AUTUMN A.D.

2022

VOL. 64 NO. 3

St. Paul’s Church

Yuma, Arizona
 The Society for Promoting and Encouraging the Arts and Knowledge
of the Church (SPEAK, Inc.).

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

SECRETARY/TREASURER
THE REV’D DR. C. BRYAN OWEN
THE RT. REV’D JOHN C. BAUERSCHMIDT
THE RT. REV’D ANTHONY J. BURTON
MRS. MARIAN MONTGOMERY CHANCELLOR
THE VERY REV’D DR. NEAL MICHELL
MR. PHILLIP PARKER
DR. E. MITCHELL SINGLETON, HONORARY

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
THE REV’D DR. FREDRICK A. ROBINSON, EDITOR
THE RT. REV’D ANTHONY F. M. CLAVIER, ASSISTANT EDITOR
MS. REBECCA K. ROBINSON, ASSISTANT EDITOR
PATRICIA SULLIVAN, ASSISTANT EDITOR FOR RECIPES
MRS. JACKI BOEDECKER, ASSISTANT EDITOR FOR CHILDREN’S BOOK SELECTIONS

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805 COUNTY ROAD 102
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EMAIL: LCRANE@ANGLICANDIGEST.ORG
PHONE: 479-253-9701
ANGLICANDIGEST.ORG

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do not necessarily represent those of the Board of Trustees.

ISSN 0003-3278 VOL. 64, NO. 3

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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-four 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’d 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/
subscribe-now/, call 479-253-9701, or write us at 805 County
Road 102, Eureka Springs, AR 72632.

autumn 2022 3
 A Letter from the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Dear Digest Family:

There is nothing worse than a braggart with a pushy timeshare sales pitch.
I pray what follows comes off as I mean it in my heart and that it doesn’t
sound boastful or arrogant. Here it goes…

Did you know the Digest reaches almost seventy countries with the good
news of Jesus Christ? Did you know the Digest is the most widely circu-
lated publication serving the churches of the Anglican Communion? Did
you know the Digest is growing? Again, fear not, for there is no sales pitch
coming. Just keep reading, please.

My request is actually much harder than selling you something (if only it
were that easy!). My petition involves way more than your checkbook. I am
asking you for spiritual strength.

Your Digest family needs above all else your prayers. Specifically, will you
pray that we glorify God in each and every issue as we have sought to do for
almost seventy years? Will you pray that we remain always anchored to the
“faith once delivered to all the saints?” Will you pray that we have courage,
perseverance, and joy as we serve our communion of churches? Can you
say a little prayer that we discover new ways to reach and serve an even
wider audience? Will you ask God to show us how to support Anglicans in
emerging nations as they spread the good news of the Gospel?

The prayer of faith can indeed move mountains. Please pray, therefore, for
our mighty mission on our little mountain in the Ozarks as we draw others
to the peaks of God’s great goodness and love.

God bless you!

Yours in Jesus,
(The Rev’d) Charleston David Wilson
4 anglicandigest.org
6 Letter from the Editor
7 A United Church in a Divided Time
10 God so Loved the World
11 Be Still
12 Who Am I?
13 The Holy Angels
17 Michaelmas: A Sonnet
18 On Angel Wings
19 The Eucharist is an Earthly Thing and a
19 Heavenly Thing
28 Sinai
29 Liturgical Rhythms for Life
39 The Seer
39 Thingamajigs and Watchamacallits
41 ECW Crab Casserole
42 Recognizing Grace
46 If
47 Covid Variants
47 Dates from the Past
48 Hapax Legomenon
50 Five Principles of Godly Stewardship
53 Awaiting Our Happy Ending
55 All Souls’ Day/Dia de los Muertos
60 Confusing the MASH Tent with the Mission
63 Necrology

autumn 2022 5
connecting

A Letter from the Editor

Dear Readers of TAD,

It is my great privilege to welcome as our newest Parish Partner St.

Paul’s Church, Yuma, Arizona. The congregation was established in
1909 and has been in its current building since 1959. We have pic-
tured the church on the front and back covers, and on the front of
the mailing wrap, of this fall issue. One of her members describes St.
Paul’s as an oasis in the middle of the desert. St. Paul’s is a growing
Parish in Yuma, one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.

Fr. Robert Lewis, the Rector of St. Paul’s, says that his parish is fully
bilingual at every level, including the Vestry. “If it’s offered in English,”
Fr. Lewis reports with obvious pride, “we try to offer it in Spanish
also.” Testimony to this aspect of St. Paul’s is Fr. Lewis’s article on All
Souls’ Day, beginning on page 55. In addition to their worship, which
is at the heart of their common life, they have a food bank ministry to
the needy and their “Prayers-N-Squares” quilts are a tangible sign of
their care for the sick and suffering.

What parish will we feature in our winter issue? If you would like
your parish to be a Parish Partner, contact me at
frobinson@anglicandigest.org. Join our growing
family of Parish Partners as we partner with you to
the glory of God for the building up of his Church.

Faithfully yours,

The Rev’d Dr. Fredrick A. Robinson

6 anglicandigest.org
gathering
A UNITED CHURCH
IN A DIVIDED TIME
The Rt. Rev’d Gregory O.
Brewer, Bishop of the Diocese
of Central Florida
The Rt. Rev’d Gregory O. Brewer
Recently I found a quote on-
line that I thought fitting for
this time in our history:
“No church gravitates toward
unity. We have to contend for
unity against the gravitation-
al pull toward selfishness and
hypocrisy” (Barnabas Piper).
But in our contentious cul-
ture, such words can be easi-
ly misunderstood. Contend-
ing for unity does not mean
drawing battle lines to sepa-
telling
rate ourselves from those who
disagree with us. You will not
find that course of action sup-
ported by the Gospel.
Instead, and quite remarkably,
the Gospel calls us not to set
up battle lines against anyone.
We are called to love even our
enemies. The only foes with
which we contend are the su-
pernatural forces of darkness
– not any of our fellow human
beings. We follow Christ, who
invites us to come to him
who is “gentle and humble in
heart” and gives rest to our
souls” (Matt. 11:29b).
To contend for unity invites
us into a posture different
from “cancel culture” and “us
versus them.” Instead, it calls
us to take the posture of a cu-
rious listener and a willing-
ness to see the human being
behind the opinion we abhor.
So, instead of disagreeing
with someone straightaway,
perhaps the better strategy is
to ask a question. Learn more
about what they mean. Ask
autumn 2022 7
connecting
what has led them to form
this position. Listen to their
stories. Pray for them. Learn
with them.
To take that position is not
an abdication of your own;
it is a way to build bridges
with those with whom you
disagree. You won’t find that
strategy on television or in
much political debate. How-
ever, you may meet people
who have used their opinions
to isolate themselves and are
hungry for connections, but
the only way they know how
to relate is to declare and de-
fend their positions.
As I see it, various recent
events have caused us to live
more in isolation today than
I can remember. And it’s not
just the coronavirus or even
politics. So many circum-
stances have divided us along
lines of race, neighborhood,
and economics. And institu-
tions such as the civic town
hall and even the Church have
waned in influence, so we
8 anglicandigest.org
are less likely than ever to be
friends with people unlike us.
We have thus lost the sense of
the “common good” and have
instead moved to a political
party’s vision for the common
good (a vast difference).
Politics used to be a place
where we were willing to
work through differences
around a democratic process
that presumed tolerance, the
capacity to agree to disagree
and political compromise in
the service of a greater good:
the unity of its citizens.
But today, “the common
good” of society has become
individualized to the “pre-
ferred good” of some of its cit-
izens at the expense of others.
So all of us fight for the tri-
umph of our preferred vision,
wanting more than anything
for “our side” to win. This pre-
ferred way of doing politics
and social order has brought
us to the crisis that exists to-
day. It’s a crisis of isolation,
fear, anger at others, and a
gathering telling

fight to preserve “our way of than a tragedy. It also shares

life.” how the congregants made
the decision as a church to
Jesus gives us a different vi- forgive. In fact, when Dylan
sion. We are called to receive Roof met with the relatives
a unity God is giving us in of those who had died, their
Jesus Christ and find ways to united message was “We for-
live out that unity — in the give you. Repent and believe.”
midst of often-significant dif- Their grace-filled actions af-
ferences. This vision of unity firmed the truth of their mes-
is based on what we have re- sage. The courageous witness
ceived in Jesus: his love, his of those Christians shocked a
forgiveness, and his triumph nation and caused many non-
over sin, disease, poverty, and believers to sit up and take
division. notice. This was the unity of
One of last year’s most im- the Gospel in action.
portant events for me was
attending a screening of the
Such a church, united in the
documentary “Emanuel,”
Gospel, is the only kind of
produced by Viola Davis andchurch that can be a true force
Steph Curry. It tells the story
for good in our society. This is
of the horrific tragedy that
not a self-serving church, but
occurred when Dylan Roof a serving church – a church
opened fire on a prayer meet-
that has something to offer in
ing at Emanuel African Meth-
the face of the deep divisions
odist Episcopal Church in all around us. We will not al-
Charleston, South Carolina,ways agree; but God help us
killing nine precious people.
to be a people who are com-
mitted to the witness of uni-
But the story of Emanu- ty in this hostile and divided
el Church tells about more world.

autumn 2022 9
connecting

GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD

Douglas Raymond Rose
Member Academy of American Poets

“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him”

—Said Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
If we focus on these wise words daily
Our whole world will start to “sing.”

