In the
ordination of a priest, we are reminded that that “All baptized people are
called to make Christ known as Savior and Lord, and to share in the renewing of
his world.” This is an essential conviction. To lead, instruct, and equip all
baptized people the church sets apart and “orders” some as Bishops, priests,
and deacons. These ordained leaders are vested with the authority to teach, preach, and lead on behalf of the whole church. In many, if not yet most, Provinces of the Anglican Communion, both men and women are ordained to these offices.
Q. What is the
duty of all Christians?
A. The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
Q. Who are the
ministers of the Church?
A. The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
“The true
Anglican position, like the City of God in the Apocalypse, may be said to lie
foursquare. Honestly to accept that position to accept, –
1st. The Holy
Scriptures as the Word of God.
2d. The Primitive Creeds as the Rule of Faith.
3d. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself.
4th. The Episcopate as the key-stone of Governmental Unity.”
– William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), The Church Idea
“And they
[clergy] cannot but lead us right, so long as they but teach us to 'follow the
Lamb whither He goeth.’ For their office is but to lay forth before us the way
traced by the steps that He went. Those steps, when all is done, are ever our
best directions.”
– Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), Sermons of the Nativity Preached Upon Christmas-Day, Sermon X
“Our Church,
in the preface to her Ordinal, has declared, that ‘it is evident unto all men
diligently reading the Holy Scriptures and ancient authors, that, from the
Apostles' time, there have been three orders of ministers in Christ's Church,
Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.’”
– William Hale Hale (1795-1870) The Duties of the Deacons and Priests of the Church of England Compared with Suggestions for the Extension of the Order of Deacons, And the Establishment of an Order of Sub-Deacons
Bishops
Q. What is the
ministry of a bishop?
A. The ministry of a bishop is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as apostle, chief priest, and pastor of a diocese; to guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the whole Church; to proclaim the Word of God; to act in Christ's name for the reconciliation of the world and the building up of the Church; and to ordain others to continue Christ's ministry.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
“The Church
where a Bishop is set with his Colledge of Presbyters about him, we call a Sea;
the Local compass of his authority we term a Diocess. Unto a Bishop within the
compass of his own both Sea and Diocess, it hath by right of place evermore
appertained to ordain Presbyters, to make Deacons, and with judgment, to
dispose of all things of waight.
– Richard Hooker (1555-1600), Lawes of Ecclesiastical Polity
“It is generally agreed that in the first age of the Church, bishops were chosen by the suffrages of the faithful, and then consecrated to their office and given authority to execute its duties by other bishops who had in times past been similarly empowered. It is thus that the American Episcopate is perpetuated to-day. Our bishops trace their consecration to the Anglican Church, and through the
Anglican Church to the Church of the Apostolical age; but they owe their election to the free voice of the people of their respective flocks, and exercise their authority in as strict conformity to constitutional law as a president or a governor.”
– William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), The Church Idea
“The Bishop . . . will help us to see that faith means standing near to the Cross in the heart of the contemporary world, and not only standing but acting. Our faith will be tested in our actions, not least in our actions concerning peace, concerning race, concerning poverty. Faith is a costly certainty, but no easy security as our God is blazing fire.”
– Michael Ramsey (1904-1988), address at the opening of the 1968 Lambeth Conference
“I don’t want to see the church so balkanised that we talk only to people we like and agree with. . . a bishop is a person who has to make each side of a debate audible to the other.”
– Rowan Williams (1950 - ), from Rowan Williams: God's boxer an interview with David Hare in ‘The Guardian’
As the chief shepherds of the church, Bishops are accorded a degree of respect. That is meet and right. But that respect should not be obsequious. But their authority is not absolute and there is the acknowledgement of their fallibility. They are human – and sometimes all too human.
“As for us over whom Christ hath placed them [bishops] to be the chiefest guides and pastors of our souls, our common fault is that we look for much more in our governors than a tolerable sufficiency can yield, and bear much less than humanity and reason do require we should. Too much perfection over rigorously exacted in them, cannot but breed in us perpetual discontent, and on both parts cause all things to be unpleasant.”
– Richard Hooker (1554-1600), Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity
“The Divine Thing that made itself the foundation of the Church does not seem, to judge by his comments on the religious leadership of his day, to have hoped much from officers of a church. The most he would do was to promise that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. It is about all that, looking back on the history of the Church, one can feel that they have not done.”
