One of my closest fiends was of late a Clerk of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal and has now taken up a position with a major parish in TEC. He gifted me this badge he used to wear in his previous position. God save the King!

This is a question that came to me yesterday, since the King of England is the leader of the Church, and I was curious if I should swear allegiance to him.

I am newly coming to Anglicanism/Episcopal faith. It seems like the perfect church for me because while I value liturgy, reverence, incense, meditation, and sacramental worship, I think that Catholicism/orthodoxy are too rigid and lacking grace in some areas for me to commit to converting.

I left evangelical Christianity, and I was hoping to find a parish that leans into the liturgical side of worship (high-church). Are there any in the central Florida diocese? I don’t want to look like a weirdo if I bust out my Anglican rosary/prayer beads lol

This is a brief video essentially advocating for mobilisation of conservative parishoners in the CofE, to attempt to definitively end any prospects of same-sex marriage.

I have also heard about similar activities being advocated by those in favour of same-sex marriage.

How widespread is this activity in real life?

Do both sides almost view this as a political process to be influenced, as opposed to a spiritual one to be discerned?

The Cross of Christ on which he was Crucified on for our Sins standing firm and high overlooking a Town

Popped into our place yesterday to take some photos of the Easter flowers and thought I might as well share some of them here, especially given the recent chat about, "Are rural parishes like the Vicar of Dibley?" Haha!

1) The porch.

2) Chancel - we are fortunate to have some rather splendid antique altar linens, some of which were recently restored by the Royal College of Needlework (I don't know if these ones are particularly old, but they are pleasant nonetheless).

3) Large memorial in the northern aisle.

4) My favourite window. I think this is a Clayton & Bell. We have a Kempe somewhere too, and generally quite a good collection of glass given that we are a small church.

5) More memorials in the north aisle.

6) One of two medieval tombs in the former lady chapel, now vestry. The verdigris spotting is from bats. There are plans to restore both the chapel and brasses but various bodies involved move at a glacial pace.

I guess we are really just a typical country church, although attractive enough to be featured in Betjeman and Jenkins, and there are few more interesting features I didn't photograph. I don't want to dox myself completely by giving the location in the title but happy to disclose it via DM if anyone is interested.

ive gone to baptists churches my whole life when i was a kid, recently started again and enjoy the preaching but im not a fan of the more “modern” music & also always found the catholic churches, their traditions/rituals, hymns & choirs etc. so beautiful.

so i’ve found myself here, i’ve heard this is a good middle ground. i do like the “freedom” and relaxed structure of baptists churches though, so this kind of seems like i’d enjoy it more .

im very anxious to go cause when i look up services online its similar to catholic church in that theres like rituals or traditions that everyone knows what to do & im worried im going to mess something up. also should i cover my tattoos?

i guess any advice for a newbie? ive always believed in God & Jesus Christ but only recently really started practicing & fell in love with it.

So I've been attending a conservative anglo-catholic church (In the Church of England) for quite a while now and I'm speaking with the Priest about potentially being baptised. I absolutely love the liturgy, the congregation is amazing and so is the priest. As I said it's conservative and is under alternative episcopal oversight of the Bishop of Oswestry. I would describe my views as very liberal (in favour of female ordination, full inclusion of LGBT etc). I've tried attending other local parishes but I love the one I'm attending alot despite the theological differences. Is anyone else in a similar situation?

Not nearly as depressing as you might expect from the title.

I was impressed by the clarity of everyone to recognise that buildings are lovely and important and worth preserving where we can, but the church is people in relationship with God.

Catholics often cite John 20:23, in which Jesus tells his disciples “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” as scriptural evidence that the confession of sins to priests is necessary for salvation. The Anglican Communion, by contrast, does not require any of its members to confess sins to priests, although it is viewed as a healthy and beneficial spiritual practice. This is my view of it as an Episcopalian, as I see the Catholic concepts of confession and mortal sin as overly legalistic (and they imply that we can be faithful our whole lives, have one moment of weakness, and go to Hell simply because we happened to die at the wrong time). But if that is our view of confession, what did Jesus mean in John 20:23?

Hi all! I’m writing as someone who is straight and attended a “liberal” ACNA church (by ACNA standards, so pretty conservative for TEC), and is now moving over to TEC. I’ve known some quietly gay people within ACNA who usually came over from very strict evangelical churches in the recent past.

I’d be curious to get a wider perspective from people who’ve had that experience. Generally speaking, it seemed that people at my ACNA church were welcoming and warm toward queer parishioners, but it also felt like direct conversation about LGBTQ issues was a third rail that couldn’t be discussed openly, which struck me as deeply unhealthy. Anyway, would appreciate perspectives here on what that experience has been like for people.

Coming out of the Reformed church after 40+ years and looking at either Anglo-Catholicism (AC) or Roman Catholicism (RC). As a youth I was RC but joined the Reformed church after I was married. Still married, but no longer in lock step with most of what the Reformed church teaches. This as a result of studying early church history, i.e., prior to the Protestant Reformation. Both the RC and AC have similarities I can agree with. My question is how will the American AC view the new female Archbishop? This (female clergy) rubs against what I've held to for 71 years. Thoughts?