Hate not only hurts all others

But ourselves in the process too—
That’s why “Our Father” tells us to do
Unto others, what to us we’d have them do.

Let Peace be our goal for today

Let’s put a pause on prejudice and Hate;
For “God so loved the world he gave his life”
With divine Love— let’s keep that date.

The Franciscan Order of the Divine Compassion

An Anglo-Catholic religious order of Third Order brothers and
sisters striving to proclaim the Good News of Christ through
penance and prayer. Our brothers and sisters minister in the
communities in which they live. For further information please
contact:
Br. Peter Stephen, OSF,
4125 River Birch Rd., Fort Worth, TX 76137
e-mail vicar-general@fodc.net
or call 817-948-8826
Advertisement

10 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

BE STILL Saul turned on him, and his

Mark Pelesh own son, Absalom, rose up in
Chevy Chase, Maryland rebellion against him. Indeed,
psalm after psalm excoriates
Refrain from anger,
his “evildoer” enemies and
leave rage alone;
cries out to the Lord for pro-
Do not fret yourself;
tection.
it only leads to evil
Psalm 37:9
I’m hardly the first to notice
how much anger and rage
there is in our public life and
how, sadly, it even creeps into
our personal dealings. Imag-
ine if the counsel of Psalm
37:9 were followed: It would
undermine most campaigns
for public office and destroy
the business model of the ca-
ble news channels! Lest we
dismiss this passage on the Psalm 1 (Beatus Vir)
grounds that the more pasto- King David playing the harp
ral society of the Bible doesn’t Psalter, Germany, c.1260
speak to the circumstances of Free Library of Philadelphia
our time, remember that this
is from what was traditionally Despite all this, the psalm-
known as the Psalter of David. ist realizes that worry, anger,
And David had ample rea- and rage lead only to evil.
sons for fear, anger, and rage. What works instead? Verse 7
Among other things, he had of Psalm 37 has the answer:
to flee into exile when King “Be still before the Lord and

autumn 2022 11
connecting
wait patiently for him.” But
wait a minute – be still? We’re
Americans. We don’t sit back.
We must act! If there is a sin
that our society recognizes, it
is inaction. Yet, a man of ac-
tion like King David under-
stood that ultimate safety lay
with God, and it was crucial
to salvation to be still and be
patient. As we rush about,
consumed with anxiety, revel-
ing in how swamped we are,
and full of self-righteous an-
ger toward others, we need to
stop, “leave rage alone,” and as
verse 3 of Psalm 37 advises,
“Put your trust in the Lord.”
O God of peace, who hast
taught us that in returning
and rest we shall be saved, in
quietness and confidence shall
be our strength: By the light
of thy Spirit lift us, we pray
thee, to thy presence, where
we may be still and know that
thou art God; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Book of Common Prayer, Pray-
er for Quiet Confidence, p. 832
12 anglicandigest.org
WHO AM I?
The Rev’d Canon George Stamm
Most of my adult life has been
involved with recovering al-
coholics/addicts at several
treatment facilities. As I got
to know the people behind
the addiction I usually found
scared, lonely, sad people who
had come to the conclusion
that they were worthless. To
these people I would tell them
who they are: beautiful chil-
dren of God.
They couldn’t see it, proba-
bly thought I was some kind
of religious nut. But, if they
were willing to grapple with
my description of them, they
would begin to see a glim-
mer of hope. Then I could tell
them they were just like me
and I was just like them and,
if we could set aside our pre-
conceived notions and start
acting as if we were beautiful
children of God, we would be
amazed to discover that it is
true.
gathering
THE HOLY ANGELS
The Rev’d Gavin Dunbar
Rector, St. John’s Church,
Savannah, GA and President of
the Prayer Book Society USA
The Rev’d Gavin Dunbar
In The Voyage of the Dawn
Treader, the children meet an
old man, a star of the heavens
at rest, awaiting his rejuvena-
tion to take his “rising again...”
and once more “tread the
great dance.” “In our world,”
says a scientifically-minded
child, “a star is a huge ball of
flaming gas.” The old man re-
plies, “Even in your world, my
telling
son, that is not what a star is,
but only what it is made of.”
Thus, Lewis neatly disposes of
the narrow materialism of our
age, its assumption we can ac-
count for the whole of reality
in terms of atoms and mole-
cules, and can explain all hu-
man behavior simply in terms
of evolutionary adaptation.
Such reductionist accounts
omit the very things that give
meaning to existence, and
make it bearable: beauty and
truth, love and justice. If mo-
autumn 2022 13
connecting
rality is simply an evolution-
ary adaptation, then there is
no moral order, and there can
be no ethical obligation. “That
is not what a star is, but only
what it is made of.”
In the Creed we confess God
as the creator of “all things
visible and invisible”—a quo-
tation of Colossians 1:16–17:
“by (Christ) were all things
created, that are in heaven,
and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they
be thrones, or dominions, or
principalities, or powers: all
things were created by him,
and for him.” God is Author
not only of the material cre-
ation, but also of the spiritual,
which consists of the living
spiritual powers and princi-
ples by which the created or-
der is governed. These have
various names in Scripture
(seraphim, cherubim, and
thrones; dominions, virtues,
powers, and principalities)—
but they are most commonly
known as “angels” (or arch-
14 anglicandigest.org
Angels above an Arch
Cathedral of St. Peter
Cologne, Germany
angels) from the Greek word
for “messenger,” because they
impart to men in words what
they know directly of God
and of his will. Their existence
and activity is taken for grant-
ed in the Bible, and by Jew-
ish and Christian writers of
antiquity. An extended treat-
ment of them was the work of
the great angelologists of the
Christian tradition, Diony-
sius the Areopagite, Augus-
tine, Gregory the Great, and
Thomas Aquinas. Though
the Reformers sometimes re-
proved the older accounts for
“speculation,” they acknowl-
edged the important role of
the angels in our redemption.
Only in the modern materi-
gathering
alistic world have the angels they see that character which
been reduced to saccharine is nowhere but in themselves
sentimentality. and us resembled.”
Scripture testifies that God
created the angels (Ps. 148),
and that their nature as creat-
ed was unflawed in its good-
ness (Gen. 1:31). God moves
the holy angels by love of his
beauty, as Hooker says in lan-
guage of remarkable intensi-
ty: “for beholding the face of
God, in admiration of so great
excellency they all adore him;
and being rapt with the love
of his beauty, they cleave in-
separably forever unto him.
Desire to resemble him in
goodness maketh them un-
weariable and even insatiable
in their longing to do by all
means all manner good unto
all the creatures of God, but
especially unto the children
of men: in the countenance of
whose nature, looking down-
ward, they behold themselves
beneath themselves; even
as upward, in God, beneath
whom they themselves are,
telling
Having attained “that high
perfection of bliss, (the holy
angels) are without possibili-
ty of falling.” Not so the fallen
angels more commonly called
demons (after the pagan word
for angels) or devils. They
were not by nature evil; they
became evil through their
own choice. Scripture testi-
fies to their fall (Rev. 12:7-9;
Lk. 10:18). Enraptured by his
own created beauty, and for-
getful of his dependence upon
the Creator, Satan sought to
make himself like God, and
drew many others after him
into his disobedience. The fall
of the Angels was pride (Isa-
iah 14:12-15), and in their fall,
and in the awareness of the
eternal chains that await them
in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:17),
their wrath breaks out in mal-
ice towards his creatures, and
especially to the faithful in
Christ (Rev. 12:7).
autumn 2022 15
connecting
The story of the fall of the an-
gels stirs the imagination and
inspired literature like Mil-
ton’s Paradise Lost—but it is
not a mere myth. Symbolic
elements are there in the lan-
guage of scripture, but what
they symbolize is the struc-
ture of spiritual reality. The
fall of the angels illuminates
the nature of evil. Evil is no
substance, as good is; it is not
an ultimate reality, it exists
16 anglicandigest.org
only as a perversion of the
good; and in the end it cannot
prevail. God’s good and per-
fect will shall be done among
men on earth as it is already
done among the holy angels
in heaven. To think otherwise
is to open the door to despair.
May Michael the Archangel
defend us in battle, and be our
protection against the wick-
edness and snares of the devil!
From The Parish Paper of
St. John’s Church, Savannah,
Georgia, October 10, 2021.
vvv
THE ORDER OF ST. ANDREW
Men and Women, married or single,
not living in community. Being in
the world, but not of it. Entrusting
ourselves to the hands of the
eternal potter, and being molded
daily through religious life.
Are You Called?
osabishop@aol.com
1-(914)-923-2005
osaanglican.org
Advertisement
gathering telling

MICHAELMAS: A SONNET FOR

ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
Malcolm Guite

Michaelmas gales assail the waning year,

And Michael’s scale is true, his blade is bright.
He strips dead leaves; and leaves the living clear
To flourish in the touch and reach of light.
Archangel bring your balance, help me turn
Upon this turning world with you and dance
In the Great Dance. Draw near, help me discern,
And trace the hidden grace in change and chance.
Angel of fire, Love’s fierce radiance,
Drive through the deep until the steep waves part,
Undo the dragon’s sinuous influence
And pierce the clotted darkness in my heart.
Unchain the child you find there, break the spell
And overthrow the tyrannies of Hell.

