The Circumcision of Christ

Why do Traditional Anglicans observe something so seemingly esoteric as the Circumcision of Our Blessed Lord on 1st January? I shall never forget a New Year's Day during my seminary formation, when returning to my flat from Mass on cold sunny 1st January I was greeted at my door with a lovely envelope. Inside was a splendidly calligraphed card which read 'Happy Circumcision!' Anglicans have always possessed a keen sense of humour. 

Primarily, the Feast is most significant because the first day of January is the Octave of Christmas Day, the eighth day after Christ's Nativity, on which Our Divine Lord was subject to the Mosaic Law for the salvation of man and received the Old Testament ordinance of circumcision. In the Circumcision of Jesus Christ, Our Lord first shed His Precious Blood for the redemption of the human race. It was the first time in the history of salvation that our Saviour and Redeemer submitted to His bloodshedding, that shedding of blood without which there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9.22), and through which the Lord Jesus takes away our sins. 

Since it is first instance in which the Blood of Christ was shed, this salvific moment is a beginning of the process of the redemption of mankind, a manifestation of Our Lord's full and complete human nature. In this act, Our Lord is obedient to Biblical Law, a Law He came not to destroy but to fulfill (Saint Matthew 5.17). As a foretaste of His saving Passion, the Circumcision already points to the suffering of Jesus Christ in His true humanity, offered freely for our sake. 

The Anglican divine Blessed Jeremy Taylor writes in a 1657 treatise that the Circumcision of the Lord proves the reality of His human nature whilst fulfilling the Law of Moses. Blessed Jeremy also notes that Our Lord's Circumcision more radically opens the Jewish people to receive His Gospel of salvation, since through the ancient ordinance He is conformed to the old covenant in the pattern of its initiation. The Lord Jesus is the personification and fulfillment of Israel. 

Circumcision itself was instituted by God in the Old Testament as a sign of the covenant between God and His people. The blood shed on the eighth day after birth was a ratification of the covenant for every Jewish male. By virtue of it, every Jew became a son of Abraham, a son of the promise: 'And God said to Abraham, This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed' (Genesis 17.9-12).

Initially, Abraham received circumcision as a sign of his faith in God. God made His covenant with Abraham because Abraham believed in Him. Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. He received circumcision as a sign of the righteousness he already had by faith before he was circumcised. The sign shows him to be the father of all who believe without being circumcised and who therefore have faith reckoned to them too. He is also the father of the circumcised, who more importantly follow the example of his faith (Romans 4.9-12). 

Now, through faith in Jesus Christ and union with Him, all who are baptised into Christ and made members of His Mystical Body, the Holy Catholic Church, are made the sons of Abraham and inserted into the covenantal promise God first offered in Abraham. 'And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise' (Galatians 3.29). The covenant God seeks with man is perfected and fully consummated in the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of Abraham, the Promise of Abraham. He is the Bridge between God and man, for He is fully God and fully Man in His One Divine Person. In His hypostatic union, divine nature and life is for all eternity united to our human nature. Jesus Christ is the God-Man, and forever unites God and man in Himself.  

Our Blessed Saviour was circumcised on the eighth day, as any other Jewish male. After the seven days of creation comes the Eighth Day, the Day of the New Creation. Just as the Lord was raised from death on the Eighth Day, the Day of Resurrection and the eternal Kingdom, so was He also circumcised to inaugurate the New and Everlasting Covenant, the new relationship between God and mankind which is extended to all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues. Whereas the old covenant was ethnic, local, and particular, the New Covenant is truly Catholic - intended for all human beings of all times and all places. Holy Baptism replaces and fulfills circumcision as the sign of the covenant. 

Circumcision was the occasion on which a Jewish child was formally given his name. At His Circumcision, Our Lord was given the Name which is above every Name (Philippians 2.9-10) - JESUS, Yeshua - a Name derived from Hebrew meaning 'the Lord saves' or 'salvation' or 'Saviour.'  As the Archangel Gabriel annunciated to Our Lady: 'And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus' (Saint Luke 1.31). And as was announced to Saint Joseph: 'Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins' (Saint Matthew 1.20-21). 

'And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb' (Saint Luke 2.21).

The Council of the Holy Apostles recorded in Acts of the Apostles 15 declares that Christians are no longer bound to receive the old rite of circumcision. Our union with Jesus Christ is accomplished through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Through the gift and grace of Baptism, we are plunged into Christ's life, death, and resurrection and placed into the human nature of Our Lord. We receive a 'human nature transplant' in Baptism as we are grafted into the risen Body of Jesus. We are bodily united to Christ in His own Body; Baptism washes us in His Precious Blood. 'In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead' (Colossians 2.9-12). 

