Bible and Church The Transfiguration Zombie Theology THE August 4, 2013 LIVING CHURCH CATHOLIC EVANGELICAL ECUMENICAL

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ON THE COVER Golden Virgin Mary LIVING on Milan Dome, Italy “Our Lady is no longer a CHURCH figure who automatically divides [Christians]” (“With Mary on the THIS ISSUE | August 4, 2013 Ecumenical Trail,”p. 15). NEWS 4 Liturgists Return to the Baptismal Font CULTURES 10 A Brief Theology of Zombies By William O. Daniel, Jr. 13 12 Meditation by the Pool By Charlie Ritch Appearances By Betsy Childs BOOKS 13 The Transfiguration of Christ and Creation by John Gatta Review by Jesse Zink 14 A Following Holy Life edited by Kenneth Stevenson Review by Benjamin M. Guyer 15 Maiden, Mother and Queen by Roger Greenacre The Blessed Virgin Mary by Tim Perry Review by Peter Doll 17 Consecrated Spirits by Felicity Leng Review by Sister Mary Jean 15 22 CATHOLIC VOICES FIRST IN A SERIES ON THE BIBLE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH 18 Introduction By Robert MacSwain 19 A Welcome Breakthrough By Bolly Lapok 22 Answered Prayers in a Soaking Rain By Douglas Taylor-Weiss OTHER DEPARTMENTS 24 Letters 26 Sunday’s Readings 28 People & Places

We are grateful to the Church of St. Michael & St. George, St. Louis [p. 25], and the LIVING CHURCH Partners Diocese of Dallas [p. 27] whose generous support helped make this issue possible.

The Living Church is published by the Living Church Foundation. Our historic mission in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is to seek and serve the Catholic and evangelical faith of the one Church, to the end of visible Christian unity throughout the world.

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 3 NEWS | August 4, 2013

Liturgists Return to the Baptismal Font By Steve Waring the Rev. Jay Koyle, president of the Lee said that when he served in ALPM and the Diocese of Algoma’s the Diocese of Olympia, based in Members of Associated Parishes for congregational development officer. Seattle, he was struck by how little Liturgy and Mission, which played a In his address, “The Rite Stuff: Stir- influence Christianity retained in so- central role in bringing a deeper em- ring the Waters Before Baptism,” ciety. “Many of these people have phasis on baptism to the Book of Koyle compared liturgy to line danc- deep spiritual longings, but they are Common Prayer (1979), met in ing, noting that both require mastery not being met by the institutional Waukegan, Illinois, June 27-29 for of a few steps before you can begin church,” he said. “How can we cre- “Stirring the Waters: Reclaiming the to add creative flourishes and em- ate boundaries that are not barriers, Missional, Subversive Character of bellishments. but temptations?” Baptism,” a conference five years in “I believe in creativity in worship Christians should be fiercely com- the making. but not creativity for its own sake,” he mitted to the central tenets of the Keynote speaker Benjamin M. said. “Liturgy should have ties to older faith and immersed in Scripture, he Stewart, assistant professor of wor- texts. We are not seeking to throw out said. “We are the primary evidence of ship at the Lutheran School of The- the baby with the bathwater.” Christ’s resurrection,” Lee said. “Je- ology in Chicago, believes the next sus died to eliminate the barrier be- great liturgical change will occur at ‘We Belong to God’ tween the altar and the sanctuary.” gravesides. The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Lee, Bishop of Bishop Lee questions whether Com- “Up until now, funerals have Chicago, described several personal munion of the unbaptized is an effec- largely escaped the natural move- moments during the past 20 years tive means of reaching unchurched ments that have taken place in many when he understood the importance people and said the practice hinders a other parts of the service,” he said. “I of baptism. bolder approach to baptism. support working with clergy to make “About 20 years ago I attended a “The attitude of ‘Ya’ll come’ is a this a more joyful cer- conference in San Francisco called stark contrast to the young woman emony.” ‘Catechumenate.’ It attempted to dis- in Seattle who was so enthused after The Rev. Ruth Mey- cern the early Church’s emphasis on everyone in church had prayed for ers of Church Divinity baptism,” he said. “I was set on fire her during her baptism,” Lee said. School of the Pacific, and since then it has not gone out.” “This is a conversation I would like chairwoman of the Baptism is unique in its ability to to have with my colleagues in the Standing Commission transcend. “It is not a structure, pro- House of Bishops.” on Liturgy and Music, gram, or organization,” the bishop Lee mentioned an eight-year-old Meyers called for using more said. “It is a rite, a mysterious way of boy who was evangelized after his contemporary, under- making life real. friend invited him to the Godly Play standable language, perhaps for the “I do not think that the way we cel- program at Holy Family Church in Apostles’ Creed. She said that only ebrate baptism should be in a mini- Fishers, Indiana, which Lee planted proposals for same-sex blessings malist way,” he said. “We need fonts in 1990. In time Lee baptized the boy, have drawn greater criticism than in which we can drown, something but the service was filled with mis- the idea of an alternate version of that symbolizes the new life we re- takes that left Lee flustered and up- the Apostles’ Creed. ceive from this washing. That is re- set with himself. But the boy went “I am not proposing elimination of ally what is most important.” home and convinced his parents to the Apostles’ or Nicene Creed, but More than 30 percent of Ameri- join him at church. we also need a new means of helping cans younger than 30 have no expe- “As Catholic Christians steeped in people hear and express their Chris- rience with churches, and Bishop the Reformation, we believe that we tian belief in a contemporary and un- Lee believes baptism provides an im- belong to God,” he said. “I pin my derstandable language,” she said. portant way of reaching them. hope that all this can come our way. “This is a tacit acknowledgement When he became Bishop of These central matters cut across so that no single prayer or statement Chicago in 2008, Lee said, he hoped many barriers.” can convey the entirety of the Chris- to spread baptismal preparation on a tian faith.” grand scale. So far the clearest ex- Rites Must Connect The ideal time to teach the faith is pression of that hope is the diocese’s The Rev. Louis Weil made a spirited during preparation for baptism, said developing of a Chrism Mass. defense of the baptismal emphasis in

4 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 Visit livingchurch.org for daily reports of news about the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

the Book of Common Prayer (1979). book. There is no perfect prayer. online meetings. The commission Weil said the most important “We need to be engaging people keeps a blog of its discussions and change in the 1979 prayer book was who are essentially already outside tasks (bit.ly/SCLM-TEC). its renewed emphasis on baptism, as of the body. They are out of touch “I’m not completely satisfied with a rite that enables Chris- with knowledge about the Church, the online meeting format for com- tians to recognize each its prayers, traditions, and history. missions,” said the Rev. Ruth Mey- other across theological Sometimes missionary activities can ers of the Church Divinity School of and doctrinal divisions. take on nonreligious forms. There the Pacific. “It helps us keep ac- “Theologically I find the are also a lot of variations in the countable to one another for the prayer and the responses liturgy which can be welcoming to work and move things along a bit. very convincing,” he said the seeker.” But it’s not a complete substitute for of the baptismal rite. face-to-face meetings. For example, Steve Waring is a freelance writer Weil Weil, professor emeritus the commission prays liturgical texts of liturgics at Church Di- in Milwaukee. as it reviews them, and that’s harder vinity School of the Pacific and a to do online. Online meetings give member of the Standing Commission no space for the informal times that on Liturgy and Music, has reflected Face Time allow relationships to develop, and for many years on the role of the those relationships are very impor- presider at the Eucharist. In Liturgi- for the SCLM tant in getting work done.” cal Sense: The Logic of Rite (2013) The Standing Commission on Liturgy Other commission members have Weil describes assisting a bishop at and Music held its only face-to-face endured technical problems that pre- an ordination many years ago. Dur- 2013 meeting in Milwaukee June 24- vented them from participating fully ing the eucharistic prayer the bishop 26, and is discovering the limits of (Continued on next page) made “an extremely elaborate pat- tern of gestures … until finally the consecrated elements were lifted up and the people responded ‘Amen.’” BACK TO THE ANGLICAN FUTURE: After the service, when Weil asked about the meaning behind the ges- THE TORONTO CONGRESS 1963 AND THE tures, the bishop responded that he had celebrated that way for 25 years. FUTURE OF GLOBAL COMMUNION “In order to fulfill its purpose the liturgical rite must make a connec- Wednesday September 18, 2013 tion with the congregation,” Weil Toronto, Ontario said, adding that new liturgies must also be grounded in historical prece- For more information or to register dent. please visit “Generally speaking, clergy may www.wycliffecollege.ca be expected to know what is in- tended in the rite, but what is it that With special guests: the people see?” he writes. “[W]hat The Rt. Rev. Dr. Stephen Andrews, Bishop of Algoma the people see is sometimes quite The Most Rev. Mouneer Anis, Primate of Egypt & the Middle East different from what is intended.” The Most Rev. Ian Ernest, Primate of the Indian Ocean During the liturgy the congrega- The Rt. Rev. Dr. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Bishop of Kaduna, Nigeria tion is not merely observing a priest The Most Rev. Bernard Ntahoturi, Archbishop of Burundi but fully participating, preparing for The Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala, Primate of Kenya a life of worship and evangelism, he said. The Most Rev. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, “The problem is that a great many will address the conference via Skype people do not understand the con- nection between baptism and the teaching of the faith,” he said. “Let’s not spend inordinate amounts of en- ergy finding a whole new prayer

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 5 NEWS | August 4, 2013

Face Time for the SCLM

(Continued from previous page) progress report on revision of the in the online meetings. The Rev. Book of Occasional Services, which Louis Weil of CDSP said that during General Convention directed the one online meeting he had no audio commission to overhaul. Christian signal and during another he had an anti-Judaism is a long-term project, audio signal but no video. and Meyers said the commission In 2012 General Convention would be “looking particularly at re- charged the commission with five sources that will help clergy and tasks: congregations address the anti-Ju- • Gather responses about same- daism that can be stirred by Scrip- sex blessing rites and decide what ture and liturgical texts.” revisions or additions to present to Steve Waring the next convention • Gather responses on the 120 ad- ditional individuals approved for General Synod trial use by General Convention in 2009 and to make a final recommen- Slogs Through dation to the next General Conven- When the Church of England’s tion in 2015 on their inclusion in General Synod descends on York for Holy Women, Holy Men its summer sessions the tempo is • Identify resources that will help much different from London meet- clergy and congregations address ings. Synod uses York University ac- anti-Judaism commodation and that creates much • Develop guidelines for deciding more time for conversation. After which translations of Scripture hours the bars do a roaring trade. should be authorized for use in pub- Members can easily nip out for air or lic worship (about a dozen transla- to talk business while communing tions are approved under Canon II.2) with the ducks and geese patrolling • Revise the Book of Occasional the lake that abuts the university’s Services Assembly Hall. The 2012 General Convention ap- Britain has experienced a perish- proved a same-sex blessing rite for ingly cold spring and early summer, provisional use under the direction but a sudden heat wave left the As- of the diocesan bishop, and com- sembly Hall swelteringly hot. A sur- mended the entirety of I Will Bless prising proportion of male members You and You Will Be a Blessing. To turned up wearing shorts, uncon- date 37 dioceses have responded to cerned at the display of their lilly- the commission. Not all of the bish- white legs. ops of the responding dioceses have Occasionally York Synod has ex- authorized same-sex blessings. The perimented with small-group Bible Archives of the Episcopal Church studies, an activity not universally maintains a complete list on behalf approved by members, as it is not of the commission. strictly business. This time round the Meyers said she expects the stand- business managers devoted an entire ing commission will complete its Saturday to small groups (closed to work on same-sex blessings, the re- the media and visitors) as Synod view of additional persons approved sought consensus on women in the in 2009 for inclusion in Holy Women, episcopate. Holy Men, and guidelines for ap- This was the first meeting since proving biblical translations. Meyers last November’s vote on women in said she expects an incomplete the episcopate. Synod rules mean