St. Michael’s Victory

over the Devil,
Sir Jacob Epstein, Sculptor
Coventry Cathedral,
Warwickshire, England

autumn 2022 17
connecting

ON ANGEL WINGS
Douglas Raymond Rose
Grand Prairie, Texas

Life is filled with quirky questions

Prone to problems we can’t understand;
So God sends us guardian Angels
To lend to us a helping hand.
When our flesh is packed with pain
And life seems far from grand----
God dispatches His guardian Angels
To “sit a spell” and hold our hand.
When death and grief come to call
And we fail and falter in our stand----
On Angel wings comes divine comfort
Welcoming us to His Promised Land.
2021 by DRR
Member Academy of American Poets

The Virgin and Christ Child

Surrounded by Angels
Woodcut by Albrecht Durer, 1518

18 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

THE EUCHARIST AS would not drink from the cup

AN EARTHLY THING
AND A
HEAVENLY THING
The Venerable Dr. Christopher in the congregation that day;
A. Brown Ph.D.
Rector, Trinity Church
Potsdam, New York
because I wasn’t feeling well.
An elderly woman, a lifelong
Episcopalian who regular-
ly attended that service, was
let’s call her “Susan.” Some-
time after that, I noticed that
Susan refused to speak to me.
She continued to attend, but
she acted as if I weren’t there.
She utterly froze me out, and
I had no idea why. People in
the congregation recognized
that Susan had a rigid and
brittle personality, and I took
her frostiness as having more
to do with her than me; but
I won’t pretend that it didn’t
bother me.

Eventually our relationship

In my first years as a priest,
I served in a small church in
suburban Westchester Coun-
ty where, as in many parishes,
we had a midweek Eucharist.
One morning I had a bad cold.
After I said the prayer over the
elements, I announced that I
began to thaw. I was visiting
her one day when she asked if
I knew why she had been an-
noyed with me. When I said
that I did not, she explained
that she was upset that I had
abstained from the conse-
crated wine when I was not
feeling well. I should have rec-

autumn 2022 19
connecting

resistance to the transmission

of disease is not so different
from the views of some who
were angry with the church
for closing down during the
pandemic.

The Healing Power of

\ - the Eucharist

The Eucharist can certainly

be a vehicle of God’s heal-
ing power. To start with, it is
widely reported that there is
little or no evidence of trans-
mission of disease through the
common cup at communion.
It is said this is largely due to
the high degree of alcohol in
the fortified wine used in the
liturgy. But one wouldn’t want
ognized that if the wine was to exclude the possibility of
truly the Blood of Christ, then divine providence at work as
it would not transmit germs. well.
So far as she was concerned,
my seeming concern for my In the early Church, it was the
congregants betrayed a fal- practice in some places for
tering faith in the Eucharist – communicants, after receiv-
even a lack of orthodoxy. Her ing the consecrated elements
conviction that the Eucharist in the hand, then to touch
possesses a property of divine their ears and eyes so that the

20 anglicandigest.org
gathering
Eucharistic presence of Christ
would heal and elevate their
hearing and seeing. The early
Christians may have seen this
as a purely spiritual act, rather
than the means of literal res-
toration of sight or hearing,
but one can’t help but see an
echo of Jesus’s use of touch to
heal the deaf and blind.
Healing the Man Born Blind
Duccio, 1308-1311
I can offer an anecdotal ac-
count of the healing power of
the Real Presence of Christ in
the Eucharist. I get earaches.
Not very often – maybe once
telling
or twice a year – but they can
be quite painful. Some years
ago, as I was processing to the
altar at the beginning of the
Sunday Eucharist, I was sud-
denly aware of an acute pain
in my ear. Oddly enough, I
didn’t notice it as I delivered
my sermon, but when I re-
turned to my place for the
Creed it was back with a ven-
geance. During the Peace and
the announcements that fol-
lowed, it was excruciating –
so much so that as I turned to
the altar I was hit with a wave
of pain so intense that I stum-
bled, and members of the
congregation were worried
about me. I resolved to say the
prayer over elements and then
quickly exited the church to
lie down, and let our deacon
lead the Lord’s Prayer and dis-
tribute communion.
One of the key moments
in the Eucharistic prayer is
called the “Epiclesis,” when
the priest calls down the Holy
Spirit on the bread and wine
autumn 2022 21
connecting

“that they may be the Sacra- Putting the Lord to the Test
ment of the Body of Christ
So yes, we must not mini-
and his Blood of the new Cov-
mize the power of God, or
enant.” The Epiclesis points
exclude the possibility that
to the role of the Holy Spirit
God’s healing power can be
as the divine instrument by
available through the sacra-
which Christ becomes pres-
ments. But can I assume – or
ent in the Eucharist. (This is
presume – that God will do
not to exclude the importance
the same thing the next time
of Jesus’s words from the Last
I approach the altar with a
Supper; as Queen Elizabeth I
bad earache? While I know
said, “what Christ’s word doth
that he can and I can pray that
make it, I do believe and take
he will, I cannot expect God
it”).
to fulfill my every whim, on
On that fateful Sunday my schedule, according to
my precise specifications. I
morning, as I struggled to
refer to this view of prayer as
get through the Eucharistic
“Amazon.god” – in which we
prayer – periodically press-
put in our order and await the
ing my hand against my ear
expected delivery as ordered.
to lessen the pain – I crossed
But the fact is: God calls us
my hands over the bread and
to conform to his agenda, not
wine, and made the sign of
the other way around.
the cross. I recited the words
of the prayer book, “send Fr. Nigel Mumford, the for-
your Holy Spirit upon these mer Director of the Healing
gifts...” In an instant the pain Center at the Christ the King
was gone! Completely. And it Center, used to say, “Some-
didn’t come back. It was as- thing always happens when
tonishing! we pray.” This is surely true;
God hears prayer. Nigel said

22 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

this, however, as a word of en-

couragement for those times
when it may not appear that
God is responding - when
God does not seem to act on
our timetable. Nigel’s point
was that God is at work—
even if we don’t discern how.
All too often, as the Apostle
Paul said, “We walk by faith
and not by sight.”

The point is: we must not ex-

pect or demand God to in-
tervene at every point. The
story of Satan’s Temptation
of Christ in the desert offers
a cautionary example. After
Jesus refuses Satan’s urging
that he turn stones into bread,
Satan sweeps Jesus up to the
pinnacle of the Temple and
tells him to jump – since, af-
ter all, scripture says, “‘he will
command his angels concern-
ing you,” and “‘on their hands
they will bear you up, lest
you strike your foot against a
stone.’” Jesus responds, “It is
written, ‘You shall not put the
Lord your God to the test.’”
Jesus Carried up to a
Pinnacle of the Temple
James Jacques Joseph Tissot,
1886-1894
Brooklyn Museum
During the difficult months of
the Covid pandemic, the in-
sistence among some Chris-
tians that protective measures
were unnecessary in worship
because of God’s divine pro-
tection could be seen as a
real life example of “putting
the Lord to the test.” If Jesus

