'Remember!'

Belated but ever applicable: the story of Anglicanism’s Royal Martyr, the ‘White King,’ whom the Churches of the Anglican Tradition remember with grateful affection and honour in the month of January… a meditation based on the Anglican Breviary.

‘Charles Stuart, known to secular history as King Charles I of England, and popularly called the Royal Martyr, was born in 1600, and crowned King of England on Candlemas Day in 1626. His father, who had been James VI of Scotland and afterwards became James I of England, was an ardent convert from Scottish Calvinism, and laboured diligently throughout all his dominions to exalt the doctrines of the Priesthood and the Sacraments, which the Calvinists had denied. In particular, he restored the Apostolic Ministry to Scotland, with the hope of thereby gradually supplanting the new system with the ancient heritage of our Religion.  And when Charles acceded to his father’s throne, he also was diligent in all these matters. But when he attempted to impose liturgical worship on Scotland, the Calvinists became alarmed, and stirred up an irreverent mob to prevent the use of it; and thereafter the opposition grew until it was evident that the Scots as a nation could not be reconciled to the Church in this fashion. Nevertheless, the succession of the Catholic Priesthood, which had been instituted in his father’s reign, continued its labours, whereof the episcopal Scottish Church was once the fruit.

Meanwhile Charles, with the help of his Chancellor, William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced numerous ecclesiastical reforms in England, and enforced the discipline of the Church, whereby great antagonism was stirred up against them, as a result of which they both were finally brought to martyrdom.

For this was the time when the Commons first began the struggle for a constitutional monarchy, which same was contrary to the King’s prerogatives as they had hitherto been understood and as Charles tried to defend them. But it was not only because he opposed the politics of his enemies, but also because he stedfastly refused to do away with the Catholic constitution of the Anglican Church, that Parliament finally condemned him to death.  Whereat he was able to show how he had within himself the power to undergo all sorts of indignities with true greatness and serenity. For he had ever been a man conspicuous for devotion to God, and for penitence and prayer, as well as for faithfulness to Christian duties. Therefore, even though he regarded the death sentence passed upon him as unlawful and unjust, he accepted it as a condign punishment from the mercy of God because of his own sins.

From the time of his arrest he spent most of his time in prayer and contemplation. On the day of his execution he gladly made his preparation for death, with the aid of one of the Chaplains allowed to him; with whom he first recited the Office of the day, and then listened with great devotion to the reading of the Passion according to Saint Matthew. Thereafter he received the Last Sacraments; by which fortified, he went bravely and cheerily to his death. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, who knew him well, wrote of him on this wise: “He was, if ever any, the most worthy of the title of an honest man; so great a lover of justice was he that no temptation could dispose him to a wrongful action except it was so disguised to him that he believed it just; he was the worthiest gentleman, the best master, the best husband, the best father, and the best Christian, that the age in which he lived produced.” Others have testified that he was marked by a virtue of purity and a practice of prayer that shone wonderfully amidst the temptations and distractions to which he was exposed.

He was well known for his strict sobriety in food and clothes, and he ever showed a noble insensibility to flattery. All who knew him were impressed with a certain innocence in him, for even his bitter enemies said of him: “He is God’s silly vassal.” At his execution, he affirmed that he was faithful member of the Holy Catholic Church, which same took place on January 30^th 1649. Afterwards, his body was laid in Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor; but at the command of his enemies he was buried without the Church’s rites, for their hatred of him and of the Priesthood was not satisfied, even when they had accomplished his destruction. And he is venerated because he gave his life for the things which men of such minds are unable to perceive.’

Confirmations at Saint Francis Church, Kissimmee, Florida, 27th January 2013

Free Church of England Orders Recognised by Church of England

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have recognised the Orders of the Free Church of England under the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967. The Measure gives the Archbishops authority to determine whether the Orders of any Church are 'recognised and accepted' by the Church of England.

The recognition of the Orders of the Free Church of England follows approximately three years of contact between the bishops of the Free Church of England, the Council for Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Commission, which recommended that the Orders of the Free Church of England be recognised. That recommendation was subsequently endorsed by the Standing Committee of the House of Bishops.

