The Anglican Way: Course Overview
Introductory Class: What is this all about?
Rules, expectations, and hopes:
The goal of the class is to explore the claims of the Christian faith, while also considering the pattern and history of the Anglican tradition which is a useful expression of Christian discipleship. We will look at matters of the faith, the history of salvation in the Scriptures, the history of the church, and some modern heresies that have arisen and may affect us directly/indirectly.
2 Weeks of Intro: - What is this story all about? Why is it important? - A historical overview of Redemptive History
Themes: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration, Glory Stories: Slavery, Exodus, Promised Land, Exodus, New Land Types: Rescuer, King, Prophet, Priest Figures: David, Joseph, Moses, Abraham
❖ Week 1: Creation and Anthropology: Created for what? To what end? Our bodies are declared “good,” and good is “fit for a purpose” according to Aristotle. ❖ Week 2: Faith In Christ (Justification) U N ❖ Week 3: Growth Together (Sanctification) in Discipleship N O ❖ Week 4: A Community Effort (Fellowship/Hospitality/Care) I ❖ Week 5: Anglican Liturgy (Why Worship Matters) Music Discussion ❖ Week 6: Mission of the Church ❖ Week 7: Worldview/Seeing Christ in All Things ❖ Week 8: Ethics ❖ Week 9: Bible Awesomeness. (It’s the best book around—and still the most popular) ❖ Week 10: Liturgical Walk-Through ❖ Week 11: Personal Devotion ❖ Week 12: 39 Articles of Religion ❖ Week 13: A History of the Anglican Church
Rules: - Be sure to sign in every week. No playing hooky! If you miss, you will be emailed that week’s handout & lecture audio to catch up and report back on. Please send an email confirming this. - If you are to become a member, there will be a one or two-hour interview with the Rector after the course is complete. - Enjoy yourself! The Anglican Way: New Members’ Class Worship, Discipleship, and Mission in God’s Kingdom
We will be focusing on the story of Gods’ redemption with these three themes in view.
Anglicanism is a journey, just like the Christian life. We follow Christ on a path of eternal life, where through the process we learn about how to be truly human, embracing our weaknesses and our strengths as we learn to humbly live before his face, growing in the context of a worshipping community of fellow pilgrims.
We are participating in the drama of God’s redemption, where we are given the opportunity to play out our parts.
Dorothy Sayers: “The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.”
Aristotle: In a dramatically good story, each decisive event is unpredictable until it happens, but immediately upon taking place it is seen to be exactly what “had” to happen.
“The church does not exist to provide an ethos for democracy or any other form of social organization, but stands as a political alternative to every nation, witnessing to the kind of social life possible for those that have been formed by the story of Christ.” ― Stanley Hauerwas
Every Sunday we celebrate this story and participate in this story through worship.
Worship? What do we come to do? To receive the grace of God, and open our hearts to life and truth found in Him And then … to Thank God for the gifts that he gives us, blessing Him together.
We do this both personally and corporately.
“Worship works from the top down, you might say. In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our praise; we are called to worship because in this encounter God (re)makes and molds us top-down. Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and habituates our loves. Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts.” ― James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit
And in Anglicanism, our worship takes a liturgical form. Liturgy is literally “the work of the people.”
But worship has really been the plan all along. The Garden was a place of worship, where a man and a woman were free to worship and serve the Lord. It was an archetypal sanctuary. In fact, when Adam and Eve are given instructions for caretaking, they were called to care and protect the garden, or “shamar” and “abad”. This is the same pairing of words used when God called the priests to care for the tabernacle. In Numbers 3:7-8 and Numbers 8:26 the Lord gives the Levites the authority to minister in the tabernacle.
The tabernacle was a dwelling place where God dwelled among his people.
The same happens when Solomon builds a temple. (1 Kings 8)
But the goal all along was that the whole world would be the place where man would experience God. “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14
Jesus says the temple would no longer be needed. The Word became flesh and tabernacle among his people.
Ephesians 2:19-22 (READ) We are the living temple where the Spirit of Christ dwells among his people.
Worship is our communion with God. Jesus was upset when religious leaders worshipped worship, or false God’s in their mind, rather than worshipping the Lord.
It is organized and caring, thoughtful as to not disrespect God (or denigrate the image of God in man), but also humble and loving, producing joy and delight in God’s people for the opportunity to “worship the beauty of his holiness.”
And it’s where we’re going: Rev. 21&22—We’re going to the New Heavens and the New Earth to experience the freedom and joy of Worship. We’re not simply fat cherubs playing ukuleles and harps in heavenly clouds.
And so the Story begins in the Garden, climaxed at the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Son, and concludes when all of the redeemed will worship Christ in his presence.
And we see this every week in the liturgy:
We come together and are collected in the Collect: We acknowledge God as God. We read his word and his laws. We pray for what we need. We pray in repentance. We receive forgiveness from Him. We embrace his fellowship through Sacrament, in Communion. We go out on a mission to make disciples of the whole earth, including our children.