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The Bi-Monthly Magazine of the Prayer Book Society Volume 32, Number 2 andatMarch / April 2009 MIn This Issue E Letter from the President Page 2 b Reflections from the Editor’s Desk Page 3 b Two Conferences Page 4 THE SEASON OF PILGRIMAGE b Nine Sundays to Easter: The Church’s Spring- Training Page 5 b Lent The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Page 7 b Divorce and Remarriage in Anglican Canon Law Page 9 b The Christian Marriage: Eros Redeemed Page 11 b Reformed Catholic: A Description of a Real Anglican Christian page 14 b Order Form Page 15 b Embracing Lent within the Christian Year Page 16 Letter from the President hirty years ago the Episcopal Church abol- and new, generic liberal Protestantism and generic ished not only the 1928 edition of the Book evangelical Protestantism supply the content and of Common Prayer. In doing so they abol- the categories of religion, except for those who Tished not only that particular edition of the Prayer espouse forms of Anglo-Catholicism or Neo-Pen- Book but also the whole tradition of worship it tecostalism both of whom are equally ignorant of The Rev. Gavin Dunbar, represented, a tradition that goes back through the classical Anglicanism. There are of course excep- Rector, St John’s, prior American (1892 and 1789), Scottish (1760), tions proving the rule, but the rule is predomi- Savannah, GA and English (1662, 1559, 1552) to the first English nant, and the conclusions clear. More than ever, Prayer Book of 1549, but even further back than the mission of the Prayer Book Society is clearly that: for the first English Prayer Book preserved to assist in the recovery, rediscovery of classical elements of liturgy that can be traced back a Anglicanism – starting with very basic questions: thousand years or more before the sixteenth cen- what is Anglican teaching on the atonement? On tury reformation. Thirty years later, however, the sin, grace, and works? On the sacraments? On Prayer Book Society – formed initially to prevent the church? On the ordained ministry? On pas- the destruction of the Prayer Book tradition in the toral care and evangelism? What is the rationale Episcopal Church – is alive, well, and young. Its for the liturgy, what theology does it express, what current board is largely drawn from a generation practice does it imply? Learning how the historic that came of age after 1979; its current president Prayer Book answers these questions, and get- was only baptized (as a young man) in 1981. And ting those answers out to those who need to know its current mission field often extends outside “the them, are big challenges for the Society right now. Episcopal Church” to the “new Anglicans” that The challenge for both liberal and conservative have multiplied in recent years and are found in is to learn again to be the church – that is, with such diverse groupings as the Anglican Province a centre of gravity in the gospel and parameters of North America, the Anglican Mission in the that are both comprehensive and coherent, them- Americas, and other “continuing” churches. selves shaped by the historic consensus fidelium, The two mission fields look rather different – and capable of shaping and expressing a common the one older, a bit stolid, morally somewhat lib- understanding, and a common practice, united in eral; the other newer, dynamic, and morally rather common prayer. There is much involved in this conservative. Ironically, however, both fields are rebuilding of the Church, but undertaking the cor- rather similar in one critical regard. While they porate disciplines of Lent – fasting and abstinence, adopt the name “Episcopal” or “Anglican” they prayer, and almsgiving, the works worthy of repen- tend to have little understanding about just what tance - is a very good place for us to start. Precisely that means: a certain understanding of the gospel, as corporate disciplines, rooted in Scripture’s and deriving from it, a certain understanding of teaching and the Church’s ancient tradition, and the church, its doctrine, discipline, sacraments, shaping the way we choose to use time, food, mind and worship. For a great many churchmen old and money, their recovery rebuilds the Church. The Mandate March / April 2009 • Volume 32, Number 2 Editor: Dr. Roberta Bayer • Design/Layout: Boldface Graphics The Officers for the Year 2008 are: President: The Rev. Gavin Dunbar • Vice-President: The Rev’d Fr. Edward Rix Treasurer: Kathleen Stephans of Philadelphia • Secretary: Mrs. Rhea Bright of Oklahoma MANDATE is published six times a year by the Prayer Book Society, a non-profit organization serving the Church of God. All gifts to the P.B.S. are tax deductible. Recipients of Mandate are encouraged to send at least $28 each year to maintain the ministry. Editorial and all other correspondence: P.O. Box 35220, Philadelphia, PA 19128. Phone 1-800-PBS-1928. Postmaster: Please send address changes to the above address. Visit the websites of the Society: www.pbsusa.org & www.anglicanmarketplace.com. andat M Page 2 E By Roberta Bayer, Ph.D. Reflections from the Editor’s Desk he Lent issue of Mandate is devoted as ................ usual to explaining the basic teachings of Anglicanism. The Reverend Gavin Dunbar ­After the February meeting of the Anglican Pri- Thas contributed an article on the Sundays of Lent mates in Alexandria, Egypt the Anglican commu- and their history, Dr. Peter Toon a meditation nion is no closer to reconciling its differences. On on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary the key issue of same-sex blessings there was no which is celebrated mid-Lent on March 25, and an agreement, nor apparently any plan to find agree- essay on the meaning of Reformed Catholicism. ment. TheE piscopal Church will continue to allow May their thoughts assist you in your Lenten devo- for extra-legal blessings, and prosecute parishes tions. which place themselves under the jurisdiction of Praying to our Lord through ordered and dis- an overseas province, and institutional confusion ciplined devotions is necessary to the Anglican will reign. It is not yet clear whether we will see a way. Through the daily offices we are enabled to day when it will be possible to pass a binding cov- ask our Lord for help in our daily tasks, to preserve enant to which all provinces agree. us from temptation, to ask forgiveness for those Since the the time when the Church of England things which we have done, and those we have first planted sister churches outside of its geo- left undone, and we are reminded that on him all graphical boundaries, each province has developed things depend. Lent is, of all the seasons of the its own canon law, based on that of the Church of church year, the most important time in which to England, to suit the local situation. What always place oneself under its discipline. It is the yearly bound the church together was neither law nor season of pilgrimage when we once again undergo covenant, but common theology based on The forty day of fasting and penance as a means to pre- Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal, and the pare ourselves for our Lord’s passion and resurrec- Articles. tion. In recent decades some Anglican scholars We have just read John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s have been researching and comparing Anglican Progess as a family. It has been said that it was the law from different provinces in order to draw out most widely read book outside of the Bible in colo- common ideas and principles. Theirs is a much nial America. It tells the stories of two pilgrims, more modest project than that of the scholastic named Christian and Christiana, who travel from canon lawyer Gratian, who in the twelfth century the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. The gathered all existing canon law into a Concordance story, told allegorically, depicts the many tempta- of Discordant Canons, but it is very helpful none- tions and trials which beset all those who seek to theless. In addition to returning to its theological do God’s will. On pilgrimage they learn to trust roots, the church needs to develop an ecclesiology. to God for help, and learn what it means to know Ever since the Anglican Communion embarked His grace. Lent is a good time to read such a book, upon liturgical revision as part of its intention to and use it as a means of self-examination. Bunyan’s bring doctrine up to date, a dubious project in book is rich in scriptural reference, a compendium itself, the center of the communion has not held. of teaching, helpful to thinking about what it is to The results are now apparent. be a pilgrim. andat M Page 3 E The PBS at Two Conferences by The Reverend Jason Patterson panel, and the final communion service was cel- s stated on our website, the Prayer Book ebrated from Dr. Toon’s An Anglican Prayer Book Society seeks to serve the Anglican Church (a contemporary language version of the 1662, by keeping alive in the church the classic 1928 BCP). The conference focussed on the chal- Acommon prayer tradition of the Anglican Way, lenges of Secularism and Islam, with able presen- which began in the Church of England in 1549. We tations by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of the diocese J.S. Patterson is the Asso- wish to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness of Rochester, England, Dr. Albert Mohler, and Dr. icate Rector of the Church of and in a dignified and understandable English.

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