It is no longer required for our flesh to be circumcised because Our Lord's Body and Blood redeem us entirely and completely. We can add nothing from the ceremonial law of the old covenant to the Person and Work of Jesus Christ for our salvation - the New Covenant between God and man is now absolute (Hebrews 10.10).  

Rather, baptised Christians are summoned to what Saint Paul calls 'the circumcision of the heart,' a moral transformation in which we live by the Holy Ghost through the infused theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. From henceforth we are to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5.16). 'For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love' (Galatians 5.6). Saint Paul tells us the true circumcision is not external or physical. The true participant in God's covenant is one inwardly, for real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual, and his praise is not from men but from God (Romans 2.28-29). Supernatural grace raises us to divine sonship - so that we may become true filii in Filio, sons in the Son, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. 

Happy Circumcision - God bless you!

+Chad

Happy Christmas!

May the Lord Jesus grant all of you, my dear friends, a truly blessed, happy and holy Nativity of the Saviour! Merry Christmas! And remember, let us put MASS back in Christmastide!

Christmas Solemn High Mass - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

12/20/2020 - Advent IV Sunday Mass at Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Christmas at Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

The 2020 CHRISTMAS MASS SCHEDULE: Thursday 24th December, Outdoor Carol Singing at 6.30pm and Christmas Eve Holy Communion 7pm. Outdoor Carol Singing at 9.30pm and Christmas Eve Sung Holy Communion 10pm. Friday 25th December, Christmas Day Holy Communion 10am.

Important notice about the Christmas liturgies: We shall enjoy a time of outdoor carol singing in the plaza in front of the Church at 6.30pm before the 7pm Eucharist, and again at 9.30pm before the 10pm Eucharist. Masks and social distancing are still required at all times for everyone while inside the building, please.

· The 7pm Christmas Eve Eucharist will have no indoor music except for the playing of the organ.

· The 10pm Christmas Eve Solemn High Mass will be sung and the congregation will be invited to sing Christmas hymns and the liturgical responses inside the building. The choir will sing the liturgy. This unique 10pm service will be offered for those who feel safe and comfortable singing in Church.

· The 10am Christmas Day Eucharist will have no indoor music except for the playing of the organ.

12/13/2020 - Advent III Sunday Mass - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

High Altar

The new High Altar Tabernacle for the Most Blessed Sacrament, and new reliquaries of Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, and Saint Gregory Nazianzus at Saint Barnabas Dunwoody.

12/6/2020 - Advent II Sunday Mass - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

11/29/2020 - Advent Sunday Mass at Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

11/22/2020 - Sunday Next Before Advent Mass - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

11/15/2020 - Trinity XXIII Sunday Mass - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

11/8/2020 - Trinity XXII Sunday Mass at Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

11/1/2020 - All Saints' Day - Sunday Mass at Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

10/25/2020 - Sunday Mass for the Feast of Christ the King - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Sunday Mass - October 18, 2020 - Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Trinity XVIII Sunday Mass - 10/11/2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Trinity XVII and Saint Francis of Assisi Sunday Mass - 10/4/2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Trinity XVI Sunday Mass - 9/27/2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Communio Sanctorum: Invocation of Saints as the Family Prayer of the Church

 As recorded on 1st September 2020.

Trinity XV Sunday Mass - 9/20/2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Tenth Anniversary of Episcopal Consecration

18th September 2020 is the tenth anniversary of my consecration as a Bishop in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church - for service in the Diocese of the Eastern United States of the Anglican Province of America. Please pray for me on this day as I pray for you. Thank you and God bless you.

Trinity XIV Sunday Mass - 9/13/2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Visions of Glory: Beauty and Sacred Art within the Devotional Life of the Church

 

Trinity XIII Sunday Mass - 9/6/2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Trinity XII Sunday Mass - 8/30/2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Trinity XI Sunday Mass - 8/23/2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Communio Sanctorum: Invocation of Saints as the Family Prayer of the Church.

Our next special event is Tuesday September 1st at 8pm. Bishop Chandler Jones will be giving a Zoom talk called Communio Sanctorum: Invocation of Saints as the Family Prayer of the Church.
To attend, you must join our Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/thesacramentalists?fan_landing=true

The Ordination of Creighton McElveen to the Sacred Diaconate

Trinity X Sunday Mass - 8/16/2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Trinity IX Sunday Mass - August 9, 2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

The Diaconal Ordination of Creighton Campbell McElveen

The Ordination of Creighton Campbell McElveen to the Sacred Order of Deacons will be celebrated at Saint Barnabas Church, Dunwoody, Georgia on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saturday 15th August, at 11am. The Ordination Mass will be open to the public. Please join us for this very special event on the major Feast of Our Lord's Mother!

