The CATHEDRAL TIMES The weekly newsletter of the Cathedral of St. Philip · Serving Atlanta and the World · May 17, 2020
HENRY VIII DID NOT START THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH! (OR: ANGLICANISM IS NOT THE MIDDLE WAY; IT IS THE COMPREHENSIVE WAY!) By the Very Rev. Sam Candler, Dean of the Cathedral I present this week a repeat article! There are so many new people now reading The Cathedral Times, that you merit reading a summary of our history and theology again. This is a quick summary of a theology of Anglicanism. Enjoy! – Sam Candler You pass my confirmation class if you can say that simple sentence: Henry VIII did not start the Episcopal Church. You pass with honors if you can state who actually did found the Episcopal Church: Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ founded the Episcopal Church. The Episcopal Church, developed from the Church of England, and an integral member of the Anglican Communion of Churches, is part of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. That church, started by Jesus Christ, has included inevitable conflict. Even the beautiful first century Christian community involved conflict, which we can read about clearly in The Book of Acts (see Acts 15:2). One of the great apostles, St. Peter, was opposed to his face by the other great missionary apostle, St. Paul (see Galatians 2:11). From then on, every Christian community has lived through conflict. Sometimes that conflict was minor, and sometimes it has been major. The Anglican tradition of Christianity, evolving as it did far from Rome and the more established centers of western civilization, has always seen its share of conflict and debate. Usually, that conflict has emerged from competing sources of authority. Who, or what, is the final authority in Anglican Christianity? From the fifth century onwards, ecclesiastical authority rotated from the Archbishop of Canterbury, to whomever the reigning monarch might be, to the Roman Pope; after the Reformation, that revolving locus of authority included the common people themselves. Consider the first Archbishop of Canterbury, St. Augustine, who landed at Canterbury in 597 AD. He was the first official Roman missionary bishop in what we now call England; but a Celtic form of Christianity, centered around local abbots and monasteries, was already present. St. Patrick had already returned to Ireland; St. David had evangelized Wales; and the great St. Columba had already founded Iona in the north country. One of the early English synods, held at Whitby in 664, was convened over a concern for authority; would the established Church follow Roman or Celtic Christian customs? They chose Roman customs, for a season, but not for all time. Jump forward to the great William the Conqueror in 1066. Long before Henry VIII, William the Conqueror also considered himself the head of the Church of England. He convened church councils (not the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury), he nominated bishops and invested them; and he refused to allow the Pope to interfere in what he considered the king’s business. Later, Thomas a Beckett would lose his life by crossing King Henry II. In those days (11th and 12th Centuries), the King of England would often refuse to allow the Archbishop of Canterbury inside the country (Archbishops Lanfranc, Anselm, and Thomas a Beckett were all exiled at one time or another). continued on page 3...
This SUNDAY
MAY 24, 2020 · The Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Sunday after Ascension Day, Year A Acts 1:6-14 · Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36 · 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 · John 17:1-11
EACH OF THESE SERVICES WILL BE LIVESTREAMED AT CATHEDRALATL.ORG/STREAM, ON THE CATHEDRAL APP, AND ON THE CATHEDRAL FACEBOOK PAGE.
8:45 A.M. AND 11:15 A.M. HOLY EUCHARIST Celebrant: The Rev. Canon Lauren Holder Preachers: The Very Rev. Sam Candler
4 P.M. CHORAL EVENSONG RECORDED MAY 13, 2018 Celebrant: The Rev. Canon Carolynne Williams William Smith, Preces and Responses Orlando Gibbons, Second Service Peter Philips, Ascendit Deus Francesco Guerrero, Ascendens Christus in altum
The CATHEDRAL off ST. PHILIP
The Very Rev. Samuel G. Candler, Dean Dale Adelmann, Ph.D., Canon for Music The Rev. Lauren R. Holder, Canon for Community and Education The Rev. George M. Maxwell, Jr., Vicar The Rev. Catherine Zappa, Canon for Liturgy and Pastoral Care The Rev. John William Harkins III, Ph.D., Priest Associate The Rev. Nathan G. Huddleston, Priest Associate for Youth and Young Adult Ministries The Rev. Julia B. Mitchener, Priest Associate for Children’s Ministries The Rev. Deacon Juan Sandoval, Deacon for Hispanic Ministries The Rev. Theophus “Thee” Smith, Ph.D., Priest Associate The Rev. Carolynne G. Williams, Canon Associate for Pastoral Care and Elder Ministry Del King, Senior Warden Dorsey DeLong, Junior Warden
CATHEDRAL TIMES SUBMISSION DEADLINES: FOR THE SUNDAY, MAY 31 ISSUE, THE DEADLINE IS WEDNESDAY, MAY 20. FOR THE SUNDAY, JUNE 7 ISSUE, THE DEADLINE IS WEDNESDAY, MAY 27. TO RECEIVE THE TIMES BY EMAIL, CONTACT MELANA DICKSON, MDICKSON@CATHEDRALATL.ORG. TO SUBMIT AN ANNOUNCEMENT REQUEST, CONTACT THE EDITOR, DAN MURPHY, AT DMURPHY@CATHEDRALATL.ORG.