6 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 “This is not about whether but about how.” —Archbishop Justin Welby

there can be no shortcuts to enable a for now the documents remain un- assurance of safe space would be repeat vote. With serious differences der wraps. sufficient. in the church about the meaning of Will it lead to Synod members Reform and the Catholic Group ministry there was a broad recogni- changing their minds? Probably not. say they will keep up the fight for tion that the usual Par- There are already signs that some adequate safeguards. The House of liamentary procedures opponents are digging in for a long Bishops will bring reworked propos- were unlikely to help. battle. The conservative evangelical als to the next Synod sessions in No- In his first speech to group Reform announced in June vember, but 2015 is the very earliest Synod as Archbishop of that it had appointed its first full- that a final decision will be possible. Welby Canterbury, the Most time officer with the job title of di- There remains the possibility that if Rev. Justin Welby ad- rector. The new director is Mrs. Synod cannot deliver Parliament will dressed the thorny topic: “This is not Susie Leafe, who was a notable step in, as MP Tony Baldry told about whether but about how.” speaker against the measure voted Synod, repeating earlier warnings to Since the beginning of the year down in November. that effect. various national bodies, including The sticking point is not the prin- In other debates Synod approved a the House of Bishops, have used fa- ciple of women in the episcopate but draft plan to amalgamate three dio- cilitated conversations, an approach of safeguards for those opposed. The ceses in Yorkshire: Bradford, Ripon to which Welby brings considerable House of Bishops brought forward a and Leeds, and Wakefield. The new experience and expertise. The small- set of options but failed to persuade diocese, to be known as West York- group sessions included a drama in Synod to support legally binding shire and the Dales, could be a reality which all members played a part. Re- safeguards. Synod told the House of by January 2014. Professor Michael ports from the groups are being cir- Bishops, which will draft the new Clarke, chairman of the dioceses’ culated to the House of Bishops but legislation, that the church giving its (Continued on next page)

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AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 7 NEWS | August 4, 2013

General Synod Slogs Through (Continued from previous page) commission that drafted the plan, said it was not a criticism of the ex- isting dioceses. “However, they now face the major challenges of declin- ing congregations, reduced numbers of clergy, weakened finances, pen- sions costs,” he said. Synod managers headed off at- tempts to trigger a full-scale debate on homosexuality. Only two bishops were present on Monday in the House of Lords’ revision stage of same-sex marriage legislation. Arch- bishop Welby told the Synod that “the cultural and political ground is changing.” A report into scandals involving in- Education pioneer Maria Montessori, between 1910 and 1915. Library of Congress photo effective safeguarding against child abuse in the Diocese of Chichester came with a public apology. “We can- Matthias has become a self-support- nections to the school. not do anything other than own up to ing parish for the first time since its Launching the school required in- our failures,” said the Rt. Rev. Paul founding in 1899. vestment commensurate with the Butler, Bishop of Southwell and Not- The key, according to the Very bold vision of the congregation. The tingham and chairman of the Rev. David Thurlow, has been the de- Diocese of South Carolina provided church’s national safeguarding com- velopment of a Montessori pre- $60,000 in seed funds. mittee. “We were wrong. Our failures school, which draws young families “That leap of faith led to a growth were sin just as much as the perpe- to become involved in church life. in youth ministry and a growth in trators sinned.” “We’re just a small little church,” young [families] coming to the parish The Synod welcomed Bishop An- said Dean Thurlow, who transferred in a depressed county,” Thurlow said. gaelos, leader of Britain’s Coptic from the Anglican Church of Canada The preschool is now self-supporting. Church, most of whose members are and began his ministry at St. Matthias Space was tight, however, and it originally from Egypt. He drew at- in 2001. “But through diocesan in- soon became clear that another leap tention to the serious civil unrest vestment in the school, and other of faith would be necessary. A capi- there, appearing to endorse the programs as well, we’ve been able to tal campaign launched with $200,000 army’s takeover: “There is a differ- grow and be blessed.” from the diocese will pay for 5,000 ence between democracy and ma- The education method founded by square feet of additional space, in- jority rule.” Maria Montessori (1870-1952) em- cluding a new parish hall, Sunday- John Martin, London phasizes creativity, experiential school rooms, and the preschool. learning, and allowing children to “We were like a potted plant that learn at their own pace. The parish’s needed a bigger pot to accommodate Montessori Helps preschool, which will celebrate its our growing church,” Thurlow said. 10th year in the fall, welcomes chil- The congregation has stepped up St. Matthias dren ages 3 through 6. to underwrite the $1 million building St. Matthias Episcopal Church in The school admits 12 to 15 chil- project. Parishioners have pledged Summerton, South Carolina (pop. dren at a time. It serves the entire more than $510,000. As pledges have 1,000), was a mission congregation community, but many students and come in, the church has reduced its in decline during the early 2000s. their parents attend the church as construction debt to about $465,000. Prospects for growth in this rural well. Thurlow counts about 20 peo- “It was a big undertaking for a area seemed dim. ple — including parents, enrolled small little church,” Thurlow said. But average Sunday attendance children, and alumni — who attend “Investing in the Montessori pre- has doubled to more than 80 and St. St. Matthias because of their con- school and placing such a significant

8 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 emphasis on outreach to young chil- cern is a central motivator difference. It brings about a dren really has translated into for the Rev. Callan Slipper, a completely new state of af- healthy growth for the parish.” Church of England priest fairs. We no longer solve the G. Jeffrey MacDonald and author of Five Steps to problems in order to be- TLC Correspondent Living Christian Unity, due Slipper come united, we are united in September from New City Press. in order to solve the problems.” “We are currently the victims of Loving one another is both a means Bishop Rickel: our past success,” Slipper tells TLC. and an end in Slipper’s formulation. It “The new vision I would advocate is involves working humbly across de- Cursillo Liaison one where we see one another as nominational lines in day-to-day mis- Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts truly belonging to one another.” sion. It affirms common reliance on the Schori has appointed the Rt. Rev. Slipper, 58, devotes his life to this crucified Christ as the bedrock for Gregory Rickel, Bishop of Olympia, vision. He lives with four other righteousness and ministry in his name. as liaison to National Episcopal Cur- priests (three Roman Catholic and The journey together is its own re- sillo. He succeeds the Rt. Rev. Alan one Anglican) in a community of the ward, he suggests, because it cap- Scarfe, Bishop of Iowa, who has Focolare Movement, an international tures Jesus’ prayer that “That they served since 2006. project to foster Christian unity, and may be one, as we are one, I in them Bishop Rickel attended Cursillo works as ecumenical facilitator for and you in me, that they may become No. 41 in Arkansas and served as Churches Together in Hertfordshire. completely one” (John 17:22-23). head spiritual director on two teams In his five steps, Slipper urges G. Jeffrey MacDonald before accepting a call as rector of Christians to ponder why the quest TLC Correspondent St. James Church in Austin, Texas. for visible unity is urgent and to He has remained active in Cursillo press beyond common assumptions since becoming Bishop of Olympia and practices. Ordinariate in September 2007. At stake, at least in part, is “I am very honored to serve as whether non-believers will see some- Broadens Work Bishop Liaison for Cursillo in these thing in Christian relationships that The Personal Ordinariate of the upcoming years,” Bishop Rickel said. reveals a different, higher way of Chair of St. Peter now has the pope’s “I give thanks for the ministry of working and being together. Too of- blessing to evangelize and receive Cursillo in deepening the faith and ten, Slipper argues, they do not see nominal Roman Catholics who were relationship of Episcopalians with robust love or collaboration among a baptized but never completed the God in Christ,” Bishop Jefferts Schori cross-section of Christians. There- sacraments of initiation (confirma- wrote in her appointment letter. “I fore they are not convinced there’s tion and receiving the Eucharist). made my Cursillo more than 20 years anything transformative or divine in Pope Francis approved this signifi- ago in Oregon and understand the the Christian life. cant revision to the Ordinariate’snorms importance of focusing one’s love of “Our words are not backed up on May 31, and Ordinariate leaders in God as an agent of transformation in with facts,” Slipper says. “We are not the United States and the United King- the world. I pray that Cursillo may so much describing things that we dom disclosed it in July. The change continue to encourage and nurture know about at firsthand as trying to does not allow Roman Catholics to join faithful living as a disciple of Jesus.” convince people of a set of ideas, a the Ordinariate “for purely subjective story. It does not surprise me that motives or personal preference.” the parts of the Christian body “I certainly welcome this develop- Priest: Choose where there is a sense of a living en- ment, which further establishes our counter with Jesus, a life touched by place in the work of the new evan- Church Unity the power of the Spirit, are the ones gelization,” said Msgr. Jeffrey Steen- The ecumenical movement of the that are growing the fastest.” son, U.S. Ordinary. “Particularly in past 100 years has been wildly suc- Slipper prescribes a path in which North America, with large percent- cessful in eliminating old tensions Christians discern the need for visi- ages of ‘unchurched’ peoples, it is in- and rivalries, but such pervasive suc- ble unity and presume God-given evitable that we will encounter those cess can foster complacency, even unity as a starting point rather than a who have no formal ecclesial rela- in a time when a skeptical world distant goal. tionships but who are seekers of needs to see more signs of God-given “Deliberately choose to love one truth. The Great Commission thus unity in action. another,” Slipper writes in Five Steps. becomes more and more the heart That combination of joy and con- “That deliberate choice makes the of our work.”

