Post-Anglican Anglicanism: Part II

Last updated on: September 1, 2012 at 8:47 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Post-Anglican Anglicanism: Part II What do I mean by a “Post-Anglican Anglicanism?” The phrase I’ve coined is deliberately ironic (and even oxymoronic!) I’m employing it to suggest that Anglican identity will be an even more complex and difficult thing in the 21st century than it has been in the past. In previous blogs, I’ve defined Anglicanism in terms of structural, normative, and stylistic definitions or identities. The question is, “What does contemporary Anglicanism look like in terms of each of... Read more

Saturday of Trinity 12 – Romans 15:17-33

Last updated on: August 31, 2012 at 6:03 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Romans 15:17-33 What is it that we’re doing? What are we doing with our lives? Are we just breathing air, taking up space, occupying time, working to pay bills so we have a place to live so we can work to pay our bills . . . ? I know all of you have had moments like these, where you wonder, “Is that all there is?” “Is that all there is?” Peggy Lee sang: “Is that all there is, is... Read more

Friday of Trinity 12 – Romans 15:1-16

Last updated on: August 30, 2012 at 12:28 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Romans 15:1-16 I love books. At my last count (taken several years ago), I have over 2000 books now – and counting. Every time we move (which has been way too often in the past), Jackie and I are struck by how many boxes of books there are to move. Usually, I have to lift and move them all by myself. After this last doozy of a move, some of them are still orphans or foundlings. I have books on... Read more

Thursday of Trinity 12 – Romans 14:13-23

Last updated on: August 29, 2012 at 12:31 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Romans 14:13-23 What would your day look like if from the first thing in the morning until the last thing at night you acted completely in love? Take a few moments (if not now, then at the end of today’s Give Us This Day) and visualize your day in terms of what it would look like if you resolved to act only from love today. To do this, we need a working definition of love, which may be defined as... Read more

Wednesday of Trinity 12 – Romans 14:1-12

Last updated on: August 28, 2012 at 1:17 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Romans 14:1-12 One of my favorite things that came out of the Reformation was a renewed interest in and discussion of adiaphora. Yes, adiaphora, those cute little creatures that are neither essential nor exceptionally important but in which there is Christian liberty. A few of the things that St. Paul lists as adiaphorous are: food and vegetarianism; days of fasting (this was the consensus of the church Fathers’ on the meaning of the observance of days, sandwiched, as it is,... Read more

Tuesday of Trinity 12 – Romans 13

Last updated on: August 27, 2012 at 12:09 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Romans 13 What is the strongest substance known to man? On the Moh’s scale, it is diamond, which is a 10. To be more precise, the hardest substance now known to man is aggregated diamond nanorods or, ADNRs, which are an allotrope of carbon believed to be the hardest and least compressible known material, as measured by its isothermal bulk modulus; aggregated diamond nanorods have a hardness measure of 491 gigapascals (Gpa), while a conventional diamond measures 442 GPa. Or,... Read more

Monday of Trinity 12 – Romans 12

Last updated on: August 26, 2012 at 1:19 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Romans 12 For 11 chapters now,St. Paulhas spoken logically, fervently, and powerfully about the grace of God in your life by which you have a faith that saves you. All arguers and arguments that would raise themselves up against God and His mind have been bulldozed by Paul’s Acme Spiritual Bulldozing Co. You are left naked with only a few undeniable truths. First, that God is absolutely sovereign, and you are not. Second, that you are sinful and fall short... Read more

Saturday of Trinity 11 – Romans 11:22-35

Last updated on: August 24, 2012 at 12:28 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Romans 11:22-35 St. Paul was a man who liked to live on the edge, especially since that’s where God put Him. Come to think of it: that’s where many of us will end up if we passionately and courageously follow the Lord wherever He tells us to go. Paul followed His Master to the city where they crucified His Lord and slew the prophets, he followed Him into the hands of superstitious Gentiles, he followed Him into the sea and... Read more

Friday of Trinity 11 – Romans 11:1-21

Last updated on: August 23, 2012 at 3:32 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Romans 11:1-21 As with a lot of the book of Romans, the thorny issue of election and predestination sprouts up here in Romans 11. But this time in a different way. This time, though St. Paul reminds us ofIsrael’s election (verse 28) and that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (verse 29), he also lays before us the terrible possibility of apostasy. The truth is that though God is absolutely sovereign and elects His chosen people, we are... Read more

Thursday of Trinity 11 – Romans 10

Last updated on: August 22, 2012 at 12:43 pm By Fr. Charles Erlandson

Romans 10 What were you thinking about right before you started to read Give Us This Day this morning (today)? What’s the default mode of your inner existence? When the distractions of the world are stripped away and you lie awake and still at night, what whispers in your ears and heart? The word that ought to be near to you – swimming in your blood and singing in your heart; on the tip of your tongue and in the... Read more