When someone who was originally ordained in the Free Church of England or any other church whose Orders are recognised under the Measure wishes to minister in the Church of England, the first questions to be considered are those of whether the person concerned is suitable for ministry in the Church of England and if so, whether any further training is necessary. Where those questions are resolved satisfactorily, the Archbishop of the relevant Province can decide to give the minister permission to officiate in the Church of England without re-ordination, either permanently or for a specified period.

The Right Revd Christopher Hill, Chair of the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity, said:  'I hope there will be good relations between us and especially in those places where there is a Free Church of England congregation.'

In a statement, the Right Revd John McLean, Bishop Primus of the Free Church of England, said: 'We are grateful to the Archbishops for this recognition of our common episcopal heritage. I pray that it will not be an end in itself, but will lead to new opportunities for proclaiming the Gospel.'

Notes

The first congregations of the Free Church of England were formed in 1844. It is governed by a constitution and canons, and has two Dioceses in England and is a member of Churches Together in England. It is already a Designated Church under the Ecumenical Relations Measure 1988. Further details can be found on the website: http://www.fcofe.org.uk/

Commentary

Please see previous theological reflections on this subject as expressed on this blog, here...

Denver Consecrations at 35

Today is the 35th anniversary of the Episcopal Consecrations which established the sacramental foundation of the original Anglican Church in North America following the Congress of Saint Louis (1977). Charles Dale David Doren was consecrated by the Right Reverend Albert Arthur Chambers, sometime Bishop of Springfield, Illinois. Joining Bishop Chambers in the consecration of Bishop Doren was the Right Reverend Francisco de Jesus Pagtakhan of the Philippine Independent Catholic Church. After Bishop Doren’s consecration, he joined Bishop Chambers and Bishop Pagtakhan during the same rite in consecrating three other bishops: James Orin Mote, Robert Sherwood Morse, and Peter Francis Watterson.

ALMIGHTY God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst give to thy holy Apostles many excellent gifts, and didst charge them to feed thy flock; Give grace, we beseech thee, to all Bishops, the Pastors of thy Church, that they may diligently preach thy Word, and duly administer the godly Discipline thereof; and grant to the people, that they may obediently follow the same; that all may receive the crown of everlasting glory; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Episcopal Consecration of Bishop Glyn Webster

The Right Reverend Glyn Webster, a traditional Anglo-Catholic, was consecrated Suffragan Bishop of Beverley in the Province of York on Friday 25th January 2013 in York Minster.   

The preacher was The Most Reverend and Right Honorable Lord David Hope of Thornes.

SSPX

The Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, the most well-known Latin Rite traditionalist movement, now appears to be, by the description of its Superior General Bishop Fellay, Old Catholic. That is, its position is precisely analogous to the status of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands, the Dutch Roman Catholic Church of the Old Episcopal Order, in the years 1723, 1870 and 1889, as it has refused definitively to accept the ordinary magisterial authority of the modern papacy. The SSPX places the Tradition of the old Latin Fathers of the ancient Church and the consensus of the Fathers above the teaching office of the contemporary Roman Communion. This has been exactly the historical position of Old Catholicism, and yes, Anglicanism, from the Reformation forward...

Fascinating.

Orthodox Anglicans and orthodox Old Catholics are, of course, sister Churches and have historically enjoyed full sacramental communion on the basis of the shared Faith of the ancient and undivided Church of the first millennium, the Faith of the One Church East and West, as expressed in the Western Rite. What could the future hold for the SSPX?

Christmas 2012 at Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

For some, Christmas Day is just the start of the celebration

Anglican Bishop Chandler “Chad” Jones, rector of St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Dunwoody

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me … you know how the song goes.

But more than just lyrics about turtledoves and partridges, the 12 days of Christmas is a tradition observed by many Christians. Christmas is just the beginning of a 12-day celebration, according to liturgical tradition.

Bishop Chandler Jones of St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Dunwoody said there are several feast days that are observed between Christmas and Epiphany, when some Christians believe the three wise men visited the newborn Jesus.

“You have these wonderful feast days that come right after Christmas. Dec. 25 is just the start,” Jones said. “In the Anglican tradition, the twelfth night is marked by great celebrations and food.”

Included in the 12 days of Christmas are the Feast of Saint Stephen on Dec. 26; the feast of Saint John on Dec. 27; and the feast of the Holy Innocents on Dec. 28. Jones said the Anglican tradition is to take Eucharist, or Holy Communion, to mark each occasion.

