Catholic Yearnings: the Discussion of Apostolic Succession and Ordained Ministry in the Versicle

Methodist History, 37: I (October 1998) CATHOLIC YEARNINGS: THE DISCUSSION OF APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION AND ORDAINED MINISTRY IN THE VERSICLE MARK WESLEY STAMM I Organized in 1946, the Order of Saint Luke understood itself as "a litur gical and sacramental fellowship of Methodist ministers.;,, Romey P. Marshall ( 1901-1985) was its co-founder, first President, and leading exemplar. Reared in a Kentucky Methodist family, Marshall had learned the traditions of the holiness movement, adopting many of its evangelistic practices and\liturgical presuppositions. He witnessed to another type of "conversion," the one that led him to form the Order: The Order of Saint Luke was not formed by men who became interested in Liturgy because of their liking for beauty or their desire to follow tradition. Each of the founders had at first been rebels against tradition as we understood it. ... We had used all sorts of techniques in an effort to attract crowds and save souls. But each of us had come to an appreciation of historic liturgy and a belief in the Church as a Divine Institution, and a con viction that the Sacraments were, in the deepest sense of the word, "means of grace."2 With that insight, Marshall and others began a movement that sought to mag nify the more objective, churchly aspects of the Wesleyan heritage. Marshall was always aware, however, that the goal he sought was as elu sive as it was attractive. To borrow Wesley's phraseology, he was moving toward a vision of ecclesiastical "perfection." Could it be reached in this life? A classic expression of that movement is found in his description of the pro cession held at the 1948 meeting of the "Catholic Conference'' of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He wrote, It was my first experience in such a procession and I enjoyed the pageantry which we Methodists have seldom used. An amusing incident occurred as I found myself at almost the head of the group of around 700 clergy and began to wonder if the place of honor was at the head or the end. As I mounted the steps and looked back, I remembered that in church processions the dignitaries always came last-and I was at least two blocks away from that point. I suppose that showed my standing with my Episcopal brethren! But seri ously, it was an honor to be placed among the representatives of the Anglican Orders, and I shall be happy to take my position again at the head of the line ....3 'The Order is no longer exclusively clergy and Methodist. Now it describes itself as "A religious order within the United Methodist Church dedicated to sacramental and liturgical scholarship, education, and practice." 2Romey P. Marshall, ''After Fourteen Years," The Versicle 10:2 (Kingdomtide 1960), 3. JRomey P. Marshall, "A Word From the President," The Versicle 4:2 (Pentecost 1954): 10. 3 4 Methodist History One detects here the romanticism typical of many high church movements and perhaps a desire for the social affirmation afforded by the Episcopalian estab lishment. On a more profound level, however, Marshall's comments reveal a "catholic yearning;" that is, a desire to benefit from historic and objective man ifestations of church, ministry, and spirituality such as the historic episcopate. As it is used in this article, the term "catholic" does not follow John Wesley's usage in the sermon "Catholic Spirit." There, "catholic" refers to an evangelical union of warm-hearted souls.4 The definition employed in this article is that implied by the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, where "catholic" refers to a visible institutional reality holding classical assumptions about sacramental forms and efficacy. This article will focus on "catholic yearnings" such as that expressed by Marshall. It will review and analyze the discussion of apostolic succession and ordained ministry as it appeared in The Versicle ( 1951-1965), the first newsletter/ journal of the Order of Saint Luke. The Order's recent golden anniversary has been an important stimulus for such historical investigations. This article will advance that small, yet growing, body of research. 5 Also, it provides an histor ical case study on a recurring Methodist challenge-How does the church live in that tension between classical ecclesial forms and the need for flexibility in response to the Spirit's call? When one investigates that tension, one studies the very heart of Methodist identity. Both of these commitments-to classical forms and to charismatic flexibility-are manifested in the pages of The Versicle. How do their concerns relate to the Wesleyan corpus? To address that question, we will make a short review of John Wesley's teaching on apostolic succession and the ordained ministry. II Commentators such as Frank Baker" and Henry Rack7 have demonstrated the ambivalence in John Wesley's relationship with- the Church of England. He preached in the open air within the parishes administered by other clergy. He appointed lay preachers and organized the Annual Conference. He estab lished the Deed of Declaration, named "the Legal One-hundred," and encour aged the building of Methodist chapels. He revised the Prayer Book. Indeed, he contradicted numerous canons and traditions of the church, all the while 4John Wesley, "Catholic Spirit," The Works of John Wesley, Volume 2, Sermons II, 34-70, edited by Albert C. Outler (Nashville: Abingdon Press, I 985), 82. 