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 9 A Brief Theology of ZOMBIES

By William O. Daniel, Jr. entrenchment in a habitus — a subconscious bodily comportment that conditions a particu- ur world is fascinated with zombies. lar way of perceiving the world. Filmmakers are From revisionist writings in adult litera- no less conditioned and culturally effected. Oture like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Within this socially constructed space, the to children’s books such as Zombiekins, from tele- artist, by making manifest her own socially con- vision dramas of The Walking Dead to major strued gaze or habitus, reveals also to audiences motion pictures like the recent World War Z, as the manner of their own social conditioning. In well as quasi-zombies — Boggans — in chil- this sense, the artist carries more than herself dren’s films like Epic, not to mention the along with her in her art; she carries all the

CULTURESplethora of zombie video games like Call of Duty: social forces at work on her body, which is Black Ops II, our society is captivated by the never other than herself but always more than undead. What drives this zombie-filled imagi- she is. nation? What is its philosophical and theologi- cal import? Perhaps it is just good science fiction. Maybe it is the fear of chemical warfare, eeing our formative habitus through the lens concerns of which flood our commercial media Sof the zombie imaginary can help us trace and public broadcasts. But why has this new the sources of our socially reified bodies. genre of literature and film so mightily fixed According to World War Z’s depiction of zom- our gaze upon the printed page and illuminated bies, they do not infect the sick, but are like screens? Are we all worried about rampant can- lice. Many think that lice get in the hair of dirty nibalism, being devoured by insatiable crea- children; but lice want clean, well-washed hair tures, stoppable only by a “deadly” blow to the that is not oily and neglected. Zombies likewise head? Or have we simply run out of other good seek a healthy host. If you are terminal there is reasons to give Brat Pitt a heroic leading role? no reason to seek you out. (While this may seem a bit farfetched, remember that we’re talk- ing about zombies.) he film and television industries reveal a It is tempting to think of zombies as simply Tnumber of things about modern society. another literary or cinematic category, or some- There is a tendency to think that film and thing else for teenagers to shoot and kill on a media show us where we are heading, and while video screen. Zombies are not indifferent, how- this is true, it is crucial to understand that these ever; they are not merely benign objects of message-mediums are communicating a reality entertainment. Rather, they tell us something already present. These artistic mediums com- about ourselves, especially regarding condi- municate more than their directors, screenwrit- tioned human action and reason. ers, and actors could ever fully grasp. All art is The new fascination with zombies, I believe, the result of a particular gaze. In Phenomenology has to do with our own body consciousness, a of Perception, Maurice Merleau-Ponty describes visceral awareness that we are infected with a this gaze as the habit by which we relate to social disease. It is not viral, according to World social space. Dramatists and playwrights com- War Z; there is no single, locatable source. municate a world that is inseparable from their Rather, it is all around us, penetrating us by our

10 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 habits of living — the desperate attempts to redeemed by the gift of friendship, the establish- avoid, or at least delay, death. The portrayal of ment of communities habituated by self-denial this affectedness or infection in The Walking and forgiveness. What this new zombie era Dead shows that everyone is already a zombie in appears to be groping for, and stammering to potency, a notable difference from World War Z, articulate, is a vision of human society condi- which presents the human as a potential host tioned by grace. The alternative habitus to that of but not as a host in esse. Each portrayal imparts the undead is nothing other than the liturgy of an understanding of original sin. In The Walking Holy Eucharist — the resurrected, whereby the Dead humans are sinners at their core, whereas human is befriended by God and provided the in World War Z humans are inherently good, or means necessary to cultivate this life with others. at least a tabula rasa. Each reveals human nature “At baptism you were wetted with water,” says as interwoven with the fabric of a communal Augustine. “Then the Holy Spirit came into you habitus. like the fire that bakes the dough. Be then what The immediate biblical analogy of host capac- you see and receive what you are”(Sermon 57). We are ity is the story of the Gadarene swine in Luke’s becoming what we see — that upon which our Gospel, which become host to the demonic gaze is cast.
forces (8:27-33). The character Stepan Trofi- movitch is plagued by this story of the swine in The Rev. William O. Daniel, Jr., is chaplain and profes- Dostoevsky’s novel The Possessed. But as he nears sor of religion at St. James School, Hagerstown, Mary- death Stepan finally realizes the meaning of the land, where he lives with Amanda, his wife, and their Gospel passage. “That’s exactly like our Russia,” two children. he says. “Those devils that came out of the sick man and entered the swine. They are all the sores, all the foul contagions, all the impurities, all the devils great and small that have multi- plied in that great invalid, our beloved Russia …. They beg to enter the swine; and indeed maybe they have entered into them already! They are we.” We are the swine, the potential zombie hosts; indeed, we may already be zombies.

he zombie bite does not, however, require Tour succumbing to the venom. “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for the whole of your body to go into hell” (Matt. 5:30). Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) saves a soldier in World War Z by doing just that — cutting off her zombie-bitten hand so that the venom does not spread and send her into the abyss along with the other swine-zom- bies. Though maimed, she lives to see Brad Pitt save the world. The zombie world of feasting on human beings, transforming them into infectious vil- lains — into the image created by the beast of modern politics and economics — to the end of insatiable consumption, is only undone or

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 11 12 H IIGCUC UUT4 2013 4, AUGUST • CHURCH LIVING THE CULTURES hri Ritch Charlie faith. By rest I Now eyes. spiritual With refining see I trial.There of time my in As Spirit, sabbath Of work the is too, Here, light. burden His nest: or hole no found And walked he when as Now, King Sabbath is Lord must. Our It leisure? in live faith Does dirt? bedding my And stale, vinegar, bread is My wine my when speak she Will linen soft and meat With her silence I repose? now smooth If sabbath a permit hope Can hope. Is solitude babbling and guards, scowling With cells, prison in survives that claim. All its lay good to no comes do suffering will When place this of memory The Pool the by Meditation Appearances ni e ohrcle e home, her called mother her Until iteMr,wt e ru way proud her with Mary, Little perne a edeceiving. be can Appearances perne a edeceiving. be can Appearances n tjs ost hwyou, show to goes just it And u htstewyo things, of way the that’s But a h atw’ xetto expect we’d last the Was tge oso o that you show to goes It tyn ihhrcousin her with Staying ol ra e heart. her break Would rn htsr fnews of sort that Bring n e oeyeyes, homely her And h re ohd it, hide to tried She h a vns sly so even was She o nwn she knowing Not ohrmother. her To es Childs Betsy BOOKS

AUGUST 6: Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ Transfiguration and Transformation

Review by Jesse Zink in him a “mystically inte- grative vision of spirituality “Mankind must be led to the Chris- and science [that] is sorely tian faith not as a panacea of needed by a post-industrial progress,” wrote Michael Ramsey in society that yearns to re- The Glory of God, “nor as an other- cover contact with the liv- worldly solution unrelated to history, ing soul” (p. 36). but as a Gospel of Transfiguration. As the diversity of these Such a Gospel both transcends the sources indicates, it is the world and speaks to the immediate theme of Transfiguration, here-and-now.” rather than the biblical ac- This is the point of departure for counts directly, that is at The Transfiguration of Christ and the heart of the book. Creation. Seeking to understand the Gatta sees Transfigura- Transfiguration of the Lord, St. Mark's Church, Florence implications of such a “Gospel of tion’s importance as it Transfiguration,” John Gatta traces teaches us something new about Je- tle more than a technically incom- the ways in which the event has been sus and his glory, involves human be- petent adjunct of the Sierra Club” interpreted, depicted, and under- ings in the process of transfigura- (p. 73). By rooting its environmental stood through 2,000 years of Chris- tion, and encourages us to “consider theology in the Transfiguration, the tian history. He ranges widely, from a how a cosmic Christ also illuminates Church could move beyond a well- mosaic at St. Catherine’s Monastery the nonhuman, material order of be- meaning but limited focus on “stew- at Mount Sinai to music of Olivier ing” (p. xx), that is, all of creation. ardship” and respond to looming en- Messiaen, poems of T.S. Eliot and This last area is the richest vein vironmental catastrophe in “more Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to writers for Gatta. Noting that August 6 is integrally liturgical, contemplative, ranging from patristic theologians to both the traditional commemoration and doxological terms, befitting her more recent figures like J.R.R. of the Transfiguration as well as the authentic charism as the Church” (p. Tolkien, Annie Dillard, and Wendell date of its “heartrending parody” in 73). August 6, he argues persuasively, Berry. Gatta, dean of college and pro- the bombing of Hiroshima, he ar- should be seen as a Christian coun- fessor of English at the University of gues that the Transfiguration pro- terpart to Earth Day. the South, is erudite and assured in vides the surest footing for the The Transfiguration cannot be the his treatment of these sources. Fre- Church’s environmental activism. preserve of mystics alone, but rather quently returning to Teilhard, the Je- While he is concerned about envi- has profound consequences for life suit priest-scientist whose work was ronmental degradation, he fears the once we descend from the mountain. restricted by the church during his Church’s current activity on this is- Gatta considers Desmond Tutu’s anti- lifetime, he finds sue is in danger of reducing it to “lit- apartheid activism and self-described “spirituality of transformation.” It was Tutu’s conviction — formed in prayer and contemplation — that with God The Transfiguration no situation is “untransfigurable” that of Christ and Creation provided the grounding for his prophetic work. Our apprehension of By John Gatta . Wipf & Stock. Pp. 144. $19 the glory of God leads us into action in God’s world.

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AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 13 BOOKS

(Continued from previous page) the point: by pointing repeatedly to and particular courses of action. Gatta, it is clear, is transfixed by the ways in which Transfiguration Rather, it is a transforming process the Transfiguration. A concluding has been a theme of Christian art, that is at once mystical and profound chapter includes sample materials theology, and spirituality throughout in the way it brings us face to face for devotional reflections linked to the history of the Church, Gatta re- with the beauty, majesty, and glory of the theme. minds us of the transformation and God in Christ. But if Transfiguration is as all-en- conversion that is at the heart of compassing a concept as Gatta what it means to be a follower of The Rev. Jesse Zink, a priest in the claims, one is left wondering just Christ. The Christian faith cannot be Diocese of Western Massachusetts, is what is not included. Where do its reduced merely to mental assent or a doctoral student in African Chris- implications end? But that must be a prescription for individual rules tianity at Cambridge University.

