darkness and into the light of divine love.
ITEM V0053 (paperback, 120 pages, $11)

A BOOK OF PSALMS
Edward Clarke
This collection of poems engages in new and
animating ways with one of the profoundest
texts of our past, the Book of Psalms. These
poems are the author’s response to his expe-
rience of reading the Psalter through once
every month according to Cranmer’s divi-
sions in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer.
ITEM L174 (paperback, 96 pages, $19)

WORK PLAY LOVE: HOW THE MASS CHANGED

THE LIFE OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS
Mike Aquilina
“Christians make the Mass, and the Mass makes Christians.”
So said the Martyrs of Abitina, North Africa, in A.D. 304. The
Mass was the reality most essential to the life of believers, and
it deeply affected everything they did. In this book, the author

summer 2020 33
connecting

shows how the Eucharist shaped three basic

dimensions of life for the early Christians.
Work: Christians brought the fruits of their
labor to the altar and consecrated the world
itself to God, which in turn made their work
not just toil but an act of love undertaken for
the Father. Play: By allowing Christians to
reconsider the cosmos from God’s perspec-
tive, and see their lives as part of a profound-
ly new and different narrative, the Mass
inspired creative responses, including new forms of music,
poetry, architecture, and painting. Love: Christian ritual de-
manded personal and communal acts of charity, and the fruits
of the Mass extended beyond the time of both the service itself
and the bounds of Christian community, as they cared for their
persecutors as well as each other. This led to the establishment
of institutions of universal charity, a first in human history.
The story of the Mass is more than a rehearsal of ancient texts;
it is also a drama of personal and societal transformation. This
book is a powerful imaginative encounter with the first gener-
ations of our Christian ancestry.
ITEM L175 (paperback, 128 pages, $13)

HEARTSTORMING: CREATING
A PLACE GOD CAN CALL HOME
Robert J. Wicks
This book provides a point of entry to the contemplative
life for those who wishes to become or remain open to the
movements of God in their daily life. Through his own ex-
perience of God’s nearness and drawing from his deep un-
derstanding of the human condition, the author puts within
34 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

reach of us all a healthy spiritual perspective

as part of everyday living. He writes convinc-
ingly and in practical terms, giving guidance
to both the spiritually adventurous and wea-
ry souls among us, and emphasizing the im-
portance of listening to the inner life on the
way to an increasingly fresh engagement with
God’s will and purposes in and around us.
ITEM P106 (hardcover, 128 pages, $22)

FOR CHILDREN
MEET THE SAINTS: FAMILY STORYBOOK
Lindsay Hardin Freeman, Melody Wilson Shobe
Meet the Saints is part of an all-ages curriculum to encourage
each of us to follow Jesus more fully in the company of fellow
disciples. This book will help families learn
together about how Christ’s light has shone
brightly in the lives of men and wom-
en through centuries. Join a journey with
the saints and your family, learning more
about the monks, missionaries, prophets,
doctors, evangelists, and more who have
led us on our way. Meet the Saints provides
twenty-four stories of saints for families to read together,
colorful child-friendly illustrations, thoughtful questions for
family conversations, prayers to pray together, and coloring
pages for children to enjoy.
ITEM F018 (paperback, 75 pages, $12.00)

