Posts
The collects for today, Good Friday, from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer:
Almighty God, we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the cross, who now liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church is governed and sanctified; Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before thee for all estates of men in thy holy Church, that every member of the same, in his vocation and ministry, may truly and godly serve thee; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
O merciful God, who hast made all men, and hatest nothing thou hast made, nor wouldest the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live; Have mercy upon all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Hereticks, and take from them all ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of thy Word; and so fetch them home, blessed Lord, to thy flock, that they may be saved among the remnant of the true Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Epistle: Hebrews 10:1-25
The Gospel: St John 19:1-37
Artwork: Andrea Mantegna, Calvary, 1457-60. Tempera on wood, Musée du Louvre, Paris.
On this Good Friday, I happened to be in Montreal, with my two daughters, visiting friends over the Easter holiday weekend, and enjoying time with my remaining children who in a very short time, will be leaving our “nest”.
I thought it good, on this day of remembrance, to attend a place of Christian worship, in a tradition somewhat unlike our own. Primarily to educate my children on means and methods of believers who are “in other folds” and to spend time, meditating on the “sufferings of Christ” as well as the “glories” that followed.
Naively, we attended a family service of Christ Church cathedral, part of the Anglican communion in Montreal. It was close, and offered some interesting architecture, and seemed to be the flagship (hence catherdral) of anglicanism in this area.
I was prepared for “un service bilingue” but the entire first portion was in English. There was a mixed choir, young and old, which performed, at least for me, a meaningful “Stations of the Cross” service, with the choir and a few of the children in the congregation, circulating the perimeter of the bullding, and at each stop, reading a scripture, giving a prayer and singing a verse or two of of a hymn from the book of Common Praise. Of course some of the scriptures were “apocryphal” as there are some stations for which there is no scriptural evidence. As to be expected the music quality of the choir was excellent and I found the whole 30 minute exercise helpful.
Afterwards followed a brief interlude, of quiet personal meditation, followed by a period of public worship and meditation, performed by the choir and clergy. Once again the choir sang well, what sounded like medieval songs and then a reflection followed from the leadership. In this case it was: “the Very Reverend Michael J. Pitts, Dean of Montreal”. (A very lofty title indeed). He began what was a very well spoken essay on what the cross and death of Christ, meant to him. As he read he text, his diction was excellent as he spoke clearly and expressively. Pausing at the right points to great effect). He thesis was that the death of Christ by crucifixion was indeed an historic event, as much as any other event from antiquity could be considered historical and factual). He referred to “the canonical writings” giving a view of Christ as a rejected Messiah, and OT sacrifice as well as recent literature, which gave a different perspective on Christ as soley a teacher of wisdom. He thesis was that the early writers and interpreters did not have any singular view of the cross. In particular, he was emphatic in stating that the view of Christ, as the suffering servant, who was dying for the sins of the world, under the wrathful hand of God, was “pathological” and not at all helpful or healthful to the current world in which we live. He also mentioned that this view was very late in development. His meditation ended with the view that Christ as a representative human, identifying with the long list of human suffering and injustice that one sees in the world. Clearly this was the view he wished us to embrace.
As a “simple” Christian I was stunned. I was deeply saddened and prepared my two daughters to leave, just after the meditation of movement which followed. If my daugthers had not been present, I would have stood up and made a short public statement (which is probably rarely done in the Anglican tradition) regarding my departure due to my adherence and belief in a view which in the mind of the Very Reverend Gill was “pathological”
How long Lord? How long will you tolerate, those, who claiming to be ministers of your gospel and grace, proclaiming error and suppressing the truth of your holy Scripures.
Russell
(Glad to be part of a tradition which has
thus far, held to a high Christology, through
faith, confession and communion)
Russell,
I am sorry to hear about your troubling experience at Christ Church Montreal. The understanding of the Bible and Christian theology embodied in that sermon is fairly common in the Anglican Church of Canada. For that reason, unfortunately, one needs to be careful about which Anglican church one visits in this country. That, it seems to me, is one big reason why membership in the ACC has fallen by 40% in recent decades.
The stance taken in that sermon is contradicted, not only by Scripture, but also by the Thirty-Nine Articles, the foundational doctrinal statement of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.
It’s too bad you could not have attended the service at Christ Church Whitehorse, where Dean Peter Williams preached that, in his death on the cross, Jesus Christ was indeed the suffering servant prophesied by Isaiah and the one who paid the penalty for the sins of the world. Dean Williams referred to many biblical passages, including some which directly contradict what you heard, for example, St Mark 10:45: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”.
The view that Christ’s death was his identification with human suffering is plainly inadequate because that means that he did not deal with the fundamental problem of the human race: Our sin that separates us from God. Unless that separation has been removed, mankind is no better off after the crucifixion. It is, in fact, the view you heard that is pathological, and neither helpful nor healthful.
Your closing questions are ones that faithful Anglicans have been asking for some time.
God be with you.
Scott
Russell,
Greetings from Brandon MB. We are blessed to have Bishop Harding (Southern Cone) as our pastor. Each time he speaks the difference between the ACoC becomes more apparent. For +Malcolm and for us Christ is not a historical figure to be debated about.
Is the Father with us? He is!
Is Christ among us? He is!
Is the Spirit here? He is!
I pray the Spirit guides you to a Christ loving church.
[...] a gander at the first comment on Scott’s blog. It says it [...]
“I could never belong to a church which binds its members to particular doctrines and theological views, requiring them to sign statements of essentials or covenants of doctrine. If there is heresy in the church today, I believe it is that.”
The conclusion of Rev Pitts’ Trinity Sunday semon.
[...] MAGISTATS: Good Friday; and Maundy Thursday; thence Easter Even. The source of Justice, Peace, True Freedom [...]
Russell, I hope you are able to attend an edifying, Christ-centred, and God-glorifying service on Sunday. Friday was definitely the Pitts.
Thanks one and all for your helpful and encouraging comments. I am very glad that there
are believers in the ACC assemblies who still
are prepared to follow the Lord Jesus and the
apostles doctrine ala Acts 2:42.
I am very ignorant about the inner workings of
the ACC but it would seem in other denominations,
that the church (people and hierarchy) should
be able to discipline such as the Rev. Pitts, by
citing as Scott has mentioned, the common confession of the 39 articles as a defining
document of Anglican belief and practice.
Encouraged and hopeful,
Russell
Ah Russell. Would that they would discipline! Anyway, if you are interested in the whole sorry story of the ACoC’s lemming like jump off the cliff, you could start here:
http://www.anglicannetwork.ca/