AUGUST 13: Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore ‘Open Code’ Sexual Ethics

Review by Benjamin M. Guyer Taylor’s writings. Each excerpt is fol- tion illustrates how a church party lowed with a reference to the volume distorts the past by subsuming it to its This volume is the last work of the and page numbers of the excerpts, own identity. Partisans and activists late Rt. Rev. Kenneth Stevenson, which is especially useful for further rarely make good historians and this Bishop of Portsmouth in the Church research. The excerpts tend to be volume is no exception. of England and a justly celebrated rather short. Some might quibble with Stevenson dwells on human sexu- liturgical scholar. Yet A Following this, but as an introduction to Taylor, ality and he projects his own views Holy Life: Jeremy Taylor and His such a method is fine and perhaps back upon Taylor. In the preface, Writings is, despite some strengths, a even preferable. Stevenson writes that the 17th cen- misstep for the Canterbury Studies in Other elements of the book are tury was “an age of both bawdiness Spiritual Theology (CSST) series. equally solid. Stevenson offers readers and repression that could benefit from Compiled and edited while Stevenson a chronology of Taylor’s works, com- what [Taylor] wrote about sex as was losing his battle with leukemia, plete with volume and page refer- something to be enjoyed responsibly” the introductory essay to A Following ences to the Heber-Eden edition. (p. iv). The psychoanalytic language Holy Life misrepresents Taylor by Those already familiar with the 17th of sexual repression is not a little portraying him as a forerunner of century will find this helpful, and dated, and the undefined appeal to re- modern-day “liberal catholicism.” Be- those who desire to learn more will sponsible enjoyment is curiously cause Stevenson notes Taylor’s advo- find themselves equipped with a help- modern — and not reflective of 17th- cacy of “a thoughtful liberality, which ful guide for charting both the imme- century English society. didn’t avoid difficult questions” (p. iv), diate context and the broad develop- Other value-laden anachronisms I will maintain this same spirit of ment of Taylor’s thought. The select follow. Taylor is praised for writing searching critique in what follows. bibliography is equally helpful. It di- about marital intercourse “without Let us begin with the book’s several rects readers to a number of sources, any of the Augustinian baggage,” but strengths. The selections in this vol- both primary and secondary, which Stevenson does not explain what this ume offer a generous sampling from are relevant to understanding Taylor’s “baggage” is and where it might be Taylor’s sermons, devotional and litur- life and times. In sum, the selections found. Stevenson then speculates gical writings, and theological trea- are judicious, and the critical appara- that Taylor’s sexual ethics might have tises. Stevenson takes these from the tus is informative without being ob- “upset the more conventional minds Heber-Eden edition of Taylor’s Works, trusive. of his time” (p. 7) but again offers no the authoritative critical edition of Regrettably, Stevenson’s introduc- evidence to support his proposal. Fi-

14 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 AUGUST 15: Saint Mary the Virgin, A Following Holy Life Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ Jeremy Taylor and His Writings Edited by Kenneth Stevenson. Canterbury Press Norwich. Pp. iv + 220. $29.99, paper With Mary nally, Stevenson complains about Philips’s poetry was emphatically not “the traditional Western nervousness sexual. No less importantly, no one in about reproductive fluids and when it the 17th century accused Philips of on the is the right time and when it is not” homosexuality or adultery (she was (p. 22) — again, without further ex- married). planation. There is a lot of sex in this Nonetheless, he is confident that Ecumenical introduction, and yet Taylor’s writ- “Taylor was well aware of the homo- ings deal with sexuality very little. sexual underworld that existed in Trail As Stevenson continues, we are seventeenth-century England, and told that Taylor “can best be de- wanted to take a ‘pastoral’ approach scribed for his own times as ‘Laudian’ to it rather than the more usual cen- and ‘Latitudinarian,’ or what would sorious one of his time” (p. 26). Taylor By Peter Doll nowadays be described as ‘liberal thus “wrote in open code … about an- catholic’” (p. 16). In truth, historians other form of love” (p. 27). As a his- These volumes on the Blessed Virgin have long since discredited the term torian, I wonder: how does Steven- Mary are a testament to the sea change “Latitudinarian” as a viable descrip- son know that Taylor wrote in any in the understanding of Mary in the tor for 17th-century churchmanship. kind of code, let alone an “open” one? Church in the last generation. I use the Yet standard “liberal catholic” rheto- Here again, he does not tell us. capital C deliberately, for Our Lady is ric follows. Taylor is described as “un- Philips’s sexuality is a point of minor no longer a figure who automatically comfortable” and, rather predictably, debate within contemporary aca- divides Roman Catholics, Oriental and as “prophetic.” Stevenson concludes demic literature. By failing to note Orthodox Christians, and a minority that “those who have tried to com- this, Stevenson misses the historical of Anglicans from Christians of the bine the love of tradition and an open- context of Taylor’s own writings. The other churches of the Reformation. ness to new questions have not al- title of Taylor’s “Discourse” actually The collection of sermons and ways been easy to live with. But they indicates the influence of two works essays by the late Roger Greenacre, have frequently stood the test of time” by the Roman author Cicero: De Of- distinguished ecumenist, liturgist, and (p. 16). Curiously, Stevenson never ficiis (On Duties, but translated in canon of Chichester Cathedral, is a tells us how Taylor described himself the 17th century as On Offices) and testament to one of those who helped in his own context. De Amicitia (On Friendship). that transition happen, and it is The polemical upshot comes when In 2010 (TLC, April 18), I wrote a redolent of that profoundly com - Stevenson claims that Taylor’s “Dis- glowing review essay on the CSST se- mitted but consciously embattled course on the Nature and Offices of ries. I described these books as “the generation of Anglo-Catholics who Friendship” was actually a covert en- most exciting development in Angli- were determined to ensure that Mary dorsement of homosexuality. After can publishing today.” I still believe should have an honored place in the noting that this work was dedicated to this; attractively produced and mod- public liturgies and teaching of the Katherine Philips, one of the greatest erately priced, CSST offers interested Church of England. Of Perry and Anglo-Welsh poets of the 17th century, readers an excellent introduction to a Kendall’s book, it is enough for the Stevenson bluntly claims that Philips number of classic Anglican authors. moment to register that the co- was “known to be a lesbian” (p. 26). Kenneth Stevenson did some other, authors being an evangelical Anglican This is a considerable misstatement. much better academic work in his life- priest and a Jesuit priest and its being The entry on Philips in the Oxford time. May he rest in peace and rise in published by the distinguished Dictionary of National Biography glory. evangelical house of Eerdmans are notes that some contemporary schol- not a cause of surprise. ars have debated whether Philips Benjamin M. Guyer is a doctoral stu- Greenacre was fortunate enough to should be considered a lesbian poet. dent in British history at the Uni- be caught up in the ferment of the The entry then states, however, that versity of Kansas. (Continued on next page)

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 15 BOOKS

(Continued from previous page) of the Scriptures and the creeds. early days of Vatican II; he was one of Greenacre was understandably the Archbishop of Canterbury’s priest- disappointed that in recent years students at the University of Louvain, the progress made toward unity where he was taught by theologians between Roman Catholics and working in the preparatory com - Anglicans had stalled, and oc- missions for the Council. As Chaplain casionally a note of bitterness of St. George’s, Paris, he deepened his would creep into his sermons and acquaintance with the French church, addresses. Nevertheless, he re - of which he became the leading mained profoundly loyal to his English interpreter. His greatest work Anglican identity, and it was his was in encouraging Anglican-Roman great joy and reward not only Catholic ecumenical relations. that the new Church of England To help continental Roman liturgies in Common Worship Catholics understand Anglicans, he should provide full and rich was often called on to speak about resources for celebrating the the place of Mary in the Anglican place of Our Blessed Lady in the tradition. His contributions on this economy of salvation but also that The great central fact of The Blessed subject are outstanding for his respect the ARCIC report Mary: Grace and Virgin Mary is the evangelical re - for the breadth of theological Hope in Christ provides a strong discovery of the Fathers, the joyful traditions in the Church of England, basis for ensuring that Mary might no excitement of returning ad fontes, for his careful and insightful biblical longer divide but unite the churches. building on the foundation of that exegesis, and for his honesty. He great evangelical Ancient Christian never tried to paint a rosier picture erry and Kendall’s book could Commentary on Scripture. Writing than reality justified for the sake of Pnot have been written without all first of all for an evangelical audience, winning friends. His exploration of the critical groundwork that Green - they defend their chief focus on the the work of Mark Frank, the little- acre and his colleagues did in the last patristic testimony on Mary: ‘The known Caroline divine, reflects the 50 years, and yet this book seems to Fathers are the heritage of the balance, seriousness, and integrity live in a different world, to breathe a undivided Church. They teach all that underlay Greenacre’s own different air. In Greenacre’s work we Christians, in both method and con - theological sensibilities: his sorrow are conscious of the Reformation tent, how to wrestle with the primary that Mary had been allowed to battles, of the centuries of painful data of the Church’s teaching, Holy become the focus of controversy and suspicion and mistrust, of hard-won Scripture.” Kendall and Perry cogently division; his sensitivity to the differing mutual understanding, as well as of reveal how the biblical writings about convictions of fellow Christians; his the joy of discoveries and friendships Mary form a coherent basis for the belief that all churches are called to made. For Perry and Kendall, the doctrinal emphases about her that conversion for the sake of confessing doors have already opened and the emerge subsequently and rightly insist with one voice the faith discussion started. that the Fathers brought Western Mariology to its mature form. What - ever medieval and modern develop - ments take place, the fun - damental shape of Marian Maiden, Mother and Queen theology remains unaltered. Mary in the Anglican Tradition The authors provide a solid, By Roger Greenacre . Edited by Colin Podmore. in formed, and sympathetic intro - Canterbury Press Norwich. Pp. 224. $40 duction to Mariology, surveying theologians and dogmatic teach - ing from the early Church right The Blessed Virgin Mary up to the present day, including By Tim Perry and Daniel Kendall, SJ. Eerdmans. Pp. 124. $18 the dogmatic definitions of the