summer 2020 35
connecting

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36 anglicandigest.org
gathering
The (Old)
Pandemic
The Rev. Walter (Chip)
Prehn III, PhD
These are the headlines from
anywhere: The Whole World
is Sick. The COVID-19 virus
is infecting persons round
the world. In the face of the
miracles of modern medi-
cine, no people or nation is
immune. The plague is doing
its devilish thing everywhere.
According to the experts who
keep track of these things,
there could be several million
deaths before it’s all over (and
then there’s another season
just around the corner). Such
facts caused me to ponder the
nature of that old pandemic
the Church named “original
sin.” It is both perennial and
primeval. None escapes it. So
terrible is the disease that ba-
bies are infected before they
are born, and the saints con-
tinue to beware of it.
We know the symptoms of
this disease all too well. Our
telling
tendency to selfishness tops
the list. Other dead giveaways
that we’re infected are pride,
anger, envy, gluttony, covet-
ousness, sloth, and lust. One
indicator is the all-too-com-
mon delusion that we our-
selves are not at all infected
but everyone else “had it bad.”
Our denial of the problem at
the root of “our naked shiver-
ing nature,” in Burke’s phrase,
is the surest indication that
we’re sick. This disease is
more than a pandemic; it is
the cause of general pande-
monium. It’s power reminds
me of time in Gollum’s fifth
riddle for Bilbo Baggins.
This thing all things devours,
birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
gnaws iron, bites steel;
grinds hard stones to meal;
slays kings, ruins town
and beats high mountain
down.*
Original sin is terribly de-
structive; in fact, it is why we
die. But we must look on the
summer 2020 37
connecting
bright side. First, we must be
thankful that God gave the
world through Israel a real-
istic picture of human nature
after “man’s first disobedi-
ence” (Milton) or the fall. St.
Paul, a Jew of the best kind
who recognized that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Messiah, Sav-
ior, and Lord, wrote, “All have
sinned and fall short of the
glory of God” (Romans 3:23),
and he goes on in the same
document to remind his con-
verts of another central doc-
trine of the Torah: “The wag-
es of sin is death” (Romans
6:23). In the sacred pages of
the Hebrew Bible, God tells us
that we are made in his image
but that the image has been
defaced by our own fault; that
we had a glorious, eternal des-
tiny but lost it; and that we are
cursed not only for punish-
ment but because our reason
can intuit the glory we lost.
Fortunately, God can heal
this disease. The primeval,
universal problem requires
38 anglicandigest.org
a universal, God-provided
solution, and God delivers.
From the mystery of his su-
per-abundant love, infinite
compassion, eternal wisdom,
and all-mighty power, our
wonderful heavenly Father
provides the cure of the dis-
ease for those who want to be
cured. First, there was the In-
carnation. God became one
of us in order to work from
the inside of our human na-
ture. Like the physicians and
scientists in “Fantastic Voy-
age,” God entered into the sick
body as the most effective way
to heal it.
The next thing God did to
heal our disease is to offer
through Jesus of Nazareth an
atoning sacrifice that would
satisfy justice and show com-
passion for the sins of the
whole world. Jesus was both
the “propitiation” for and the
“expiation” of our sins. In
other words, the God-Man
made both a self-offering for
the sin of the human race and
gathering
an offering on behalf of the
human race. Even as we enjoy
the Easter light we give thanks
for the Passion of the Son of
God. Saint John Henry New-
man wrote in the 1840s,
He had, my dear brethren,
to bear the weight of sin;
He had to bear your sins;
He had to bear the sins of
the whole world. Sin is an
easy thing to us; we think
little of it; we do not un-
derstand how the Creator
can think much of it; we
cannot bring our imag-
ination to believe that it
deserves retribution, and,
when even in this world
punishments follow upon
it, we explain them away
or turn our minds from
them.†
The last step of our redemp-
tion was the Resurrection
which effected the glorifica-
tion of our human nature by
the Son. Jesus showed human
beings his glorified flesh be-
fore he took the offering to
telling
the Father in heaven. We who
have faith in him are there
with him already.
The New Testament says it
all much better than we can.
“God so loved the world that
he gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in him
should not perish but have
eternal life. For God sent
the Son into the world, not
to condemn the world, but
that the world might be saved
through him” (St. John 3:16-
17). “Whoever has the Son
has life; whoever does not
have the Son of God does not
have life” (I John 5:12).
We are a joyful Easter peo-
ple because we know that in
Jesus Christ God has healed
the disease we recognized
was killing us. We should not
forget this during the Fifty
Days of Easter. “Awake, thou
wintry earth – Fling off thy
sadness! Fair vernal flowers,
laugh forth Your ancient glad-
ness!” (Thomas Blackburn).‡
But it is an entirely healthful
summer 2020 39
connecting
thing to be realistic about our
situation even during the Fif-
ty Days of Easter. who lives and reigns with
The present is one of those
times in world history when it
is well for believers to remem-
ber whence we’ve come. We
need to stop, remember God,
and recall what he has done
for us and will do for others.
Being mindful of the life of
Christ, we know that becom-
ing a Christian and leading
a new life does not mean we
shall waltz through a bed of
roses. Like Jesus, we still must
face death. But this reality is
not the end; it is only the be-
ginning! Here’s a fine prayer
on the subject.
Almighty God, who
through your only-begot-
ten Son Jesus Christ over-
came death and opened to
us the gate of everlasting
life: Grant that we, who
celebrate with joy the day
of the Lord’s resurrec-
tion, may be raised from
the death of sin by your
40 anglicandigest.org
life-giving Spirit; through
Jesus Christ our Lord,
you and the Holy Spir-
it, one God, now and for
ever. Amen.§
The Reverend Walter L. Prehn
III, PhD, is a priest of the
Episcopal Church, an educa-
tor, and a writer. He lives in
Sisterdale, Texas, and Mid-
dlebrook, Virginia. Chip is a
Trustee-Director of The Liv-
ing Church Foundation.
____________
*J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (London, 1937),
Chapter 5. To gain his liberty from Gollum’s
cave, Bilbo successful solves a series of rid-
dles Gollum puts on him.
†
Newman, Discourse Sixteen on “The Men-
tal Sufferings of Our Lord in His Passion,”
Discourses to Mixed Congregations (Lon-
don,1849)
‡
Thomas Blackburn (1916-1977), “An Eas-
ter Hymn,” quoted in the daily blog, Dover
Beach.
§
Easter Day Collect from the American Book
of Common Prayer (1979). The author does
not assume that a death from the COVID-19
virus is God’s punishment for sin, and he has
the deepest sympathy for anyone who has
lost a loved one to the plague or yet faces
the possible loss of his or her life. May the
Lord “only say the word” and the afflicted be
healed!
gathering
Going to Galilee
The Rt. Rev’d John
Bauerschmidt, D. Phil.,
Bishop of tennessee,
Nashville, Tennessee
The so-called “shorter end-
ing” of the Gospel of Mark
(16:1-8), with the account of
the first Easter Day, is famous-
ly inconclusive. The women
go to the grave, early in the
morning after the sabbath,
bringing spices with which
to anoint the crucified body
of Jesus that had been bur-
ied hastily on Friday; there to
their surprise they discover
that the stone before the tomb
has been rolled away. They
enter and discover a young
man in white who tells them
that Jesus is not there, but that
he has been raised from the
dead. The young man gives
them a message: “Go, tell his
disciples and Peter that he is
going ahead of you to Galilee;
there you will see him, just as
he told you” (Mk. 16:7). St.
Mark’s account (in this short-
telling
er version) ends by telling us
that the women fled from the
tomb “in terror and amaze-
ment,” saying nothing to any-
one, “for they were afraid”
(Mk. 16:8).
This version is inconclusive,
of course, because nobody
encounters the risen Lord! In-
stead, there is the young man
(presumably an angel) with a
message that Jesus has been
raised, and a direction for
the disciples to go to Galilee.
There’s a promise that they
will see Jesus; but within the
parameters of the “shorter
ending” no one actually en-
counters the One who is risen
from the dead.
Inconclusive, perhaps – or
perhaps better, open-ended.
There are rich lessons for us
here, as Christian disciples
living in the time of the coro-
navirus, in this evocative ac-
count of the day of resurrec-
tion. In these strange times
it is easy for us to place our-
selves in the narrative, and
summer 2020 41
connecting