“There’s a lot of rich history and rich symbolism in all of that,” Jones said.

The Rev. Zachary Thompson of Holy Innocents Episcopal Church in Sandy Springs said his church will hold mass each of those days and include a sermon that explores the saints that are honored for each feast.

“We have a slew of saints we recognize during the season,” Thompson said. “Particularly important for us is the feast day of the Holy Innocents.”

Thompson said because it is their namesake, the church puts particular emphasis on the feast of Holy Innocents, and holds a memorial service for the children that have died in Georgia throughout the year.

This year, he said, they plan to delay the service until January and hold a larger, community-wide event that will serve as a memorial for the children killed in the shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Jones said that in the past the majority of Christians observed the 12 days of Christmas. But now, only a few denominations uphold the tradition.

“The reason why it went out of vogue was because people, especially in retail, wanted to get people excited for Dec. 25 and wanted to sell their goods as Christmas presents,” Jones said. “Economically, there was a great deal of stress on buying Christmas presents. The 12 days of Christmas became somewhat of an afterthought because the focus was on Dec. 25.”

Thompson said aside from celebrations at the church, Holy Innocents encourages families in their congregation to recognize the 12 days of Christmas in their homes, too.

“Each year we give a sort of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany pamphlet,” he said.

Included are prayer services for lighting the Christmas tree and other prayers using material things to “connect our homes and families into God’s story.”

Sweet Sixteen

The Feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle, Saturday 21st December 1996, on bright clear glistening snow-covered morning in Lexington, Virginia, I was ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests in Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church at Saint Paul’s Church by the Most Reverend John Thayer Cahoon, Junior of the Anglican Catholic Church. What a glorious day it was!

You go with me to the Altar of God today as the Holy Sacrifice is offered in thanksgiving for sixteen years of participation in Christ’s Holy Priesthood. Please pray for me on this day. Thank you very much and God bless you.

Christmastide at Saint Barnabas Dunwoody

The first extant icon of Mother and Child - Saint Priscilla catacomb, Rome, 2nd Century AD.

Please remember to keep CHRIST in Christmas - and to keep MASS in Christmas as well!


The Nativity of Our Lord, or the Birthday of Christ, commonly called Christmas Eve

Monday 24th December

Family Holy Communion (hymns and carols) - 7pm

Sung Holy Communion (incense) - 10pm


The Nativity of Our Lord, or the Birthday of Christ, commonly called Christmas Day

Tuesday 25th December

Sung Holy Communion - 10am


The Feast of Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr

Wednesday 26th December

Holy Communion - Noon


The First Sunday after Christmas Day
Sunday 30th December

Holy Communion - 9am
Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmastide - 11am

The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
Tuesday 1st January

Holy Communion - Noon

Please join us if you are in the metropolitan Atlanta area.

God bless you and Happy Christmas!

An Appeal from the Continuing Anglican Churches to the ACNA and Associated Churches

The Continuing Anglican Church movement began with the Congress of Saint Louis in 1977.  The Anglican Church in North America was born in 2010. Between these two ecclesial movements there are points of contact, but there also is a great gulf fixed. 

 

In regard to points of contact, both of the entities concerned are movements composed of a number of imperfectly united ecclesial jurisdictions rather than perfectly united dioceses or Churches.  Both understand themselves to be Anglican and to relate in positive ways to a common history and shared theological and cultural influences.  Both understand themselves to have left former Church homes as an act of fidelity to the teaching of Scripture and in the face of grave aberrations in the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion.  Both are challenged by the need to present the gospel in compelling and attractive ways to an increasingly secular and indifferent Western society.

 

The gulf between us concerns mostly the changes accepted in the Episcopal Church (and the Canadian Church) between the mid-1970s and 2010.  Those of us who left the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada in the 1970s did so due to the adoption in those years of the ordination of women to the priesthood by General Convention (1976) and General Synod (1975).  More generally, in the roughly 30 years between the Congress of Saint Louis and ACNA’s formation, the people who eventually formed ACNA lived in ecclesial bodies which increasingly abandoned elements of classical Anglicanism.  The precipitating cause of the founding of the ACNA was TEC’s abandonment of orthodox Christian teaching concerning homosexuality.  But prior to 2010 many of those now in ACNA accepted liturgies and prayer books with few connections to classical Anglican worship and accepted female deacons, priests, and bishops contrary to the mind of all Anglicans prior to the mid-20^th century. 