Anglican Joint Synods (G4) - Polish National Catholic Church Dialogue

G4/PNCC Press Release:

On July 28th, 2020, the G-4/PNCC Ecumenical Dialogue Group met via Zoom. This took the place of the

scheduled in person meeting that was to be held in Manchester, New Hampshire. Representing the

Polish National Catholic Church were Prime Bishop Anthony Mikovsky, Bishops John Mack and Paul

Sobiechowski, Father Senior Robert Nemkovich Jr., and Fathers John Kowalczyk, Scott Lill and Thomas

Walsh. G-4 members included Bishops Paul Hewett (Diocese of the Holy Cross - DHC), Walter Grundorf

(Anglican Province in America - APA), Chandler Jones (APA), and Brian Marsh (Anglican Church in

America - ACA), and Fathers Robert Bader (DHC), Jonathan Foggin (Anglican Catholic Church - ACC), and Christian Tutor (ACA). Bishop Sobiechowski served as the Dialogue Chairman for this meeting.

Updates were given by the various churches and the Union of Scranton about recent events within their

respective communions and to how they have adapted to the ongoing Covid situation. The Churches

spoke with a united voice about the marginalization of the Church by the media and various elected

officials during this pandemic. The members participating were of one accord affirming that Church is

absolutely essential for the faithful to live out their Catholic Faith and Sacramental lives: especially

during this time of anxiety and pandemic. The dialogue also discussed various ways the Churches can

continue to grow closer together and achieve the unity that our Lord prayed for His Catholic Church.

The next meeting of the G4/PNCC Ecumenical Dialogue will take place in January of 2021 to be hosted

by the G4 Churches.

Trinity VIII Sunday Mass, Aug 2, 2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

The 1920 Anglo-Catholic Congress

The Anglican Joint Synods Churches (G4) are the heirs of this great Congress, held a century ago this month...

And a must read for every Anglican... 

Trinity VII Sunday Mass, July 26 2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Trinity VI Sunday Mass, July 19 2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Phase Three Restoration - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

My dearly beloved friends, Praised be Jesus Christ! I pray all of you remain well, safe, and healthy. I love you, am praying for you daily, and am missing those of you who have not yet returned to Church! It is a joy and delight to see week by week those who have now already returned. Please remember I am only a phone call or email away should one need any pastoral care and support, 404.313.9448 and bspchj@gmail.com. I intensely look forward to seeing you in person again soon. Saint Barnabas Church will enter our Phase Three restoration on Sunday 26th July, with two additional features. 1. One cantor, liturgical music, and incense will be restored to the 11am Mass. 2. An outdoor coffee hour with pre-packaged goodies will be provided after each Eucharist. A cantor will now provide liturgical singing during the 11am Mass, to which also the sung minor propers, an offertory anthem, and incense will be restored. Our outdoor Sunday coffee hour with pre-packaged drinks and snacks, and a safely-prepared and served coffee carafe, will take place after both the 9am and 11am services in the plaza in the front of the Church complex. Please be well assured that attending Saint Barnabas is no more risky now than going to the grocery store, the service station, or one's favourite restaurant. Masks and social distancing are still required indoors, just to keep everyone as safe as possible. The same applies to our ongoing Holy Communion protocol of one kind in the hand only. These measures are continued in order to provide an additional level of safety. There is no time like the present in which to return to Church every Sunday. Please do not forget to talk to your friends and neighbours about visiting Saint Barnabas. And please continue to reach out and connect with each other. Ours is a time of personal crisis, frustration, and change for many people, which means we have a ripe opportunity to approach colleagues and acquaintances about trying something new. Be bold! You will surely be surprised by the positive reactions. The doors of Saint Barnabas Church are open wide to welcome everyone. Each one of you abides continually in my love, my prayers, my heart. Thank you so very much and God bless you! +Chad

Validity of evangelical Baptisms

This article will surely make the rounds on social media. 