discover our affinity with the however; that’s where they

first disciples, and the source will see the risen Lord. The
of our faith. message sends them to the
margins, out into the world.
The directional message helps The church exists in the bad-
us to orient ourselves in St. lands of this world, where the
Mark’s resurrection account. light of the gospel confronts
The disciples are sent to Gal- the darkness of this world.
ilee, “Galilee of the gentiles” We’re there for a reason, be-
as it’s called by the prophet cause the old world is perish-
Isaiah and in the Gospel of ing and a new world is being
Matthew (Is. 9:2; Matt. 4:15): brought to birth. In the time
a part of Palestine where Jews of crisis, like this time of the
and Gentiles lived in close coronavirus, the light of the
proximity. In terms of ancient gospel must shine. It’s exactly
Israel, Galilee in the north there, in Galilee, that we will
was a marginal area, not at the see Christ alive again.
heart of the settlement of the
Promised Land, and only held There is still the puzzling
under the political control of note on which the gospel
the Jews at the height of the concludes, in fear and anxi-
kingdom. For observant Jews, ety. It’s understandable that
everything from Galilee was the women were frightened,
suspect, even other Jews. Gal- of course. They were experi-
ilee was “the badlands” where encing things that they were
anything could happen, and unprepared for. The disciples,
where you needed to be look- for their part, were so fright-
ing over your shoulder. ened and demoralized by Je-
sus’ arrest and execution that
That’s where the disciples are they didn’t even show up that
sent on the first Easter Day, morning. Yet as a theological

42 anglicandigest.org
gathering
account of what happened, it
is puzzling, because it seems
to leave out faith.
That may be where we are
in the time of the coronavi-
rus. Here we have to speak in
reverent tones, because there
is plenty of fear and anxiety
out there, these days. There’s
a public health crisis; eco-
nomic uncertainty; the loss of
employment or its near pros-
pect. Yet it is into these dire
circumstances that the gospel
speaks its strongest word. The
death and resurrection of Je-
sus Christ is the center of our
faith, God’s abiding word in
the face of doubt and uncer-
tainty. This version of the res-
urrection story brings terror
and fear into the foreground,
in the most realistic way, and
then invites us to move on in
faith to Galilee.
St. Mark’s shorter version was
made for times like these. Je-
sus Christ, crucified and ris-
en, is the center and source
telling
of our faith. He’s not an idea
for us to ponder, or simply an
example for us to imitate. In-
stead, he’s a living, breathing
person whom we are meant
to follow. He goes before us to
Galilee. It’s there that we will
see him.
vvv
Church in the
Cloud
The Rt Rev’d Mark D.W.
Edington, Bishop of the
Convocation of Episcopal
Churches in Europe.
There is arguably no place
on earth where the impact of
Christian ideas more thor-
oughly permeates all of cul-
tural history than in Europe.
Here, the faith of Christianity
became the once-dominant
force of Christendom; here,
virtually every form of artistic
expression — painting, sculp-
ture, architecture, music, lit-
erature, drama — has been
imbued through the centuries
summer 2020 43
connecting

with Christian ideas, imagery, war and revolution, through

and inspiration. plague and famine, surely
churches here and there have
To be the Episcopal Church been closed — but not all of
in Europe is a peculiar thing them at once, and surely not
at the very least. It is to bring on Easter. It is hard not to
an expression of the Angli- be at least a little shaken by
can idea from the New World this. Will we ever be the same
into the Old. It is to bring an again?
idea of Anglicanism never
entwined with establishment By the grace of God, most
into a place where the historic likely not. Something new has
relationships between church come of this. As the impact
and state have matured into a of the virus ravaged Italy, and
spectrum ranging from state then France and Spain, we all
control to lingering mutu- retreated behind the closed
al suspicion — or outright doors of our homes. We, like
disdain. And it is to share as the rest of the church, sud-
neighbors a common geogra- denly found ourselves expe-
phy with other provinces in riencing our worship, and our
the Anglican Communion — fellowship, through the medi-
the only place, indeed, where um of a screen. Yes, it was odd
that happens. at first — one might even say
helpfully unsatisfying, point-
And yet here, as everywhere edly reminding us of what we
else, our churches were closed were missing.
on Easter day. In the long his-
tory of the Christian faith in But as these weeks unfolded,
Europe, I doubt very much we have been surrounded in
that such a thing has ever a new and quite remarkable
happened before. Through way by a great cloud of wit-

44 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

nesses. They are, quite liter- resurrection, and ascension of

ally, sharing the cloud with Christ, we cannot permit our-
us—the digital cloud. We see selves the comfort of struc-
something we could never ex- tures and messages shaped for
perience at the 10:00 o’clock the world as it was. God calls
service; people who have long us to walk the Way of Love
been separated from us by into an unknown future, not
distance or infirmity able to as a trip down memory lane.
join us again; people gathered Yes, we have been saying this;
at the same moment from a but let’s face it, most of the
wide variety of time zones, changes we’ve risked have
languages, and cultures; even been incremental and periph-
people who have never found eral. Suddenly, unwillingly,
our physical door to be very new occasions have taught us
open, somehow, and yet were new duties — and new possi-
able to risk crossing our digi- bilities. Might it just be that
tal threshold to enter in. God is using this moment to
open to us the path toward
For most if not all of our lives, the church God needs us to
we have been hearing, and be?
saying, that the church must
change. It is, after all, merely I have no desire to see us sim-
the contingent expression of ply be a church of faces on
eternal truths; the truths are a laptop screen; that would
the Gospel’s message, and our surely not be, in any recog-
church is the servant, not the nizable way, the full depth
master, of those truths. If we of community God calls us
are to translate to the world to as disciples. But there is
as it is the truths of God’s ac- a breadth to what we have
tion to rescue and redeem all learned of our possibilities in
people through the life, death, these weeks that cannot but

