IX. OF ORIGINAL OR BIRTH-SIN
Original Sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk;) but it is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam; whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation (The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion 1571, BCP 2019, pp. 775-776, emphasis added).

Every person born into this world deserves God’s wrath and damnation? The only refutation needed of this Reformation (mis)understanding of human nature is a granddaughter.

EXORCISM IN BARNES AND NOBLE

I almost feel a bit guilty. Two young girls are sitting near me in the Barnes and Noble Cafe. Between them is a deck of tarot cards. They are talking and giggling as one consults the cards and a book and says to the other, “Well, either love will come your way or has already come your way — I can’t really tell.” In the recent past — well, at least in my lifetime — you had to go to Alcoa Highway to Miss Renee’s to get a psychic reading, not that I ever did. But I did pass by her place everyday for decades. Now, friends get together to pursue divination in the local bookstore.

I almost feel a bit guilty. Why? Sitting near them I made the sign of the cross and prayed over them the minor exorcism of St. Anthony of Padua both for their protection and for the cleansing of place:

Ecce Crucem Domini;
Fugite, partes adversae!
Vicit Leo de Tribu Juda, Radix David, alleluja!

Behold the Cross of the Lord;
Begone all evil powers!
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David has conquered, Alleluia!

I do not expect the “reading” to be successful.

MEASURING UP

I met a young man today who is searching for a church. In previous weeks he has visited both a local Orthodox and Roman Catholic church; today it was Anglicanism’s turn. Our meeting was brief and I did not have time to discuss his background or what he is looking for. But, I admit that I wondered during our service how we imperfect representatives of Anglicanism were measuring up. What boxes did we check? Which did we leave empty?

Our service today was a rather “ordinary” one here at the beginning of Ordinary Time. And yet, perhaps because of that brief conversation in the narthex, I was more aware than ordinary of the magnificent liturgical tradition of Anglicanism. It is not only that I believe the Anglican Church to be part of the one, holy, catholic and Apostolic Church. I also find it finely balanced between Word and Sacrament. I find its liturgy to be true to the ancient faith and beautifully expressed in both traditional and contemporary language. There is a majesty in Anglican liturgy rightly conducted that is reverent without being pompous and accessible without being vulgar (lacking in refinement). Anglicanism is a house built on the foundations of truth and beauty. Try as we might — and we have tried pretty hard — we Anglicans have not yet been able to pull the house off the foundations.

So, I am indebted to my young friend. I trust God will lead him to that place where he can worship truly and serve faithfully. I know God did that for me.

UNNECESSARY BEAUTY

The Apostles Anglican Church Flower Guild blesses me — not just me, but especially me I’m sure! — with beautiful flowers week by week, season by season, year by year. The flowers today (see photo) were strangely, weirdly magnificent. What was God thinking when he made that variegated, orange-red cross between a pineapple, an avocado and an alien being that we call a king protea?! And that surprisingly lovely purple explosion surrounding it — I do not know the name — is related to onion and garlic neither of which I can abide. But as a flower? Gorgeous. What an palatte of colors; what a variety of shapes. Even the “ordinary” carnations hold their own and enhance the more exotic offerings.

Why did God make such beauty? I am tempted to say that he did not have to and that it all just gift. But I suspect that God did, after all, have to make beautiful things and nothing but beautiful things because that is inherent in his nature. In God is light, we are told, and in him is no darkness at all. I suspect it is equally true that in God is beauty, and in him is no ugliness at all. That there is ugliness in the world — and there is ugliness in the world and in me — is good evidence of the fall. That we recognize ugliness and lament it is perhaps even better evidence. That we recognize and rejoice in beauty is not quite evidence of resurrection and the age to come, but it is at least a sign pointing toward it. If a fallen world has such strange and wonderful beauty as these flowers, imagine the world set to rights when heaven and earth are united.