St. Matthew’s Church Newport Beach, California Copyright © The Rt. Rev’d Stephen Scarlett, 2012 Publication Copyright © St. Matthew’s Church & School, 2012 stmatthewsnewport.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Cover Image: Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus, 1606 Brera Fine Arts Academy, Milan TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 9-11 Chapter 1: The Creeds of the Church 13-27 Chapter 2: The Moral Law and the Gospel 29-40 Chapter 3: The Sacraments 41-53 Chapter 4: The Church and Its Symbolism 55-64 Chapter 5: Commentary on the Liturgy of the Holy Communion 65-103 Chapter 6: The Church Calendar 105-110 Chapter 7: The Life of Prayer 111-121 Chapter 8: The Duties of a Christian 123-129 INTRODUCTION HE Inquirers’ Class is designed to provide an introduction to what the church believes and does. TOne goal of the class is to provide space in the church for people who have questions to pursue answers. Another goal is that people who work their way through this material will be able to begin to participate meaningfully in the ministry and prayer life of the church. The Inquirers’ Class is not a Bible study. However, the main biblical truths of the faith are the focus of the class. The Inquirers’ Class gives the foundation and framework for our practice of the faith. If the class has its desired impact, participants will begin the habit of daily Bible reading in the context of daily prayer. The Need for An Inquirer’s Class People who come to the liturgy without any instruction will typically be lost or bored. Even if they are able to find and follow the words they will not understand what the liturgy means. This has always been the case in the church. In the early church, people went through an extended period of instruc- tion before they were allowed to be present for the Eucharist; they would never see or hear the liturgy before they understood it. In the modern world, people become Christians with far less instruction and preparation. Some peo- ple were baptized as infants and then raised in a nominally Christian environment. They have some measure of faith, but not much knowledge about it. Others have had some kind of conversion experi- ence. But, again, this is often not followed up with systematic instruction and discipleship. The result is a person with a faith not fully formed or informed. Even those who know things often don’t really “know” things. For example, one may have learned the mechanics of how to receive the Sacrament without understanding what it means to live in com- munion with the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. One can memorize the Creed without understanding the significance and implications of God as Trinity. In our culture, many fully committed Christians have been formed by churches that lack liturgy, sym- bols, sacraments and tradition. These Christians know the basic truths of the Bible but have been cut off from the fullness of the church’s historical theology, worship, and life of prayer. Many people from this background are being drawn to the depth, beauty, and richness of the sacramental way. Increasingly, there are people who have had no significant exposure to the gospel or were raised in another religion altogether. They need to learn about Christ from the beginning. The material in the class can be helpful to people in all of these categories. 9 Instruction Is Only the Beginning Instruction is only part of the process of becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. Christianity is a com- munal faith–a truth that is often lost in the individualism of our time. When we become Christians we become members of the Body of Christ. Thus, to be authentically Christian requires a committed and meaningful connection to other Christians. One danger of contemporary Christianity is the tempta- tion for people to become “free agent” Christians. They have their personal faith in Jesus Christ, but they live at an arm’s length from the church. They will consume the product of the church, but they will also feel free to move on when the product does not suit their tastes. The danger here is not only, or mainly, the lack of accountability; the real danger is that such distance from community precludes the possibility of experiencing real love. To experience the fullness of the faith that is rooted in the Incarnation of the Son of God, it is nec- essary to be a part of an actual, flesh and blood community of Christians. In the church we come to know others and be known by others. We learn to love real people in real time, and we learn what it means to be loved by others. We learn how to use our gifts in a complementary relationship to the gifts of others in the body of Christ. We begin to participate in the church’s life of prayer. Apart from a commitment to live out the Christian faith in a specific church community over time, we will not become fully formed and mature Christians. Anglican Faith and Practice We are Christians who practice the faith according the tradition of the Church of England (to be An- glican is to be “Anglish” or English in tradition). To be Anglican is to be Catholic because we believe the ancient and universal or “Catholic” faith of the church–what was believed “everywhere, always and by all.” In disputed matters, we are interested in what the church has always believed rather than more recent, novel interpretations. To be Anglican is also to be reformed. The Church of England went through a Reformation in which it rejected beliefs and practices that departed from the ancient and Catholic faith. The English Reformation was marked by a renewed emphasis on the Bible. We call ourselves Anglican Catholics because of modern developments in the Anglican Church. The Anglican Church in America, historically, was called the Episcopal Church. In the last generation, the Episcopal Church, like many churches, came to openly embrace false teachings and practices. This has required faithful Anglicans to continue to practice the faith outside of that church. The Anglican Catholic Church was formed in 1976 as a place for faithful Anglicans to continue to believe and prac- tice “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Anglican faith and practice is rooted in the Book of Common Prayer. One goal of the Book of Com- mon Prayer is to include all Christians in the prayer life of the church. The seven daily prayer offices of medieval monasticism were observed only by monks. The Book of Common Prayer reduced these to two (Morning and Evening Prayer) and envisioned participation by each and every member of the church. The ideal Anglican parish is an extended family unit in which all the members observe a 10 common rule of life under the direction of a spiritual father (typically, the rector). We read through the Bible together each year. We experience together the revelation of God in Christ as we observe together the feasts and fasts of the church year. This common life of prayer is the center and heartbeat of Anglican faith. Many people erroneously think that Christian faith is mostly about doctrine. They envision progress in the faith largely in intel- lectual terms–acquiring more information about God. However, the essence of Christian faith is the experience of union with God the Father through his Son Jesus Christ by means of the Holy Spirit. Doctrine forms the necessary foundation for this experience; it helps us understand the truth about God and it establishes boundaries between the genuine experience of union with God and false ex- periences that are rooted in false teachings. However, the goal of faith is not to know about God; the goal of faith is to know God. Consequently, the goal of this material is not merely to teach people information. The goal is to draw people into a new way of life–the life of prayer lived out in the community of the Body of Christ. We hope the material provided in this book can help in reaching that goal. The Rt. Rev’d Stephen Scarlett Rector, St. Matthew’s Church Newport Beach, CA 11 12 CHAPTER ONE: THE CREEDS OF THE CHURCH HE word creed comes from the Latin credo, which means “I believe.” The church composed creeds Tto clarify right belief or orthodoxy in response to the emergence of wrong belief or heresy. The church uses two ancient creeds in worship: The Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. The Apostles’ Creed is the earlier of the two. Though it did not reach its final form until the A.D. 400’s, some form of the Apostles’ Creed was likely in use in the 2nd Century (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The Nicene Creed is the product of two ecumenical councils: Nicaea in A.D. 325 and Constantinople in A.D. 381. A third creed, The Athanasian Creed, is named after the church father St. Athanasius, though it probably was not written by him. It was once required to be read on certain feast days, but has fallen into disuse. However, it remains an authorized statement of right belief, especially regarding the Trinity and the divinity and humanity of Jesus. Why the Creeds? People who say they believe in God have vastly different understandings of who God is. What at first glance appears to be a common faith in God, on further review, is shown to be a cause of great divi- sion.