spring 2020 45
connecting

cause us to ask: How can we STAYING QUIETLY

keep this? How can we remain IN YOUR ROOM
connected to, and nourish,
J. Michael Hartenstine
these new forms of commu- Church of the Redeemer
nity we have created — this Sarasota, FL
church of the cloud?
In one of his New York Times
In J. K. Rowling’s Harry Pot- columns during the midst of
ter books, the Daily Prophet the Coronavirus pandemic,
managed somehow to present David Brooks invited readers
its reader with a newspaper to tell him how they were cop-
in which the images moved, ing with the crisis. With over
and even interacted with the 5,000 replies, Brooks wrote
reader. I hope, as we careful- in a subsequent column that
ly and cautiously move back “a significant portion of our
into our familiar spaces, we friends and neighbors are in
do not leave behind the fac- agony.” It was not only the fear
es we have come to know in of a life-threatening disease at
our new practices of gather- issue, it was the “wrenching
ing, praying, studying, and loneliness.”
sharing. I hope somehow the A 65-year-old woman con-
physical church will find in fessed to “feeling totally alone
this most unusual moment in this crisis and hopeless.”
an inflection point, one at Another person reported “a
which the arc of our history pervasive, ever-shifting, hard-
bends more toward becoming to-define anxiety.” An atheist
a hybrid church — providing admitted to praying daily, but
space and place for people not knowing to whom. One
physically and virtually pres- responder lamented “there
ent. The cloud of witnesses was no way to distract yourself
grows — thank God! from your unhappiness now.”
46 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

These are familiar themes in space I occupy and which

the human experience, espe- I see engulfed in the in-
cially in times of crisis. What finite immensity of spaces
is unfamiliar is the experi- of which I know nothing
encing of these themes by so and which know nothing of
many simultaneously, when me, I am frightened. Then
the time of crisis for everyone I marvel that so wretched
is the same. Is the Christian a state does not drive peo-
response to these themes of ple to despair. All I know
hopelessness, anxiety, lone- is that I must soon die, but
liness, and unhappiness any what I know least about
different when they are en- is this very death which I
countered by society en masse cannot evade.
instead of encountered spo-
radically by individuals in Confronted with eventual,
unique circumstances? certain demise and uncertain
Blaise Pascal, the brilliant 17th eternal fate, how can people
century polymath, philoso- be happy and avoid despair?
pher, and theologian, offered To preserve their happiness,
insights into human nature Pascal says, people have de-
that are still relevant today. cided “not to think about
In his Pensées (French for such things.” Humans rely on
“thoughts”), Pascal observed diversion to keep from pon-
the following about the inher- dering their own mortality.
ent anxiety of life, even with- Any activity will suffice, how-
ever insipid or vacuous—even
out a pandemic:
pushing a ball with a billiard
When I consider the short cue. Being left alone without
duration of my life, swal- diversion invites introspection
lowed up in the eternity and intolerable depression be-
before and after, the small cause we feel our “nothingness

summer 2019 47
connecting

without recognizing it.” “The fears, and keenly aware of one’s

sole cause of a person’s unhap- unhappiness and lack of good-
piness,” Pascal concluded, “is ness, one is left to ask with the
that he does not know how to Psalmist the existential ques-
stay quietly in his room.” tion, “From whence does my
help come?”
The truth of Pascal’s insights
is reflected in the responses Where do we derive meaning
Brooks received from his read-and purpose in our lives? As
ers. Left alone in their roomsPeter Gomes says, how do we
without anything to distract “make a life and not just a liv-
from their unhappiness, peo- ing”? For all those previously
ple have experienced preciselyconsumed by the pursuit of
the feelings of despair Pascalmaking a living now forced
astutely prognosticated four to stay alone in their rooms,
centuries ago. where is the source for help in
The poet W. H. Auden in 1939 making a life?
put it this way:
The lights must never go We are not ourselves the
out, source, asserts Pascal, because
The music must always relying on the good within you
play, ignores “what your true good
Lest we should see where is or what your true state is. . .
we are — . Only God can make you un-
Lost in a haunted wood; derstand what you are.” Pascal
Children afraid of the echoes the answer given by
night the Psalmist: “My help comes
Who have never been from the LORD, who made
happy or good. heaven and earth.”
Sheltered in place, unable to No one since Pascal has like-
escape one’s anxieties and ly thought more deeply about
48 anglicandigest.org
gathering
the relationship between anxi-
ety and faith than 20th centu-
ry theologian Paul Tillich. For
Tillich, an unavoidable aspect
of our existence is anxiety, the
consequence of which may be
despair over the seeming emp-
tiness and meaninglessness of
life. Life’s anxieties arise from
their contingent character,
their unpredictability, and the
impossibility of showing their
meaning and purpose. The ul-
timate anxiety is the anxiety of
dying. It is the anxiety of our
physical being becoming non-
being, the complete loss of self
resulting from biological ex-
tinction. The threat of nonbe-
ing belongs to existence itself
and cannot be eliminated.
In the face of this inescapable
nonbeing, how are we to gain
the courage and confidence to
live? The courage to live, Til-
lich declares in The Courage
To Be (1952), comes from a
power transcending nonbeing.
“That power is God—not a be-
ing, but being itself. We have
telling
the courage to be, to affirm
ourselves in the face of life’s
apparent meaninglessness, be-
cause of faith in the transcen-
dence and reality of being.”
When God spoke to Moses
out of the burning bush, Mo-
ses asked God his name. God
replied, “I am who I am.” God
then tells Moses to tell the Is-
raelites, “I am has sent me.”
God is revealing to Moses
something of God’s nature—
God is the one who is, who re-
ally is, who is the source of all
being, who is being itself, who
transcends nonbeing, and who
invites us to affirm our own
being through his power.
The Christian gospel pro-
claims that God accepts us
even though we are unaccept-
able. The courage to be, Tillich
writes, is the courage to accept
oneself as accepted in spite of
being unacceptable. “It is root-
ed in the personal, total, and
immediate certainty of divine
forgiveness. God’s forgiveness
of our sins is the only and ul-
summer 2020 49
connecting
timate source of a courage to
be which is able to take the
anxiety of guilt and condem-
nation into itself.” God accepts
us, and we must accept God’s
acceptance of us. This we do
by faith.
Faith, as Tillich expresses it,
is not “a theoretical affirma-
tion of something uncertain,”
but “the state of being grasped
by the power of being which
transcends everything that is
and in which everything that
is participates.” That power of
being is God. Those who are
grasped by this power are able
to affirm themselves in the
face of all life’s anxieties and
fears because they know they
are affirmed by the power of
being itself. Faith is the basis
of the courage to be.
Even when our doubts make
God feel distant or absent,
God calls us to trust in “I am
who I am.” The courage to be,
Tillich affirms, “is rooted in
the God who appears when
God has disappeared in the
50 anglicandigest.org
anxiety of doubt.”
Whether feelings of hope-
lessness, anxiety, loneliness,
and unhappiness arise in the
context of a global pandemic
or circumstances unique to
an individual, the Christian
response is the same. God
accepts us in all our unwor-
thiness and despair and sum-
mons us through faith to the
courage to know there is noth-
ing ultimately to fear.
vvv
Vulnerable
and lonely
The Rev’d Canon Mark Clavier
Residentiary Canon
Brecon Cathedral, Wales
In 1208, during an argument
with King John, Pope Inno-
cent III placed all churches
in England and Wales under
an interdict, which effectively
closed all the churches under
the authority of the Archbish-
ops of Canterbury and York.
The Mass couldn’t be said,
clergy were restricted to only
gathering telling