autumn 2022 23
connecting
would not put the Lord to the
test, neither should we!
“The Nature of a Sacrament”
While we recognize that God
can work according to His
sovereign will in the sacra-
ment, we must be careful that
our understanding of the “real
presence” in the Eucharist
does not, as the 39 Articles of
Religion says, “overthrow the
nature of a sacrament.” The
“nature of a sacrament” lies
in the fact that, as Irenaeus
said, it “consists of two things,
an earthly and a heavenly.”
In confirmation class we all
learned that “a sacrament is
an outward and visible sign
of an inward and spiritual
grace.” The sign is the “earthly
thing.” It is something tangi-
ble: a physical, even ordinary
thing from everyday experi-
ence — water, bread, wine.
The “heavenly thing” is what
God does in and through
these earthly things. But if we
entirely assimilate the earth-
24 anglicandigest.org
ly into the heavenly, or allow
the heavenly to cancel out the
earthly, then we “overthrow
the nature of a sacrament.”
This is why Lutherans and
Anglicans affirm the “real
presence” of Christ in the Eu-
charist, but reject the Roman
Catholic teaching of Tran-
substantiation. According to
Thomas Aquinas, in the doc-
trine of Transubstantiation
“The whole substance of
bread is converted into the
whole substance of Christ’s
body, the whole substance of
wine into the whole substance
of his blood.” Transubstantia-
tion is a doctrine of replace-
ment – the “heavenly” part re-
places the “earthly” part; and
the substance of the bread is
obliterated. “After the conse-
cration there remaineth no
substance of bread or wine,”
said Henry VIII’s Six Articles
of 1539. (Henry rejected the
Pope, but theologically, he
remained a traditional cath-
olic).
gathering
The Pattern of the
Incarnation
According to the reformers,
Transubstantiation not only
“overthroweth the nature of a
sacrament;” it goes against the
way in which God operates in
the history of salvation, and
especially in the Incarnation.
In Jesus, the Word made flesh,
there is also “an earthly and a
heavenly part.” Jesus is both
truly human and truly divine
– neither nature cancels out
the other. As the Council of
Chalcedon (351) said, “Lord
Jesus Christ, at once complete
in Godhead and complete in
manhood, truly God and tru-
ly man, consisting also of a
reasonable soul and body; of
one substance with the Father
as regards his Godhead, and
at the same time of one sub-
stance with us as regards his
manhood; recognized in two
natures...the distinction of
natures being in no way an-
nulled by the union.” (Book of
Common Prayer, p. 864)
telling
The Church affirmed the two
natures of Christ because
there were some who denied
Jesus’s full humanity. Not long
after the Council of Nicea
(325) asserted that Jesus was
“one being with the Father,”
Appolonaris (d. 382) veered in
the opposite direction and de-
nied Jesus’s full humanity. He
taught that when the “Word
became flesh,” the divine Lo-
gos took the place of a ratio-
nal human soul (nous logike).
True, Jesus had a human body,
but inwardly, the divine Word
replaced a human soul and
mind. “The Word of God has
not descended upon a holy
man,” said Apollinaris, “but
the Word himself has become
flesh without having assumed
a human mind...but existing
as a divine mind immutable
and heavenly.”
Gregory of Nazianzus offered
the decisive response to Apol-
linaris: “If anyone has put
his trust in Christ as a Man
without a human mind, he
autumn 2022 25
connecting
is really bereft of mind, and
quite unworthy of salvation.
For that which Christ has not
assumed, He has not healed.”
Jesus needs to take on our
full humanity if he is to re-
deem our full humanity. If the
inward humanity of Christ
must be replaced for God to
be manifest, that would mean
that humanity can never con-
vey or manifest God’s pres-
ence; it can never bear the
presence of divinity, but must
remain alienated and out of
fellowship. But in Christ all
that has changed, because he
has assumed our full human-
ity - like us in every way (but
sin) that we might share in his
divine sonship.
A Christological View of
the Eucharist (Earthly and
Heavenly)
Martin Luther applies this
principle of the human and
divine natures of Christ to the
Eucharist, insisting that the
bread does not have to cease
to be bread in order, after its
26 anglicandigest.org
consecration, to be Body of
Christ and convey the “Real
Presence:”
“What is true in regard to
Christ is also true in regard to
the sacrament. It is not nec-
essary for human nature to
be transubstantiated before it
can be the corporal habitation
of the divine, and before the
divine can be contained un-
der the accidents of human
nature. Both natures are pres-
ent in their entirety....Thus in
order that the true body and
the true blood should be in
the sacrament, the bread and
wine have no need to be tran-
substantiated.”
Lancelot Andrewes, perhaps
the greatest Anglican figure of
his day, chaired the committee
that produced the King James
Bible in 1611. He takes the
same Christological approach
to the Eucharist as Luther:
“There is a recapitulation of
all in Christ in the Holy Sac-
rament, in the gathering or
gathering
Lancelot Andrewes,
Lancelot Andrewes,
Bishop of Winchester
1556-1626
National Portrait Gallery,
London
vintage of [the earthly and
heavenly] in the blessed Eu-
charist as a kind of hypostat-
ical union [a technical term
to indicate the two natures
of Christ] of the sign and the
thing signified, so united to-
gether, as are the two natures
of Christ.”
And so we return to where we From The Albany Episcopa-
began: to be concerned about lian, Summer, 2021.
telling
the possibility of transmission
of disease at communion; is it
a denial of the holiness of the
Eucharist and the Real Pres-
ence of Christ? Or like Luther
or Andrewes, can we treat the
“earthly and heavenly” in the
Eucharist as analogous to the
human and divine natures
of Christ? To say that the el-
ements of bread and wine
retain their natural earthly
properties after consecration
is not a denial of their heav-
enly aspect in the Real Pres-
ence. To reject the possibility
of transmission of germs in
the Eucharist, to insist that
God always provides a super-
natural hedge against disease
at communion, is like saying
that Jesus didn’t sweat, or was
not ever hungry, that he didn’t
ever grow weary or irritated,
that he never suffered, that
he didn’t weep at the grave of
Lazarus, or cry out in genuine
despair from the cross.
autumn 2022 27
connecting

Sinai
Barry Bradshaigh
Lancashire,United Kingdom

In Sinai on Mount Horeb in slim hush,

God of the burning bush stayed fire’s inflame,
And with his finger reign did letters rush,
To frame two stones of tablets in his name.
Then on descent did Moses raise the scene,
With tablets in the deem of God to know,
So at encampments now were sinners seen,
When saw he horror at the calf ’s gold show.
Then did engravings fly at stones unhold,
For tablets bold in pieces showed sins be,
With Israel’s idolatry enrolled,
In sacrifices and great revelry.
Thus er1 with tablets hurled in
Moses rage,
God sought to plague this
people of his page!

Adoration of the Golden Calf

Marc Chagall, 1966

1
God waited before he sought to plague
Israel. He didn’t plague them when the
distruction of the tablets occured; he Paused.

28 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

LITURGICAL serve God

RHYTHMS FOR LIFE is first and
Why We Worship foremost to
Using A Liturgy worship him.
In Scripture,
Canon Elizabeth Conkle there are only
Fresno, California a few exam-
ples of private
prayer because worship is a
corporate endeavor before
it is a private enterprise. In-
dividuals are produced by
communities, and they learn
to pray by being led in prayer
in the community; then, they
are able to pray aright when
alone with God.

Liturgy is Biblical
Canon Elizabeth Conkle Christian liturgy draws us into
the drama of the God story, in
Why liturgy? This is what is which we are participants. As
often asked. Common is the N.T. Wright says, we are not at
claim that liturgical worship liberty “to muck around with
is just a form of dead ritual,the plot.” The parts that make
and that prayer is what we up the whole “drama” are not
do when we are alone in our random; they originate from
prayer closets. Liturgy comes the events of which Scripture
from the Greek New Testa- testifies.
ment word meaning “work
or service of the people.” To The Church’s worship is root-

autumn 2022 29
connecting

ed in the worship of Israel, shipping community of Isra-

who sanctified space (Exodus el, and the Church continued
25:8-10), time (Genesis 2:3; their daily use through the
Leviticus 23), and matter (Ex- centuries. Liturgy is not just
odus 21:23; 28:4), and whose Biblical in a historical sense; it
worship book was the Psalms. is Scripture -- read, sung, re-
Israel’s communal worship cited, prayed.
was a call to be a holy na-
tion and a kingdom of priests The liturgy of the Book of
(Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy Common Prayer reconnects
26:19), to reveal God’s glory us to the ancient worship of
to the nations. Israel and the worship of the
Church down through the
The first Christians were Jew-
ish; therefore, their commu-
nities maintained the same
kind of worship: “They devot-
ed themselves to the apostles’
teaching, and to the fellowship,
to the breaking of bread, and to
the prayers” (Acts 2:42). Pri-
vate prayer is rarely empha-
sized in the New Testament,
but “everyday they continued
to meet together in the Tem-
ple courts” (Acts 2:46). Their King David playing on the
Scriptures were the Old Tes- Lyre, surrounded by four Mu-
tament, and their liturgical sicians.-Costumes of the Thir-
prayer book was the Psalms. teenth Century (from a Minia-
Psalms are the raw prayers ture in a Manuscript Psalter in
of the ancient, gathered wor- the Imperial Library, Paris).