Some minutiae of orthodox theology for just a moment, please. While a Baptism celebrated by two separate ministers, during which one administers the water while another simultaneously utters the sacramental formula, is definitely invalid, the mode of Baptism generally employed by Baptists and other evangelical Christians is valid. The separation of matter and form by mere seconds, as the minister first pronounces the sacramental form and then immediately applies the matter by full immersion, is not enough of a separation to vitiate the sacrament. There is in that case a moral unity of the rite, a single act in two phases in immediate succession. The integrity of the sacrament is preserved, as matter and form are joined in the singular sacramental action. Additionally, the evangelical candidate already submerged in water has a copious amount of water, the matter, applied to the most of the body during the actual invocation of the sacramental form. That in itself would suffice for validity. Just say no to scrupulosity! 'In Baptism, Confirmation, Extreme Unction, and Order, theoretically speaking, a moral union suffices for validity, which exists when the matter is applied immediately before the form is pronounced, or immediately after... yet there can be no doubt about the power of the sacrament if the form is begun before the application of the matter is completed, or vice versa.' Saint Thomas Aquinas, quoted in Tanquerey, Synopsis of Dogmatic Theology.

One also highly recommends this article on the subject as well. 

Trinity V Sunday Mass, July 12 2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

On the Tracts for the Times

The Anglican Province of America has no official position on the Tracts for the Times, although they play a pivotal role in the history of orthodox Anglicanism from the nineteenth century. As a Continuing Church in full sacramental communion with the Anglican Joint Synods (G4), the APA embraces in spirit and in practical application the Affirmation of Saint Louis (1977), which document in turn is entirely dependent upon the theology and doctrinal teaching of the Tracts. 

One trusts it would be accurate to say that the Continuing Churches enjoy a great deal of flexibility and variation in matters liturgical and ceremonial (as long as the orthodox Prayer Books are used), but share at their core a common adherence and allegiance to the Tractarian theological vision. 'In essentials, unity; in unessentials, liberty; in all things, charity.' 

An express Tractarianism, or Catholic theological doctrinal system, is what sets the G4 apart from other self-identified modernist/liberal and evangelical/protestant Anglican groups and bodies. As we are wont to say these days, there are not one, but three, Anglicanisms. The Elizabethan Settlement on a theological level has been shattered. We have 1. liberal revisionist Canterbury, 2. evangelical protestant GAFCON/ACNA, and 3. the Catholic Continuum. Again, this state of affairs is on the theological, not necessarily liturgical, level. 

Below we take the liberty of sharing a few paragraphs about the Tracts, the Movement that produced them, and the results. 

As was once written for a children's lesson: 'The story of the Catholic Revival continues when a meeting of clergy was held in a town in England called Hadleigh. The Priests who gathered there agreed to teach the Catholic Faith and to show what the real teaching of the English Church is. To do this, a series of popular little books or tracts was put out at Oxford with the title of Tracts for the Times. Our four leaders, Keble, Newman, Pusey, and Froude, were among the first authors. The teaching of the Prayer Book and of the Anglican Fathers of the 1500s was put forward. These men also published a series of books called The Library of the Anglo-Catholic Fathers. This series showed that the Anglicans of the 1500s and 1600s taught the same beliefs that were taught in the ancient Church of the 300s and 400s. The Church's teaching is always the same.'

And a little more substantially: 

The nineteenth century British Prime Minister William Gladstone could write in 1842, ‘Great Catholic principles distinguish our Church [of England] from many other Protestant bodies: such, for instance, as the doctrine of grace in Baptism, of the real sacramental Presence in the Eucharist, of absolution, of universal or Catholic consent, of the Apostolical foundation of the Episcopate, and of its being the source of lawful Church power and of a valid ministry’.

An Anglican John Henry Newman, the principal architect of the Tracts for the Times and the most influential mind of the Oxford Movement, explains that the whole purpose of the Catholic Revival, and of the famous Tracts in particular (for which the Movement is often given the name Tractarian), is simply ‘to stir up our brethren to consider the state of the Church, and especially to the practical belief and preaching of the Apostolical Succession’. The initial purpose of the Catholic Movement is to restore to the living memory and practice of the Church of England and her daughter Churches her own ancient and Catholic roots, her apostolic lineage, and her unbroken continuity with the Church of the Apostles, which she perpetuates through the Apostolic Succession of her episcopate, priesthood, and diaconate. 

The Tracts concern ‘the practical revival of doctrines, which although held by the great divines of our Church, at present have become obsolete with the majority of her members’. Newman and his colleagues in the Movement do not claim in any way to introduce new doctrine or novel ideas into the English Church - their goal is to revivify and renew the tradition and practice of an Apostolic Church, a Church whose authority, grace-filled sacraments, and teachings derive, though obscured through the course of history, directly from the Apostles themselves. 