– Charles Williams (1886-1945), He Came Down from Heaven
Priests
Q. What is the ministry of a priest or presbyter?
A. The ministry of a priest is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as pastor to the people; to share with the bishop in the overseeing of the Church; to proclaim the Gospel; to administer the sacraments; and to bless and declare pardon in the name of God.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
“The Greek and Latin words which we translate Priest, are derived from words which signifie holy: and so the word Priest according to the Etymologie, signifies him whose meer charge and function is about holy things: and therefore seems to be a most proper word to him, who is set apart to the holy publick service and worship of God: especially when he is, in the actual ministration of holy things. Wherefore in the Rubricks, which direct him in his ministration of these holy publick services, the word Priest is most commonly used, both by this Church and all the Primitive Churches Greek and Latin as far as I can find, and I believe it can scarce be found, that in any of the old Greek or Latin Liturgies the word Presbyter was used in the Rubricks that direct the order of service, but in the Greek, ἱερεύς (hiereus), and in the Latin Sacerdos, which we in English translate Priest, which I suppose to be done upon this ground, that this word Priest is the most proper for him that ministers, in the time of his ministration.
If it be objected, that according to the usual acception of the word, it signifies him that offers up a Sacrifice, and therefore cannot be allowed to a Minister of the Gospel, who hath no Sacrifice to offer.
It is answered: that the Ministers of the Gospel, have Sacrifices to offer, S. Peter 1 ep. 2. 5. Ye are built up a spiritual house, a holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices of prayer, praises, thanksgivings, &c. In respect of these the Ministers of the Gospel may be safely in a metaphorical sence called Priests; and in a more eminent manner than other Christians are; because they are taken from among men to offer up these Sacrifices for others. But besides these spiritual Sacrifices mentioned, the Ministers of the Gospel have another Sacrifice to offer, viz. the unbloody Sacrifice, as it was anciently call’d, the commemorative Sacrifice of the death of Christ, which does as really and truly shew forth the death of Christ, as those Sacrifices under the Law did foreshew it, and in respect of this Sacrifice of the Eucharist, the Ancients have usually call’d those that offer it up, Priests.”
– Anthony Sparrow (1612-1685), A Rationale upon the Book of Common-Prayer of the Church of England
“The priest is the teacher and preacher, and as such he [or she] is the man [woman] of theology. He[or She] is pledged to be a dedicated student of theology; and his [or her] study need not be vast in extent but it will be deep in its integrity, not in order that he [or she] may be erudite but in order that he may be simple.”
A. The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
A. The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
2d. The Primitive Creeds as the Rule of Faith.
3d. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself.
4th. The Episcopate as the key-stone of Governmental Unity.”
– William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), The Church Idea
– Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), Sermons of the Nativity Preached Upon Christmas-Day, Sermon X
– William Hale Hale (1795-1870) The Duties of the Deacons and Priests of the Church of England Compared with Suggestions for the Extension of the Order of Deacons, And the Establishment of an Order of Sub-Deacons
A. The ministry of a bishop is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as apostle, chief priest, and pastor of a diocese; to guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the whole Church; to proclaim the Word of God; to act in Christ's name for the reconciliation of the world and the building up of the Church; and to ordain others to continue Christ's ministry.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
– Richard Hooker (1555-1600), Lawes of Ecclesiastical Polity
“It is generally agreed that in the first age of the Church, bishops were chosen by the suffrages of the faithful, and then consecrated to their office and given authority to execute its duties by other bishops who had in times past been similarly empowered. It is thus that the American Episcopate is perpetuated to-day. Our bishops trace their consecration to the Anglican Church, and through the
Anglican Church to the Church of the Apostolical age; but they owe their election to the free voice of the people of their respective flocks, and exercise their authority in as strict conformity to constitutional law as a president or a governor.”
– William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), The Church Idea
“The Bishop . . . will help us to see that faith means standing near to the Cross in the heart of the contemporary world, and not only standing but acting. Our faith will be tested in our actions, not least in our actions concerning peace, concerning race, concerning poverty. Faith is a costly certainty, but no easy security as our God is blazing fire.”
– Michael Ramsey (1904-1988), address at the opening of the 1968 Lambeth Conference
“I don’t want to see the church so balkanised that we talk only to people we like and agree with. . . a bishop is a person who has to make each side of a debate audible to the other.”
