Why I am Anglican

“Traditional,” “conservative” and “a sit, stand and kneel church” are some of the words my friends use to describe the Anglican Church. Why they use such words I cannot be certain. But I will venture to guess here.

They use the label ”traditional” perhaps because they think Anglicans prefer to sing hymns accompanied by the organ rather than choruses accompanied by guitars, keyboards and drums; we use incense and candles rather than curtains and multi-coloured spotlights; and we have bishops and priests in fabulous clerical robes rather than senior pastors and pastors in cool suits. Maybe they use “conservative” or “a sit, stand and kneel church” because they think our Sunday services do not involve spontaneity, shouts of Amen, clapping of hands and speaking in tongues, but instead consist of the same routine week after week with set prayers and actions. So I often wonder if my friends think that I am an Anglican because I prefer to worship with hymns, the organ, incense, candles, robed clergies and set prayers and actions.

Admittedly, I gravitate towards some of those things. But they are not why I am an Anglican. (Incidentally, many Anglicans do sing choruses accompanied by guitars, keyboards and drums; use curtains and multi-coloured spotlights, clap hands, speak in tongues and shout Amen, and deviate from set liturgies.) Rather, I am an Anglican because I believe in the inseparability of the preaching of the Word and the celebration of the Eucharist in Christian worship, and I experienced the significance of this two-fold order and unity preserved and prescribed in the liturgical tradition of the Anglican Church.

But why do I believe that this order and unity significant? It seems to me that for much of the history of the Christian church, the Word and the Eucharist belonged together. The earliest biblical account of this unity is probably Acts 2:42, which is a part of Luke’s picture of the nascent church meeting together: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Justin Martyr’s description of church meeting together written in the middle of the second century also reflects such unity: “And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things, Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying, Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons.” John Calvin writing in the 16^th century also spoke of the inseparability of the Word and the Eucharist: “no assembly of the church should be held without the word being preached, prayers being offered and the Lord's supper administered and alms given.” Indeed, there is a consensus among scholars that Christian worship took on a basic order and shape of two-fold division of the Word and the Eucharist very early on and remained so for a long time. The separation of the Word and the Eucharist is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of the church.

 Indeed, the tendency in Christian worship today is to abandon this traditional two-fold order by disentangling the Word and the Eucharist, and this happens not only when one of them is dropped, but also when one is elevated above the other. In some churches, the Eucharist is given such prominence that the preaching of the Word is reduced to a brief talk with little to do with the scriptural texts already read. In others, the singing of Christian choruses or/and the preaching of the Word is/are given such dominance that the Eucharist becomes an appendix relegated to a monthly affair with its infrequency justified on either practical grounds or on the grounds that weekly observance will erode its impact or meaning! However, there are good grounds why the traditional unity, order and balance of the Word and the Eucharist should be recovered and retained in Christian worship, and these grounds are not only historical, as I already briefly alluded to above, but also theological, as I will now consider.

The celebration of the Eucharist is more than a performed illustration or a ritualised recollection of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If the preaching of the Word is God addressing and summoning us, then the celebration of the Eucharist is our response to God’s initiative. If the preaching of the Word is our reflection of God’s self-disclosure, then the celebration of the Eucharist is our participation in His self-disclosure. In the Word, God in Christ is proclaimed and heard; in the Eucharist, God in Christ is received and embraced. In and through the preaching of the Word and the celebration of Eucharist, the holy, life-giving and transformative presence of God in Christ is graciously made available to us by the Spirit. In and through the Word and the Eucharist, believers are drawn into communion with the triune God and with one another. The Word and the Eucharist mutually interpret rather than compete as witnesses to the mystery of God in Christ. Also, the order of the Eucharist subsequent to the reading and preaching of the Word is not without hermeneutical significance. It invites, guides and constrains the interpretation and preaching of Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, that they be centred and climaxed in life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I am not claiming here that such pattern of worship is unique to or best enshrined in the liturgical tradition of the Anglican Church. I am also not writing to defend or promote Anglicanism. Neither am I attempting to alter my friend’s perception of why I am Anglican. My point is more personal. I am convinced that when Christians come together to worship, the Word should be faithfully preached and the Eucharist joyfully celebrated after, and I came to appreciate the significance of this two-fold form of worship in two ways: through my theological studies and through my participation and experience in the liturgical tradition of the Anglican Church that nurtured my Christian faith and eventually received me. So I am an Anglican not because the Anglican Church is “traditional,” “conservative,” or “a sit, stand and kneel church” as my friends put it. My reasons are historical, scriptural, theological, hermeneutical, liturgical, spiritual and also personal.

 

A Lecture in the Leech Hall...