The Catholic Revival is, according to its progenitors, not the creation of a new system of doctrine and belief; it is the restoration of the original Faith and concomitant practices of an Apostolically-commissioned Divine Society. The Church of England is not an Eratsian, state-controlled institution or an organ of the state. Rather, it is, essentially, a part of the Body of Christ, founded on the Apostles and Fathers of the Primitive Church. It is the Catholic Church of the English-speaking world. Thus, the clergy of the English Church should not rest on the authority of the state, their own personal gifts, or on their own convictions, but rather on that essential quality which sets apart the priest from the layman: ‘our Apostolical Descent.’ Here is the beginning and the end, the whole purpose, of the Oxford Movement - to reassert the true Catholic Apostolic nature of the Anglican Church and her ministry as given by God, not man. Newman describes the Orders and Sacraments of the Church as the ‘keys and spells’ by which men are brought into the presence of God’s saints. The Church functions as the Great Sacrament of Christ, in her life, ministry, and worship. 

Newman envisions the Church as the school for saints, edified by the sacraments, ministry, and creeds of the one Church; an early Newman perceives the Anglican Church’s appeal to the antiquity of the first four centuries of the undivided Church as of the essence of Anglicanism - for him, the via media, the defining theological path of Anglicanism, consists in the English Church’s steadfast loyalty to the ancient Tradition of the earliest Church, as opposed to the rigid systematising of Rome and individualistic and atomising tendencies of protestantism. For Newman, the via media is, simply, appeal to the mantra, the well-repeated war-cry of the Anglican settlement, ‘the ancient and Undivided Church.’ ‘Ancient Consent, is, practically, the only, or the main kind, of Tradition which now remains to us’. 

The Anglican Newman readily identifies the Anglican via media with the Church of Antiquity, which alone, he originally believes, possessed the fullness of Catholic consent, conciliarity, and truth.

John Keble is clear on the exact meaning of the reality of Church of Christ and where it fully subsists, as he proclaims, ‘Christ’s Holy Catholic Church is a real outward visible body, having supernatural grace continually communicated through it by succession from the Apostles, in whose place the bishops are’. Nowhere could a more succinct and profound definition of the Church be found in the history of ecclesiology. Keble effectively binds together all the essential characteristics of the Church in her sacramental or outward and visible quality. It almost goes without saying that for the Oxford Movement fathers, the divine Life of Christ is intimately connected to and instrumentally transmitted by the Church’s sacraments, orders, and ministry, for the Church is nothing less but the very Body of Christ, the extension of the Incarnation. 

Such a strongly-worded sentiment is unequivocally echoed by the Saint Louis Affirmation. According to the great Tractarian father and theological leader of the Oxford Movement, Dr Edward Bouverie Pusey, ‘the English Church preserves the entire faith, such as Our Lord left it with the Apostles, to evangelise the world. She believes all which the undivided Church believed, as of faith.’ 

Neither papal nor protestant, the Anglican via media becomes ‘Holy Tradition, apostolic and orthodox, as ecclesial authority’ in the fullest meaning of the phrase. One controversial manner of describing this Tractarian appeal to the undivided Church would be: ‘where Rome and Orthodoxy agree together, there Anglicanism squares with them.’ Anglo-Catholicism’s closest relative, doctrinally speaking, as opposed to historically, would therefore be the Chalcedonian Churches of the eastern patriarchates. Anglicanism, thus self-understood, discovers herself to be the western counterpart to the Eastern Orthodox, or, to be indulgent, the Orthodox Church of the West, or ‘Western Orthodoxy.’ The position renders Anglicanism the sole Patristic Church of the West. Such confidence in the Anglican Catholic position led Pusey to quip, ‘The Church of England has been placed as the single guardian of the Catholic truth in the West’. 

Triumphalistic as it may sound, the Catholic Revival engineers stalwartly believed Anglicanism to be the unique Church, defender and transmitter of ancient and Apostolic Tradition, in the West, opposed to the theological innovations of Rome and the theological subtractions and omissions of extreme protestantism. Her doctrinal authority is the same as that of the Apostolic Church from the beginning. Consistent with his Anglican theological formation, Pusey strongly asserts that the branches of the one Catholic Church, although divided hierarchically and administratively, still possesses the sacramental and spiritual unity of the Body of Christ: the so-called ‘branch theory,' the Branch Fact- ‘Well then may we believe that the several Churches, owning the same Lord, united to Him by the same sacraments, confessing the same faith, however their prayers may be hindered, are still one in His sight.’ 