30 anglicandigest.org
gathering
liturgy of the Book of Com-
mon Prayer. Its Sunday lec-
tionary (a collection of scrip-
ture readings appointed for
Christian worship for a given
day or occasion) provides a
three-year cycle of four read-
ings for each Sunday, and its
Daily Office is designed for
reading the Bible in a year.
Liturgy delivers us from the
tyranny of self by keeping us
God-centered
We human beings tend to
make everything about our-
selves, including worship.
Commonly heard from peo-
ple exiting modern Western
worship services are state-
ments such as, “The worship
today was boring,” “I didn’t get
anything out of the music,” or
“That worship made me feel
so inspired.” Statements like
these reveal a modern church
designed for the consumer
and not for the worship of
God. Worship is not about
meeting our felt needs. We
don’t pray when we feel like
telling
it, but rather when the pastor
or the worship leader says,
“Let us pray.” The Church’s
liturgy directs our focus away
from ourselves onto God,
safeguarding us from making
worship about us—which re-
ally isn’t worship at all. From
start to finish, we participate
in a worship that proclaims
the truth about God as re-
vealed in Scripture, and we
find ourselves pulled out of
the mire of self-centered-
ness, pride, and fear and into
the narrative of God’s saving
work.
Liturgy is formative
Calvin maintained that our
hearts are idol factories. We
may not realize it, but con-
sumer culture trains us to
hunger and thirst for idols
that do not satisfy. Liturgy
re-forms us as genuine hu-
man beings who reflect the
image of God, in whose im-
age we were created. The Book
of Common Prayer invites us
into daily and weekly rhythms
autumn 2022 31
connecting
of worship, confession of sin,
Scripture reading, the Lord’s
Supper, thanksgiving, and
prayer that, over time, act
on our souls, recalibrate our
habits, our language, and our
thoughts, form us into God’s
holy people (1 Peter 2:9, 10).
The cadence, the beauty, the
story, the poetry, the sym-
bols, the images of the liturgy
capture our imaginations and
shape our hearts for the ul-
timate Real and for the True
Good for which we were de-
signed.
John Calvin
Photo: Patheos
32 anglicandigest.org
Liturgy sanctifies time
We, as the people of God, are
to live according to a differ-
ent set of priorities. We don’t
order our lives according to
Black Friday or Cyber Mon-
day or any other demands
that the culture makes of us.
We understand that time is an
instrument that God uses to
reveal himself and to redeem
people. During the first half
of the Christian year, from
Advent through Pentecost,
the prayers, songs, and scrip-
tures of our liturgy invite us
to participate in Jesus’ birth,
life, death, and resurrection.
During the second half of the
church year, all the way to
Christ the King Sunday, we
are in ordinary time, which
tells the story of God’s people.
Time and again, as we partici-
pate in the liturgy, we become
immersed in the God story,
which calls us out of our own
time and reminds us that we
live by a different narrative
and “that we belong to eter-
nity.”
gathering
Liturgy recovers community
Prayer is communal before it
is private. Liturgical worship
draws us out of the world of
self into the community of
God’s people. We join our
hearts not just with our local
community, but as we pray the
psalms and follow the scrip-
ture readings of the lection-
ary, we join with the global
Body of Christ in prayer. The
psalms are prayers that not
only aid us in worship of God,
but also they help us pray our
joy, our hate, and our lament.
If the psalms assigned on a
particular day don’t happen
to match our state of being,
we can still pray with and on
behalf of other brothers and
sisters throughout the global
Body of Christ, who may be
suffering. Bonhoeffer says that
the psalms teach us to pray as
a fellowship, and enable us to
participate in the larger prayer
of Christ’s Church. As we pray
the psalms, we are lifted above
our personal concerns and are
able to pray selflessly.
telling
Liturgy is an invitation into
the Divine conversation
We never initiate the conver-
sation with God. We don’t get
a “glimpse of God and devise
language to respond to or tell
what we have glimpsed.” God
addresses us first and reveals
himself to us, and we use his
words to respond to what he
has said about himself. Lit-
urgy provides those words
-- and the words that we need
but don’t yet have -- to address
the Holy God that he is. Those
words over time form and
shape our hearts and conform
our thinking to His holiness.
Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi.
This famous Latin phrase lit-
erally means, “the law of what
is to be prayed is the law of
what is to be believed.” Words
matter because we gradual-
ly come to believe the words
that we pray. Thus, we “belong
in order to believe.”
Welcome the holy conversa-
tion with the Holy God who
speaks first!
autumn 2022 33
connecting

The Anglican Bookstore

HUMBLER FAITH, BIGGER GOD
Finding a Story to Live By
Samuel Wells
Hardcover, 248 pgs, $23

Is Christianity just a fairy tale for the infantile?

Or worse, a cruel fantasy—the perpetrator of ter-
rible harm and the cause of endless conflict? At
most, one path among many? Such questions
reflect the skepticism of outsiders and the
doubts of insiders—some perennial, some un-
derscored by recent events and movements. The answer to these
objections isn’t a louder faith to shout them down—it’s a humbler
faith that points to a bigger God.

MARY IN THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION

Owen F. Cummings
Paperback, 160 pgs, $23
Owen Cummings explores the traditions
regarding Mary that have developed since
New Testament times, including patristic
themes and other traditions such as Syriac
and Celtic. He includes Islam since their tra-
dition comes from Christian sources such as
the Protoevangelium of James, and more is
written about Mary in the Qu’ran than there
is in the New Testament. He also examines
Vatican II, the relatively recently defined Marian doctrines,
and devotion to Mary.
34 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

THE BOOK OF SUSAN ~ A Novel

Melanie K. Hutsell
Paperback, 224 pgs, $18

New from a fresh voice in literary fiction

comes this riveting deep-dive into one wom-
an’s experience with bipolar disorder and
God. Her mind has never failed her—until
an ill-fated dinner party.

THAT WE MAY BE ONE ~

Practicing Unity in a Divided Church
Gary B. Agee
Paperback, 165 pgs, $20

Disunity is a reality within churches today.

Left unaddressed, political disagreements
and racial inequities can fester into misun-
derstanding, resentment, and anger. Often
the act of addressing this discord prompts
further animosity, widening fissures into
gaping fault lines between fellow members
of the same community. Gary Agee offers
sage advice gleaned from Scripture and years
of practical experience. At the end of each
chapter, Agee includes exercises, discussion questions, and
suggested practices, providing a concrete path to unity through
dialogue and action.

autumn 2022 35
connecting

FOR CHILDREN
THE BLESSING OF THE BEASTS
Ethel Pochocki, Illustrated by Barry Moser
Paperback, 40 pgs, $20

Francesca, a young roach, and Martin, a

skunk, originally met in a trash can awhile
back. As the Celebration of Creatures service
approaches, Francesca yearns to be there, but
Martin warns her against it: “I don’t think
that we are meant to be included, Francesca.
It’s for the respectables, the cute and cuddlies. Can’t you just
hear the humans shrieking as we walk down the aisle? They’d
be fainting left and right.” Kids and adults alike treasure this
story about the value of all creatures and how all of creation has
value, purpose, and God’s blessing.

OUR FATHER IS...

Maria Luisa Eguez, Illustrated by Silvia Colombo
Ages 3 and up, Paperback, 28 pgs, $14

In this charming, whimsically illustrated book,

Maria Luisa Equez takes a modern spin on who
Our Father really is. Dressed as a modern hu-
man father in jeans and work clothes, even a
chef ’s toque, he is a painter, a musician, a cook.
Our father is patient and takes care of every little
thing. Our Father is King of kings, Lord of lords,
but when we call him, he responds immediately,
“here I am.”

36 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

ANGLICAN BOOKSTORE
Hillspeak Bargain Books
TITLE AUTHOR
All Majesty & Power Donald Gray
All the People of the Bible Richard Losch
Anglican Difficulties Edward Norman
Bones of Joseph Gareth Lloyd Jones
Christ & Culture Revisited D A Carson
Consuming Jesus Paul Louis Metzger
Ecstasy & Intimacy Edith Humphrey
Emily Dickinson &
The Art of Belief Roger Lundin
End of Memory Miroslav Volf
Fate of the Communion Radner & Turner
First & the Last, The George R Sumner
Glory Descending Dales & Rowell
Imitating Jesus Richard Burridge
John Donne:
Man of Flesh & Spirit David L Edwards
Lesslie Newbigin:
Missionary Theologian Paul Weston
Men & Women Philip Turner
Not Ashamed of the Gospel Fleming Rutledge
Passionate Steward Michael O’Hurley-Pitts
Rowan’s Rule Rupert Shortt
Shaming the Devil Alan Jacobs
Truth About Jesus, The Donald Armstrong
William Wilberforce Stephen Tomkins
BARGAIN BOOKS $3.00 EACH

autumn 2022 37
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38 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

THE SEER Thus in Yah’s Temple came a

vision’s height,
Barry Bradshaigh
Lancashire England That man’s repentance be in
Seer’s delight!
When in the era King Uzziah
died, v v v
God did abide a prophet
from the crowd, THINGAMAJIGS AND
For came a voice so loud in WATCHAMACALLITS
quiet chide,
“Whom will I shepherd send Jerry Robbins
Falmouth, Virginia
to sinners proud”?
Then said the Seer in meek As we age we lose our brain,
and humble tone, Ideas and thoughts drop
“Here be I in groan unclean through the drain.
before thee,” Like a spigot lets the water
So gaped his lips by embers out
cleansing hone, The years create a mental
And shown was spirit in a drought.
mission’s Be.
Yet in God’s glory winged the
Seraphim,
And in His light the
Cherubim did fly,
Where twain did cover o’er
the face of Him,
As sang the Angels holy choir
on high.

autumn 2022 39
connecting
Names of people are the first
to go,
Although their names we
well know.
“The other day I saw... um.…
you recall
He helped fix our basement
wall.
Next to go are places we’ve
been,
The towns and parks we
vacationed in.
“You remember that huge
totem pole
Was it in Durango or
Jackson’s Hole?”
Sometimes names of objects
we use every day
Vacate our mind, refuse to
stay.
40 anglicandigest.org
“What is the name of that
sofa or bed on which I sit?
You know what I mean, the
whatchamacallit?
We start a repair but soon
have to stop,
A tool is missing from the
shop.
“It’s got a thingy on the end
and a handle real big.
I’m sure you’ve seen it, oh,
drats, that thingamajig.
I run an errand to the store,
But forgot why once out the
door.
My wife says the pills they
are to blame,
But what does she know,
what’s her name?
gathering telling