Phoenix or Dying Swan? Learning to Cope with Failure in Ecumenical Relations was the title of the Cundy Lecture that I attended yesterday evening (29/5/2013) at the Leech Hall, St John's College. Dr David Wilkinson, the principal of Cranmer Hall, took us on a journey looking at what Ecumenical Relations (ER) in Britain were, are now and could potentially be. He (a Methodist) often alluded to his appointment as the principal of Cranmer Hall (an Anglican training institution) and the collaboration of the Wesley Centre and Cranmer Hall as microcosms of Ecumenical Relations in Britain. He also suggested that the current climate of ER in general is perhaps more akin to winter than to spring where people engaged in ER are discouraged and weary. But is ER a Phoenix or a Dying Swan? Rising out of the ashes or diminishing ?
A lot of grounds were covered in the hour long lecture. I will touch on two things that struck me. First, two pictures were used to symbolise a Phoenix and a Dying Swan. For a Phoenix, Wilkinson used Dumbledore's Fawkes whose tears heal wounds: perhaps ER will rise again and bring healing to the body of Christ. For a Dying Swan, Wilkinson used a picture of David Luiz, called a dying swan by Sir Alex Ferguson. He was caught smilling when he was supposed to be writhing in pain because of his injury; his act successfully got his opponent sent off. I was struck most by the second picture. Do we feign failure to force others off the playing field because deep inside we feel we will gain if something failed?

Secondly, Wilkinson pointed out that there need to be more openness to what the Spirit of God is doing in others. There need to be more listening to one another's narrative of what God in Christ is creatively doing in our midst; and not only more listening to one another but also more affirmation and celebration of one another's narrative of God in Christ. To do so we need to exercise less suspicion and more trust of one another. This sounds wonderful but the implications are challenging. For me, it means openness to Christian traditions about which I am cynical and from which I have moved away.

Transfiguration, Divinity and Humanity

When pondering an icon of the transfiguration of Christ some time ago, I thought of something which I have not considered in my past readings of the transfiguration accounts in the Synoptic Gospels. And that is the transfiguration of Christ could be perceived as a representation of the Christian Scripture where Moses and Elijah, symbolising the Old Testament witness, and the apostles, symbolising the New Testament witness, both bearing testimony to Christ revealed. Indeed, the transfiguration is not only, as usually thought of, the apostles’ overwhelming vision of the divinity of the man Christ but also, as someone points out, a vision of a vision, in particular the apostle’s vision of Moses’ and Elijah’s vision of the humanity of God in the man Christ. Could it be said that the apostles encountered a man who is also divine; and Moses and Elijah spoke to God who is also a man?

Revisiting Mary and Martha

What might the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38 - 42 mean to Christians today? I suppose we often find attached to this story such applications: we should get our priority right; we should put hearing and learning the word of God first; we should never neglect reading the Bible and our devotion time when we are busy. While these applications are not inappropriate, I often wonder if there are fresh ways of articulating the significance of Luke 10:38 – 42 for today.  


Martha and Mary by Heqi


Let me begin with a story. Imagine a family gathering. Members of the family have not seen one another for some time and everyone is having fun catching up with one another. This special moment is suddenly interrupted by mother who has just emerged from the kitchen. "Lunch time is almost upon us", she exclaims. "Could a few of you come into the kitchen now and help me," she continues. One of her daughters says, "We are having such a good time, we haven't seen one another for some time, come join us, forget about preparing lunch. We’ll go out somewhere for lunch later." "No! I am half way through preparation. I need help now," she retorts and walks back into the kitchen. The moment comes to an end abruptly. I suppose preparing lunch is necessary. But could it not be sacrificed for the sake of what is a rare and special moment, a moment which perhaps could not be replicated or captured easily again? Mother's preoccupation and determination to get lunch ready is commendable. But her insistence has also done something to her. It has blinded her from seeing the moment as unique and special. Worse is that it has hindered her from being part of the moment. Mother failed to see that the moment was also potentially nourishing to her and her family – nourishing in ways that lunch could not be.

The story of Mary and Martha comes after the Transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9:28 - 36) where the glory of Jesus was revealed to Peter, John and James on a mountain top. There they also heard the divine voice from heaven: "This is my Son whom I have chosen listen to him." Mary was not with the disciples at the Mount of Transfiguration but Luke writes that she "sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said." This is as if Luke is saying Mary though not with Peter, John and James at the Mount of Transfiguration is here listening to Jesus as instructed by the divine voice. It is a special moment that Mary somehow recognises. And indeed, it is more than a special moment – it is a sacramental moment because the Son of God, God the Son, God in the person of Jesus is in the house! This significant moment Mary recognises but Martha does not! Martha's preoccupation distracts her from discerning the deeper significance of the presence of Jesus in her house. Martha is just too busy with preparation. Preparation is necessary but for this one special and sacramental moment could it not be put aside?
 