5Hoyt Hickman's historical overview presented at the 1996 Order of Saint Luke Convocation and Retreat was an important first step. See "In Spirit and in Truth: Vitality and Integrity in Christian Worship," Doxology 14 (1997), 7-15. 6Frank Baker, John Wesley and the Church of England (Nashville and New York: Abingdon Press, 1970). 1Henry D. Rack, The Reasonable Enthusiast, John Wesley and the Rise of Methodism, second edi tion (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992). Catholic Yearnings 5 claiming to be its loyal son. At no point did he challenge those traditions more than in his ordinations. 8 While it is technically correct that he lived and died within the Church of England, the developments noted here were not typical manifestations of loyalty. 9 Nevertheless, Wesley's insistence that his was a deeper loyalty is not without merit. He stood with the English Reformers, who sought a biblically literate Christian Commonwealth. '0 His decision to preach in the fields and organize circuits was an attempt to fulfill such a vision, to proclaim "the acceptable year of the Lord" to everyone.'' His teaching on "constant com munion" reflects a similar dynamic. He affirmed the church's teaching that required thrice annual communion as a bare minimum:; but refused to sane- , tion that pattern as the ideal. '2 · Wesley's decision to ordain elders for America was rooted in his commit ment to the eucharist; but standing in the way of such ordination,~ was the Anglican tradition of the apostolic succession-. the claim that valid nrdination must come at the hands of a bishop whose consecration can be traced directly to the apostles themselves. Wesley held to a similar form of the apostolic suc cession during the early phases of his ministry, to the extent that he rebaptized many who came into the Church of England from other churches. 13 Eventually, he dropped that position. One can cite several reasons for the change, not least of them being the effectiveness of his lay preachers and the growing realization that Methodism was an "extraordinary" movement inspired by the Holy Spirit, one not bound by conventional rubrics. 14 His reading of Lord King's Account of the Primitive Church (in 1745) had convinced him "that bishops and pres byters are the same order, and consequently have the same right to ordain." 15 He did not reject the doctrine of apostolic succession, but rather he accepted the Presbyterian understanding of it. At times, however., he took a more radical position, insisting that "the uninterrupted succession (is) a fable." 16 In either case, such reasoning undermined bis commitment to the Anglican praxis of ordination and prepared him to undertake the ordinations of September 1784. His justification was missional-. he ordained because the 8See Baker, chapters 13-15, and Rack, chapter 4. 9See Rack, 305. mFor an analysis of the Christian commonwealth idea, see The Godly Kingdom ofTu4?r England: Great Books of the English Reformation, John E. Booty, editor (Wilton, Connecticut:-.Morehouse Barlow, Inc., 1981 ). 11 See John Wesley's Journal, March 29 through April 2, 1739, The Works of John Wesley, Volume 19 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990), 46. 12John Wesley, "The Duty of Constant Communion," The Works of John Wesley, Volume 3 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1986), 438. !)See letter by August Gottlieb Spangenberg cited in Baker, p. 42. '~Baker, 324. '~The Letters of John Wesley, September 10, 1784 (Preface to Sunday Service for the Methodists in North America), Vol. VII (London: The Epworth Press, 193 l), 238. 1"The Letters of John Wesley, August 19, 1785 (to Charles Wesley), Vol. VIII, 284. 6 Methodist History American Methodists lacked access to the sacraments. 17 In the face of a per ceived need, Methodists will characteristically "(submit) to 'be more vile,' " 18 as Wesley did when he began preaching in the open air. It is worth noting, however, that the well-known "I submitted to 'be more vile'" reference is drawn from the biblical scene in which King David danced half naked before the Ark of God (see 2 Samuel 6:22, KJV). 19 It is a telling allusion. Character isticaily, Methodists are willing to take risks in order to reach the masses, even to the point of appearing ridiculous and disorderly. Nevertheless, by tak ing such risks, sometimes they leave themselves ecclesiastically ill-clad, clothing their ministers with little but a sense of their own charisma.

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