private prayers and devotions, ue to say daily prayers there

and no funerals were to be and to celebrate the Eucha-
held. rist with one other person. In
some churches, this is done
That may very well be the last quietly and privately, while in
time churches in Wales were others some or even all the
closed. What would have been services are live streamed or
a piece of historical trivia recorded on the Internet.
strikes you when you worship
in a building that was in use During Holy Week, the Arch-
during that thirteenth-cen- bishop of Wales, The Most
tury closure. Wales abounds Rev’d John Davies, celebrated
in ancient church buildings Palm Sunday, conducted com-
— some that date back to the pline at the start of the week,
11th century and many that sit celebrated the Maundy Thurs-
on holy sites much older than day Eucharist, and venerated
that — so this is, in fact, a sec- the cross on Good Friday for
ond time round for them. And all to see on Facebook. The
in a strange instance of histor- Easter service was profession-
ical coincidence the Covid-19 ally recorded and released on
restrictions were implemented Brecon Cathedral’s page and
on 802nd anniversary of Inno- through the Church in Wales
cent III’s interdict to the day. site. Viewership was in the
Fortunately, the Church in thousands from all over the
Wales has not followed the world.
Church of England in im- Across Wales, clergy and laity
posing a total ban on the use are also volunteering in their
of the churches. Clergy who local communities to help
live “with the curtilage” of the most vulnerable and the
the church or cathedral (the lonely. At Brecon Cathedral,
church grounds) may contin- for example, a group goes to

summer 2020 51
connecting

the Foodbank each Friday to elsewhere in Europe, the age

pack and load bags of food to demographic of those who
be distributed to the poor or regularly attend services aligns
people living in isolation. In with those most at risk from
Gorseinon in South Wales, St Covid-19, which suggests that
Catherine’s Church has helped they will be among the last
establish a Food Hub, which to have social distancing and
has replaced the local food- self-isolation restrictions lift-
bank that had to close because ed. In short, many churches
of the pandemic. will probably face dire finan-
cial situations by the time life
At the same time, the pan- returns to normal.
demic is hitting the finances
of Welsh churches very hard. Still, the ancient buildings are
Wales is by and large a rural a reminder that the church in
society where most churches Wales has endured much since
are located in sparsely popu- the first Christians arrived
lated villages and towns. Be- in Roman times. It will un-
cause the upkeep of ancient doubtedly survive this as well.
buildings is so expensive and Some places may even emerge
attendance is very low, the vast stronger since the pandem-
majority of churches struggle ic has compelled members to
financially to maintain their look after each other more ac-
ministry, buildings, and work. tively. It would be wonderful
Few have systems in place to to think that God might use
maximize sustained giving this dreadful virus to renew
without services while oth- his church in the green valleys
ers (like cathedrals) depend of Wales. At the very least, we
on tourism and income from hope that it’ll be another 800
concerts and events, which years before our churches face
have now been cancelled. Like closure again.

52 anglicandigest.org
gathering
Pandemic cancels
Saint Patrick’s
Day in Ireland
and postpones
bishops’ moves
Patrick Comerford
This has been an Easter like
none other for the churches in
Ireland, including the Church
of Ireland, the member church
of the Anglican Communion.
Churches have been closed,
church-run schools remain
closed, funerals have been se-
verely restricted, baptisms and
weddings have been delayed
or postponed, and the bells,
choirs and organs are silent.
The first warning that this
was going to be a silent Easter
came with the decision to can-
cel all church and public cele-
brations of Saint Patrick’s Day
(17 March), a national day cel-
ebrated by all communities on
a divided island.
Saint Patrick’s Day parades
in cities, towns and villag-
es across the island, and the
telling
national ecumenical service
in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral,
Dublin, the capital of the Re-
public of Ireland, was can-
celled just a few days before
they were due to take place.
At Saint Patrick’s grave in the
churchyard at Downpatrick
Cathedral, a small service was
conducted by Bishop David
McClay of Down Dromore,
with only a minimal atten-
dance.
The Church of Ireland is mark-
ing the 150th anniversary of
its disestablishment in 1869-
1871, but the church traces its
roots back to Saint Patrick’s
mission in the fifth century.
The Church of Ireland is one
church, but its members live
in two distinct political juris-
dictions. The most recent cen-
sus figures show 126,000 peo-
ple in the Republic of Ireland
are affiliated to the Church of
Ireland, and almost 250,000
people in Northern Ireland,
which is part of the United
Kingdom.
summer 2020 53
connecting
The church has 12 dioceses,
12 bishops, 448 parish units,
1,078 places of worship, and
around 500 active clergy. The
Archbishops of Armagh is the
Primate of All-Ireland and the
Archbishop of Dublin is the
Primate of Ireland.
A quarter of Church of Ire-
land members in the Republic
live in the capital city, Dub-
lin, and its surrounding area,
and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral,
Dublin, is the National Cathe-
dral.
The Church of Ireland is
unique in the islands of Britain
and Ireland: while the Church
of England, the Church in
Wales and the Scottish Episco-
pal Church work within clear-
ly-defined political units in the
United Kingdom, the Church
of Ireland works across two
jurisdictions – the Republic of
Ireland and Northern Ireland;
four of the 12 dioceses are
cross-border dioceses, with
many cross-border parishes.
54 anglicandigest.org
Until the Covid-19 pandemic
began to impact life on both
sides of the border, the main
concern throughout Ireland
was the impact of ‘Brexit’ as
the United Kingdom leaves
the European Union, while
the Republic of Ireland re-
mains deeply committed to
EU membership.
The Dublin government’s firm
approach to the pandemic
has been praised as a model
throughout Europe, while the
power-sharing executive in
Belfast has been following a
path taken by Boris Johnson’s
government in London that
has been seen as risk-taking.
Many parishes and dioceses
are now making use of on-
line services and resources,
bringing their services to pa-
rishioners through Facebook,
Zoom and other social media
platforms, and posting their
sermons online.
The Bishop of Clogher, Bishop
John McDowell, was recently
elected Archbishop of Arma-
gathering telling

gh. He is due to be translated has called off its annual con-

to Armagh on 28 April, but ference, both due to take place
his enthronement in Saint in June.
Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh,
has been delayed. Similarly, The annual Chrism Eucha-
the consecration on 1 May of rist on Maundy Thursday was
Archdeacon George Davison cancelled in most dioceses,
as Bishop of Connor – a di- although Bishop Paul Colton
ocese that includes much of of Cork recorded the service
Belfast – has been postponed. in his chapel, inviting remote
participation from around his
The General Synod – the ‘par- diocese.
liament’ of the Church – meets
annually, and includes all 12 The April editions of both the
bishops, and 432 lay members Church of Ireland Gazette, the
and 216 clerical members. church’s national magazine,
However, this year’s General and the Church Review, the
Synod, on 7-9 May in Dublin, Dublin diocesan magazine,
has been cancelled and any were made available free on-
possible rescheduling will be line. But many church maga-
guided by public health ad- zines have been hit by print-
vice. ers’ working restrictions and
are not publishing in May.
Easter vestries, the annu-
al meetings of parishes, and During the pandemic, a page
diocesan synods have been collating resources in the
cancelled, and church-run Church of Ireland is updated
schools have been closed. The regularly with guidance docu-
Presbyterian Church has also ments: www.ireland.anglican.
cancelled its General Assem- org/COVID–19
bly and the Methodist Church The leaders of the four main