16 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 St. Teresa to Joan Chittister A major purpose of this anthology is ber of them as feminists or proto- stated as a desire to record “the long- feminists. Some especially striking Immaculate Conception and the ing of religious women of the past passages include St. Bernadette’s ac- Assumption. The section on the early for self-expression and celebration, count of her visions at Lourdes, let- reformers is surpris ingly thin given, and for social, political and sexual ters from Galileo’s daughter to her as Greenacre pointed out, some emancipation appropriate to their in- father, and an account from Mère “impressive and astonishing” pas - dividual and communal spiritual pur- Marie de l’Incarnation of the hard- sages are to be found in the works of pose.” That might seem a rather odd ships of the early French settlements Luther, Zwingli, Bullinger, and Calvin. motive for a religious vocation, but it in Québec. Sister Sandra Schneiders Karl Barth and Robert Jenson broke does suggest quite a diversity of top- writes at some length on “Why We the Protestant silence on Mary, ics and approaches. Indeed, that is Stayed,” speaking for Roman insisting that, as Perry puts it, “our what the collection offers. The Catholic religious who did not share own theological traditions have women here, most vowed “religious” in the great exodus of the 1960s and failed to speak where Scripture in the technical sense, range from 1970s. does.” They write: “To recover a the sixth century, through the Middle With such a range of writers and theologically and spiritually rich Ages, down to several who are still topics, the collection seems to lack doctrine of the person of Christ is, living. Brief biographical notes are any unifying ideas or themes. The inevitably, to recover Mary. Just as in included, which help to set the writ- other side of this, of course, is that the Gospel of Matthew, the Mother ers in their various worlds. there’s something for almost anyone. and her Child come together. Or they The selections are grouped under I would have found it more interest- do not come.” six rather broad headings, from “Vi- ing and useful if the biographies Perry and Kendall acknowledge sionaries, Mystics, and Contempla- were printed with the selections, to that they will not heal the Reform - tives” to “Community, Politics, and provide context, rather than as an ation divide in one easy step. Even if Solidarity.” Some familiar names are appendix. Also, longer selections by some evangelicals have rediscovered here, from St. Teresa, St. Clare, and somewhat fewer writers might have Mary and the Fathers, by no means Dame Julian to Mother Teresa and provided more depth to the collec- all have. Nevertheless there is an Sister Joan Chittister, along with tion. impressive confidence to this book, many lesser-known women. Not sur- Sister Mary Jean, CSM as there is to the Ancient Christian prisingly, the editor identifies a num- Greenwich, New York Commentary series, for evangelicals are discovering a new way to be inspired by Scripture, to recover a crucial dimension of the biblical imagination. Theirs is a confidence Consecrated Spirits that is sorely needed in our ecu - menical winter, and their spirit is A Thousand Years of Spiritual eerily reminiscent of some earlier Writing by Women Religious Anglican evangelicals — Wilberforce, Compiled by Felicity Leng. Newman, Manning, and others — Canterbury Press Norwich. Pp. xvii + 269. $18.95 who also responded enthusiastically to their rediscovery of the Catholic tradition and made an indelible impact on Anglican churches. At a time when we have a new Bishop of Rome, when the Roman the importance of working together the riches of the catholic tradition as Catholic Church is reeling from for common goals. The hard-won their forebears in the Oxford Move - continuing disclosures about child achievements of Greenacre and ment did, that can only help to bring abuse, and all churches are strug- others in ecumenical dialogue have the great day of the Lord closer to gling to come to terms with chal- not been wasted, even if organic hand. lenges posed by same-sex marriage unity still seems far off. They laid a legislation, churches are rediscov - foundation, ready to be built upon. The Rev. Canon Peter Doll is canon ering their mutual dependence and Now that evangelicals are recovering librarian of Norwich Cathedral.

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 17 — CATHOLIC VOICES —

Introduction to a series on The Bible in the Life of the Church By Robert MacSwain

In the Autumn of 2009 the Very Rev. William Stafford asked me to participate in the Anglican Communion’s Bible in the Life of the Church project. His re- quest followed an inquiry from the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, on whether our seminary would act as the base for the North American region of the project. If so, Sewanee would then nominate a faculty member who could serve as a member of the pro- ject’s steering committee and coordinate the regional group’s investigations.

Canon Kearon sent similar invitations to theological institutions or indi- viduals in Australia, East Africa, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Cuba, South Sudan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong were eventually in- cluded as well. The steering committee met three times — twice in England and once in South Africa — and the members of the North American Re- gional Group met twice in Sewanee to share the findings from their loca- tions. After three years of study (2009-12), the final report — Deep Engagement, Fresh Discovery — was presented to Anglican Consultative Council 15 in New Zealand (the names of the steering committee and members of the regional groups appear on pages 66-68).

18 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 My understanding was always that the primary goal CATHOLIC VOICES of the project was descriptive rather than normative. First in a series on While the final report does conclude with some sug- The Bible in the Life gestions on how Anglicans should approach the in- terpretation of Scripture, its main interest is in how of the Church Anglicans do in fact approach that interpretation. We wanted to find out what Anglicans around the world had in common regarding this enterprise, and how they differed. We were also interested in discovering the latent or implicit assumptions that we brought to A Welcome the study of the sacred text in our respective regions. To this end, we engaged in two case studies during this three-year period. One focused on the Anglican Communion’s fifth Mark of Mission (“To strive to safe- Breakthrough guard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth”), while the other focused on the By Bolly Lapok fourth Mark of Mission (“To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every he Bible in the Life of the Church has come at a kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation”). The Tsignificant period in the history of the Anglican case studies considered passages drawn from the Old Communion. The Church faces deep and divisive is- Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament, with ac- sues, which can create tension within, if not split, companying questions. Members of each regional provinces, dioceses, and even church communities. group were asked to coordinate these Bible studies in At the same time, secularisation, particularly in the their respective locations (parishes, chaplaincies, Western Hemisphere, threatens the authority and seminaries, etc.) and to record not so much the sub- standing of the Church. Both of these hinder our stantive issues discussed (ecological or gender jus- sense of unity and commonality within the Commun- tice, for example) but rather the extent to which look- ion, and undermine our confidence at the point of ing at these specific issues within the chosen biblical mission. texts revealed hermeneutical commitments. At the heart of our differences and difficulties lies After assembling and discussing all of these studies the problem we face in interpreting the Bible, which from around the world, the steering committee at- should be our common starting point in discipleship tempted to find both common threads and distinctive (Article VI: “The Bible contains all things necessary to emphases. Deep Engagement, Fresh Discovery con- salvation”). For, as the Archbishop of Canterbury re- sists of our assessment of the project’s results, as well minds us in his foreword to the report, Bible study is as links to a wealth of documentary evidence, includ- not just about pursuing scholarship and seeking moral ing official Anglican Communion statements on the guidance. It also needs to be undertaken to answer authority and interpretation of Scripture. We also of- our need to be “judged and restored.” Because the ma- fer ten themes that we believe are characteristic of jority of our people only meet the Bible through the contemporary Anglican interpretation of the Bible (p. lectionary readings at Sunday worship, the ACC’s 41), and seven principles that gesture toward more stimulating exploration of Bible study amongst An- normative proposals to guide this essential enterprise glicans and its potential value provides challenging (p. 42). material for the future. It remains to be seen how this project and report The project had five aims. The group set out to ex- will be received by the Communion. I thus welcome plore how Anglicans actually use the Bible, by setting this public engagement by THE LIVING CHURCH and up a network of regional, facilitated groups to study hope that others will follow its example, both in North two major issues (Statements 4 and 5 of the Anglican America and around the world. Communion’s Five Marks of Mission), using a selec- tion of set texts. The reports from these groups The Rev. Robert MacSwain is assistant professor of would, they hoped, provide empirical evidence of the theology and Christian ethics at the University of the way in which regions engage with and interpret the South’s School of Theology.

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 19 CATHOLIC VOICES First in a series on The Bible in the Life of the Church

(Continued from previous page) nificance of the different experiences brought to the Bible, and allow the distillation of some working prin- group by participants. The diversity of approach was ciples for Anglican hermeneutics. The report includes clearly the result of bringing together those from dif- resource materials for Bible study for all levels of ferent traditions. It is, then, clear that the success of Christian education, a review of the Bible in the his- the group and the value of the discussion relies on tory of the Church, and research into how Anglicans openness in the group, a willingness to share re- understand the Bible. Adding a guide to significant lit- sources and value the views of others, and, above all, erature on this topic, the report’s aim is to stimulate good facilitation. Equally, however, the report warns further and deeper engagement with the Bible in the us that we must have the right expectations about wider Church. The project’s findings, arising from this the outcome of such work. The value, as the group ambitious, worldwide programme, do not surprise, from Aoteora, New Zealand, and Polynesia puts it, is but are significant for those eager to further the unity not so much in changing the views of participants as of the Church and strengthen its capacity for mission in increasing respect for one another. Our unity, this across the world. group concluded, is only as good as “our ability to en- The breadth of the project is impressive. The world- gage with our differences.” wide regional groups were charged to bring together The report places great emphasis on understanding a diverse group for biblical study, not the like-minded, the context of passages of Scripture and the personal and their reports make interesting reading. Whilst and corporate contexts of the participants. In some found a ready echo in the Malaysian experi- Malaysian society the recognition of the context in ence, the forum’s synthesis provides a challenging which we explore the Bible together is vital. There is and helpful platform for common fu- ture action. One would expect clear evidence of biblical engagement of churches across the Communion, but it is the challenging evidence for the value of deeper exploration that is valuable. Regional groups ac- The Bible has always been knowledged the value of exploring issues not usually put under the bib- lical microscope, experiencing sec- at the centre of church life, tions of Scripture not encountered before, and seeing familiar texts as- even if at times its interpretation sociated with the unfamiliar and the enormous stimulus of participating in communal study in a diverse has been divisive. group of participants. Such conclu- sions clearly endorse the project’s methodology but they should also challenge dioceses, a world of difference between those who come to the encouraging them to be confident in suggesting the text in what the African Group calls “the primal con- centrality of Bible study in community life and guiding text” and those who gather in the United Kingdom or them in providing a suitable and creative structure for North America. Further, the Malaysian context, in it. The resources provided by the report will be a use- which our church seeks to further the kingdom and at ful guide for those who take up this challenge. There the same time coexist with the strong presence of are, however, a number of significant findings that other faiths while being dominated by aggressive Is- need to be heeded. lamisation, is different from that of a Western church working in an increasingly secular society in which the pursuit of equality and the importance of personal he regional reports point to a remarkable diver- rights prevails. The church that seeks to promote Tsity in the way churches engage with and inter- unity and commonality between provinces may be pret the Bible, underline the very different contexts helped by structured Bible study not just in regional from which the Bible is approached, and show the sig- groups but even with more widely drawn participants.

20 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 Perhaps this is a challenge for the next stage of the Lambeth 1988 overseas partnerships, which have al- ready made such a strong contribution to our appre- ciation of a worldwide church united in mission.

hese conclusions are important for those leaders Twho, realising the value of communal Bible study, aim to strengthen the unity and witness of the Church and give disciples confidence to speak out in wider society. There may never be a single Anglican, let alone Christian, position and voice, but an increased sensitivity to informed personal and local views must surely strengthen the work of the kingdom. However, even this aim may be difficult to achieve because, as the report highlights, a number of gaps make our study together more difficult. Two gaps that speak particularly to the Malaysian situation are the gap between the academy and the pew and that between the use of particular passages or verses and the wider witness of the Bible. The shared experience of meeting the text is all-important. Although “academic” input can hinder this engage- ment, a sensitive academic input is necessary if the Word of God is to be released from the text. Achiev- ing this balanced sensitivity will be difficult enough in areas with a developed “Western” theology, but equally difficult for younger churches, where an im- posed and much-valued, but not enculturated, theol- ogy is dominant. Similarly, for reasons of church- manship or from limited study of the Bible, it may be difficult to be open to new understandings, which can arise in structured study such as that envisaged by the report. The provision of good facilitators for groups is vital, the report suggests, in recognising these gaps and minimising their hindrance. We should be grateful that the ACC has sharpened our focus on a very significant issue facing the Church. The Bible has always been at the centre of church life, even if at times its interpretation has been divisive. It is surely to be hoped that the leaders of the Anglican Communion may feel not only challenged by the report but also encouraged to incorporate study of the Bible into their strategy for mission, and that in devising a strategic Bible study programme they will be guided by this perceptive analysis of the pitfalls and of the best practice which this long overdue re- port provides.

