All Saints’ Day is November 1st, and it is often celebrated on All Saints’ Sunday, the first Sunday in November. Though we remember the most notable Christians throughout the year with the calendar of the saints, the Feast of All Saints is a day to remember the whole Church across time and space. We honor…
Holy Michael and All Angels: A Rookie Anglican Guide to Michaelmas
Michael-what? Michaelmas is a shortened form of “Michael’s Mass” (just like Christmas is a shortened form of Christ’s Mass). It is also known as the feast day of Holy (or “St.”) Michael and All Angels. Celebrated similarly to Thanksgiving, Michaelmas conjures images of cool fall days, abundant harvests, and feasting. Festivities focus on the defeat…
The Calendar of Saints: A Rookie Anglican Guide
Anglicans celebrate feast days for saints to honor exemplary Christian lives, rooted in biblical teachings on imitation. This practice evolved from early church commemorations of martyrs like Polycarp. While Reformation efforts simplified the calendar, Anglicans now recognize both historical and contemporary figures, maintaining focus on Christ as the central figure in worship.
Anglican Worship: Where Does It Say In the Bible to Do That?
As an Anglican priest, parishioners often ask me where the Bible commands certain Anglican worship practices. The assumption is that we should only do what the Bible expressly commands us to do. The thinking goes: If the Bible doesn’t say to burn candles, then we shouldn’t burn candles. If the Bible doesn’t tell us to…
Ancient Anglican Evangelism
There is a perception that Anglicans in North America don’t have our own history of evangelism. Or, at minimum, that comes from within our own tradition—not true! The church in England began with a powerful evangelistic mission to spread the message and evangelize, following Jesus’ commands in Luke’s Gospel. The Anglican tradition contains a powerful…
Anglicans & Roman Catholics
Anglicans are sometimes said to be “a little bit Protestant and a little bit Roman Catholic.” That’s probably true to some extent as a description of what people see in a worship service. We Anglicans see ourselves as both fully catholic and as a church of the Reformation at the same time. Because we are…
The Blessed Virgin Mary: A Rookie Anglican Guide
March 25th is the feast day commemorating the Annunciation, the announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would bear the Son of God. See Luke 1:26-38 for the beautiful story. We observe this day because it is nine months before Christmas Day. Mary: The God-Bearer, or Mother of God Mary’s faith lives on, and many generations have…
The Jewel of Anglicanism
John Jewel: What’s the Big Deal? John Jewel (1522-1571) is not the first person we think of when we think of the Reformation in England. We might more readily think of Thomas Cranmer, or Henry VIII, or Elizabeth I, or Richard Hooker. Jewel was an instrumental figure in articulating the vision of a Reformed Church…