summer 2020 55
connecting
Churches – the Church of Ire-
land, Methodist Church, Ro-
man Catholic Church, Pres-
byterian Church and the Irish
Council of Churches – contin-
ue to hold weekly video con-
ferences, and have expressed
their deep appreciation and
thanks for people working on
the frontline during the pan-
demic, commending them for
‘their work, courage and com-
passion.’
They hope that when the pan-
demic abates, ‘we will also
have a renewed and strength-
ened sense of community on
this island and a new under-
standing and deeper appreci-
ation of one another.’
But on social media forums,
clergy are already asking ques-
tions about the future financ-
ing of parishes and dioceses.
(Rev’d Canon Professor) Pat-
rick Comerford is a priest in
the Diocese of Limerick and
blogs at www.patrickcomer-
ford.com
56 anglicandigest.org
Christian Faith
in Times of Crisis
Christopher Wells, PhD
Executive Director
The Living Church Foundation
At the outset of Holy Week
this year, my brother and
I received the news of our
81-year-old Mom’s testing
positive for Covid-19. Di-
agnosed as a mild case, she
has so far remained symp-
tom free, save perhaps for an
increase in dementia, itself
a possible symptom. Other
positive cases have cropped
up at her assisted living facili-
ty in San Diego, and one of the
staff died from complications
associated with the virus. The
staff have remained amazing-
ly kind and caring amidst it
all, faithful to their sense of
“call” to this work, as the ex-
ecutive director expressed it
in an email to families of res-
idents. As she often says, they
“love” those in their care, and
we know this to be true.
gathering
The experience has been, and
remains, a powerfully person-
al Way of the Cross for me
and my family, and stretching
into Eastertide I am contem-
plating sin, death, and resur-
rection as a continual crisis
of encounter with God for
those “who believe” (1 Pet.
2:7). Crisis in Scripture con-
notes a decisive moment or
turning point set within a di-
vine horizon, often gathering
with it God’s judgment and
justice. Consider Jesus’ con-
frontational word early on in
the gospel of John, enunciat-
ing a prophecy of resurrection
in the key of crisis. As he says,
“the hour is coming, and is
now here, when the dead will
hear the voice of the Son of
God” — and not just some of
the dead, but “all who are in
their graves will hear his voice
and will come out: those who
have done good, to the resur-
rection of life, and those who
have done evil, to the resur-
rection of condemnation (kri-
sis)” (John 5:25,28-29). Easter
telling
hope, to be sure, but joined
with judgment. Similarly, Je-
sus warns the Pharisees in
the gospel of Matthew not to
neglect “the more important
matters of the law — justice
(krisis), mercy, and faithful-
ness” (23:23).
Our time here is short, and,
for the faithful, set within a
great drama of creation and
redemption that plays out un-
stintingly before our eyes and
within the secrets of each of
our hearts. Unlike God, and
unlike the Son of God, there
is a time when each one of us
were not. We were made, not
begotten. But our physical
death will not be the end. And
we are given a gospel to guide
us into perpetual conversa-
tion with the living God, in
order to “pray without ceas-
ing” (1 Thess. 5:17) and lis-
ten unceasingly to his words
in reply. The whole Church
year serves this end, and the
centerpiece of each season is
simultaneously true. Jesus is
summer 2020 57
connecting
born, is crucified, is resurrect-
ed, is ascended, and is coming
again all at once. These are
bits of his biography, but we
celebrate them as present and
future facts for all who would
live in and faithfully follow
him.
We believe that passion and
resurrection are inseparable
and mutually determining.
“In the midst of life we are
in death” (1979 BCP, p. 484,
drawn from the 1662). This
struck me during a wonderful
Holy Hour before the Bless-
ed Sacrament on Maundy
Thursday, beamed into my
home by webcam from the
altar of repose at my parish
in a virtual vigil. Devotional
aid in hand, I recalled again
God’s presence in my life “at
all times,” confessed my sin,
threw myself upon Jesus’ love
and mercy, and subjected my
prayers — for the world and
the peoples of the world, for
my country, for all Christians,
for the Church and my par-
58 anglicandigest.org
ish, for those near and dear,
for my enemies, and for the
departed — to the will of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus “that
wrought our salvation.” Then,
turning to my own “spiritual
needs” (distinguished from
“earthly gifts which I may de-
sire”), I asked God “for light
and grace to live faithfully,”
“to develop in his service;
to grow more and more like
him; to meet the temptations
and difficulties of life; to per-
severe in the Christian life to
the end; and for the grace to
die a good and happy death”
(all from “The Holy Hour” in
Saint Augustine’s Prayer Book
[1947]).
This is the pattern of Chris-
tian faith in times of crisis,
which is to say in the ordi-
nary-turned-supernatural
course of birth, sin, grace,
conversion, obedience amid
trial, and reparative suffer-
ing that is the daily bread of
Christian hope and Christian
love. This is our calling, en-
gathering
abled by God himself in the
sacrificial gift of his Son. In
him, in his strength, this age
and the next are joined.
Lord Jesus, make us faithful
disciples, and call us home
to you when our work here is
complete. Amen
An explanation
of suffering
is an attempt to forget
it as suffering, and so
a quest for
untruthfulness.
Archbishop
Rowan Williams
vvv
If ye, being evil, know
how to give good things
to your children, how
much more shall your
Father which is in heaven
give good things to them
that ask him?
Mt. 7:11
telling
NECROLOGY
The Rt. Rev. George
Phelps Mellick Belshaw, 91,
in Princeton, NJ. A graduate
of the University of the South
and the General Theological
Seminary, he was ordained
to the diaconate in June 1954,
and to the priesthood six
months later. He served par-
ishes in Waimanalo, HI; Do-
ver, DE; and Rumson, NJ; he
also served as a summer chap-
lain in Prout’s Neck, ME, for
36 years. He was elected Suf-
fragan Bishop of New Jersey
in 1975, then Bishop Coad-
jutor in 1982, and in 1983 be-
came the ninth bishop of New
Jersey; he served as diocesan
bishop until his retirement
in 1995. He was the editor of
two well-regarded books, Lent
with Evelyn Underhill and
Lent with William Temple, as
well as a number of articles
and reviews.
summer 2020 59
connecting
The Rt. Rev. Gordon Tali-
aferro Charlton, Jr., 96, in
White Stone, VA. After grad-
uating from the University
of Texas in Austin, he served
three years in the U.S. Navy
before studying at Virgin-
ia Theological Seminary. He
served parishes in Houston,
TX; Fairbanks, AK; Wilm-
ington, DE; and Mexico City,
Mexico, before returning to
Virginia Seminary as a mem-
ber of the faculty. In 1973, he
became Dean and President of
the Episcopal Seminary of the
Southwest. In 1982, he was
elected Suffragan Bishop of
Texas; he retired in 1989.
The Very Rev. James
Parks Morton, 89, New York,
NY. A graduate of Harvard
College, Cambridge Univer-
sity, and the General Theo-
logical Seminary, he was or-
dained to the priesthood in
1954. He served as a priest in
Jersey City and as the director
of the Urban Training Center
for Christian Mission in Chi-
60 anglicandigest.org
cago before being appointed
Dean of the Cathedral of St.
John the Divine in 1972 by the
Rt. Rev. Paul Moore Jr. At the
time, the cathedral building
was still unfinished; in 1979,
he began a program for un-
employed young residents of
Harlem and Newark to train
with master stonemasons to
continue construction of the
cathedral towers. He opened a
homeless shelter on the cathe-
dral grounds and created the
Urban Homesteading Assis-
tance Board, which helps peo-
ple rebuild, occupy, and own
apartments in abandoned
buildings. He also founded
music and dance programs.
After retiring in 1996, he
founded the Interfaith Center
of New York, which promotes
mutual understanding among
religions.
The Rev. Charles W.
Beamer, 80, in North Olmst-
ed, OH. He was a Demolitions
Expert in the U.S. Army, serv-
ing with the 101st Airborne
gathering telling
Division until a parachute The Rev. Byron Grey
accident brought an early end Crocker, 84, in Silsbee, TX.
to his military service. After He served parishes in Beau-
leaving the army, he was or- mont, TX – first as Rector of
dained to the priesthood in St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
1974, and went on to serve Beaumont for 20 years, then
numerous parishes in Ohio. as an associate rector at St.
Mark’s Episcopal Church in
The Rev. Arnold Arling- Beaumont for 27 years.
ton Bush, Jr., 82, in Fairhope,
AL. A graduate of Millsaps The Reverend Jerry Davis
College and the School of The- DuBose, 66, in Pendleton,
ology at the University of the SC. After working on political
South, he was ordained to the campaigns during and after
priesthood in 1963, and went his days at Clemson Universi-
on to serve parishes all over ty, opening a PR, advertising,
the southeast United States for and marketing research firm,
more than fifty years. and earning an MBA from
Duke University, he discerned
The Rev. Leonard Cuth- a calling. Following his stud-
bert Claxton, 96, in Aitkin, ies at the School of Theology
MN. He served in the U.S. at the University of the South
Marine Corps during the Sec- and his ordination to the
ond World War, but never saw priesthood, he served parishes
combat, then spent 20 years as in Aiken and Barnwell, SC. He
a railroad telegrapher. He was also opened the Holy Apos-
ordained to the priesthood tles Episcopal Day School in
in 1966, then spent the next Barnwell.
50 years serving parishes in
North Dakota, Montana, and The Rev. Arlen Lowery
Minnesota. Fowler, 91, in Ardmore, OK.