Since 1833, when British clergy led by John Keble began the Oxford Movement at that University, the name 'High Church' was used often of the Catholic Revival within the Anglican Church. J. H. Newman and E. B. Pusey were its leaders. It was dubbed Puseyism, and often Tractarianism because of ninety famous tracts spread widely to propagate its principles. The opinions of newer High Churchmen were close to those of the earlier men of the same nickname, although closer to the pre-reformation Church in ceremonial observances. They have long since grown away from conservative loyalty to royalty and outmoded political views. Archbishop Tait of Canterbury wrote in 1882: '. . . powerfully had the early teaching of Newman represented English High Churchmanship as the best barrier against the Church of Rome.' In 1845 Newman did go to Rome, and a trickle of others have done so; nevertheless an equal if not greater group join us from there. The true position of this part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church as Catholic but not Roman is the strongest one in Christendom.

Trinity IV Sunday Mass, July 5 2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Postponement of 2020 Anglican Province of America Synods

Dearly beloved in Christ,

The global coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, continues to produce a severe impact on our lives, our Churches, our clergy, our faithful, our families, and our Dioceses and Province. We have just received news that the hotel chosen to host our 2020 Diocesan and Provincial Synods is canceling our meetings, a decision based on recent directives from the government of North Carolina. It has been determined that All Saints’ Church, Mills River, will not be able to accommodate the 80 or more people who planned to attend Synod at its facilities; it is no longer possible for All Saints’ parish to comply with the imposed restrictions, social distancing, and additional directives from the Governor of North Carolina.

Given the extreme circumstances in which we are placed by the pandemic, we have made the difficult but necessary decision to postpone the Diocese of the Eastern United States (DEUS) 2020 Synod in addition to the previously announced postponement of the Provincial Synod and alternatives for the DMA and DOW Synods. We now plan instead to meet in 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. The next Synods will be sponsored by Saint Barnabas Church, Dunwoody, Georgia. If the pandemic situation improves, and alternative plans can be safely put in place for our clergy, our lay delegates, and our families, we shall consider a date earlier than the summer of 2021 for the rescheduling of the Synods. We have considered other options for our 2020 meetings, and have subsequently decided that there is, at this time, no other practicable solution.

The hotel has canceled all reservations under our group, so there is no need to call and cancel your reservation. Registration fees for the Synods will be refunded to you – information on that process is forthcoming.

In order to plan for the coming year’s DEUS Diocesan budget, we will be sending out an email notice in the next 2 weeks to the DEUS churches regarding the process for our parishes and missions to submit their financial pledges. We are working on a method that will be as effective and convenient as possible.

In the interim, the necessary business of the Diocese of the Eastern United States will be conducted by the Standing Committee (SC) on behalf of the Diocesan Synod until the next Synod can be safely rescheduled and convened. The Standing Committee will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, August 4, by Zoom in order to conduct the business of the Diocese.

The DEUS Board of Examining Chaplains (BEC) will conduct its business, examinations, and interviews by Zoom on the same dates as originally scheduled, Monday, August 3, and Tuesday, August 4. All those to be examined or interviewed will receive information about connecting with the BEC (and SC if applicable) via Zoom at the times already scheduled. Zoom details will be shared with those participants in the near future.

We offer our profound thanks and gratitude to Archdeacon Erich Zwingert and the entire congregation of All Saints’ Church, Mills River, for their hard work and dedication in preparing for this year’s Synods. We look forward to another Synod hosted by All Saints’ Church in the future.

Let us all continue to pray for our beloved Church, for our faithful, and our nation and world.

The Most Reverend Walter H. Grundorf, D.D.

The Right Reverend Chandler Holder Jones, SSC

Trinity III, Anglican Mass, June 28 2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Trinity II, Anglican Mass, June 21 2020 - St. Barnabas, Dunwoody

Mass of the Patronal Feast of Saint Barnabas, June 14 2020 - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Mass and Benediction, Feast of Corpus Christi, Thursday June 11th 2020 - St Barnabas Ang...

Phase Two Restoration - Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

Dearly beloved in Christ,

We pray that all of you continue to remain well, healthy, and safe. We love you and persevere in prayer for you daily. We are pleased to announce that, beginning on Wednesday 17th June, we shall move to a Phase Two protocol at Saint Barnabas Church.

It is still advised that persons vulnerable to COVID-19 infection refrain from attending public worship for the time being. No one with fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other cold or influenza-like symptoms should come to Church. If you have been in recent close proximity to someone known or suspected to have COVID-19, please self-isolate and get tested.

We pray that the COVID-19 situation will continue to improve in the coming weeks and months. But we need to be prepared to deal with circumstances as they may arise, and, if necessary, change course and return to an earlier protocol. It is always possible that we may, at some future stage, have to reverse our course should we experience a re-escalation of coronavirus in our local area.