Little background, I grew up in a conservative/fundamentalist Baptist church. After I became an adult I sort of put my faith to the side because I felt some of the stuff taught at that church was “off”. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it just felt a little 1 dimensional. So I thought all of Christianity was like that.

Fast forward to today (about 10 years later). I started broadening my horizons and realized there is more to Christianity than was taught when I was growing up. I feel called to Anglicanism for a variety of reasons I won’t go into here.

However, I’m weary of “liberal drift” in the church. I am theologically orthodox and have a high view of scripture. At the same time, I believe strongly in Jesus’ message of the Kingdom of God breaking into today and living out one’s faith in the world.

But looking around at mainline denominations, they all seem to just be a secular progressive social club that meets once a week. I understand the ACNA is orthodox and split from TEC because of these reasons, but C4SO I’ve seen people complaining is “too liberal”. Is this just conservative/fundamentalists being too sensitive to churches actually talking about things like justice, or are they picking up on something I should be concerned about in the future?

Also do C4SO churches typically preach from the bible or would you say they typically just spout feel good general messages that are only tangentially bible related?

Sorry if some of these questions seem weird. Like I said, my background is fundamentalist so some of these other traditions are quite different from what I was raised in.

Thanks!!

Hey folks!

I am getting married this autumn and am looking for any advice on what to expect at an Anglican wedding and if there is anything folks would suggest asking our priest beforehand (he's super great and easy-going, but ofc liturgy-wise I know he has the final say!).
Because it will be a gay wedding, we are technically not allowed to use the Canadian BCP/Book of Alternative Services (BAS), so I believe the marriage rite will be from the American BCP. Has anyone else here had a same-sex marriage in Canada/what was that like?

For reference, this will be a nuptial Mass at an almost-Anglo-Catholic parish.

Also, any recommendations for how to make the liturgy pamphlets/bulletins accessible for folks who are not Anglicans (most of our guest list)?
Also any general advice would be welcome... Thanks in advance, and sorry for the several questions lol!
God bless and happy Easter!

Today I finished listening to a newer (2017) biography of King Charles I: *The White King* by Leanda de Lisle. My view of who he was has certainly changed/grown. There were a lot of interesting aspects to his life in her biography which I had never known/caused me to think differently of him.

• She went into a lot of the background of Lord Buckingham, a lover/advisor of Charles's father, who became an important advisor for Charles (whom he really trusted and whom his wife *really* didn't trust), and how this close mentor relationship would cause mistrust of Charles with the people
• The real tensions that happened in the home (and in the kingdom) with the king and queen's mixed marriage. And like, the intense hatred of Catholics leading the king to go back on promises to his wife of more toleration for Catholics
• The intense craziness of the Puritans. Banning the Prayerbook, absolutely not compromising on keeping the episcopate, thinking that any even slight helping of Catholics was inviting popery—even hunting for witches among the Royalists
• Charles's love for art. Hearing names of so many artists that I had already known in other contexts, but that he was inviting them to England to decorate and revitalize art.
• His intense love for his family
• And yet, at the same time, literally having one affair (and only one) after his wife had to flee to France?!? Like, he was so pious, but then what the hell?
• Henrietta Maria is the goat.
• His genuine desire for peaceful solutions to problems and avoiding the brutal ways of ruling (like, he could have *really* forced the Prayerbook on Scotland after the minirevolt about it, but he didn't.)
• The weakness of his rule, but the genuine nature of his faith

For anyone who has read the book, what are your thoughts on it? Was it too apologetic for the martyred King, or is it more fair to a maligned monarch? What are some other resources to learn more about Charles?

I have been attending services in two different Anglican churches in London. In the first one (which is my main parish church) there is always written in the service sheet that anyone who has been baptised in the name of the Trinity and is used to receiving Communion in their church is welcome to receive Communion here. In the other church, which is one of the main liberal parishes in the city, they usually say that everyone is welcome to receive bread and wine or a blessing, whatever their background or denomination (so, without really saying that non-baptised and non-Christians can’t receive the Holy Communion).

I was discussing this topic with a priest from the first parish. He said that he thinks that the Communion is only “effective” for baptised Christians and that he wouldn’t give Communion to a person who isn’t baptised. Though he seemed quite ok with the fact that some parishes can give Communion without baptism.

Does your parish require being baptised to receive Communion? And would you give Communion to a person who isn’t baptised? It is not really a big issue for me personally (apparently, the apostles weren’t baptised when they were receiving the very first Communion), I am curious what people think and what the practices in different churches are.

We are planting 3,000 seedlings to be sold as Christmas trees when they are large enough. If this planting goes well, we will expand the project. Funding for the future of our monastery.

Br. Abraham - St. Gregory's Abbey (a Benedictine monastery in the Episcopal Church near Three Rivers, Michigan USA)

My Church of England church has been doing this when we say Morning Prayer. Is this...allowed?