Aiya Iluvatar

"Being an Anglican"

Crusty Old Dean comments on the resolution from the Church of England's (CofE) Synod to reaffirm their relationsip with the Episcopal Church while, "the Synod motion has given Church of England affirmation to the desire of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) to remain in some sense within the  Anglican family." Tom puts it this way:

This report is good news. Translated from Church of England speak, it basically means, "Nothing's gonna happen with ACNA for a long, long time. This is what "open ended" engagement means.

via crustyoldean.blogspot.com

"Affirming" a "desire" does nothing other than acknoledge that ACNA wants to be in the communion. "Anglican Family" is as undefined a term in Anglican Ecclesiology as "Enemy Combatant" is in the Geneva Convention.  This is a pretty vague pat on the back from Lambeth.

Tom spends some time in the article comparing the Anglican Communion to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and points out that all members of the Federation recognize the orders of the other, even if their jurisdictions overlap.  The problem with the case of the ACNA is that many of them would refuse to recognize our orders, many of them being held by women.

The root is in the myth of an "Anglican Church" that many people hold.  The Anglican Church is the CofE.  The Anglican Communion is a family of autonomous churches bound by "bonds of affection."  We really are a federation, whether we want to admit it or not, as the LWF is also a "Communion of Churches."  To claim we were more than this, (i.e., a church) juridical power would have to be exercised in between provinces, which is something not even contenanced in the proposed covenant. Those in ACNA that claim we are an "Anglican Church" don't want to be added to the Anglican Communion, they want to replace us.  

There is a lot of romaticism out there about being an "Anglican."  But in the strictest sense, only members of the CofE are truly Anglican. In my experience, when an American starts waxing abouty being "Anglican,"  It usually boils down to some sort of vague appreciation for tea, evensong and the 1637 Scottish eucharisitc canon.  They seem to do this quite often without understading that they are not using the 1662 English canon, and what a thumbing of the nose at the CofE adopting that canon was.  Anglophilia does not make one Anglican.

This is why people can join the new Anglican Ordinariate, play act as Anglicans, and not recognize that they have left something essential behind.  If Anglicanism is nothing but a minor derivation of the Western Rite, then they are correct.  But if Anglicanism is the actual religion espoused by Hooker and Donne and Taylor and Ferrar as a Via Media, then leaving the Anglican Communion for whatever wtipe of purity they seek is not a reaffirmation, but a repudiation (perhaps a refudiation?)

In America, if you are a member of the Episcopal Church, you are an Episcopalian.  Because of our participation in the Communion's "Instruments of Unity," we can lay some claim to being "Anglican." Beyond that, all of those who follow the trappings of Anglicanism might certainly be called part of the "Anglican Family,"  which really does not contain any recognition with it.  After all, everyone you are related to is part of your family, whether they are healthy and sane or not.

Behold! The LOTR Aragorn LEGO Poster! | Hobbit Movie News and Rumors | TheOneRing.net™

Those of us who are anxiously awaiting the upcoming The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit LEGO sets get an additional tease today! Hot off the presses, here is LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Aragorn Poster. I think it is safe to say that Viggo never looked so good as a LEGO! If you were not aware, LEGO has announced recently they will be producing items for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the upcoming The Hobbit films. Collectibles are set to be released this coming Summer. Jump on over to LEGO’s official site for The Lord of the Rings and keep watching TheOneRing.net for more updates! [Official Site] [Download the Poster PDF] [Read the Announcement]

via www.theonering.net

OMG! LOTR LEGOS!

WotC Announces 5th Edition D&D: Should We Care? | GeekDad | Wired.com

On Monday, Wizards of the Coast announced that work is already under way on the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. An article in the New York Times by GeekDad contributor Ethan Gilsdorf details some of the recent history and philosophy that underlies the new development, while a Legends & Lore article by Mike Mearls reveals that part of the process will involve an open play-testing, with rules, classes, monsters and other material being revealed through the D&D website for playtesters to try at their own tables and provide feedback, thereby shaping the development of the game.

via www.wired.com

Schism as a Virus

Watching the "Withdrawal" or whatever it is of the Anglican Mission In America (AMIA) from the Anglican Church of Rwanda has been interesting.  For those of you not in the know, the AMIA was formed in 2000 as a reaction to the "theological liberalism" of the Episcopal Church.  In order to be strictly "Anglican," one has to be in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury through a church in the Anglican Communion.  AMIA's tie was through Rawanda, but that relationship flew to pieces last month over what appears to be personality conflicts among bishops.  While many try to put a brave face on it, AMIA member Mark Galli calls it for what it is:

I think it critical in such times that we say what a thing is–only the truth will set us free. And this thing that happened has a name: schism.  All the AMIA bishops who have resigned are schismatics.

