Last Post

This is my final post here at Blackbeans. To follow my new blog click here.

Bad Reasons to Start a Church

There’s an interesting article over on the Anglican 100o site entitled Bad Reasons to Plant a Church. It offers an interesting glimpse at a secular perspective on church planting as well as a challenge to examine the real reasons to plant a church.

Planting a church is not an endeavor to be entered into lightly. There are many hazards along the way. There is uncertainty and sacrifice, not least of all by the sending church. It is hard work that demands all that you can give spiritually,  mentally, and emotionally. It is entrepreneurial but for the kingdom of God. I cringe at the thought of it being considered a franchise in some consumeristic way.

In the course of the discernment process to begin planting Holy Trinity, and even now, it has been  important to constantly hold this mission loosely, openhandedly before God and our community. It is vital to earnestly examine our hearts and be skeptical of our motivations. Planting a church is apostolic work. It is noble and it is important. But we do not seek to plant a church for power, authority, or some foolish desire to have it our way. We plant a church, which is the fullness of him who fills all in all, to see Christ glorified and his kingdom come.

As we continue, may we constantly hold before us the reality that this church is not  for us to have a local franchise of faithful Anglicanism. There are people we do not know who will come and encounter the living God here. There are many unknown to us who are being summoned even now to come and encounter the reality of our Lord and his grace at his table.  There are many with gifts and passions we don’t have, who will come and join in with what God is doing here. As we press on in obedience, praying, fasting, and trusting in his grace, we continue to hold this all loosely, knowing it is the Lord who is the Great Shepherd, the maniacal Sower, and the faithful Harvester. May he bless this work and give us joy as we serve him.

Methinks the Dutch should stick to Wooden Clogs

There’s an interesting article on the BBC > World site entitled, “Dutch Rethink Christianity for a Doubtful World.” Here are the opening lines:

The Rev Klaas Hendrikse can offer his congregation little hope of life after death, and he’s not the sort of man to sugar the pill.

The Exodus Church is part of the mainstream Protestant Church in the Netherlands. An imposing figure in black robes and white clerical collar, Mr Hendrikse presides over the Sunday service at the Exodus Church in Gorinchem, central Holland.  It is part of the mainstream Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN), and the service is conventional enough, with hymns, readings from the Bible, and the Lord’s Prayer. But the message from Mr Hendrikse’s sermon seems bleak – “Make the most of life on earth, because it will probably be the only one you get”.

“Personally I have no talent for believing in life after death,” Mr Hendrikse says. “No, for me our life, our task, is before death.” Nor does Klaas Hendrikse believe that God exists at all as a supernatural thing.

Postmodernism is alive and well in the Netherlands!

Bishop Phillips Brooks on the relationship between Preacher and the Congregation

Bishop Phillips Brooks was well known in his life for his preaching. As rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Philadelphia,  he preached to large congregations. He gave a famous sermon (still well worth a read) on Abraham Lincoln the week after his assasination while his body was visiting Philadelphia.  It is an interesting example of one pastor not only ministered to his own flock during a time of national crisis but to the entire country. Interestingly, he also wrote the words to the well-loved Christmas hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” after having served at a Christmas Eve midnight service in  Bethlehem.

Brooks died just 18 months after being consecrated bishop of Massachusetts. He also wrote a book entitled The Joy of  Preaching that was used to teach seminarians on both sides of the Atlantic.His Lyman Beecher lectures on Preaching at Yale (1876 – 1877)  are still considered standard-setting. Here is an excerpt:

“The relation between preacher and congregation is one of the very highest pictures of human companionship that can be seen on earth. Its constant presence has given Christianity, much of its noblest and sweetest color in all ages. It has much of the intimacy of the family, with something of the breadth and dignity that belongs to the State. It is too sacred to be thought of as a contract. It is a union which God joins together for purposes worthy of His care. When it is worthily realized, who can say that it may not stretch beyond the line of death, and they who have been minister and people to each other here be something holy and peculiar to each other in the City of God forever?”  — “Brooks, Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching,” p. 216.

 

He preferred to preach in his academic gown but would vest in surplice and stole when presiding at the Eucharist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come and Pray with Us, Come and Worship with Us

Anglicans have rightly been referred to as the people of the book, that is people of the Book of Common Prayer. Our spiritual heritage and our common ground with other Anglicans is rooted in our common prayer and our common liturgies contained in the BCP.

100th Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, noted in his lecture “The Anglican Spirit” that it is the BCP that distinguishes us Anglicans from other continental, reformation movements.