summer 2020 61
connecting
A graduate of Oklahoma State
University, Princeton Uni-
versity, and Washington State
University, he also served as
an infantry Lieutenant in the
U.S. Army in Korea. He pur-
sued careers in the military,
academia, and the Church, in
the course of which he served
as an Army Chaplain during
the Berlin Crisis; taught His-
tory at Eastern Illinois Uni-
versity; was the President for
Student Affairs at Tulsa Uni-
versity; and served congre-
gations in Philadelphia, New
Jersey, Washington, and Illi-
nois. He served as a U.S. Army
Chaplain during the Berlin
Crisis. He was the author of
two books: The Black Infantry
in The West and Facing Aus-
chwitz: A Christian Impera-
tive, both of which are still in
print.
The Rev. Edward Mussey
Hartwell, 93, in Austin, TX.
He served in the Pacific the-
ater in the U.S. Navy during
the Second World War. A
62 anglicandigest.org
graduate of Southwestern Uni-
versity, Virginia Theological
Seminary, and from the Uni-
versity of Texas in Austin, he
was ordained to the diaconate
in 1953, and to the priesthood
in 1954. He started multiple
new churches in East Texas,
and served numerous other
parishes in Texas, including
in Beaumont, Austin, and
LaGrange. He also worked to
ensure access to mental health
care, make buildings wheel-
chair accessible, and fought
for civil rights and the deseg-
regation of Episcopal schools
The Rev. Dr. Arnold
Withrow Hearn, 93, in Mar-
ianna, AR. Born to mission-
aries in China, he eventually
returned to the United States
for high school. A graduate
of the University of Missouri,
Union Theological Seminary,
and Columbia University,
he began his ministry in the
Methodist Church in Missou-
ri, then New York. In 1953, he
began an academic career that
gathering
took him to Union Seminary,
Princeton University, Bangor
Theological Seminary, and
the Episcopal Seminary of the
Southwest. In 1966, he was
ordained to the priesthood
in the Episcopal Church. Af-
ter spending four years as a
guide for the U.S. Forest Ser-
vice in Arkansas, he returned
to parish ministry and served
parishes in Heber Springs and
Marianna, AR, before he re-
tired. In retirement, he served
parishes in Cherokee Village,
Harrison, Jonesboro, New-
port, Helena, Heber Springs,
and Marianna, AR.
The Rev. Charles Hen-
derson, III, 73, Rockport,
MA. He served as a medic
in the U.S. Army during the
Vietnam War. A graduate
of the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and
Gordon Conwell Theological
Seminary, he was ordained
to the priesthood in the An-
glican Church of Canada.
He served several parishes in
telling
Canada before returning to
the United States, where he
served parishes in Pierrepont
Manor, NY.
The Rev. Michael Joseph
Shank, 79, in Sidney, NY. A
graduate of Washington and
Lee University and St. Charles
School of Divinity, he served
as Holmsburg Prison Chaplin
in Philadelphia, PA, as well as
serving parishes in Belmar,
NJ; Waterford, Sidney, Gil-
bertsville, Downsville, and
Margaretville, NY.
The Rev. Ralph Wood
Smith, Jr., 93, Johnson City,
TN. A graduate of Davidson
College and Virginia Episco-
pal Seminary, he was ordained
to the diaconate in 1950, and
to the priesthood in 1951. He
served parishes in Lexington,
VA; Wrightsville Beach, NC;
Kingsport and Millington,
TN; and Lafayette, LA. He
also served as chaplain at Vir-
ginia Military Institute, Wash-
ington and Lee University,
Emory and Henry College,
summer 2020 63
King University, and The Uni-
versity of Tennessee Martin.
In retirement, he continued
to serve as a supply priest to
parishes in Virginia and Ten-
nessee, as well as maintaining
a private practice in addiction
and marital counseling.
The Rev. George Clif-
ford Spratt, 90, in Fulton, MO.
He served in the U.S. Navy
near the end of the Second
World War, before graduating
from Macalaster College and
Bexley Hall Theological Semi-
nary. Following his ordination
to the priesthood, he began
his ministry by serving Na-
tive American congregations
in northern Minnesota and
parishes in Minneapolis and
southern Minnesota, before
moving to Liberia, in West
Africa, where he was superin-
tendent of boarding schools,
oversaw a small rubber plan-
tation, and ministered to con-
gregations. After returning to
the States, he served parish-
es in Wabasha, MN, and the
Kansas City area. After he
retired, he served as a supply
priest in Fulton, Portland, and
Mexico, MO.
The Rev. Edwin Michael
Ward, 92, in Hilton Head,
SC. After serving in the U.S.
Army, he graduated from
Emory University and Vir-
ginia Theological Seminary.
Following his ordination to
the priesthood, he served a
parish in Troy, AL. He was a
teacher, coach, and chaplain
at St. Mark’s School in South-
borough, MA; Headmaster of
Salisbury School in Salisbury,
CT, for 16 years; Headmaster
of St. Stephen’s School in Al-
exandria, VA; and President
of Flint Hill School in Oakton,
VA, which he founded in 1990.
He served as the President of
the National Association of
Episcopal Schools from 1970-
1973. In retirement, he served
a parish in Hilton Head, SC.
May they rest in peace
and rise in glory.