– Rowan Williams (1950 - ), from Rowan Williams: God's boxer an interview with David Hare in ‘The Guardian’
As the chief shepherds of the church, Bishops are accorded a degree of respect. That is meet and right. But that respect should not be obsequious. But their authority is not absolute and there is the acknowledgement of their fallibility. They are human – and sometimes all too human.
“As for us over whom Christ hath placed them [bishops] to be the chiefest guides and pastors of our souls, our common fault is that we look for much more in our governors than a tolerable sufficiency can yield, and bear much less than humanity and reason do require we should. Too much perfection over rigorously exacted in them, cannot but breed in us perpetual discontent, and on both parts cause all things to be unpleasant.”
– Richard Hooker (1554-1600), Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity
“The Divine Thing that made itself the foundation of the Church does not seem, to judge by his comments on the religious leadership of his day, to have hoped much from officers of a church. The most he would do was to promise that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. It is about all that, looking back on the history of the Church, one can feel that they have not done.”
– Charles Williams (1886-1945), He Came Down from Heaven
Priests
Q. What is the ministry of a priest or presbyter?
A. The ministry of a priest is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as pastor to the people; to share with the bishop in the overseeing of the Church; to proclaim the Gospel; to administer the sacraments; and to bless and declare pardon in the name of God.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
“The Greek and Latin words which we translate Priest, are derived from words which signifie holy: and so the word Priest according to the Etymologie, signifies him whose meer charge and function is about holy things: and therefore seems to be a most proper word to him, who is set apart to the holy publick service and worship of God: especially when he is, in the actual ministration of holy things. Wherefore in the Rubricks, which direct him in his ministration of these holy publick services, the word Priest is most commonly used, both by this Church and all the Primitive Churches Greek and Latin as far as I can find, and I believe it can scarce be found, that in any of the old Greek or Latin Liturgies the word Presbyter was used in the Rubricks that direct the order of service, but in the Greek, ἱερεύς (hiereus), and in the Latin Sacerdos, which we in English translate Priest, which I suppose to be done upon this ground, that this word Priest is the most proper for him that ministers, in the time of his ministration.
If it be objected, that according to the usual acception of the word, it signifies him that offers up a Sacrifice, and therefore cannot be allowed to a Minister of the Gospel, who hath no Sacrifice to offer.
It is answered: that the Ministers of the Gospel, have Sacrifices to offer, S. Peter 1 ep. 2. 5. Ye are built up a spiritual house, a holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices of prayer, praises, thanksgivings, &c. In respect of these the Ministers of the Gospel may be safely in a metaphorical sence called Priests; and in a more eminent manner than other Christians are; because they are taken from among men to offer up these Sacrifices for others. But besides these spiritual Sacrifices mentioned, the Ministers of the Gospel have another Sacrifice to offer, viz. the unbloody Sacrifice, as it was anciently call’d, the commemorative Sacrifice of the death of Christ, which does as really and truly shew forth the death of Christ, as those Sacrifices under the Law did foreshew it, and in respect of this Sacrifice of the Eucharist, the Ancients have usually call’d those that offer it up, Priests.”
– Anthony Sparrow (1612-1685), A Rationale upon the Book of Common-Prayer of the Church of England
“The priest is the teacher and preacher, and as such he [or she] is the man [woman] of theology. He[or She] is pledged to be a dedicated student of theology; and his [or her] study need not be vast in extent but it will be deep in its integrity, not in order that he [or she] may be erudite but in order that he may be simple.”
– Michael Ramsey (1904-1988), The Christian Priest Today
“What is the role of the parish priest today? It is to be in the middle of both the Christian and the non-Christian community as somebody who 'keeps the door of the empty tomb open' in people's lives. Someone who holds that openness of the world to God: that through that great emptiness, the empty tomb, and the stone moved aside; through that God came through and made a difference in the world. And we who preach the resurrection have that responsibility – our holding that door open. Now that means in terms of the Christian community that the parish priest is someone who preaches and celebrates and – if that's your tradition – hears confessions too: keeping the doors of grace open, reminding people in the household of faith that again and again God comes in and is free to come in. But in the wider community – because the parish priest is as we all know, not just there for the believers – it's finding all the ways possible of saying to folk 'there's more to you than you realise', 'things are possible that you didn't know'. And that's where the parish priest's involvement in all sorts of community work and regeneration and keeping the wheels of common life turning, is a theological thing: not just doing it for secular reasons, but doing it out of obedience to the Risen Christ. And that sense that here is someone in the middle of a community 'keeping the door open' I think that's the very heartbeat of the parish priest's life, and I find myself immensely moved by the courage and the imagination with which parish priests up and down the country do that day after day, hour after hour. I so glad that that is done.”