What might the story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38 - 42 mean to Christians today? I am quite sure that this passage could be appropriated in different ways. But here's one of my thoughts. Churches today are busy with programmes and activities. We highlight, among other things, this: "The harvest is plentiful but workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." Activism takes over our churches. We seem to be doing this and that, and more and more all the time. In the midst of our programmes and activities, have we missed special and significant moments? I know that God is everywhere but he is also somewhere in special ways sometimes (Matthew 25:31 - 46). Have we failed to discern and so terminated such special and sacramental moments in the name of our church programmes and activities. Programmes and activities are necessary; but there are also moments in the company of believers that may nourish our churches more than our activities and programmes could. God is in the house! Could we discern that? Could it be that our concerns are in the way.

Back in Durham again and Blogging Again

I am back again in Durham – a space I left a little over two years ago. I am also back again to blogging – an intended discipline that was very quickly abandoned a little under five years ago. So why am blogging and in Durham again?

Durham and blogging are not unrelated. Blogging for me started as preparation was made to move to Durham for at least three years. Blogging was intended to be a means through which I ponder and articulate my journey to and through Durham. The passage to and through Durham was negotiated but blogging did not follow through. So here and now I will scribble down some initial reflections on what has transpired since I last blogged five years ago.

I  suppose a significant milestone in that time is my PhD dissertation, ponderously entitled Scripture and Its Readers: Readings of Israel’s Story in Nehemiah 9:6 – 37, Ezekiel 20:5 – 31 and Acts 7:2 – 60. This was a result of my research which focused on the following question: How may a reader who wishes to read the Christian Bible as scripture well today be formed; and how may interpretations of scripture inform such concern? This is an under-considered question in contemporary biblical scholarship; and I explored it via hermeneutical consideration and exegetical engagement with three biblical texts, namely Nehemiah 9:6 – 37, Ezekiel 20:5 – 32 and Acts 7:2 – 60.

Why did I undertake this line of enquiry? First, while much has been written about biblical interpretation, work on biblical interpretation that seeks to be informed by biblical interpretation itself is rare. My work is a response to this lacuna. Secondly, I felt that it is important for someone like me whose vocation is to live, teach and preach the Bible in the church to set aside some concentrated time to reflect widely, deeply, theologically and scripturally not only about the discipline of biblical interpretation but also about what it means to be wise biblical interpreters and how such interpreters could be formed. Thirdly, I was struck by how often academic biblical studies and Christian spirituality do not engage each other constructively, and I was keen to explore how the rigour of the former and the concern for cruciform living and witness of the latter could be brought together so that they could be mutually transformative and enriching. 

I said earlier that the PhD dissertation was a result my research. I said this hoping that is it not the result of my research. If it was the latter, the journey to and through Durham would have been in vain. Why? Here’s a little passage from my dissertation: “a Christian construal of reading scripture seems to presume that understanding scripture and way of life are linked dynamically and inextricably in what can be described as a spiral relationship where progress in one area potentially enables growth in the other. So just as scripture is read as a means to nurture the moral and spiritual formation of a reader, the moral and spiritual formation of a reader is nurtured as a means to read scripture. In other words, within a Christian practice, the reading of scripture and the formation of a reader are mutually instructive and constructive.”

Therefore, I hope that the dissertation is a, and not, the result of my research because I hope that the journey was also formative for me. I hope that the dissertation is a, and not the, result of my research because the task of reading scripture is never ending – I read scripture so that I may faithfully embody Christ and I press on to embody Christ faithfully so that I may read scripture better. I hope that the dissertation is a, and not the, result of my research because I hope that my understanding of the mutually of reading scripture and forming readers of scripture as a student and teacher of scripture is deepening. And I hope that the dissertation is a, and not the, result of my research because I am back in Durham to work on it further with the hope that it will be published as a monograph!

A Prayer of Thomas Aquinas

Creator of all things,
true source of Light and Wisdom, lofty origin of all Being,
graciously let a ray of Your Brilliance

penetrate into the darkness of my understanding,
and take from me the double darkness,

sin and ignorance, in which I have been born.

Give me a sharp sense of understanding,
a retentive memory,
and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally.
Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations,
and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm.
Point out the beginning, direct the progress, help in the completion,
through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.

A Prayer of Benedict

Gracious and holy Father,

give me wisdom to perceive you,

understanding to fathom you,

patience to wait for you,

eyes to behold you,

a heart to meditate upon you,

and a life to proclaim you,

through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord.