Though you may be accustomed to seeing your priest in an alb and stole, choir dress is always an appropriate vestment in the Anglican tradition. Indeed, I would argue that there are many reasons it may be the preferred choice! Choir dress is the vestment that is never wrong.
The Global Anglican Communion: From Canterbury to Jerusalem
Someone may ask: “Hasn’t the Anglican Communion been around for a long, long time?” This depends on what you consider a long time and how you define the Anglican Communion.
Mother of God: Anglicans and the Marian Dogmas
How do Anglicans view the Marian dogmas, and what differences exist between our view of dogma and Rome’s?
St. Hilda of Whitby and the Ministry of Unity
In an era of polarization, even within the Church, it’s often hard to find leaders who attempt—let alone succeed—in bringing Christians together for the sake of the gospel. St. Hilda of Whitby stands among the most significant luminous figures of the early English Church—wise, steady, and quietly formidable. Centuries before the Reformation, when English Christianity…
Icons Over Idols: Heroes in an Age of Disillusionment
There is an overwhelming lack of trust in leadership and institutions, including religious leaders, in our day. I’ve had young men approach me privately within my parish, lamenting that they believe they cannot trust the actions or teachings of any religious leader or denomination. A perceived absence of trustworthy shepherds—dare I say heroes—plagues the Christian…
Book Review: The White Horse King by Benjamin Merkle
Benjamin Merkle, The White Horse King: The Life of Alfred the Great. Thomas Nelson, 2009. 272 pp. Contrary to what the spicier corners of Roman Catholic Twitter insist, the English Church did not begin in 1534, and Anglicanism did not spring fully formed from the head of Henry VIII like some Tudor Athena. Long before…
Today in the Spirit: All Saints’ Sunday
All Saints’ Day, celebrated on 1 November every year, is the only “Principal Feast” in the Christian Year which can also be observed on the Sunday following that date. It is a commemoration of the intercommunion of living and dead Christians throughout time, those renowned and unknown. Traditionally, the Gospel reading assigned for All Saints’…
Hymn Guide: For All The Saints
Long before I thought about its lyrics, I loved to sing “For All the Saints.” The marching rhythm, the majestic tune, the repeated Alleluias: these would stir in my heart and inspire devotion to God. How wonderful, then, to discover that the hymn is also deeply theological, offering a profound reflection on the meaning of…
Veni Creator Spiritus: The Ancient Ordination Hymn
The silence of the ordination service is heavy with expectation, especially when the ordinand lowers his body to the ground. He has been examined by the bishop, and soon he will kneel under the bishop’s hands. Though he has just made lofty vows, he knows, like Isaiah, that he is a man of unclean lips….
St. Philip the Evangelist: Deacon, Preacher, Scholar, Dad
St. Philip the Evangelist is best remembered for his witness to the Ethiopian eunuch, a conversion story recorded in Acts 8. But this is only one of the remarkable stories of Philip, who appears in the Book of Acts as a deacon, a preacher, a scholar, and a dad. In this article, I briefly survey…
Women Bishops and Reception: An Occasion for Rethinking
Editor’s Note: The Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll, now a board member of Anglican Compass, also served from 2015 to 2020 as the Convener of the GAFCON Task Force on Women in the Episcopate. In 2017, this Task Force issued a recommendation for a moratorium on the consecration of women bishops. In this article, we share Dr. Noll’s 2019 essay…
The Jerusalem Declaration & Statement: Apples of Gold in a Setting of Silver
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles by Dr. Stephen Noll, titled “The Jerusalem Declaration: A Personal Commentary.” In this series, Dr. Noll draws on decades of experience in the GAFCON movement, especially his role as Secretary of the Statement group that drafted the Jerusalem Declaration and its accompanying Statement. A word…