The Most Rev. Datuk Bolly Lapok is Archbishop of the Anglican Church of the Province of South East Asia and Bishop of Kuching.

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 21 CATHOLIC VOICES Answered Prayers in a Soaking Rain

By Douglas Taylor-Weiss

live in Auburn, New York, and on June 6 a I local education foundation planned an event to honor four new inductees to its Alumni Hall of Distinction. One of the in- ductees was Amy Dacey (Auburn High School, 1989), executive director of EMILY’s List, one of the country’s most powerful Political Action Committees.

EMILY’s List is devoted to electing “pro- choice” candidates only. And I knew that, in to- day’s politics, that means opposing any laws re- stricting abortion (including those that forbid killing a child who is already half-emerged from her mother). And it means taxpayer grants to Planned Parenthood, a nationwide outfit making millions upon millions of dol- lars killing unborn babies.

22 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 So I decided to protest by standing outside the re- wouldn’t take no for an answer. After going into the ception with a sign. Actually, I agonized for a month function, he came back out, walked again to his car, about whether to stand outside with a sign. Protest- and provided me with an umbrella that he told me to ing is not for me. The last time I could remember do- keep. It turned out I could hold it without difficulty. ing it was for that giant anti-nuclear war protest in As soon as I opened it, a soaking rain began. It felt Manhattan in 1982. I am very unstable in confronta- like a sign from heaven: God was answering my tions; I tend to lose my head and bumble, or I feel my prayer. heart racing and shut down. I decided this would re- Two engaged me in longer conversations. One man quire prayer. wanted to talk about the demographic collapse in I prayed for guidance: was God really calling me to the West and of all the “Marines, scientists, doctors” this? I prayed for calm, to keep that heart rate down. who were never born and are not around to con- I prayed about what to put on the sign. A first phrase tribute to society. I myself wondered how EMILY’s came to me in a flash while I exercised, but the second part took longer. Harsher ver- sions of the message using the words shame and blame popped up. Finally I set- tled on ABORTION IS KILLING US THANKS TO A common fallback in the debates EMILY’S LIST. At the last minute I added an- other line: DEFEND THE INNOCENTS. is that prayer, while not altering But something still wasn’t right. In the fi- nal days. I realized that I needed to pray for Amy Dacey, for pregnant mothers wonder- God’s plans, does change us. ing how to survive, and for the unborn themselves. Those endless and circular de- bates about whether prayers change things at some point need to simply give way to prayer itself. List, which purports to be concerned with electing If you love God, you pray. If you merely believe in more women to office, could simultaneously en- God and love others, you pray, even if you can’t de- courage the sacrifice of so many unborn girls, any scribe how prayer operates. number of whom might someday serve in Congress. A common fallback in the debates is that prayer, A woman asked me whether I was “with a church.” while not altering God’s plans, does change us. This I told her that I belonged to a church. She further treats prayer as a kind of self-talk therapy. Well, yes, asked its name and location. I gather she wanted to I was unexpectedly calm standing there with my sign. know that I was a local resident and not some outside My heart didn’t race and I was able to smile and greet agitator. She was polite. others as they greeted me, but what impressed me I was moved by one woman’s passing comments: “I even more was the civility and kindness of the agree with you but I love Amy Dacey.” I couldn’t have Auburn crowd. asked for a better moment. Love was exactly what I It is not always easy to pass by a protester, who wanted to promote: love for babies, love for our com- might shout, confront, or worse. Those in strong dis- munity, love for one another even when we cannot agreement with my message might themselves expe- see the truth together. rience the increased heart rate, or sheer outrage. But We pray even when we wonder what it does. We everyone who passed by was civil. Some looked anguish over confronting our neighbors with un- ahead and minded their own business; many quietly pleasant truths. We try to figure out what love means, smiled or nodded their heads. Others greeted me concretely. And life has surprises, like my pleasant heartily, and a few shared their sympathy with my discovery that Auburn is a swell place to wage a cause. protest.
It was raining that night and two men offered me umbrellas, which I declined. I wasn’t sure how I’d The Rev. Douglas Taylor-Weiss is rector of the hold one with my rather heavy sign. But one fellow Church of SS. Peter & John, Auburn, New York.

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 23 Consult Kevin Sharpe Dionysius Mainstreamed W. Brown Patterson believes that Benjamin After reading G. Willcox Brown’s “Jesus Guyer’s Beauty of Holiness “exaggerates the Breaks the Dionysian Cycle” [TLC, June 9], I degree to which the reign of Charles I from thought, He writes what I was hoping to say. 1629 to 1640 was a time of peace and har- Fr. Brown’s social and scholarly analysis illu- mony” [TLC, April 14]. Study of Kevin Sharpe’s minates and fleshes out thoughts that have magisterial Personal Rule of Charles I (1992) been gestating in my mind since I journeyed to will bear up Mr. Guyer’s point. Burning Man in 2010, and again when I By way of disclosure: with the December reflected recently on Christian mission in the 2013 issue of SKCM News Mr. Guyer will context of Dionysian social realities [TLC, assume its editorship, which I have held since March 31]. 1988. I can no longer regard wild art happenings Mark A. Wuonola and other “social fringe” activities as particu- Society of King Charles the Martyr larly marginal: the spiritual leitmotif of such Waltham, Massachusetts gatherings can be felt at mainstream sporting LETTERS events as well as in contemporary currents of thought, including libertine approach to human Sorting Mother Dioceses sexuality. The beauty of Fr. Brown’s insight, however, Bishop Epting writes [TLC, June 9] that the does not lie primarily in opposing Christianity to Diocese of Quincy was “formed out of the hedonism, but in the way and perspective from ‘mother diocese’ of Chicago.” It was actually which he does so: he does not sermonize on formed out of the Diocese of Illinois, which debauchery, but reckons with human society as split three ways in 1877 to form the dioceses of inevitably cultic despite contemporary delusions Illinois (renamed Chicago in 1884), Quincy, of transcending humanity’s religious past. and Springfield. The only other such split was Having spent much of the last decade reading when the Diocese of South Florida divided in the newspaper in the midst of thoroughly “de”- 1969 to form the dioceses of Central, South- and “un”-churched workmates, I strongly recom- east, and Southwest Florida. The Diocese of mend Fr. Brown’s choice of subject matter for Tennessee decided to split three ways, but did Christian reflection and apologetic: the possibil- so in two stages. ity that there is something sacrificial going on in The Rev. Lawrence N. Crumb recent acts of mass murder can startle us — Eugene, Oregon both within and without the Church — into a new appreciation of Gospel Truths. Jon Carlson Another Meyer Admirer Minneapolis I was delightfully amazed to read the editor’s column on Joyce Meyer [TLC, June 9], whom my wife introduced to me several years ago. I Is Windsor Alive? have grown to appreciate her more and more Mark McCall’s response [TLC, July 4] to my with each passing year. Heretofore I had erro- “Why Provinces Matter” is welcome and makes neously imagined that my wife and I might be several perceptive points, but he overstates the her only Anglican aficionados. significance of the report of the Windsor Con- Perhaps TLC could organize a forum tinuation Group. The 2009 meeting of the wherein orthodox members of the historic Anglican Consultative Council did “affirm” the churches and interested Pentecostals such as report’s recommendations, but directed the Mrs. Meyer could come together to learn from Archbishop of Canterbury, the Secretary Gen- each other and build up the body of Christ. eral, and the Standing Committee to imple- The Rev. Kenneth D. Aldrich ment the report’s recommendations “as Huntington, Pennsylvania appropriate” (ACC Res. 14.09).

24 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 That these entities have done little in regard to this report should be an indica- tion that The Windsor Report has not been received to the degree that McCall asserts. “Provisionality” may be a useful Worship and Service concept for thinking about the position South Carolina now finds itself in, but to The Church of St. Michael & St. George assert that it is a tool that is “on the shelf” is well known for the beauty of our tradi- overstates the case. tional Anglican liturgy. Opportunities to McCall repeats the claim that the diocese in South Car- worship include Morning and Evening olina is reverting to its status prior to its accession to the Prayer Monday through Saturday and the constitution of the Episcopal Church. Yet this takes no Holy Eucharist every day but Saturday. account of the fact, noted in my original article, that On Sundays, we have three morning South Carolina did not have a bishop until 1795, after its liturgies and one evening liturgy. Hearing accession to the church’s constitution and ten years after the choir each week, both during Even- its creation. The diocese only received a bishop through song liturgies and during special days and the wider church. seasons, is both a joy and an inspiration. If South Carolina wants to revert to this pre-accession In addition, we hope to involve every state, history seems to indicate that it must do so without member of the parish in one or more of a bishop — which would leave it in a dubiously Anglican our many ministries, both within and position, provisional or not. outside the parish. We are engaged in The Rev. Jesse Zink everything from the annual World Serv- Emmanuel College ice Ministry trip to Nicaragua, to making Cambridge sandwiches for the homeless, knitting a blanket for a housebound parishioner, Mark McCall responds: and any of a dozen other ways to live Overstated? It is hardly persuasive to speculate that one Christ’s life in the world. instrument’s including the phrase “as appropriate” in its Our goal is to come to resemble Jesus resolution approving the entire continuation group report more and more. One way we do this is implies some unspoken reservation about the concept through the practice of holy habits and described in my essay — especially when the primates saintly skills. Living into our baptismal had already quoted the specific recommendation on this identity is a lifelong process, so we offer subject in full, given it their unanimous support, and a wide variety of opportunities for edu- asked the archbishop to implement it expeditiously. cation and formation including Bible But what if Mr. Zink is correct and the Communion study, special classes, programs, and leadership subsequently concluded this concept is not more for parishioners of all ages.We’re appropriate? If a concept for dealing with bodies always learning, always growing in the estranged from the Episcopal Church approved by all the ways of Christ. Communion’s instruments only four years ago is so soon subverted this has much more to say about the credibil- The Church of St. Michael & St. George ity of the Communion and its instruments than it does 6345 Wydown Blvd. about the situation in South Carolina. St. Louis, Mo. 63105 • 314.721.1502 It is true South Carolina did not have a bishop prior to www.csmsg.org joining with others to found the Episcopal Church in 1789. It did not want one: it even objected to the draft A LIVING CHURCH Sponsor general constitution if it required “the establishment of a bishop in South Carolina.” But in 1789 three of the other founding state churches already had bishops who had been consecrated by other Anglican churches. South Car- olina could have had one as well if it had wanted. This is actually a good model for the current provisional season.

AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 25 SUNDAY’S READINGS | 11 Pentecost, August 4 THE First reading and psalm: Hos. 11:1-11 • Ps. 107:1-9, 43 LIVING CHURCH Alternate: Eccl. 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 • Ps. 49:1-11 • Col. 3:1-11 • Luke 12:13-21 VOLUME 247 • NUMBER 3

EDITORIAL Christ Is All in All Executive Director and Editor Christopher Wells [email protected] • Ext. 1240 n search of worldly wisdom, one know love too. It is the one font I Managing Editor John Schuessler finds this, and not far from home: find always full and always fresh. [email protected] • Ext. 1241 I Associate Editor Douglas LeBlanc “It is an unhappy business that God Drinking all coolness and listen- [email protected] • Ext. 1242 has given to human beings to be ing, I hear, “Yet it was I who taught Graphic Artist Amy Grau [email protected] • Ext. 1245 busy with” (Eccl. 1:13). “So I turned Ephraim to walk, I took them up in and gave my heart up to despair” my arms; but they did not know that BUSINESS AND FULFILLMENT Office/Business Manager Ruth Schimmel (2:20). As I waited for coffee only I healed them. I led them with cords [email protected] • Ext. 1244 thirty minutes before writing these of human kindness, with bands of ADVERTISING words, a beautiful young woman love. I was to them like those who Advertising Manager Tom Parker greeted me. As she was served at the lift infants to their cheeks. I bent [email protected] • Ext. 1243 counter before me, I couldn’t help down to them and fed them” (Hos. Advertising Associate Amber Muma [email protected] • Ext. 1247 but notice her hands, which fit her 11:3-4). I hear these haunting words pained gait. of love and I have reason to reject ARCHIVES “Hello, Father,” she said, and then them, but God being my helper, I Richard J. Mammana, Jr. • [email protected] told me her name and suddenly I re- don’t. There is, I believe, a compas- BOARD OF DIRECTORS membered her and her long struggle sion that grows warm and tender President: The Rev. Thomas A. Fraser, Riverside, Ill. since childhood with rheumatoid (Hos. 11:8b). Vice President: Miriam K. Stauff, Wauwatosa, Wis. arthritis. Telling me about her family, So what are we to do with a de- Secretary: Daniel Muth, St. Leonard, Md. she mentioned bladder cancer and a spair that speaks of death? Let it be Treasurer: G. Thomas Graves III, Dallas, Texas chemo port, a wheelchair and home what it is — death — but only if we The Rt. Rev. D. Bruce MacPherson, Edmond, Okla. Richard J. Mammana, Jr., New Haven, Conn. modifications, and how people carry have first anchored our lives in The Rt. Rev. Daniel H. Martins, Springfield, Ill. on, and how God is good. How good deathless life. “Put to death, there- The Rev. Canon Mark Stevenson, Baton Rouge, La. is God in allowing all this anguish? I fore, whatever in you is earthly” Howard M. Tischler, Albuquerque, N.M. thought our coffeehouse theology (Col. 3:5); “you have stripped off the pleasant but predictably weak until old self with its practices and have EDITORIAL AND BUSINESS OFFICES she told me that there isn’t just God. clothed yourselves with the new Mailing address: As if telling a secret with flashing self” (9-10). This begins, continues, P.O. Box 514036 eyes, she told me what I am sup- Milwaukee, WI 53203-3436 and ends in God until “Christ is all in posed to know: “There is another all” (3:11). Shipping Address: power.” For that reason, being in the 816 E. Juneau Avenue Christ is the key, the center, the Milwaukee, WI 53202-2793 grip of the enemy, all is chasing after end of all human history (Gaudium

Phone: 414-276-5420 the wind. To be human is to be frail. et Spes). He is too the ground of all Fax: 414-276-7483 The riddles of Ecclesiastes and the beauty, the means by which, in E-mail: [email protected] raving of Job have made it all the grace, we bear what we must, suf- www.livingchurch.org way to holy writ. So there is no sim- fering in and with him even as we THE LIVING CHURCH is published biweekly, dated Sunday, ple answer. There is, however, the rise with him. by the Living Church Foundation, Inc., at 816 E. Juneau Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53202. Periodicals postage paid at mystery of love. I noticed a woman’s Milwaukee, WI, and at additional mailing offices. contorted hands, and then she Look It Up SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $45 for one year; $79 for two greeted me and told her tale of per- years. Canadian postage an additional $10 per year; Read Ps. 107. Ponder these things, Mexico and all other foreign, an additional $63 per year. sonal and family suffering. Listening, especially distress (vs. 6) and bro- POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE LIVING CHURCH, I took something, and not by stealth, ken bars (vs. 16). P.O. Box 514036, Milwaukee, WI 53203-3436. Subscribers, but freely as it was given, and this when submitting address changes, should please allow 3-4 weeks for change to take effect. too when I visit my daughter, or sit Think About It THE LIVING CHURCH (ISSN 0024-5240) is published by with my wife, or, as happened yes- Jesus loved his disciples to the end. THE LIVING CHURCH FOUNDATION, INC., a non-profit terday, I anointed a seven-year-old organization serving the Church. All gifts to the Foundation One has to mine both hard truth and are tax-deductible. with the oil of the catechumens in truthful metaphors to say this: suf- MANUSCRIPTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS: THE LIVING CHURCH preparation for her baptism. I took fered, died, buried, broke the gates, cannot assume responsibility for the return of photos or love. It was free and fell into my manuscripts. appeared, spoke, cooked, commis- hands. © 2013 The Living Church Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. sioned, filled the heavens. Beauty. No reproduction in whole or part can be made without per- I know anguish. I know this cup. I mission of THE LIVING CHURCH. despise every despairing drop of it, and yet beyond all comprehending, I

26 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 SUNDAY’S READINGS | 12 Pentecost, August 11 First reading and psalm: Isa. 1:1, 10-20 • Ps. 50:1-8, 23-24 Alternate: Gen. 15:1-6 • Ps. 33:12-22 • Heb. 11:1-3, 8-16 • Luke 12:32-40 Perfect Sacrifice he madness of Sodom and Go- time, Abraham would see the prom- Tmorrah is first named in Genesis ises of God, but always as if appear- as sexual abuse and inhospitality, al- ing in the distance, always waiting, Guarding the Faith, though in subsequent texts these an- always in faith. Thus waiting, he went cient cities near the Dead Sea be- about the business of living in the Paving the Way come a general symbol for evil and company of the people he was called The Diocese of Dallas, established the threat of impending judgment. to lead and love. The daily round and in 1895 under the inspirited lead- The prophet names these cities “you the common task greeted even the ership of missionary Bishop rulers of Sodom” and “you people of God-possessed patriarchs. Ever look- Gomorrah!”’ to identify an evil at the ing for a homeland, wandering Abra- Alexander Garrett, remains com- center of religious practice (Isa. ham became the father of a nation mitted to the spread of the Gospel 1:10). The prophet’s raging icono- called to “seek justice, rescue the op- of Christ and the defense of the clasm is not, however, a wholesale pressed, defend the orphan, plead for faith that was once for all deliv- rejection of solemn assemblies, pro- the widow.” Here is a religion irrevo- ered to the saints. As we proclaim cessions, prostrations, and sacrifice. cably tied to human good. the Gospel and offer ourselves, our The matter is simply this: they are What is owed to God and what is souls, and bodies in worship and mixed with iniquity (Isa. 1:13). owed to humanity finds its perfect Thus the whole business of reli- fulfillment in the God-man, Jesus service, we are impelled to care for gion becomes vile and putrid, an of- Christ our Lord. He is a sacrifice, those around us. And in doing so, fense to God for its wanton disre- oblation, and satisfaction for every we are drawn closer to each other. gard for human good. God groans: “I human sin, flaw, and injury. He is the United in Christ we lift him up, have had enough of burnt offering of pure Lamb that protects the door- proclaim God’s Word, make disci- rams and the fat of fed beasts” (Isa. post, the delivering presence that ples, care for our neighbors, and 1:11). “Your new moons and your ap- guards against the angel of death. He give ourselves to one another in pointed festivals my soul hates” is in his person a summation of all (1:14). “Your hands are full of blood. the blood poured out upon all the al- prayer. Wash yourselves; make yourselves tars on all the high and holy places. The Episcopal Diocese of Dallas clean; … learn to do good; seek jus- He is the beginning and the end of 1630 N. Garrett Ave., Dallas, TX 75206 tice, rescue the oppressed, defend this outpouring. And never is there a 214.826.8310 • www.edod.org the orphan, plead for the widow” moment when his self-offering is (Isa. 1:15b-17). There is yet time. severed from his humanity. Coming to the altar with hatred to- Looking to God, he need not look ward your neighbor? Go home. Will away from his brothers and sisters. what God wills first, and then dare to Indeed, in his person he carries a “hu- eat the bread of angels and sip the man nature,” which, however ab- wine of all newness. stract the phrase may seem, is an at- To get our religion right, it is a tempt to gather up the tactile truth good practice to return often to orig- not of a few but of every human be- inal promises. Abram, our ancient fa- ing. He is the one who calls out to ther, waited for a son, although his and fulfills our true humanity. He body and that of his beloved wife says, “Open the door to me as soon as were, to use the too-honest words of I come” (Luke 12:36). He comes “to the Epistle to the Hebrews, “as good give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). as dead” (11:12). Thus the promise was, from a human point of view, im- possible. Against the evidence of this Look It Up impossibility, God stretches out the Read Ps. 50:7. Take heart when God firmament splattered with nighttime bears witness against you. stars and calls Abram to look up. So shall his descendants be. In the sheer Think About It force of this promise, he went seek- Your better self isn’t yourself. It is ing a homeland, awaiting a child. In Christ in you. A LIVING CHURCH Sponsor AUGUST 4, 2013 • THE LIVING CHURCH 27 PEOPLE & PLACES

