High Church, Anglo-Catholic, and Charismatic--of Sorts

By Robin G. Jordan

Writers have slumps and I am no different from other writers. Last week ended and this week began with a slump. I had several unfinished articles that I needed to complete. But whatever impels me to write was missing. Whenever I experience a slump, I take a break. During the break something will inspire me—at least figuratively—to take up my pen again. This time was no different. A comment of a friend prompted me to view the two videos of the Foley Beach consecration on Anglican TV. They may be found here and here. I admittedly did not watch the entire videos. I fast-forwarded through various parts of the service. I also did not look at a third video. What I did see and my friend’s comment energized me to write this article.

The Foley Beach consecration was an unpleasant reminder of how far the North American Church has departed from authentic historical Anglicanism—not only in the Anglican Church of Canada, The Episcopal Church, and the Continuing Anglican Churches but also in the new Anglican Church in North America. I realize that all these Anglican bodies may contain exceptions to this observation but the existence of these exceptions does not invalidate this observation. The North American Church has taken a road that has led it farther and farther away from the Protestant faith of the reformed Church of England and her formularies. Those who hope to see the new Anglican Church in North America at the forefront of a renewal of authentic historic Anglicanism in North America and have for that reason thrown in their lot with the ACNA are going to suffer bitter disappointment. They are not going to experience the realization of their dream. The leaders of the Anglican Church in North America have no aspirations to take the ACNA in that direction.

A number of things caught my attention during my brief viewing of the two videos. Among these things was that a large part of the congregation was balding or graying and was well into middle age.

Most of the clergy wore High Church vestments. Bishops wearing rochet and chimera wore copes over them. Several miters were in evidence.

The chancel platform had five steps and elevated the “altar” above the heads of the congregation. I was reminded of a number of baroque Roman Catholic churches that I have visited. The “altar” is so elevated as it is the throne of Christ, “substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine….”

In contrast to the elevated “altar” were the two large multimedia projection wall screens flanking it. These multimedia projection wall screens are a common sight in contemporary evangelical and independent charismatic churches. A number of non-evangelical churches have adopted them. On the screens were projected slides of stained glass windows, not the lyrics of the songs. The congregants had been provided with a service booklet that contained the lyrics of the songs as well as the text of the service.

A woman blew the shofer, or ram’s horn at the beginning of the service before the organ introduction to the opening hymn. This was a departure from traditional Jewish practice in which only men blow the shofer. To my mind the sounding of the shofer or a fanfare of trumpets would have been more appropriate before the reading of the Gospel in place of a song or acclamation. Before the shofer was used to summon the people to the synagogue, it was used to summon them to the sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem.

The music of the consecration service blended traditional and contemporary. The song before the reading of the Gospel was a contemporary praise and worship, “Mighty to Save.” From a liturgical perspective the song was not a good choice for the position in the service in which it was used. It was too long for the particular juncture in the service and interrupted the service’s flow. It would have been better used elsewhere such as at the Offertory as a response to the readings and the sermon or immediately before or after the Post-Communion Prayer as a response to the gospel made visible in the sacrament. In the worship gatherings of the church with which I am presently sojourning “Mighty to Save” would have been sung as an opening song or in the worship set that follows the opener. Or it would have been used as a closing song. It lends itself to these points in the worship gathering.

The deacon who read the Gospel was a woman. Her reading of the lesson sent a clear message that the ministry of women deacons in the Anglican Church in North America includes the ministry of the Word

The style of worship was Charismatic-High Church. I might have concluded that the congregation was made up of charismatic Christians for all the uplifted hands. However, uplifted hands are a common worship practice these days and are seen in non-charismatic churches as well as charismatic ones. They do not indicate as they did in the 1980s that the man or woman whose hands are uplifted is a charismatic Christian and has experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the release of the Spirit, much less that the individual concerned prays in tongues. What this practice does show is the widespread influence of the Worship Renewal movement upon evangelical and non-evangelical churches. The late Robert Webber, an evangelical who joined the Episcopal Church, was a leading figure in this movement and also played a leading role in the Ancient-Future or Convergence movement. The two movements are actually different expressions of the same movement.

The Charismatic-High Church style of worship brings together elements of these two different worship styles. The exact proportion of these elements will vary from church to church. A church that incorporates elements from the Charismatic style of worship into its Sunday worship may not be charismatic in its theological outlook. Key charismatic elements such as prophesying in tongues with interpretation, prophesying in English, and singing in the Spirit, what St. Augustine of Hippo referred to as “jubilation,” and praying in concert in English or tongues will be absent. However, the congregation may move to the music or even dance in place, lift up one or both hands, clap their hands to the music, and give utterance to spontaneous praise and adoration. Prayer teams and prayer stations may be placed around the sanctuary where congregants may go to receive prayer and the laying on of hands. The clergy may conduct healing services in which the sick are anointed with oil.

The form of service used at the Foley Beach consecration was largely taken from the Episcopal Church’s 1979 Book of Common Prayer—The Consecration and Ordination of a Bishop. However, a significant addition had been made to the service. Archbishop Duncan as the chief consecrator anointed Beach's forehead and hands after the laying on of hands, which is, a Roman Catholic practice. It is not as old as the practice of laying on of hands as it originated in the fifth century. The English Reformers replaced the anointing in the 1550 Ordinal with the giving of a Bible. This has been the Anglican practice ever since. It emphasizes that a bishop, like a presbyter, is first and foremost a minister of God's Word. Indeed they belong to the same order but perform different offices. The 1550 Ordinal retained the practice of the giving of the pastoral staff. This practice was dropped from the 1552 and1559 Ordinals. In pre-Reformation Medieval England the bishop's head was twice anointed, first with chrism mixed with oil and then with chrism only just before the anointing of the hands. The anointing rite Duncan used, I believe, comes from the Roman Pontifical.

Such anointing is not consistent with the theology of authentic historic Anglicanism.

This particular ceremony spoke volumes about the direction of the Anglican Church in North America—away from the Reformed Catholicism of the Protestant Church of England and her formularies, to which the ACNA gives only lip service and toward the unreformed Catholicism of the independent Catholic and Convergence churches. If there is a future for authentic historic Anglicanism in North America, it does not appear to be in the ACNA or in the Anglican Mission.

We can now add to the growing list of reasons for being far from optimistic about such a future, a bench of bishops in the ACNA and its ministry partner, the Anglican Mission, who do more than look with favor on unreformed Catholic practice. They practice it and by practicing it promote it.

As my grandmother was wont to say, “Acts speak louder than words.” At the Foley Beach consecration actions in more ways than one were speaking very loudly indeed.