ECW CRAB CASSEROLE

The 150th Anniversary Commemorative Cookbook
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church ~ Tampa, Florida
Ingredients
8 - 12 slices of bread (sandwich crusts off and quartered)
1 lb crab meat
1/2 cup chopped green pepper (optional)
1/3 cup grated onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup mayonnaise
4 eggs
2 cups milk
2 cans golden mushroom soup
Dash Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco
Salt and pepper
1 cup grated cheese
Directions
Grease 3 quart casserole.
Line pan with half the amount of bread. Mix crab, vegetables,
and mayonnaise. Spread over bread. Lay the remainder of
bread over crab mixture. Mix soup, milk, and seasonings and
cover bread. Sprinkle with cheese. Let sit overnight. Bake at
350 degrees for 45 - 60 minutes. Place pan under casserole as it
runs over. Bake until skewer comes out clean.
Serves 10 - 12
Note: This is also a Holy Innocents’, Valrico, Florida recipe. It’s
good and I don’t like crab. A.P.
Submitted by Anne Paige

autumn 2022 41
connecting
RECOGNIZING
GRACE
Opening Our Eyes to
God’s Wonder
The Very Rev. Dr. Douglas F.
Scharf
Bishop Coadjutor Elect of the
Diocese of Southwest Florida
Throughout the biblical ac-
count of his earthly ministry,
Jesus frequently makes the
invisible visible. What I mean
is that Jesus often takes notice
of what others fail to notice:
a divorced woman sitting by
a well, a blind man begging
for his next meal, a widow
42 anglicandigest.org
placing two small coins in the
Temple treasury. These daily
occurrences went unnoticed
by the average passerby, and
they were utterly invisible to
the political and religious es-
tablishment. Yet Jesus takes
notice. He sees these other-
wise unseen individuals as
recipients of God’s mercy and
examples of God’s grace. Jesus
makes the invisible visible.
I wonder how much of the
spiritual reality that sur-
rounds us remains invisible to
us, simply because our spir-
itual eyes are not yet open.
I wonder how often we go
through our daily lives com-
pletely oblivious to the signs
of God’s grace all around us.
How often do we fail to rec-
ognize grace right in front of
us? One of my favorite lines
from the Book of Common
Prayer comes from Eucha-
ristic Prayer C, in which we
ask God to “open our eyes to
see your hand at work in the
world about us” (BCP 372).
gathering telling

This is a prayer that I have not assist God with the cre-
started to include as part of ation of the world, it is pure
my daily routine. I pray that gift! The act of creation is an
God would open my eyes and
make me spiritually awake
and aware of God’s presence
in my life and in the world.
So, in this brief essay, I would
like to share some of the ways
I believe we can recognize
grace in our daily lives.

Creation
Have you ever thought about
how the act of creation was an expression of God’s extrav-
act of grace? We did nothing agant love. Whether we are
to deserve or earn life; we did catching a glimpse of the ris-
ing sun or standing in awe of
snowcapped mountains, we
are witnessing grace; we are
experiencing the undeserved
and unearned favor and
blessing of God. Every step
we make and every breath we
take remind us—our very ex-
istence is proof of God’s grace.

Church
The Church may seem total-
ly obvious as a place where
we encounter grace, but I be-

autumn 2022 43
connecting

lieve there are times—even in we were formed to be part of

church—when we are spiri- a community of grace. I be-
tually unreceptive. It is easylieve we most clearly recog-
for us to grow so accustomed nize grace in the lives of our
to the patterns of ministry fellow brothers and sisters in
and congregational life that Christ. We see the evidence of
we lose sight of the deeper God’s love in the transformed
spiritual rhythms that un- lives of those around us. We
dergird what we do. Sharing experience God’s mercy most
bread and wine, proclaim- fully in the messiness of real
ing our faith, baptizing in Je-
human relationships. We hurt
sus’ Name, reaching out with each other. We make mis-
God’s love to those in need— takes. We fall short. We miss
these are sacramental actions the mark. But that is precisely
that are ultimately expressions
what makes grace so amazing!
of grace, visible signs of God’s
Despite our failures, there is
boundless mercy. The Church redemption. Despite our divi-
is not simply another civic so-
sions, there is reconciliation.
ciety or social organization; it
Despite our brokenness, there
is an icon of grace, and visible
is the promise of healing. The
signs that God is present and act of forgiveness is one of the
active in the world in order to
most powerful and transfor-
establish justice and renew all
mational expressions of grace.
things. So, where do we find grace? In
community. In the messiness
Community and inconsistencies of our hu-
Creation as the manifesta- man relationships.
tion of God’s love, and the
Church as the visible sign of Calling
that love, remind us that we Finally, I believe we need to
were made for relationship; rediscover grace in relation

44 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

to our own sense of calling

as servants of Jesus. In other
words, God has called us to
participate in a mission that
is bigger and more compre-
hensive than anything we
could ask or imagine. We are
not fully equipped for this
task. We are not worthy. We
are not strong enough. And
yet, God calls us anyway. As
the saying goes, “God doesn’t
call the equipped; he equips
the called.” I can think of
no clearer example of grace
than the fact that God works
through us—our weaknesses own calling. These are all ex-
and inadequacies—to accom- pressions of God’s amazing
plish his mission of healing grace—unearned and unde-
and renewal in this world. served. For these and all our
blessings, we give thanks and
Open Our Eyes praise to God, who is the au-
As we continue to push thor of grace and the One who
through these strange and un- makes the invisible visible.
certain times, may our prayer
continually be, “Lord, open
our eyes to see your hand at
work in the world around
us.” Look at creation. Look
at the Church. Look at your
community. Look at your

autumn 2022 45
connecting

IF
Ruth Copeland

If capricious chance made a bird, a flower

A white-bright star, a summer shower
A billion snowflakes all unique
The ugly spider’s web technique
Then someone had to program those wheels of chance,
To me, that Someone is God.

If the love light in a mother’s eyes

The loving vigil of a teenager
Holding a retching addict’s hand
The lonely patience of a missionary
Teaching in a strange and foreign land
Are our “upward climb from the slime”
Then the slime is sin
And we are climbing out of it
Via an Old Rugged Cross.

46 anglicandigest.org
gathering
COVID VARIANTS
The Rev’d Richard R. Losch
St. James’ Episcopal Church
Livingston, Alabama
The various mutations of the
COVID-19 virus have been
named after the letters of the
Greek alphabet. You never
heard of most of them because
they never amounted to much.
Probably the best known are
the Delta, Lambda, and Omi-
cron variants. Between Lamb-
da and Omicron are the letters
Mu (M, μ), Nu (N, ν), and Xi
(Ξ, ξ, pronounced ksee). The
Mu variant fizzled, and when
the next variant emerged the
World Health Organization
announced that they would
skip the letters Nu and Xi and
call it Omicron. They skipped
Nu because they did not want
people thinking of it as the
“New” variant. They skipped
Xi because, even though it is
not pronounced the same, it is
the family name of the Presi-
dent of China, Xi (She) Jin-
ping, and they did not want to
offend him.
telling
DATES FROM THE
PAST
The Rev’d Richard Losch
St. James’ Episcopal Church
Livingston, Alabama
Many may think that histo-
ry is a lot of dates from the
past, but in one case they may
have a point. Dates were a sta-
ple food in Judea in ancient
times, and were valued not
only as a rich and tasty source
of nutrition, but also because
they can be dried and will
keep for extremely long peri-
ods of time. They are to this
day a staple in most Middle
Eastern cultures.1
There was one variety of date
that has been thought to have
become extinct about 1800
years ago. In the 1960s some
seeds of this variety of date
were found preserved in the
ruins of Jerusalem from its
destruction in AD 70. A few
years later some similar seeds
were found in the Qumran
excavation (the source of the
Dead Sea Scrolls). In 2005
autumn 2022 47
connecting

