theology

To Ferne Halwes: Anglicanism as Pilgrimage

To Ferne Halwes: Anglicanism as Pilgrimage

“Anglicanism is a mess—a beautiful mess, but still a mess.”

I do love being Anglican. If I hadn’t encountered God’s embrace in Anglicanism’s sacramental life and open sensibility, I’m not sure I would have returned to the Church at all. So, I am truly, unfeignedly thankful that our Communion exists. But I must confess to making apologetic statements like this on behalf of our tradition on a semi-regular basis. Friends from every ecumenical quarter are often puzzled by the amorphous phenomenon called ‘Anglicanism,’ variously poking fun at and valiantly struggling to understand who and what we are.

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confessional note

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I’ve been doing a 19th Annotation version of St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises for the last couple months with a group assembled by my spiritual director. We just finished moving through the second ‘Week’ of the Exercises, especially focused on sin’s role in our lives. I was unable to attend our biweekly check-in because I’ve been sick with a fever. But I asked my spiritual director to share this note with the small group. Thought I’d share it here…

In the moment of the beautiful

I've been reading David Bentley Hart. Partly because of my Ortho-curiosity (to borrow a term from a @paige_smith_ on Twitter) and partly because Benji's brother highly recommended him. Despite being fairly well read in Neo-Calvinist theology, my literacy of broader conversations in Christian theology is... lacking. So I'm slowly working through Hart's work, and this bit in the introduction to The Beauty of the Infinite stuck out to me:

Loving rubble - Friday, Proper 7, Year 2 (oops)

I forgot today was a feast day until I had already prayed Matins and Twitter reminded me that today we commemorate Ss. Peter & Paul. Normally I try to be meticulous about observing the feasts of those saints who are most important to me. But getting out of bed this morning was a real struggle, and I was on auto-pilot (and honestly lucky I even mustered the willpower for Morning Prayer). So I read the "wrong" lessons.

A Collect for Pride

This past weekend was Twin Cities Pride. On Sunday, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, the co-cathedral in our diocese, held a special Evensong service in the evening after the parade. Significant enough, but made all the more significant by the cathedral's position on the southern edge of Loring Park where the Pride festival sprawled into the streets. The cathedral's doors swung open welcoming queers of every flavour in from the heat to worship and be nourished.