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...continued from front page The Church in England was living through authority issues long before Henry VIII arrived on the scene. And, of course, the Anglican Communion of Churches continues to live through authority issues. At our best, churches in the Anglican tradition, including the Episcopal Church, have learned to live through authority issues with grace.
I believe this “comprehensive way” was responsible for resolving
In the great Protestant Reformation issues of the sixteenth
The comprehensive character of Anglicanism and the Episcopal
century, Henry VIII actually never abandoned the theology of
the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, he wrote a treatise against Martin Luther in 1521 which earned the title “Defender of the Faith” for Henry – and thus for all the rest of his successors to this day. When he appealed to the pope for annulment from
his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry was concerned far
more for a suitable male heir for the kingdom than for the new
Protestant theology. In another era, the Pope might have granted his request easily; but at that time, the weak pope was under
the sway of the holy Roman emperor, Charles V – who was the
nephew of Catharine of Aragon. There was no way the pope was
going to offend Charles V by annulling the marriage of his aunt! If there is any one person (other than Jesus) who did start—or
who best represents—the Anglican tradition of Christianity, it
is Elizabeth I. Reigning from 1559-1603, just after England had
been swung violently back and forth between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, it was she who found a way for the Church of England to be both Catholic and Protestant. She represented a way to resolve conflict gracefully in the church.
At its best, the Anglican tradition of Christianity resolves
conflict gracefully. And it does so, rarely by taking “the middle way,” which has long been another name for the Episcopal
Church (the “via media”, or “middle way,” between Catholicism and Protestantism). Rather, I believe the Anglican tradition of Christianity often finds truth on both sides of theological and
cultural disputes. The Anglican Communion of Churches finds
other conflicts in Episcopal Church history, too. It explains how the early Protestant Church in the United States of America could be related to the Church of England but also separate
from it. It was the comprehensive way that held the Episcopal
Church together during the tragedy of the American Civil War. Church also enabled us to meet the rise of science and higher
literary criticism in the nineteenth century with grace and faith. We found a way to read the Bible with both faith and reason.
The Christian Church inevitably involves conflict. Usually, there
are persons of good Christian faith on both sides of the conflict. The particular Anglican tradition of Christianity is a way of
dealing with conflict gracefully. Obviously, our history has not
always been clearly graceful. Nor is it always graceful right now. But the tradition which guides us is truly a graceful one.
From generation to generation, the Episcopal Church seeks to honor the universal claim of the Christian gospel while also
honoring local authority and indigenous faith. That is another
inherent challenge – and conflict—in all churches. How can we
be obedient to both global tradition and local authority? How can we honor both the gospel and our local culture? It is a journey and task entrusted to us by our Lord Jesus Christ himself.
When we remember Jesus, the founder of the Episcopal Church
and the Anglican Communion of Churches, let us also remember that our faith declares a comprehensive truth about him, too. Jesus Christ, we say, was both fully divine and fully human.
Orthodox Christianity refuses to choose one nature over the
other; Jesus is fully both. Jesus Christ is not some middle ground between divinity and humanity; Jesus Christ is comprehensive of all divinity and all humanity. That incarnational faith is the graceful style of Anglican Christianity, too.
“the comprehensive way,” affirming truth on both the traditional
and the progressive wings of Christian community. The Anglican Communion of Churches might better be called the “via comprehensiva,” the comprehensive way.
The Very Rev. Sam Candler Dean of the Cathedral
OUTREACH
CHILDREN'S Ministries
CATHEDRAL CONTINUES SPONSORSHIP OF 2020 HABITAT PROJECT The Cathedral was scheduled to participate in a 2020 Habitat project with financial sponsorship and volunteers. We will continue with our financial commitment to build a home for Nilaja Brooks and her family. However, due to the current COVID-19 environment, Habitat is not having outside volunteers participate. Habitat will do the work with their internal team of house leaders plus contractors. We look forward to getting photos and updates of the progress and can share that as things progress! And we hope to be involved with the home dedication once construction is complete. We look forward to returning to an active role with Habitat in the coming year. If you have questions, please contact John Champion at jchampion@bellsouth.net. If you’d like to support Habitat homeowners during this time of uncertainty, donate to their mortgage relief fund.