some researchers from Israel’s HAPAX LEGOMENON

Arava Institute planted sev- The Rev’d Richard Losch
eral dozens of these seeds at St. James’ Episcopal Church
a kibbutz outside Jerusalem. Livingston, Alabama
Six of them eventually ger- This expression should be in
minated, and to the delight the vocabulary of anyone who
of the researchers, there were (a) wishes to impress people
both male and female plants, at cocktail parties, or (b) is
allowing for cross-pollina- content to be a language nerd.
tion, reproduction, and the Its plural is Hapax Legomena,
production of fruit. The first and it is often shortened to
large harvest of dates was in just Hapax (plural Hapaxes).
2020, and this year’s is even
larger. For the first time in
almost two millennia, people
can again taste what was once
a favorite food. According to
food experts,
these dates
taste much
like the
Medjool dates
that are common
world-wide today,
except that they have a
sweeter, honey-like
flavor.
1
During Ramadan, when Muslims break
their daily fast at sundown, the first food
they eat before the evening meal is a few
dates. That allegedly soothes the empty It is a Greek phrase (ἅπαξ
stomach and aids digestion. λεγόμενον) that is translated
48 anglicandigest.org
gathering
“said once.” A hapax legom-
enon is a word or expression
that is used only one time in
an entire body of literature.
For example, in the 256,052
words in Moby Dick, Melville
uses the word “matrimonial”
only once. It is thus a Hapax
Legomenon.*
This might seem to be a rather
arcane subject until we realize
that there are 3465 hapaxes
in the New Testament, and
about 1500 in the Old Testa-
ment, of which over 400 are
words found nowhere else in
any ancient Hebrew literature.
This can be a serious problem
when it comes to translation.
We can often figure out the
meaning of the word from
its context or by analyzing
its probable roots, but there
are times when the best we
can do is guess. It is less of a
problem in the New Testa-
ment because there is such
a wealth of contemporary
Greek literature that it is eas-
ier to find the word in some
telling
other Greek work and thus
decipher its meaning. For ex-
ample, in Romans 16:2, Paul
refers to Phoebe as prosta-
tis (προστάτις). That word is
used nowhere else in the New
Testament. Here it is a noun,
but it is found in verb form
in other Greek literature and
means care for, aid, or preside
over. Most scholars are con-
tent to translate it in Romans
as helper or (financial) bene-
factor.
Shakespeare invented over
1700 new words, many of
which are hapaxes. Fortunate-
ly, their meaning is obvious in
almost every case. In English
literature he may well be the
king of the hapax legomenon.
autumn 2022 49
connecting

FIVE PRINCIPLES
OF GODLY
STEWARDSHIP
• God owns everything. Ev-
erything means everything.
The earth is the Lord’s and ev-
erything in it, the world and
all who live in it (Ps. 24:1). sibilities to work for the house
of God. You enter into a con-
tract with God that requires
you to be a steward of your
part of his creation. It is a fur-
ther obligation that although
you are free to make your own
choices, the choices you make
must give God glory.

The Genesis creation record • Stewardship is responsibil-

makes it clear that God is the
sovereign Creator who owns
and reigns over the earth. It is
also clear that God appointed
man to manage this creation
(Gen. 2:15).
• The people of God are God’s
management company. If
you are a Christian, remem-
ber that being part of God’s
household gives you respon-
ity with accountability. God
did not create a people to be
servants but to be relatives,
sons from afar and my daugh-
ters from the ends of the earth
(Is. 43:6). He receives little
glory from having slaves; he
receives tremendous glory
from people who willingly
serve him as a manifestation
of their relationship to him.
God wants to know if you

50 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

to everyone (1 Cor. 9:19) and

always seeking the good of
them. (1 Cor. 10:24, 33). Fur-
ther he told us to look not
only to our own interest, but
also the interests of others
(Phil. 2:4). Your attitude, Paul
wrote, should be the same as
truly love him, and he intends that of Christ Jesus, taking the
to test that love by seeing how very nature of a servant, being
you respond to the tempta- made in human likeness (Phil.
tion of money. 2:5-7). Stewardship is both an
expression of your love for
• Stewardship demands a God and the realization of
commitment to others. It is a that love in your relationships
response to God’s goodness to to others.
you. Stewardship is not doing
something for God with your • Stewardship has eternal
money, but doing something consequences. Underlying
for others with his money. most of Jesus’ instruction is
You act on God’s behalf and the assumption that your life
in his name. The apostle Paul on earth will prepare you for
described himself as a slave your future in heaven. Paul
explained to the Philippian
believers, I am [not] looking
for a gift, but I am looking for
what may be credited to your
[future, heavenly] account
(Phil. 4:17). Stewardship
builds heavenly treasure by
transferring wealth from your
autumn 2022 51
connecting

bank account to your heav- run into it and I would turn

enly account. Because God is red in the face.”
“Yes,” the class said.
“Then why is it that when
I’m standing upright in the
ordinary position the blood
doesn’t run into my feet?”
A little fellow shouted, “Cause
your feet ain’t empty.”
eternal, he operates in an eter-
nal time frame. Likewise, the Contributed by William
actions of God’s stewards will Lambrecht, Sarasota, Florida.
have eternal consequences. v v v
From The Evangelist, News- JAMIE by Richard R. Losch
letter of St. Mark’s Cathedral,
Shreveport, Louisiana, No-
vember 2021.

Photos are from Episcopal

Church Foundation. Used with
permission.
v v v
A teacher was giving a les-
son on the circulation of the
blood. Trying to make the
matter clearer, she said, “Now, “You shouldn’t tell me to
class, if I stood on my head, use my imagination if
the blood, as you know, would you don’t mean it.”

52 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

AWAITING OUR a little better or a little more

HAPPY ENDING consistent, then I’d really feel
The Rev’d Theodore W.
good. I’d be satisfied with my
Edwards, Jr. game. But I never was. It was
always, One of these days I’ll
get it, or One day I’ll get there,
and now here I am. … I never
got there. Did you get there?
Did I? One friend expecting
to retire in a half year from

The Rev’d Theodore W. Edwards, Jr.

Two subjects here – senior

ministry and senior golf. The
inspiration comes from an ar-
ticle in the August 2021 issue
of Golf Digest by Max Adler
asking “What’s Your Happy
Ending,” and the book Ex-
traordinary Golf: The Art of
the Possible (1996) by Fred active ministry set out to ac-
and Peter Shoemaker: complish all the unaccom-
plished goals in the time left
We might think of ministry and, as a result, was exces-
and golf as matching concepts. sively demanding on staff and
“I always felt that if I was just parishioners. That minister
autumn 2022 53
connecting
retired with disappointment
and residual anger.
Back to golf: “It’s also been
Fred’s experience that nearly
all golfers, regardless of hand-
icap, say they would finally be
content if they could shave
three to five strokes.” I have
always said that I would be
the happiest golfer if I could
consistently play golf at the
bogie level — but I realize that
I would become dissatisfied
and greedy for three to five
strokes more. There is also
my unfulfilled lifetime goal
of a hole-in-one. To that con-
versation, Fred asks, “What’s
your happy ending?” and
“things most people intrinsi-
cally know but get lost along
the way.”
Through both the joys and
frustrations of ordained min-
istry, service and achievement
continue to bring joy and sat-
isfaction. There were clergy to
help form and send to semi-
nary, deacons who were my
54 anglicandigest.org
students, and two priests (or-
dained by other faith groups)
who asked for guidance in
their pilgrimage to ministry
in the Episcopal Church. And
today the service continues:
assisting one who is entering
armed services chaplaincy,
and another who is joining
the Episcopal Church cler-
gy from another faith group.
Being retired does not mean
being finished with vocation-
al activities, which are both
joyous and fun.
Now, moving to Fred’s last in-
quiry: “What if going forward
you made the success of your
playing partners, however
you define their success, your
primary objective?” Whether
we are golfers, ordained min-
isters or both, the role is the
same. The accomplishments
of those who look to us for
leadership deliver the answer
to the question, “What’s Your
Happy Ending?” Know that
there will be more opportuni-
ties to come.
gathering telling

Now back to that bucket list ALL SOULS’ DAY / DIA

item — a hole-in-one: A play- DE LOS MUERTOS
ing partner had his first hole-
in-one a week after his recent The Rev’d Dr. Robert M. Lewis
Rector
90th Birthday. There is hope St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
and time for me yet! Anticipa- Yuma, Arizona
(Diocese of San Diego)
tion of happy endings draws
us forward for each new day,
each new Sunday with a con-
gregation, each round of golf,
and each daily blessing.

v v v

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 The Rev’d Robert M. Lewis
women who live in their own
homes and serve in their own Bicultural ministry is a chal-
parishes, and would like
further information please visit
lenging endeavor. There are
our website or email us for a unexpected pitfalls, cultural
brochure at norms that often go unex-
stgsister@gmail.com pressed, and particular re-
www.sistersof sentments between the two
saintgregory.org ethnic groups. Being a leader
Advertisement is especially challenging in

autumn 2022 55
connecting

these situations; rarely can Faithful Departed and Dia de

that leader equally represent los Muertos, is the shadowy
both groups, even if he or cousin to the more often cel-
she can do so linguistically. ebrated All Saints’ Day. It is
Invariably, the priest in ques- a day when the Church Uni-
tion is largely blind to the versal remembers those who,
complexities of the culture to aside from the remembrances
which he or she does not be- of loved ones, would remain
long. known only to God. The day
provides the Church with a
On occasion, however, the chance to recall those lives
groups mix well and these who have passed from this life
leadership foibles fade away. on their souls’ journey. Cul-
In fact, by an action that alone turally speaking, the celebra-
can be ascribed to the Holy tions vary, but they are united
Spirit, there can be not only in the power Solomon long
tolerance, but a unique bond ago recounted in the Song of
where iron sharpens iron, and Songs: “Love is as strong as
both communities find them- death.”
selves stronger with each oth-
er. Here follows the story of The Reformation in England
one such parish community, eventually suppressed this
St. Paul’s in Yuma, Arizona, lesser-known celebration. In
and a bond over an often-for- the days following the abuses
gotten liturgical celebration— surrounding the sale of indul-
one that provided unity and gences, All Souls’ fell out of fa-
“glue” to solidify two congre- vor. It was an age where grace
gations into one. was seen as quantifiable—the
more Masses said for the dead,
All Souls’ Day, also known as the quicker they would be re-
the Commemoration of All leased from Purgatory and