Beginning on Wednesday 17th June, the Wednesday Bible Study at 11am will resume in person each week. The class will meet in the nave of the Church, and masks and social distancing will be required for those present. The class will also continue to be shared live on Zoom for those who wish to participate from home.

The Noon Wednesday Eucharist will resume as well. Again, we require that all attending the Eucharist wear masks and observe social distancing, as on Sundays. The Holy Communion protocol, of one kind in the hand only, will be the same as on Sundays. Wednesday Mass will be celebrated at the High Altar.

The 7pm Thursday evening Philosophy Survey remains on Zoom and will not meet in-person for now. The Thursday Mass remains suspended except for major Feasts.

The Phase One Sunday protocol remains in place, masks and social distancing. Sunday coffee hour and nursery care remain suspended. Congregational singing and choral music remain suspended.

Small groups and classes may elect to meet in person once again on weekdays, provided that our indoor safety protocol is followed. Outdoor meetings on the campus may also be held.

Occasional services may now be resumed, especially Baptisms. weddings, and funerals, so long as the indoor health protocol is observed. Please contact the Rector to make arrangements for such services. We intend to schedule the Sacrament of Holy Confirmation for our Easter confirmands on a Sunday in July.

The parish clergy are available for meetings at the Church by appointment. Please do not hesitate to contact us if one should wish to meet with a clergyman. The clergy are also available for pastoral visits at one's home at any time. Sacramental Confessions may be heard by appointment at Church.

Looking forward, what may we expect when Phase Three finally arrives? When we finally land at Phase Three, God willing soon, Holy Communion in both kinds will be restored by intinction at the Altar, masks will then become optional, a cantor will provide liturgical music, and an outdoor Sunday coffee hour with pre-packaged drinks and snacks will resume. Beyond that, lying yet in the future, Phase Four will see us return to normal, to the full expression of our common life.

Let us pray that Our Lord Jesus Christ will, by His grace and mercy, lead us soon to the fulfilment of these godly desires.

Please remember to update your email address on our parish website, www.stbarnabasatl.org. Please always consult our parish website for the most updated information and links to events.

Each one of you abides continually in my love, my prayers, my heart. Thank you so very much and God bless you!

+Chad

Corpus Christi

SAINT BARNABAS DUNWOODY: 

We joyfully invite all parishioners and friends to attend the celebration of Holy Mass and Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament for the Festival of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Feast of Corpus Christi, on Thursday 11th June at 7pm. This liturgy is open to the public. Please wear masks and observe social distancing as on Sundays. 

The Sunday Holy Communion protocol of one kind in the hand will be employed. 

Let us forever adore the Most Holy Sacrament!

Sacred Order of Deacons

8th June is the 24th Anniversary of my Ordination to the Sacred Diaconate by 

Archbishop John T. Cahoon, Junior at Saint Anne's Church, Charlotte Hall, Maryland in 

the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States. Please say a prayer for me on the special day. 

Grainy photographs below from the only extant video. God bless you!

Trinity Sunday Mass, June 7 - St Barnabas Dunwoody (Atlanta)

Statement regarding George Floyd from the APA House of Bishops

The House of Bishops of the Anglican Province of America expresses its sense of shock and dismay at the death of Mr. George Floyd. We pray for the blessed repose of his soul, and for the peace and comfort of his family.

In the name of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we call for an immediate end to all forms of racism, injustice, violence, and lawlessness. May the peace of God which passeth all understanding unfold upon our country. Only through the divine mercy of Jesus Christ can this peace prevail for us. Let us continue to pray for our local communities and cities, our counties and states, our courts of justice, and our nation.

ALMIGHTY God, who hast created man in thine own image; Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil, and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice among men and nations, to the glory of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless you.

Mass for Whitsunday, May 31 2020 (Pentecost)

Whitsunday, commonly called Pentecost

O GOD, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

Ready for Open Church on Whitsunday!

What you need to know before returning to St. Barnabas for safe, public worship

Mass, May 24, 2020, Sunday after the Ascension

Mass for Ascension Day, May 21 2020

Announcement - Phase 1 Reopening of St. Barnabas Anglican Church

The Ascension Day and the Eucharist - Wednesday May 20th 2020

Saint Barnabas Church - Phase One Restoration

Dearly beloved in Christ,

We pray that all of you remain well, healthy, and safe. We love you and continue to pray for you daily. The wonderful news for which we have all been praying and longing has finally arrived! We shall resume Sunday public worship in a restricted way with a carefully-monitored Phase One protocol at Saint Barnabas Church on Sunday 31st May.