This is a hard sentence to write and to read, because these are otherwise godly men, whose leadership we have admired.  Some we call friends and colleagues.  But there is no other word to describe what they’ve done other than the word schism.

This is troubling, first, because it contradicts Jesus’ expressed prayer for the unity of the church. Second, it threatens to make a lie of AMIA’s posture when we first left the Episcopal Church.  Some accused us of schism at the time, and we responded in one of two ways:  (1) It is not schism if the church we departed had lost its Christian moorings. Or (2) if it is schism, then it is one of the rare exceptions in which schism is the lesser evil. In either case, we held aloft a couple of theological ideals that were motivating us: The authority of Scripture and sexual/moral integrity. We did not leave on a point of personal inspiration.

In my opinion, "Threatens to make a lie of AMIA's posture when we first left the Episcopal Church" should be changed to "Removes the theological smokescreen our leadership used to justify schism."  I'm in the process of reading Douglas Bess' Divided We Stand, which is a history of the "Continuing Anglican Movement."  It's reads kind of like a "bodice ripper" version of Don Armentrout's Episcopal Splinter Groups.  The AMIA is just one of many groups who have left the Episcopal Church over the years for various presenting reasons, from the Reformed Episcopal Church in the 1800s to the Anglican Ordinariates just a few days ago.  However, whatever the presenting reasons, there's always a subtext of bishops behaving badly, and it always seems to follow a particular course:

1. Dissident leaders become frustrated by lack of personal advancement in Episcopal Church.
2. Dissident movement latches onto theological debate du jour.
3. When enough dissidents gather, a loose confederation is formed around their dislike of the Episcopal Church, even if there is little else in common.
4. Dissident confederation leaves Episcopal Church claiming that they are not leaving, but that the church has left them.
5. Dissident confederation creates looser ecclesiological structure and canons that empowers dissident leaders.
6. Dissident confederation ordains many more bishops than it needs, often using Episcopi Vagantes.
7. Dissident confederation cracks apart along papered-over faultlines ignored when the confederation is formed.
8. Remaining dissident groups merge and fracture with amazing frequency, with the bishops sometimes becoming Episcopi Vagantes themselves.

It almost seems to be a viral process designed to create more Episcopi Vagantes.  The speed varies.  The Reformed Episcopal Church is still around, although it has lately become part of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).  (Interestingly, the ACNA was also the name of a group formed after the St. Louis Congress in 1977 in opposition to women's ordination and which split apart later over churchmanship issues.)  But ACNA faces it's own internal problems with women's ordination and other issues that didn't seem so huge when the Episcopal Church was the big bad wolf, but are starting to rear their ugly heads now that they have had time to start getting to know each other.

Perhaps schism really is viral.

Mitt Romney as a D&D Character? NYC Show Celebrates Art and Gaming | GeekDad | Wired.com

Today and tomorrow mark what looks to be an exciting series of events in New York City that celebrate the impact and continued relevance of Dungeons & Dragons on the culture.

via www.wired.com

Happy Birthday, JRR Tolkien

From TheOneRing

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, S.A., on January 3, 1892. He would eventually move to England, become an accomplished linguist and scholar, an Oxford professor and a beloved husband and father. While in his twenties, he began developing a series of stories that went on to become the rich, complex history of a place called Middle-earth: a world that millions would eventually visit, both on the written page and on the big screen, and come to love. TheOneRing.net raises a glass to “The Professor!” today, in honor of all the enjoyment and camaradarie his birth, and life, has lead to. Thank you, professor Tolkien!

louie, louie: Poetry is not, and is against, magic

Poetry is not, and is against, magic

Photo by Thomas Merton

I am reading Rowan Williams’ book of essays about Merton now.  Rowan is a noted critic of poetry and there is an essay about poetry, where Williams says [that Merton says] that poetry isn’t, and is against, magic.