56 anglicandigest.org
gathering
admitted to heaven. In fact, a
volume published in the Ro-
man Church, The Raccolta,
prescribed certain amounts
of time off in Purgatory, in
exchange for devotional ac-
tivities. As the Church held
that Christ and the Saints had
stored up a treasury of merit,
those graces could be applied
to the departed to free them
from Purgatory.
The 39 Articles clearly state
that Purgatory, as a place, is
not an Anglican doctrine.
But while Anglicanism, like
Eastern Orthodoxy, does not
envision a Purgatory, scrip-
ture certainly does speak of
the concept of purgation. In
Romans 14:10, St. Paul notes
that we will all stand before
the Judgement seat of Christ
and, in 1st Corinthians 3:13-
15, that what we build on the
foundation of Christ in this
life will be tested with fire,
burning up the inferior things
(likened to “wood, hay, and
stubble”) and being rewarded
telling
for that which lasts. Thus, we
can surmise that “we all shall
be changed, in a moment, in
the twinkling of an eye” (1
Corinthians 15:51). God will
prepare those who have died
in his faith and fear to behold
his glory in a purified state of
total grace.
Another feature of All Souls’
Day that was called into
question at the Reformation
was the question, “Why do
we pray for the dead?” First,
we must recognize that the
fate that is supposedly sealed
at death is measured in our
time. God consistently works
in the eternal present or Kai-
ros time. Nothing says that
when we pray now, those
prayers wouldn’t be effective
in the life of the deceased fifty
years prior. After all, we don’t
determine the state of another
person’s soul; that is known
only to God. In the prayers
for the Burial of the Dead in
the 1979 Book of Common
Prayer, we pray, “Grant that
autumn 2022 57
connecting
increasing in knowledge and
love of thee, he may go from
strength to strength in the life
of perfect service in thy heav-
enly kingdom” (p. 481). Thus,
the prayer book acknowledg-
es that death is not the end
of growth, but rather that we
grow in our spirituality in the
nearer presence of God.
In my own ministry setting,
the Latino members who
brought the celebration of
Dia de los Muertos into our
parish helped solidify our
own Anglican renaissance.
It began with a simple cele-
bration and brightly colored
display of candles, pictures
of loved ones, sugar (often in
the form of skulls), and other
58 anglicandigest.org
offerings symbolic of the de-
ceased. I used this celebration
to re-introduce elements of a
traditional English Requiem
Mass, including a catafalque
(a mock casket, covered in a
black funeral pall). This bilin-
gual celebration is now attend-
ed by Latino and Anglo alike
with approximately 50/50
representation. The Latinos
held on to a celebration near
and dear to their culture, and
the Anglos recovered a fuller
sense of the life everlasting
that was stolen from them at
the Reformation.
So where do we go from here?
How can other celebrations
become bonding moments
for both groups? As each year
we celebrate the appearance of
Our Lady of Guadalupe on 12
December in a bilingual ser-
vice, I am planning a recov-
ery of the Anglo celebration
of Our Lady of Walsingham
on 24 September, again, to be
bilingual. Such celebrations
gathering telling

have in common, it is that

we have all lost those we love
and cherish. The opportunity
to pray for their loved ones
as they go “from strength to
strength” may be exactly what
is needed for a stronger par-
ish, an end to factions, and a
greater glimpse of the King-
dom called out of every na-
tion, tribe, people, and lan-
guage.
v v v

Our Lady of Guadalupe

have the potential for mutual
understanding and apprecia-
tion, and can prove to be the
glue that solidifies two cul-
tures into one worshipping
community.
You, too, might find yourself
in a parish with two cultures
needing bonding. Perhaps
begin with the commemora-
tion of All Faithful Departed
in a way that is uniquely suit- Jonny Hawkins has recently
published (with Bob Phillips)
ed for your parish. If there is Laughter Therapy, A Clean
one thing that all Christians Collection of Humor.

autumn 2022 59
connecting
CONFUSING THE
MASH TENT WITH
THE MISSION
The Rev’d Bollin M. Milner, Jr.
The Rev’d Bollin M. Milner, Jr.
Church has been called a hos-
pital for sinners. It is more ac-
curate to say that the Church
has hospitals, just like the
Army has hospitals. The main
purpose of the Army is not to
operate hospitals. The same is
true of the Church.
60 anglicandigest.org
If we are going to use the hos-
pital analogy, it is helpful to
think of MASH tents. They
exist close to the front and
are mobile. The purpose is to
heal folks, and return them
to the fight, to the mission of
the Church, as soon as possi-
ble. My experience, however
(having been born in 1954),
is that the MASH tent became
an end in itself. And the cler-
gy functioned as the primary,
if not always, sole caregivers.
The training of clergy to be ef-
fective one-on-one pastors is
valuable. Learning how to be
an “active listener” and work-
ing to empower people to
gathering
embrace their own expertise
are good things. The problem
is that the clergy often func-
tioned as ersatz therapists.
They hung out their shingle,
much like Lucy in the Peanuts
cartoon.
Clergy may have been taught
how to be active listeners, but
they weren’t therapists. Un-
fortunately, very little, if any-
thing, was said about transfer-
ence. There were no checks,
no verbatims, no peer re-
views. This led to an epidemic
of clergy misconduct. Church
insurance companies waded
in to define more clearly the
clergy counseling role.
Beyond misconduct, defining
the clergy primarily as one-
on-one care givers leads to
burn out. I am reminded of
the book If You Meet George
Herbert on the Road, Kill Him,
and the line, “In short, …the
clergy…are to be omni-pres-
ent, omni-competent, and
omni-affirming.”
telling
However, when the Church
achieves a good balance,
when the MASH tent finds
its proper context and doesn’t
depend solely on the clergy,
then amazing things can hap-
pen. What does that look like?
Here is one example from my
city of Richmond, Virginia.
A number of congregations
and also people not associat-
ed with any faith group were
concerned about poverty.
Twenty-five percent of our
adults and 40% of our chil-
dren live in poverty. Once
you learn this, it is hard to
look away.
A community conversation
started and eventually the
group chose to establish a
chapter of Circles USA, called
Circles RVA, in Richmond.
Circles builds community to
end poverty. It brings togeth-
er Leaders – those who desire
to develop and work a plan
to move to financial security,
with Allies – those who are
willing to dedicate at least 18
autumn 2022 61
connecting

world’s greatest need.” This

applies to churches as well as
to individuals. As congrega-
tions look for that intersec-
tion between joy and need,
and then act on it, mission
happens. We will always need
the MASH tent. But the pur-
The pictures with people in them pose of healing is so we can
are from Circles RVA which meets get back to the action as soon
at Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal
Church in Richmond, Va. as possible. And isn’t it so
often true, being part of the
months to be an intention- mission, together in commu-
al friend of the Leader and a nity, is exactly the healing we
networker. Everybody gets need?
training, and Leaders and Al-
lies, and their families, gath-
er each week over a meal. It
works and is transformative.

The Rev’d Bollin M. Millner,

Frederick Buechner said,
“Your vocation in life is where
your greatest joy meets the
Jr. was ordained in the Episco-
pal Church USA in 1984, and
served churches in West Point,
Va., Rocky Mount, N.C., and
Richmond, Va. prior to retiring
in August 2019.

62 anglicandigest.org
gathering telling

NECROLOGY
The Rev’d Jack Isbell, 78, The Rt. Rev’d John Her-
on 22 November 2021 in Ho- bert MacNaughton, 92, on 28
nolulu, HI. February 2022 in San Anto-
nio, TX, was 7th Bishop of the
The Rev’d Canon Alan Diocese of West Texas.
McLeod, 86, on 17 November
2021 in Williams Lake, B C. The Rev’d Floyd William
Finch, Jr., 93, on 2 March 2022
The Rev. George Michael in Charleston, SC, served
Tarsis, 73, on 25 Septem- parishes in North Carolina,
ber 2021 in Barberton, OH, Georgia, and South Carolina.
served as Rector of St. An-
drew’s Church.

The Rev’d Michael

George Sowan, 82, on 19 No-
vember 2021 in Lewis, NY.
Grant them
The Rev’d Dr. Canon continual growth in thy
Jerry Echols Hill, 85, on 20 love and service
January 2022 in Waxahachie,
TX, served parishes in the
Dallas area.

The Rev’d Frederick Rhue

Trumbore, 87, on 23 January
2022 in Winchester, VA.

autumn 2022 63
 Christ Window
St. Paul’s Church
Yuma, Arizona