KIDZ2LEADERS DONATIONS Our Cathedral Thrift House has a partnership with the Kidz2Leaders mentoring and summer camp program for youth who have a parent incarcerated. Due to COVID-19, Kidz2Leaders summer camps will not occur as usual, so they want to deliver each of their 100 families a “Camp in a Box.” We want our youth to donate items to help fill these boxes! Please ask your youth to donate any items that he/she thinks an 8-15 year old might enjoy. We are looking for new or gently used board games, puzzles, card games, coloring books, reading books, markers, jump ropes, balls, chalk, crafts, etc. My kids have had lots of time to clean out closets and storage bins, so they are ready to donate items they’ve outgrown. No items, no problem! You can donate gift cards to Target or Walmart for Kidz2Leaders to use to purchase new items for the boxes. Drop your donations at the Riefs’ house at 508 Brentwood Drive in Garden Hills. There will be a collection box on the front porch. Donate anytime from now until May 27. Contact Julie Rief, 404-394-4780 or julierief@icloud.com, for more information.
CONGREGATIONAL Life WORD TO YOUR MOTHER TALKS ABOUT PRIVILEGE W2YM is a group of busy, busy moms who gather to discuss secular and religious books throughout the year. Our next read is Amy Julia Becker’s White Picket Fences: Turning Towards Love in a World Divided by Privilege, which we’ll discuss the evening of Tuesday, June 16. The book is available at cathedralbookstore.org. Becker writes: “I have been given much that I do not deserve, and my very real social privilege has cut me off from others as much as it has also made my life comfortable. But social privilege is not the end of my story. The real privilege of my life has come in learning what it means to love others, that love involves suffering and sacrifice and sleepless nights and tears and heartache and great gifts.” If you’re wondering how to engage in an honest and imperfect conversation about race, mindful of our responsibility as parents to teach our children a better way, contact Canon Lauren Holder, lholder@ cathedralATL.org.
This letter is part of a series of fictional letters by Canon George Maxwell intended for Episcopalians young and old who wonder what it means to be faithful in the world today. Dear Anna, What’s love got to do with it? Your question prompted the juke box in my mind to play Tina Turner’s version of a song by that name. I can still hear Turner endorsing the physical pleasures of “boy meeting girl,” while warning against the need for anything more. “What’s love,” she says, “but a second-hand emotion.” “Who needs a heart,” she asks, “when a heart can be broken.” Turner’s voice is big and bold; her live performances are full of energy. Yet, pay attention to the end of the third verse. Just as the song really gets rolling, you can hear a slight pause.
those relationships by forgiving our selfishness, restoring our broken trust, releasing our fears, and igniting our compassion. It’s scary, though, because accepting genuine love can be so hard to do. It’s like trading in the life that we know for a new one that a powerful part of us doesn’t even want. I mean who really wants to welcome those ugly parts of ourselves that we have worked so hard to deny or to acknowledge that our lives depend on gifts of grace that we don’t even begin to deserve. So, you ask, what’s love got to do with it? Everything, actually. Love, genuine love, is the key to it all. There is another song on my jukebox. This one is a Taizé chant. Ubi caritas et amor, Ubi caritas, Deus ibi est
“I’ve been thinking about my own protection,” Turner confesses. “It scares me to feel this way.”
Live in charity and steadfast love;
It’s as if Turner suddenly becomes aware of a deep desire for genuine love.
It might be fun to sing both of these songs to yourself (you can find good recordings of each on YouTube) and then ponder your question again.
I don’t mean the cheap, romantic version of love that she so easily dismisses as a second-hand emotion or the fragile idealized version of love that she understands will break her heart when it can’t keep the egocentric promises that it makes.
ADULT Education
I mean the strong, spirit-transforming force that we associate with God. This love calls us out of ourselves and into relationship with others. And, it works to free us for
Live in charity, God will dwell with you.
I think that you might discover something about love that I can’t begin to describe. Happy listening! Your affectionate uncle, Ames
ADULT Education These classes meet at 10:10 a.m. on Sunday via Zoom. Contact the organizer for information on where to connect online.
PARENTING UNSCRIPTED
OLD FASHIONED SUNDAY SCHOOL
Scott Russell, Kathy Loomis, Jeff Cunningham, and Michelle Perkins lead this group. Contact the Rev. Nate Huddleston for more information.
This Sunday, Canon George Maxwell will explore the mysteries of the Ascension in a presentation titled “The Feast of the Ascension: When Christ disappeared beyond the clouds, where did he go?”
3 Ways to Shop PRFM: 1.
Shop in person at the market Saturday mornings from 8:30am - 12pm. Be sure to follow social distancing rules:
One Customer at a time please!
2.