“‘It is the businessman, the propagandist, the politician, not the poet, who devoutly believes in the magic of words.’, writes Merton, ‘for the poet, there is precisely no magic, only life in all its unpredictability and freedom.  All magic is a ruthless venture into manipulation, a vicious circle, a self-fulfilling prophecy.’  Words that ‘work’, independent of their transparency to truth, are magical words.  They live without anchorage in reality.  They exist in order to exercise power, to control or develop a situation according to the will of the speaker.”

via fatherlouie.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas!

 

The Nativity by Gustave Doré

Children's Christmas Sermon - Ralph the Christmas Rat

(And yes, I will do the described dance steps...)

So, these last few years I've told you stories about some of the various animals that were around the manger in Bethlehem.  We had Astrid the camel formerly known as angry, Bennie the loud-braying donkey, the little-known story of Edward the Christmas Elephant, Ralph the dancing Christmas rat... (Pause)   I haven't told you about Ralph?  How could I have let that one go - that's an important story.  Are you sure?  Well, OK, you need to hear that one.

You all know that the action in Bethlehem takes place around an Inn, a kind of hotel of the time where people would stay when they were traveling from out of town.   Like so many houses of the time, it was really common to have rats around the house.  No matter how hard you tried to get rid of them, they'd always come back.  This particular inn was named the Inn-Manuel, after it's first owner, Manuel.  It had a very unusual family of rats that lived inside one of the walls near the fireplace.  They were unusual because they were a very learned family of rats, having previously lived in the house of a rabbi.  When they had lived with the rabbi, Papa Rat would sit all day and listen to the Rabbi as he read from the scriptures.  That had been years ago.  When Mama Rat had given birth to a son, they had moved to the Inn where the food  was better.  Their son Ralph had grown up in a privileged environment for a rat.  His father taught him and his mother fed him from the Inn's bounty.  But what Ralph liked best was the entertainment.

The Inn had a lounge - that's a place where people can relax, get refreshment, and listen to entertainment.  A procession of entertainers came to the Inn-Manuel.  There were singers with back up bands.  There were comedians.  There were stand-up philosophers.  But what Ralph really loved were the occasional dancers.  They came from all over the world, wearing the garb from their countries, and performed some of the most interesting, energetic and unusual dances you can imagine.  Whirling Dervishes from Persia, Belly-Dancers from Babylonia, Stately court dancers from Egypt, and all other sorts came through the Inn, and at night after everyone had gone to sleep, Ralph would sneak out onto the stage and imitate what he had seen.  He even worked out his own routine that went something like this:Paws on Hips, Kick Kick, Jazz Square, Jazz Hands!

Ralph thought he was pretty good, and he practiced over and over until he had it perfect.  But he didn't have an audience.  As most of you know, the first time you do something for your parents they think it's pretty cute, but when it's the 50th time, they tend to ignore you. 

So it came to pass that it was in the middle of the winter and the Emperor had called for a census to be taken.  Everyone had to travel back to the town of their birth to be enrolled.  Every single room in every house in Bethlehem was full of guests.  The Inn was full to overflowing.  Word came that the place was so full that the Innkeeper had  sent a family to the stable out back.  It wasn't such a bad thing - it was a warm and dry place.  "But," thought Ralph, "Whoever it is in the manger is missing out on the full Inn experience."  There wasn't room for them to come in for the entertainment.

Ralph told this to his mother, who said, "I think the mother is entertained enough."  "What do you mean?" asked Ralph.  "She's just given birth.  I don't think she needs any more entertainment.  Papa went to check on them. Plus, son, remember that humans hate rats.  They will never accept you."  At that moment, Papa came back inside the hole.  He was really excited.  "What is it, papa?" asked Ralph.  Papa had an unusual gleam in his eye. "People are saying that the baby born in the manger is the messiah!"  "What's that, Papa?"  "The Rabbi used to talk about it a lot - he's the child that is meant to bring humans closer to God.  Lord knows they need it, with all their brooms and poisons and traps and such."  "How are they doing?" asked mama rat.  "Mother and child are resting quietly.  A very unusual child.  Hard to describe - looks like he's newborn and incredibly old at the same time."  Ralph hatched a plan.  If this child really was whom Papa rat said he might be, then he surely deserved some entertainment.  If he couldn't come to the inn, perhaps the inn could come to him.