– Rowan Williams (1950 - ), Risen Today: The Resurrection as Good News Now, Part two of the Bishop of Winchester’s Lent Lectures, February 28, 2008
“The pastor’s whole job is to safeguard the community’s joy, to guard against how we so easily slip back into fear, and cover ourselves with despair. There aren’t enough people. There isn’t enough money. We tried that once. No one will like that. Fear is the spiritual practice of looking at the darkness and giving up. Hope is the practice of looking at the world’s darkness and remembering God’s faithfulness. As a priest, your job is to call people back to hope, and to safeguard their joy.”
– Craig Loya, Bishop of Minnesota, Sermon Preached at the Ordination of Cody Maynus as a Priest in Christ’s Church, Friday, June 12, 2020
“Preaching is like weaving. There are the two factors of the warp and the woof. There is a fixed, unalterable element, which for us is the Word of God, and there is a variable element, which enables the weaver to change and vary the pattern at his will. For us, that variable element is the constantly changing pattern of people and of situations.”
– Stephen Neill (1900-1984), On the Ministry
“The point of preaching is actually to open people’s horizons in a new way, to open places in the heart they didn’t know were there.”
– Rowan Williams (1950 - ), I am afraid I failed to write down the source of this quote
Deacons
Q. What is the ministry of a deacon?
A. The ministry of a deacon is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as a servant of those in need; and to assist bishops and priests in the proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
“The duties of the Deacons. . . are evidently of two kinds, Ecclesiastical and Temporal. Their Ecclesiastical ministrations are all public in their character: ‘to assist the Priest in the divine service, specially in the Holy Communion and in the distribution thereof; to read Holy Scriptures and Homilies in the Church to the people there assembled; to instruct the youth in the Catechism; to baptize infants in the absence of the Priest; to preach, if admitted thereto by the Bishop himself.’
The Temporal ministrations of the Deacons are, ‘to search for the sick, poor, and impotent people of the parish, and to intimate their estates, names, and places where they dwell to the Curate’ (who has the cure of souls), ‘that by his exhortation they may be relieved,’ &c.”
– William Hale Hale (1795-1870) The Duties of the Deacons and Priests of the Church of England Compared with Suggestions for the Extension of the Order of Deacons, And the Establishment of an Order of Sub-Deacons
“The role of a deacon is to learn and communicate to the church the needs, hopes, and concerns of the world.”
– Ormonde Plater (1933-2016), Many Servants: An Introduction to Deacons
Laity
Anglicans embrace an ordered ministry. But those ministers are set apart for the sake of the whole body of Christ. And the whole body of Christ is called to bear witness to the good news of Jesus Christ and serve the world in his name as healers, reconcilers, peacemakers, etc. In the Anglican tradition, we sometimes say we are “episcopally (bishop) led and synodcially governed.” That is a fancy way of saying that lay members of the church have an essential role in determining how the church functions.
Q. What is the ministry of the laity?
A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ's work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
“Our bishops trace their consecration to the Anglican Church, and through the Anglican Church to the Church of the Apostolical age; but they owe their election to the free voice of the people of their respective flocks, and exercise their authority in as strict conformity to constitutional law as a president or a governor.”
– William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), The Church Idea
“Christianity . . . is the hallowing of all human interests and occupations alike. Worship is a very small fragment of devotion. The Christian does not offer to GOD part of his life or of his endowments in order that he may be at liberty to use the rest according to his own caprice. All life, all endowments, are equally owed to our Lord, arid equally claimed by Him. Every human office in every part is holy. Our conduct — our whole conduct — is a continuous revelation of what we are.”
– Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), Incarnation and Common Life
“As Christians we hold that the faith does cover every fragment of life. As Christians we hold that the greatest thoughts are for every believer.”
– Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), From strength to strength : three sermons on stages in a consecrated life
“What is the role of the parish priest today? It is to be in the middle of both the Christian and the non-Christian community as somebody who 'keeps the door of the empty tomb open' in people's lives. Someone who holds that openness of the world to God: that through that great emptiness, the empty tomb, and the stone moved aside; through that God came through and made a difference in the world. And we who preach the resurrection have that responsibility – our holding that door open. Now that means in terms of the Christian community that the parish priest is someone who preaches and celebrates and – if that's your tradition – hears confessions too: keeping the doors of grace open, reminding people in the household of faith that again and again God comes in and is free to come in. But in the wider community – because the parish priest is as we all know, not just there for the believers – it's finding all the ways possible of saying to folk 'there's more to you than you realise', 'things are possible that you didn't know'. And that's where the parish priest's involvement in all sorts of community work and regeneration and keeping the wheels of common life turning, is a theological thing: not just doing it for secular reasons, but doing it out of obedience to the Risen Christ. And that sense that here is someone in the middle of a community 'keeping the door open' I think that's the very heartbeat of the parish priest's life, and I find myself immensely moved by the courage and the imagination with which parish priests up and down the country do that day after day, hour after hour. I so glad that that is done.”
– Rowan Williams (1950 - ), Risen Today: The Resurrection as Good News Now, Part two of the Bishop of Winchester’s Lent Lectures, February 28, 2008
“The pastor’s whole job is to safeguard the community’s joy, to guard against how we so easily slip back into fear, and cover ourselves with despair. There aren’t enough people. There isn’t enough money. We tried that once. No one will like that. Fear is the spiritual practice of looking at the darkness and giving up. Hope is the practice of looking at the world’s darkness and remembering God’s faithfulness. As a priest, your job is to call people back to hope, and to safeguard their joy.”
– Craig Loya, Bishop of Minnesota, Sermon Preached at the Ordination of Cody Maynus as a Priest in Christ’s Church, Friday, June 12, 2020
“Preaching is like weaving. There are the two factors of the warp and the woof. There is a fixed, unalterable element, which for us is the Word of God, and there is a variable element, which enables the weaver to change and vary the pattern at his will. For us, that variable element is the constantly changing pattern of people and of situations.”
– Stephen Neill (1900-1984), On the Ministry
“The point of preaching is actually to open people’s horizons in a new way, to open places in the heart they didn’t know were there.”
– Rowan Williams (1950 - ), I am afraid I failed to write down the source of this quote
Deacons
Q. What is the ministry of a deacon?
A. The ministry of a deacon is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as a servant of those in need; and to assist bishops and priests in the proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
“The duties of the Deacons. . . are evidently of two kinds, Ecclesiastical and Temporal. Their Ecclesiastical ministrations are all public in their character: ‘to assist the Priest in the divine service, specially in the Holy Communion and in the distribution thereof; to read Holy Scriptures and Homilies in the Church to the people there assembled; to instruct the youth in the Catechism; to baptize infants in the absence of the Priest; to preach, if admitted thereto by the Bishop himself.’
The Temporal ministrations of the Deacons are, ‘to search for the sick, poor, and impotent people of the parish, and to intimate their estates, names, and places where they dwell to the Curate’ (who has the cure of souls), ‘that by his exhortation they may be relieved,’ &c.”
– William Hale Hale (1795-1870) The Duties of the Deacons and Priests of the Church of England Compared with Suggestions for the Extension of the Order of Deacons, And the Establishment of an Order of Sub-Deacons
“The role of a deacon is to learn and communicate to the church the needs, hopes, and concerns of the world.”
– Ormonde Plater (1933-2016), Many Servants: An Introduction to Deacons
Laity
Anglicans embrace an ordered ministry. But those ministers are set apart for the sake of the whole body of Christ. And the whole body of Christ is called to bear witness to the good news of Jesus Christ and serve the world in his name as healers, reconcilers, peacemakers, etc. In the Anglican tradition, we sometimes say we are “episcopally (bishop) led and synodcially governed.” That is a fancy way of saying that lay members of the church have an essential role in determining how the church functions.
Q. What is the ministry of the laity?
A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ's work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
“Our bishops trace their consecration to the Anglican Church, and through the Anglican Church to the Church of the Apostolical age; but they owe their election to the free voice of the people of their respective flocks, and exercise their authority in as strict conformity to constitutional law as a president or a governor.”
– William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), The Church Idea
“Christianity . . . is the hallowing of all human interests and occupations alike. Worship is a very small fragment of devotion. The Christian does not offer to GOD part of his life or of his endowments in order that he may be at liberty to use the rest according to his own caprice. All life, all endowments, are equally owed to our Lord, arid equally claimed by Him. Every human office in every part is holy. Our conduct — our whole conduct — is a continuous revelation of what we are.”
– Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), Incarnation and Common Life
“As Christians we hold that the faith does cover every fragment of life. As Christians we hold that the greatest thoughts are for every believer.”
– Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), From strength to strength : three sermons on stages in a consecrated life
“The Anglican Church preserves . . . the rights of both clergy and laity. She believes that the laity are sharers in the priesthood, royalty, and prophetical power of Christ.
The laity have thus a choice for their vestries and officers in the selection of their pastors. The laity and clergy assemble yearly together in Diocesan Council, and pass their own canons, regulating the government and discipline of the Diocese. The clergy and laity can vote separately, and thus have a veto power on each other.”
– Charles Grafton (1830-1912), Some Characteristics of the Episcopal Church
“The temptation to establish a ‘set apart’ ministry of the ordained haunts the church. We have great difficulty grasping the idea that all of us are called, all of us are ministers. Confronted by God
The separation of the body into clergy and laity was not intrinsically sinful. … The sin lay in what we did with the division, assigning to one part the designation that belonged to the whole people of God—holiness.”
– Verna Dozer (1917-2006), The Dream of God
“There are no second-class citizens in the household of God. Religious authority comes with baptism, and it is nurtured by prayer, worship, bible study, life together.”
– Verna Dozer (1917-2006, The Calling of the Laity
“I define ministry as service in response to the dream of God, the restoration of the good creation that God brought into being at the beginning and that ‘groans in travail’ as Paul put it, for the people of God to wake up to the reason why they are called.”
– Verna Dozer (1917-2006), The Dream of God
“If I believe that there is a loving God, who has created me and wants me to be a part of a people who will carry the good news of the love of that God to the world, what difference does it make when I go to my office at 9 o'clock Monday morning? What difference does it make in my office that I believe there is a loving God, that God loves me, and that God loves all human beings exactly as God loves me? What different kinds of decisions do I make? What am I called to do in that office?”
– Verna Dozer (1917-2006), Authority of the Laity
Anglicans have an number of influential lay members, some of whom became public teachers of the faith. Here are some examples:
Religious Orders
Anglicans also have Monastic
communities—often known as religious orders— which are communities of men and
women, lay and ordained, who live under a common rule of life, often taking
vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience.
“We must see that we go on learning to be true Religious by a constantly-increasing attention to the mysteries of God’s Word. Wonderful is it how the life of God opens to the soul—but we must watch. It is a laborious and a detailed exercise; the same consonants as it were, but speaking in such fresh fulness of meaning with fresh vowels. The same routine of outward observance, time-table, earthly work, but continually renewed affections, gifts of grace, intentions, joys of heaven.”
– Richard Meaux Benson (1824-1915), Letters of Father Benson [Benson was one of the founders of the Society of St. John the Evangelist monastic community]
“It is the blessedness of our Religious Life that we have already died to all that are upon the earth, and our portion is much more with those that are at rest than with those that are struggling. And yet none have such a struggle as we have. The world cannot even realize what our struggle is. But in our struggle our true strength is to be restful, buried with Christ, abiding in God, that Satan may do what he will, but may find us unmoved.”
– Richard Meaux Benson (1824-1915), Letters of Father Benson
“The vows of the Religious Life had their meaning because through them the soul was dedicated to God to a degree and after a manner which would not otherwise be. Humility was but a necessary consequence of the attitude which the creature must hold towards the Creator, on whom all created being depends. Self-denial was an instrument for clearer vision of God and closer conformity to the divine will.”
– Harwell Stone (1859-1941), An Appreciation, Appendix in Letters of Father Benson
“‘The innate principle of monasticism,’ writes Rev. F. C. Woodhouse, ‘is the life of God.’ The devout soul ‘desires God above all things, and God alone’. It seeks solitude that it may better commune with God. As it grows in likeness to Christ, it is forced to imitate His life of mercy for the bodies and souls of men. ‘They do not flee away from the world in order to escape duties, trials, or temptations, but to meet them as valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ.’ It is ‘an honest and literal acceptance and fulfilment of our Lord’s precepts in the Sermon on the Mount, and has adapted itself to the requirements of all times and all environments’.”
– Charles Grafton (1830-1912), A Journey Godward [Grafton was one of the founders of the Society of St. John the Evangelist monastic community and later co-founded the Sisters of the Holy Nativity along with Sister Ruth Margaret Vose (1826-1910) who was that order’s first mother superior]
Previous:
14. Committed to Common Prayer
Next:
16. Passionate, but Balanced, Patient, Humble, Comprehensive
Back to the beginning:
No comments:
Post a Comment