It is important to notice that while other churches on the Continent with Reformation roots also had their sets of articles, the Anglican Settlement as now defined had not only a confession, a set of articles, but also a Prayer Book. It is this foundation that was, and remains, so very characteristic of the Anglican paradosis (that which is delivered over by teaching or tradition, the substance of teaching). And it is true to say that while there are churches in Christendom where, when you ask, “Now tell us what you stand for?” they will say, “Well here are our articles, that is what we stand for,” it has always been characteristic of Anglicans to reply, “Yes, here are our articles, but here is our Prayer Book as well – come and pray with us, come and worship with us, and that is how you will understand what we stand for.” 

Michael Ramsey, The Anglican Spirit, p. 17-18.

 

The Mighty Voice of Christendom!

“We may be confident that liturgical worship is the best of all. There is some loss in the use of printed words; but there is a greater gain. We have in them the accumulated wisdom and beauty of the Christian Church, the garnered excellence of the saints. We are by them released from the accidents of time and place. Above all we are preserved against the worst dangers of selfishness: in the common prayer we join together in a great fellowship that is as wide as the world; and we are guided, not by the limited notions of our own priest, nor by the narrow impulses of our own desires, but by the mighty voice that rises from the general heart of Christendom.”

– Percy Dearmer, Everyman’s History of the Prayer Book, 1912

God’s Stock

A note from a friend of a friend that I found very interesting. I’d love to know your thoughts.

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Hi folks,

I had an interesting conversation with Elizabeth XXXXXX  yesterday that I thought was worth expanding into a written reflection.

It seems to me that a lot of people’s faith in God rather closely tracks  the vagaries of their personal lives.  Something “good” happens to them,  and they react by praising and thanking God.  Something “bad” happens to  them, and they fall into doubt and confusion.  Their faith bounces up and down like the stock market.  What I’m wondering is, is this the way faith is supposed to be?

It’s easy to raise some objections.  The stock-market God apparently goes to great lengths to grant us parking places when we want them, while calmly allowing 300,000 people to die in an earthquake—though perhaps saving a few of them “miraculously”.  Apparently, the stock market God takes sides in sporting events, deserves the credit for my not being seriously injured in an accident but not the blame for the accident happening in the first place, and can ensure that it won’t rain on the day of the church picnic but can’t (or won’t) prevent a drought that causes thousands to starve to death.  Is this really a true picture of the God we worship?  Speaking for myself, I hope not.

On the other hand, what are the alternatives?  One alternative is one that, roughly speaking, I live by.  My faith in God doesn’t really
fluctuate along with fluctuations in my personal fortunes.  My faith remains high (though not at 100%) regardless of whether something “good” or “bad” happens in my personal life.  This approach has the advantage of avoiding the wild contradictions of the stock-market approach.  One side effect, though, is that I don’t spontaneously announce “Praise God!” when something “good” happens—say, when a medical test allows me to rule out a serious illness.  This isn’t because I’m ungrateful, or because the question of God’s role doesn’t occur to me.  The point is that I know that if the medical test had turned out the other way, I would have accepted it with the same equanimity.  To me, praising God for a negative test result carries an implicit assumption that a positive test result would *not* have been cause for praising God (or at least that praising God for a positive test result would require finding some silver lining in the cloud).  Since I don’t want to promote what I regard as a false view of God’s action, I refrain from exclamations that might be construed that way.

This attitude of mine strikes some people as wrong.  Surely my faith must be dry, lifeless, sterile, intellectual, stoical, and excessively
rational.  Surely I must be failing to engage my heart and my emotions.  Surely I lack a vibrant personal relationship with a personal God who cares intensely about my personal life.  Surely the believer who exults when “good” things happen and whose faith soars as a result, and who gets confused and struggles in anguish when “bad” things happen, enjoys a much more vibrant and meaningful spiritual life.  Surely?

I’m not completely sure how to respond, but one thing I do believe is that  I don’t think my emotions are any less engaged.  The word “emotion” seems to be associated with irrationality and with big up-and-down swings.  In my view, though, calmness, interest, and alertness are all emotions.  When “good” or “bad” things happen, all the knotty problems surrounding  the attribution of God’s action instinctively leap to the surface of my mind, because they are issues that I think about all the time.  One doesn’t constantly think about something that one is emotionally disengaged from.  Just because I have, through deep reflection and long training, arrived at a steady stock price that doesn’t destabilize with each piece of fresh news, doesn’t mean that my faith is “unemotional.”