That evening, Ralph snuck out and headed back to the stable.  He approached it from the back and was astounded to see an elephant wearing a phylactery holding up the beam of the building.  As the elephant saw him, the pachyderm startled for a minute, but then calmed himself down.  "Phew," he said, "You're a rat, not a mouse."  A small bird on the Elephant's back cawed in laughter, and Ralph squeezed into the stable between a couple of boards.

Inside, it was light and warm and dry.  Mother and Father were gathered around the manger where the baby lay.  Around were assorted animals, shepherds, townspeople and other humans.  Ralph stayed hidden, watching all that was going on.  Finally, at one point the innkeeper's wife  brought out some food and all the humans gathered around, leaving the manger unattended.  Ralph thought, "This is my chance!  I can be their dinner entertainment."  He quickly scurried  to the manger, up the side, and placed himself on the edge facing the baby.  The baby smiled up at him.  His eyes seemed to be full of compassion, and he looked at Ralph with interest.

Ralph readied himself.  This was his big moment.  As the adult humans turned around he leapt into his routine:Paws on hips, Kick Kick, Jazz Square, Jazz Hands!

It was very, very quiet in the stable for a couple of moments.  The humans stood there with their mouths open.  The mother of the child seemed to be studying him with interest.  The baby was beaming at him.  This was going well.  Then a dish dropped and shattered and everything went wrong.  "A RAT!" screamed several of the humans at the same time and a shepherd came running at Ralph, swinging his staff.  Ralph leapt off of the manger and borrowed quickly into a pile of hay.  The shepherd poked at the hay for a couple of minutes, but Ralph had burrowed deep into the pile.
Ralph was devastated.  He had hoped for a better reception at his debut performance.  After a few minutes, he burrowed to the top of the pile and peeked his head out.  "Nice hoofing!" said a donkey eating from the pile of hay, "But you're still a rat, and humans hate you. You'd better stay quiet until they go to sleep."

Ralph pulled his head in and curled up.  This wasn't how he'd hoped it would go, and he was very, very sad.  He woke in a couple of hours.  All the humans had gone to sleep, so he carefully crawled out of the pile and started to make his way to the back of the stable.  He stopped when he heard a small noise from the manger.  The baby was making a noise and holding his hand above the edge of the crib.  Ralph started to move again, but the baby made the noise.  Was the baby making the noise for him?  Ralph carefully climbed up the side of the manger and the baby smiled at him and held up his hands like this <Jazz Hands>.  Ralph caught his breath.  Humans hated rats.  That had been demonstrated again just a couple of hours ago.  But this baby seemed to be different, and he kept holding up his hands like that.  Did he want a repeat performance?  Surely not, but as Ralph put his paws on his hips, the baby let out a quiet squeal.  "Really?"  thought Ralph.  "Well, might as well."Paws on hips, Kick Kick, Jazz Square, Jazz Hands!The baby squealed quietly again and tried to clap his hands.Paws on hips, Kick Kick, Jazz Square, Jazz Hands!

Over and over again Ralph danced, and over and over again the baby squealed as the rest of the stable slept.  Far into the night, Ralph entertained the baby in the manger and far into the night, the mistrust between rat and human disappeared.  When Ralph returned to the Inn late that night, he was exhausted and happy.  As he crawled into the family nest, he knew that he would never be the same.  To most humans, he would always be just a rat.  But to one human, who seemed more than human, he would always be Ralph the dancing Christmas rat.

It is said that when the holy family returned to Nazareth after the Epiphany, there was, concealed in the luggage, a family of three rats who took up residence in a carpenter's home.  They were very quiet and stayed below notice most of the time, but at least one neighbor of the family swears that one Christmas night several years later they saw in the window a silhouette of a rat doing a jazz square while the child Jesus smiled and clapped.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Announcement Trailer

via www.youtube.com

Oh yes!