Appointments ate of Fort Valley State University, Savage, MN. He was 78. Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, Born in New York City, he was a gradu- The Rev. Charles Hawkins preist-in- St. Augustine’s College, Canterbury, and ate of Trinity College and General Theo- charge of St. John’s, 705 Rayburn Ave., Temple University. He was ordained dea- logical Seminary. He was ordained deacon Ocean Springs, MS 39564. con and priest in 1951. and priest in 1959. The Rev. Charles LaFond is canon stew- Fr. Bird was an assistant professor of He served as vicar at four Idaho ard of St .John’s Cathedral, 1350 Washing- sociology at LaSalle University, Philadel- churches in 1959-69: Trinity Church, Good- ton St., Denver, CO 80203. phia, for 20 years. In his retirement he was ing; Trinity Church, Buhl; Christ Church, The Rev. Erik W. Larsen is rector of St. an associate at St. Paul’s Church, Atlanta, Shoshone; and Calvary Church, Jerome. Fr. Columba’s, The Berkeley Memorial and an adjunct professor in sociology at Tulk was dean of the Diocese of Idaho’s Chapel, 55 Vaucluse Ave., Middletown, RI Morehouse College. Central Rural Deanery, 1966-68, and chair- 02842. He served as curate of the African Epis- man of the diocesan liturgical commission, The Rev. Jay MacLeod is rector of St. copal Church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia, 1969-73. He was rector of Trinity Church, Andrew’s, 52 Gould Rd., New London, NH 1951-53; vicar, Holy Trinity Church, Balti- Pocatello, 1970-80; rector, St. Andrew’s 03257. more, 1953-64; vicar, St. Andrew’s Church, Church, Ft. Scott, KS, 1981-84; and vicar, The Rev. S. Rebecca Michelfelder is rec- Charlotte Amalie, VI, 1964-66; rector, St. St. Helen’s Church, Wadena, MN, 1984-87. tor during the transition at St. Martin’s, Bartholomew’s Church, Philadelphia, He was a member of Associated Parishes 1510 E 7th St., Charlotte, NC 28204. 1968-75; and rector, St. Simon the Cyrenian for Liturgy and Mission, Episcopal Peace The Rev. Matthew Oprendek is priest-in- Church, Philadelphia, 1984-90. From 1975 Fellowship, and Rural Workers Fellowship. charge of Christ Church, 33 Jefferson Ave., to 1984 he led the Diocese of Philadel- Fr. Tulk is survived by Sylvia Stone Tulk, Garden City, NY 11530. phia’s Office of Social Concerns and his wife of 45 years; sons Reginald, The Rev. Anne Williamson is associate at Church and Community Relationships. Stephen, and Ian; five grandchildren; a St. John’s, 101 Chapel St, Portsmouth, NH He is survived by Eva Bird, his wife of great-grandchild; and a sister, Amy Harland. 03801. 66 years, three children, eight grandchil- Deaths dren, and nine great-grandchildren. Send your clergy changes to: The Rev. Van S. Bird of Atlanta, a priest The Rev. John Fowlow Tulk, who [email protected] for 61 years, died March 6. He was 88. served multiple churches in the Amer- Born in Waycross, GA, he was a gradu- ican West and Midwest, died Jan. 26 in

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28 THE LIVING CHURCH • AUGUST 4, 2013 CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION CLASSIFIEDS Chicago, IL

CHURCH FURNISHINGS FULL-TIME RECTOR FLAGS AND BANNERS: Custom designed Episcopal flags and banners by Festival Flags in Richmond,VA. Please contact us by Church of the Ascension, a historic parish north phone at 800-233-5247 or by E-mail at [email protected]. of downtown Chicago, seeks its next rector. Founded in 1857, the parish lives its faith in the FOR SALE full Catholic tradition of Anglican Christianity FOR SALE: Pectoral cross with chain. Solid sterling silver with through worship, evangelism, teaching, and amethyst. Canterbury style. Retails for $700+, asking $500. Email: [email protected] Christian charity. We are diverse, welcoming, and eager to engage the modern world through POSITIONS OFFERED our strong faith tradition. Worship is at the heart of parish life, with daily Mass and Offices. DIRECTOR OF CHRISTIAN FORMATION: Church of the Holy Comforter, Drexel Hill, PA, is a Christ-centered, cross The main Sunday liturgy is Solemn High Mass focused parish in the suburbs of Philadelphia. We seek an ener- Rite II at the High Altar. Alsocentral toour getic, creative, strong lay Christian to oversee our program of forming children and youth from pre-school through high school worship is liturgical music of the highest in the Christian faith. This person will work in collaboration with standards. We have active outreach and the clergy and a committee of lay leaders to choose appropriate curriculum, recruit and train volunteers, connect families, and evangelism ministries and seek ways toexpand work with children and youth of all ages. Our program is grounded in Holy Scripture with a special emphasis on the Sacra- our witness. Visit our website for details: ments and the rich liturgical tradition of the Church. To find out ascensionchicago.org. Parish Profile: more, please visit www.comforterchurch.org or email Father Jonathan at [email protected]. www.ascensionchicago.org/about/parish-profile Photo: churchartphotography.com

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ST. CORNELIUS ADVERTISERS… EPISCOPAL CHURCH Don’t forget about these fantastic special issues coming your way! Located atop historic ‘Gospel Hill’

Dodge City, KS August 18 – Fall Education Close: 7/19 Final Ad Due: 7/24 FULL-TIME RECTOR • Excellent for ALL seminaries • TLC Student Essay Contest winners announced Evangelize God’s message to a fun, young and vibrant congregation. September 1 – Liturgical Arts and Music Enjoy the economic vitality Close: 8/2 Final Ad Due: 8/7 of a forward looking community. • A must for those in Stained Glass, Music Publishing, Worship appts Serving Dodge City formorethan 115 years. September 15 – Fall Parish Administration Clo se: 8/15 Final Ad Due: 8/20 Please send inquiries/submissions to: • THE Biggest and most widely distributed issue of the year • More than 15,000 copies distributed ST. CORNELIUS EPISCOPAL CHURCH P.O. Box 1414, Dodge City, KS 67801 [email protected] Call (414) 292-1243 or e-mail [email protected] for details www.stcorneliuschurch.org TLC turns 135 with a commemorative issue on September 29 Come be a part of our church and our town! The Living Church Partners SPONSORS SANTA BARBARA, CA PINEVILLE, LA CHRIST THE KING CHURCH DIOCESE OF WESTERN 5073 Hollister Ave. LOUISIANA (805) 964-9966 335 Main St. ctksb.org (318) 442-1304 SOUTHPORT, CT diocesewla.org TRINITY CHURCH 651 Pequot Ave. CHEVY CHASE, MD (203) 255-0454 ALL SAINTS CHURCH trinitysouthport.org 3 Chevy Chase Cir. (301) 654-2488 ORLANDO, FL allsaintschurch.net THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. LUKE 130 N. Magnolia Ave. ST. LOUIS, MO (407) 849-0680 THE CHURCH OF ST. stlukescathedral.org MICHAEL & ST. GEORGE 6345 Wydown Blvd. ORLANDO, FL (314) 721-1502 DIOCESE OF CENTRAL csmsg.org FLORIDA 1017 E. Robinson St. (407) 423-3567 GREENWICH, NY cfdiocese.org DIOCESE OF ALBANY SARASOTA, FL 580 Burton Rd. (518) 692-3350 CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER albanyepiscopaldiocese.org 222 South Palm Ave. (941) 955-4263 redeemersarasota.org TONAWANDA, NY DIOCESE OF WESTERN ATLANTA, GA NEW YORK 1064 Brighton Rd. THE CATHEDRAL (716) 881-0660 OF ST. PHILIP episcopalwny.org 2744 Peachtree Rd. NW (404) 365-1000 stphilipscathedral.org OKLAHOMA CITY, OK SAVANNAH, GA ALL SOULS CHURCH 6400 N. Pennsylvania Ave. THE PARISH OF ST. PAUL (405) 842-1461 THE APOSTLE allsoulsokc.com 1802 Abercorn St. (912) 232-0274 stpaulsavannah.org PHILADELPHIA, PA SPRINGFIELD, IL DIOCESE OF DIOCESE OF PENNSYLVANIA SPRINGFIELD 821 S. Second St. 240 S. 4th St. (217) 525-1876 (215) 627-6434 episcopalspringfield.org diopa.org SPONSORS continued GUARANTORS WAYNE, PA ST. DAVID’S CHURCH 763 S. Valley Forge Rd. DENVER, CO ROCHESTER, NY (610) 688-7947 ST. JOHN’S CATHEDRAL DIOCESE OF ROCHESTER stdavidschurch.org 1350 Washington St. 935 East Ave. (303) 831-7115 (585) 473-2977 NASHVILLE, TN sjcathedral.org episcopalrochester.org DIOCESE OF TENNESSEE HOUSTON, TX 50 Vantage Way, Suite 107 SOUTH BEND, IN DIOCESE OF TEXAS (615) 251-3322 DIOCESE OF NORTHERN 1225 Texas St. episcopaldiocese-tn.org INDIANA 117 N. Lafayette Blvd. (713) 520-6444 DALLAS, TX (574) 233-6489 epicenter.org CHURCH ednin.org OF THE INCARNATION 3966 McKinney Ave. JACKSON, MS SAN ANTONIO, TX (214) 521-5101 DIOCESE OF MISSISSIPPI DIOCESE OF WEST TEXAS incarnation.org 118 N. Congress St. 111 Torcido Dr. (210 or 888) 824-5387 (601) 948-5954 DALLAS, TX dwtx.org dioms.org DIOCESE OF DALLAS 1630 N. Garret Ave. TLC’s Partners Page lifts CHARLESTON, WV (214) 826-8310 up the ministries of our DIOCESE OF WEST VIR- edod.org supporters for the good of GINIA HOUSTON, TX all the Church 1608 Virginia St. E (1 Thess. 5:11). (304) 344-3597 ST. DUNSTAN’S CHURCH wvdiocese.org 14301 Stuebner Airline Rd. (281) 440-1600 saintdunstans.org HOUSTON, TX ASSOCIATES ST. MARTIN’S CHURCH 717 Sage Rd. (713) 621-3040 WILMINGTON, DE ALLEN, TX stmartinsepiscopal.org DIOCESE OF DELAWARE CHURCH OF THE SAVIOR 2020 N. Tatnall St. 223 N. Alma Dr. APPLETON, WI (302) 656-5441 (214) 785-1612 DIOCESE OF FOND DU LAC dioceseofdelaware.net ofthesavior.org 1051 N. Lynndale Dr. (920) 830-8866 DES MOINES, IA diofdl.org DIOCESE OF IOWA 225 37th St. MILWAUKEE, WI (214) 785-6165 THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH iowaepiscopal.org OF ALL SAINTS 818 E. Juneau Ave. (414) 271-7719 For more information, or to become ascathedral.org a TLC Partner, please contact:

EPISCOPAL CAMPS AND CONFERENCE CENTERS, INC. Amber Muma by the generous gift of [email protected] the Rt. Rev. and Mrs. D. Bruce (414) 292-1247 MacPherson Westminster Communities of Florida H ONORABLE SERVICE GRANTResidents at Westminster Communities of Florida quickly find they enjoy life more fully now that they’re free from the time and expense of their home maintenance. They choose from a wide array of options in home styles, activities, dining, progressive fitness and wellness programs. Many of our communities also provide a range of health care services, if ever needed. For many residents, the only question left is: Why did I wait so long? Call us today to see why a move to a Westminster community is the best move you can make!

Westminster Communities of Florida proudly offers financial incentives to retired Episcopal priests, Christian educators, missionaries, spouses and surviving spouses. Call Suzanne Ujcic today to see if you meet eligibility requirements.

800-948-1881ext. 226 Westminster Communities of Florida WestminsterRetirement.com