Whitsunday, commonly called Pentecost, the Great Birthday of the Church, is a most fitting day on which to restore our common life and worship together. We are reborn as a Church family on Pentecost! Like never before, we Traditional Anglicans have been reminded through the pandemic of the old adage, 'it is the Mass that matters.' Indeed it does.

Our health task force has completed its work and has produced a remarkably succinct yet thorough protocol which will allow us to resume public worship in the safest way we can muster. We shall notify everyone by email, robocall, publication, and our website of the specific directions of the plan. It is absolutely imperative for everyone's health and safety that we, each and every one of us, attentively and purposefully follow every aspect of the protocol. We want everyone to remain as safe as possible.

It is strongly advised that the elderly, the immunocompromised, and those with underlying health conditions refrain from attending public worship for the time being. No one with fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other cold or influenza-like symptoms should come to Church. If you have been in recent close proximity to someone known or suspected to have COVID-19, please follow federal and state recommendations for self-isolation and testing. We ask that you not attend public worship during this time. Everyone should please check temperatures for fever before venturing out to Church on a Sunday morning.

Please note also that any risk incurred by coming to Church is completely assumed by the individual, especially in the case of those who may choose to disregard active state or local mandates.

Please also remember our ongoing criteria for the decision to restore, or if necessary, once again suspend public worship. 1. a decline of COVID-19 infections and deaths in our area for fourteen days, 2. the consensus of our sister Churches of the Apostolic Succession in the Atlanta metropolitan area, especially the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, 3. the directives of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Province of America, and 4. local, state, and federal ordinances. All four have been met for a 31st May restoration. We earnestly pray that that will hold in the coming weeks and months. But we need to be prepared to deal with circumstances as they may arise in future, and, if necessary, change course.

All parishioners remain dispensed from the Sunday obligation of attendance at the Liturgy of Holy Communion until further notice. Please remember that the Church has the authority to dispense from the ecclesiastical requirement to attend Mass on Sunday, and she has done so in this case.

Beginning on Whitsunday, 31st May, and continuing every Sunday thereafter for the coming time, we shall celebrate the two Sunday Eucharists as usual, at 9am and 11am. But the Phase One experience will be very different from what we enjoyed before the coronavirus pandemic. We shall continue to livestream and record the Liturgy for those who are unable to attend in person or are still waiting to return.

Masks will be required of all who enter the building, and masks must be worn from entering the building until exiting. We urge our people to bring and wear their own masks, and to bring and use their own hand sanitiser, which should be used frequently while inside. Strict six-foot social distancing will be required at all times; the pews and aisles will be clearly marked for allowed seating and movement. Family groups may be seated together, but individuals and groups need to remain separated. There will be no congregational singing or choral music - Low Mass will be celebrated. The alms basins will be stationary at the back of the nave and will not be passed in the pews. There will be no presentation of alms. But please feel free generously to fill the alms basins!

We still encourage the faithful to make an Act of Spiritual Communion rather than approach the Altar. For those who wish to receive the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion will be administered in one kind only, the Sacred Host, in the hand only, and at the gate of the Altar rail, without kneeling at the Altar rail. The ushers will assist in guiding communicants toward the Altar while ensuring social distancing is maintained. Masks may be briefly removed in order to consume the Host, once one receives the Host in the hand and walks away from the celebrant, but then masks should be immediately resumed. Coffee hour, in-person classes, nursery care, and gathering of groups within the building have all been suspended. The Rector will greet people outside the building after each Eucharist, masked and observing social distancing. Clergy will wear masks during the time they are administering Holy Communion to the faithful. We shall ask everyone to be patient and careful when using the bathroom facilities, which will be limited to two people at a time.

What is provided above is a cursory explanation of our plan. These guidelines, and many others, will soon be made available to everyone in detail.

One of the consequences of 'Coronatide' is that in-person meetings are no longer as safe as they were before the health crisis began, so for the foreseeable future our parish classes will continue to meet online. Please feel free to join us for all of our online ministries. The links for our livestreamed and recorded YouTube Liturgies, our 1pm Zoom Sunday School, our 11am Zoom Wednesday Bible Study, our 7pm Zoom Thursday Philosophy Survey, and our Zoom Evening Prayer services at 7pm on Fridays and Sundays will be sent to you via email. Please update your email address on our parish website, www.stbarnabasatl.org. Please always consult our parish website for the most updated information and links to events.

Each one of you abides in my love, my prayers, my heart. Thank you so very much and God bless you!

+Chad