Keep 6 Feet Apart While You Wait
Pre-order directly from market vendors and pick up from their tents on Saturdays from 8:30am -12pm.
Use your phone to scan the QR Code for a list of participating vendors. www.peachtreeroadfarmersmarket.com
3.
Order from vendors at the PRFM online store for curbside pick-up or pick-up at the info booth on Saturdays from 8:30am -12pm. Many of these vendors are not physically present on Saturday mornings. www.localline.ca/prfm
or a combination of all 3!
THRIFT HOUSE TO REOPEN WITH REDUCED HOURS We have more good news this week to share with our steadfast customers. The Thrift House will reopen on Wednesday May 27! Please note our new, reduced hours during this re-emerging phase. We will be open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. We will accept donations on those days until 1:30 PM. This is a hard deadline—no exceptions—due to reduced staff. Please come back and see us; we have missed you!. We have all our beautiful spring and summer clothing ready for you and our exciting Garden Sale will be on Friday, May 29. We've been saving garden donations since last May—so come grab our charming garden items to make your outdoor space the envy of the neighborhood. See you soon!
1893 PIEDMONT ROAD NE WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY
11:30 AM — 2:30 PM
PRAYER List FOR THOSE WHO ARE ILL OR RECOVERING: IMMEDIATE NEEDS Mary Chase Mize
LONG TERM PRAYERS R. Huntley Allen • T. Mayo and Pat Atkins • Warren Barnes • Edgar and Judith Beach • Perry Benton •
Virginia Bicksler • Josh Borden, Jr. • Kat Bowling • Corey Cashion • Heather Clark • Marie Corrigan • Terry
Dornbush • Sarah duBignon • Deborah Ellington • Randy Farmer • William Ham • Katie Hughey • Louise Kan • John Kelleher • Chris Kopecky • Lisa Krysiak • Rose Leon • Elaine Lyon • Patricia Madison • Carol
McDonald • Glenn Miller • Ashley Minear • Royce Mitchell • Mary Chase Mize • Henri Muller and Family • Susan Myers • Charlie Neal • Linus Nickel • Marion Palmore • Garry Pryor • Rowland Radford • Rubye and Wayne Reid • Tommy Ripley • Agnes Elizabeth Robertson • Peter Sanders • Louis "Skip" Schueddig • Julie
Thompson • Tommy Truesdale • Ryan Webb • Lowell Palmer Weicker, Jr. • Faye Van Winkle • Karen Young
FAMILY AND FRIENDS Eileen Abeyesundere • Marion Altieri • Karyn Bacon • Bettina Bass • Tom Bingham • David Bond • Lynn
Chandler • Andrew Clark • Robert Discavage • Maureen Fernandez • Carleton Fuller • Bruce Gillies • Tom
Ingegneri • Stephen Jones • Bernard A. Kan • Pete Livezey • Joyce Lyford • Pat Martin • Michelle Maxwell • Bonnie Shields McCormack • Diane McCrory • Bob McGill • David Mickle • Steven Norman • Sally Taylor Rogers • Frank Roth • James Sands • Lillian Sandoval • Patricia Schooley • Milton Shiver • Tina Susco • Yvonne
Tate • Pierson Thames • Jeffrey Thomas • Janiece Townshend • Roger Traylor • Ron M. Wallace • Sara Wilkerson • Whit A. Wright • Patricia Young • Hollis Youngner
FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED Sue Clary • Catherine “Kitty” Dukehart • Paul Watts
POSTMASTER: Dated Material. Please deliver by May 23, 2020
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PENTECOST
PENTECOST IS COMING! HELP US CELEBRATE! Our celebration of Pentecost begins as did Palm Sunday, and the Easter Vigil, and every Sunday service: with a procession! The Feast of Pentecost falls on the 50th day after Easter and, with Easter Day itself, bookends the season of Easter. On Pentecost Sunday, May 31, we remember and celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and its inspiration of the church, as we renew our own baptismal vows— just like we did on Easter Day. We hear the story from the Acts of the Apostles, when the Holy Spirit descends on the crowd of disciples in tongues of fire, and people from all nations understand each other, though they speak in their own languages. At the Feast of Pentecost, you will see lots of red, as red is the color associated with the Holy Spirit and, of course, with fire; and you will hear the Word of the Lord proclaimed in many languages. This Pentecost Sunday, we will still process together, with all the fanfare of our usual Pentecost celebration! Our procession will consist of pictures and short videos from you, the Cathedral parish, with fire or anything that reminds you of fire. You can hold a flame in your hand, build a fire, or make something that looks like fire. You also can carry streamers or banners, or anything festive. Let the Spirit guide you! It will be lively and chaotic, just like the first Pentecost! Please upload your pictures by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27, at cathedralATL.org/pentecost.