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Category Archives: Anglican Church
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Chalking the Door
Here is my liturgy for Chalking the Door at the end of Christmastide. There doesn’t seem to be a common liturgy published anywhere so I created my own and this is what my wife and I do every January 5. Feel free to download.
Feast Day of St. Nicholas
In 323 AD at the Council of Nicea, Saint Nicholas (the inspiration for Santa Claus) smacked the heretic Arius in the face to interrupt a speech denying the divinity of Christ.
“He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice,
He’s going to find out if you deny the divinity of Christ! Santa Claus is coming to town!”
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’re a heretic and he’ll punch you in your face”
Have a blessed St. Nicholas day beloved.
Very little is known about the life of Nicholas. He became Bishop of Myra on the southwest coast of Asia Minor. He may have been imprisoned for his faith in the persecution (303-311) that began under the Emperor Diocletian, and he may have attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. Nicholas is the traditional patron of seafarers and sailors. He is also known as a patron of children, based on his reputation as a bearer of gifts to children. The Dutch brought his name to New York. He is popularly known as Santa Claus. Nicholas is commemorated in the Anglican calendar of the church year on Dec. 6.
Church of England backs plans for trial blessings of same-sex weddings
General Synod’s narrow vote in favour means services to celebrate gay marriages could be held within weeks
Dedicated church services to bless the weddings of same-sex couples could be held within weeks, after a narrow vote at the Church of England ruling body.
The General Synod backed a plan to hold standalone services of blessings for same-sex couples on a trial basis.
It means that gay Christians will be able to invite family and friends to a special service, which could be held on Saturdays, to bless and celebrate their weddings. Music, readings, confetti and other features would mean such services could look very similar to a standard church wedding.
The proposal for standalone services on a trial basis came in an amendment to a motion that noted progress made by bishops on the divisive issues of sexuality, known within the C of E as Living in Love and Faith. The amendment scraped through by one vote; the amended motion passed by 227 votes to 203.
Steven Croft, the bishop of Oxford, who proposed the amendment, said the “experimental” standalone services would be voluntary and no member of the clergy would be obliged to offer such services.
Last month, bishops agreed to commend special prayers of blessing for same-sex couples for use in existing church services. These are likely to begin before Christmas.
Rachel Mann becomes Church of England’s first transgender archdeacon
The Church of England has appointed its first transgender archdeacon.
Rev Canon Rachel Mann has been made Archdeacon of Bolton and Salford, having ministered in the Diocese of Manchester for the last 18 years.
Canon Rachel who is also an author and radio commentator, served her curacy at St Matthew’s Church, Stretford before taking on the role of Priest-in-Charge and later Rector at the Church of St Nicholas, Burnage. In June 2021, she left St Nicholas Burnage to take on her current role of Area Dean of Bury and Rossendale.
Continue readingArchbishop of Canterbury ‘Dismayed’ at Ugandan Church Support of New Anti-Gay Law
The archbishop of Canterbury has written to Ugandan Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba to express his “grief and dismay” at the Church of Uganda’s support of the African country’s anti-LGBT law.
“Within the Anglican Communion we continue to disagree over matters of sexuality, but in our commitment to God-given human dignity we must be united,” Justin Welby said in a statement Friday.
The Ugandan law, approved by President Yoweri Museveni, is severe. Under the law, gay sex is punishable by life in prison. “Aggravated homosexuality,” which includes transmitting HIV, is punishable by death.
Kaziimba has said he welcomes the new law, saying that homosexuality was being pushed on Ugandans by “foreign actors.”
“This is not about imposing Western values on our Ugandan Anglican sisters and brothers,” Welby said in his statement. “It is about reminding them of the commitments we have made as Anglicans to treat every person with the care and respect they deserve as children of God.”
Anglicans reject Justin Welby as head of global church amid anger at same-sex blessings
The leaders of Anglican churches in some developing countries, including South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have said they no longer recognise Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, as the head of the global church.
Their decision stems from the decision this month of the Church of England’s governing body, the General Synod, to allow clergy to bless couples in same-sex marriages.
The conservative Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA), which claims to speak for 75% of Anglicans worldwide, said in a statement on Monday that the C of E had “departed from the historic faith” and disqualified itself as the “mother church” of the Anglican communion.
Continue readingHow to calculate the date of Easter in the Western Church
Easter Sunday falls on a different Sunday every year. Using the 1928 Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church, Easter falls on the first Sunday, between March 21st and April 19th, after the Paschal full Moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox. If the full moon lands on a Sunday, then Easter is the following Sunday
The date is fixed in accordance with an ancient ecclesiastical computation, and does not always correspond to the astronomical equinox. The Metonic cycle of 19 years is one in which the phases of the Moon repeat exactly. It is thus possible to have a 19-year cycle for the dates of full or new Moon. In the Julian calendar this 19-year cycle can be fairly easily translated into a date for Easter.
The date of the Paschal Full Moon, used to determine the date of Easter, is based on mathematical approximations following a 19-year cycle called the Metonic cycle.
March 21 is the Church’s date of the March equinox, regardless of the time zone, while the actual date of the equinox varies between March 19 and March 22, and the date depends on the time zone.
In today’s Gregorian calendar the calculation is complicated by the definition of which century years are leap years. These leap years mess up the simple Metonic cycle by altering the number of days in different periods of 19 years.
On page lii and liii of the 1928 BCP, you can find the calculation for determining when Easter Sunday is. It requires the following steps:
- Find the Golden number or “Prime”
- Find the Sunday (Dominical) Letter
- Determine Easter Sunday on Calendar with item # 1,2
My One Year Reading Plan
I developed my own One Year Bible Reading Plan because most of the plans on the internet were in order of the Holy Bible which finished the year reading Revelation during Advent and Christmas! I somehow thought that after a full year of intense Bible study I couldn’t see myself reading about the apocalypse and Armageddon while reading Matthew. I decided to divide up the themes of the Holy Bible across a 7 day period for 52 weeks. I found an excellent little church in New Zealand called “City” https://city.org.nz. The pastor there worked up a plan that was heavy on theme rather than chronological. Here is a link to that bible reading plan…. https://city.org.nz/pdf/bible-plan.pdf. I discovered the time periods each book was written with help from the ESV Study Bible ,(A Mighty Oak of a study bible!) I then came up with a excel spreadsheet, printable for one page with highlights to show the time periods and themes.
This first download is my plan without color…
This download is my original plan that includes color and easier to see the bible themes.
Here is a simple checklist to keep track of your verses when reading throughout the year.
Here is a version that also includes the apocrypha
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