Nevertheless, stock-market faith seems so pervasive that I have to wonder if we should regard it as “normal.”  That is, someone with a “normal” spiritual life is supposed to engage in soul-searching every time bad things happen, but ignore the deep theological puzzles behind the problem of evil when good things happen and just directly attribute pleasant events to God’s intervention.

Thanks,

Tim

Soul of Ministry

I am greatly looking forward to this:

Rod Wilson was born in Dublin, Ireland and immigrated as a child to Canada with his parents. He has served as President of Regent College since 2000. Originally trained as a clinical psychologist, Rod pursued theological training after the completion of his doctoral work. He has been involved in the field of counselling and consulting for over 30 years and held various positions at Tyndale College and Seminary in Toronto from 1978-1995: Professor, Dean of Students, Vice-President and Academic Dean. From 1983-1995 he held part-time staff positions in two different churches and from 1995-2000 he was the teaching pastor of a growing church in the suburbs of Toronto, Canada. In 2004, Rod received an honourary doctorate from Trinity Western University in recognition of his gifts of leadership and acuity of vision. He is the author of Counseling and Community and How Do I Help a Hurting Friend?—both award-winning books— and the co-author of Exploring Your Anger and Helping Angry People. He lives in Burnaby, BC with his wife, Bev.

Reflections on The Great Vigil

“The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Todd Granger and Jill Martin were wonderful to allow us to come and take over their lovely Chatham County home as we gathered to commemorate The Great Vigil of Easter this past Holy Saturday.

As daylight receded, we gathered outside to kindle the new fire, marking Christ’s transition from death back into life. We lit the Pashcal Candle from the new fire and processed it while declaring to the gathering darkness:

“The light of Christ. Thanks be to God.”
“The light of Christ. Thanks be to God.”
“The light of Christ. Thanks be to God.”

As we entered the darkened house, each was given a taper. It was a beautiful scene. The Exsultent was sung as it reminded us:

This is the night, when you brought our fathers, the children of Israel, out of bondage in Egypt, and led them through the Red Sea on dry land.  

This is the night, when all who believe in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin, and are restored to grace and holiness of life.

This is the night, when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell, and rose victorious from the grave.

How wonderful and beyond our knowing, O God, is your mercy and loving-kindness to us, that to redeem a slave, you gave a Son.

How holy is this night, when wickedness is put to flight, and sin is washed away. It restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to those who mourn. It casts out pride and hatred, and brings peace and concord.

How blessed is this night, when earth and heaven are joined and man is reconciled to God.

Nick and Jill

We then listened earnestly to the record of God’s saving deeds in history. Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea is described in Exodus 14:10-15:1. Isaiah 55:1-11 describes God’s salvation offered freely to all. And a new heart and a new spirit was described in Ezekiel 36:24-28.

There were no Baptisms or Confirmations so we all joined our voices in The Renewal of Baptismal Vows. Having recognized that in our Baptism we die and are raised to new life in Christ, we then celebrated Christ’s new life by lighting the candles on the altar,  throwing on the house lights, and proclaiming with loud voices and bells ringing, “Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.”

We heard powerful words from our tradition in St. John Chrysostom’s “Easter Homily.” Christ is risen and Hell has been embittered, abolished, mocked, purged, despoiled, and bound in chains! We celebrated Holy Communion. We sang. We alleluia-ed. Afterwards, we feasted together. I still lament not having one of Nancy Robinson’s cupcakes!  There was a bonfire and fireworks.

What a wonderful and joyful evening. To Christ be the glory!

Equipping Places of Worship for the Ministry of Prayer and Sacrament

The Table at Holy Trinity

At Holy Trinity-Chatham, we are actively thinking and praying about when to move to Sunday morning worship services, as well as where to hold them. As I was thinking, the thought occurred, “What are the essentials to equip a place of worship for the ministry of prayer, and sacrament?” Having been a part of a church plant that moved into temporary Sunday morning facilities in a school and is now in a rental space, there can be a number of challenges to doing worship well on Sunday mornings. What did Anglican churches do in the days before amplifiers and powerpoints?

From the Canons of 1604, LXXX–LXXXIII, Cardwell, Synodalia, pp. 292–3.

LXXX The church-wardens … of every church and chapel shall, at the charge of the parish, provide the Book of Common Prayer.… And if any parishes be yet unfurnished of the Bible of the largest volume, or of the books of Homilies allowed by authority, the said church-wardens shall within convenient time provide the same at the like charge of the parish.

LXXXI There shall be a font of stone in every church and chapel where baptism is to be ministered; the same to be set in the ancient usual places: in which only font the minister shall baptize publicly.

LXXXII Whereas we have no doubt, but that in all churches within the realm of England, convenient and decent tables are provided and placed for the celebration of the holy communion, we appoint, that the same tables shall from time to time be kept and repaired in sufficient and seemly manner, and covered, in time of divine service, with a carpet of silk or other decent stuff, thought meet by the ordinary of the place, if any question be made of it, and with a fair linen cloth at the time of ministration, as becometh that table, and so stand, saving when the said holy communion is to be administered: at which time the same shall be placed in so good sort within the church or chancel, as thereby the minister may be more conveniently heard of the communicants in his prayer and ministration, and the communicants also more conveniently, and in more number, may communicate with the said minister; and that the Ten Commandments be set upon the east end of every church and chapel where the people may best see and read the same, and other chosen sentences written upon the walls of the said churches and chapels, in places convenient; and likewise that a convenient seat be made for the minister to read service in. All these to be done at the charge of the parish.

LXXXIII A pulpit to be provided in every church.…

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The Canons of 1604 spell it out fairly clearly:

• The Book of Common Prayer and then the Holy Bible. 
•  A font of stone for baptisms.
• A table properly appointed, the Ten Commandments displayed to the east, and chosen sentences in view upon the walls.
• A pulpit.

“The Book of Common Prayer”: The BCP contains the means by which the people of God can pray and worship together. The liturgy is, in large part, mostly Scripture or at least rooted in Scripture. The Psalter in its entirety would have been provided and many would know them and their set tunes by heart. By having the BCP, each church ensured that each participant was just that: a participant in the worship of the Triune God. At Holy Trinity, we make the liturgy available as much as possible in our orders of service. We print the Psalm appointed for that day, the full Gospel passage, and the Eucharistic prayers in their entirety to encourage full participation.

“A font of stone for baptisms”: Yes! It is essential to emphasize the sacramental reality implicit in Christian Baptism and to let your worship space reflect that reality! For reasons I understand, there aren’t many contemporary church planting resources which would encourage one of your first considerations for worship to be a baptismal font. Yet if we believe as we pray that in the waters of Baptism we are both “buried with Christ in his death [and] by it we share in his resurrection,” shouldn’t there be some water in the room when we gather to worship? There is the little water mixed with wine in Communion. But there is something to the making of water available for the faithful to touch, to sign themselves, and to remember their baptism.

“A table properly appointed…”: The table, as the place where our “souls and bodies are quickened to eternal life,”  the apex of each of our services. It should therefore be attired appropriately with the season’s liturgical color, clean linens, and beautiful patins and chalices. One of the things we are more and more convinced of here at Holy Trinity is the call of God to be a local parish church, committed to and standing in solidarity with Christ and this community. We are hopeful to be able to appoint our worship space with locally crafted furnishings and ornaments to reflect our commitment to this place – rather than choosing the convenience of catalog shopping.

“…the Ten Commandments displayed to the east, and chosen sentences in view upon the walls”: Not only does the Decalogue provide the revealed “way of living a God-pleasing life,” but it provides a visible reminder by which you should “judge yourselves, therefore, lest you be judged by the Lord.” The Law reveals our limitations and our inability to live as we should. But for those of us in Christ, it  kindles our dependence upon and our gratitude for grace.

“Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21).

“A pulpit to be provided in every church…”: The pulpit is the place where God’s Word is proclaimed afresh. According to the introduction to “Book I” of the Homilies: “Considering how necessary it is, that the word of GOD, which is the only food of the soul, and that most excellent light that we must walk by, in this our most dangerous pilgrimage, should at all convenient times be preached unto the people, that thereby they may both learn their duty towards God and their neighbors, according to the mind of the holy Ghost, expressed in the Scriptures.” At the moment, we’re content with a music stand. But one day…. When that day comes, I’d like to have inscribed these words from John 12:21, so that every preacher who ever preaches in this church  will be reminded  before they preach:

Sir, we’ve come to see Jesus.

Our Anglican grandparents in  the faith have much to teach us about what to prioritize in our places of worship. If we were to take these canons to heart at Holy Trinity, not only would we major in the majors, but we’d be aligned with some very time-tested practices of the church. We’d likely save money for more almsgiving, as well. There’s much to consider. We appreciate your prayers.