 

One of our number, in an earlier letter to Archbishop Duncan of ACNA, wrote in regard to these matters as follows:

The notion that women can receive the sacrament of Holy Orders in any of its three parts constitutes, in our view, a revolutionary and false claim:  a claim false in itself; a claim destructive of the common ministry that once united Anglicans; and, finally, a claim productive of an even broader and worse consequence.  That worse consequence is the claim that Anglicans have authority to alter important matters of

faith and order against a clear consensus in the central tradition of Catholic and Orthodox Christendom.  Once such a claim is made it may be pressed into service to alter any matter of faith or morals.  The revolution devours its children.  Many of the clergy represented at GAFCON and now joining the ACNA seem to us to accept the flawed premise and its revolutionary claim in one matter while seeking to resist the application of the premise in the matter of homosexuality.  This position seems to us to be internally inconsistent and impossible to sustain successfully over time.

All Continuing Anglicans accept this analysis.  We note that ACNA has not abandoned the putative ordination of women and that this issue deeply divides the dioceses which compose ACNA. 

 

While we recognize that the Churches through history and today are free to adopt a variety of liturgical forms, as they are not free to accept the ordination of women, yet we also agree that any sound Anglican body today needs to relate more positively to the classical Books of Common Prayer than is the case in many ACNA dioceses. 

 

Many in ACNA effectively accept elements of the revolution since the 1970s.  If orthodox Anglicanism in North America is again to unite, then it can only do so on the basis of the pre-1976 state of the Church, without women clergy and with classically Anglican liturgies.

We recognize that the Continuing Church has failed to present a united front, has failed to grow as we should, and in general has failed to present an attractive alternative to the growing heresy and absurdity of the Episcopal Church.  However, we also note that against furious opposition, and often against obstacles set up by those who later formed ACNA, we have built hundreds of congregations in North America, many of which are thriving.  We have established works of mercy, publications ministries, and international missions, and we have trained and ordained a new generation of able clergy. 

 

The Continuing Churches are said to be riven by constant conflicts and to be increasingly divided.  This is not true.  Those of us who are undersigned below represent the great bulk of the Continuing Church.  We have among ourselves cordial relations.  We cooperate on many levels and have at least as great a level of

communion as that which exists amongst the disparate groups of ACNA.  Our tendency is towards greater unity and cooperation, whereas we observe within ACNA a tendency, just beneath the surface, to divide along the fault line we have identified above (between many in ACNA and classical Anglicanism).  We have no wish to deny or to minimize our own failures or divisions.  But our divisions are largely matters amenable to improvement.  The divisions facing ACNA are fundamental and essential.

 

We call upon ACNA to heed our call to return to your classical Anglican roots.  We commend to your prayerful attention the Affirmation of Saint Louis, which we firmly believe provides a sound basis for a renewed and fulfilled Anglicanism on our continent. We urge you to heed the call of Metropolitan Jonah, whose concerns we share.  Anglicanism in North America cannot be both united and orthodox on a partially revolutionized basis.  We call upon you to repudiate firmly any claim to alter doctrine or order against the consensus of the Catholic and Orthodox world.  We call upon you to embrace the classical Prayer Book tradition.  The 30 years between our formation in 1977 and yours in 2010 were years of sharp decline in TEC numbers and of growing aberrations in all areas of Church life.  We call upon you to look upon all the works of those years with a much more critical eye, and to join us in returning to the doctrine, worship, and orders that preceded the intervening decades.

 

Yours in Christ,

 

The Right Reverend Paul Hewett, SSC

Diocese of the Holy Cross

 

The Most Reverend Walter Grundorf

Anglican Province of America

 

The Most Reverend Brian Marsh

Anglican Church in America

 

The Most Reverend Mark Haverland

Anglican Catholic Church

 

The Most Reverend Peter D. Robinson

United Episcopal Church of North America

Prayers for Connecticut

Let us pray for the victims and their families in Connecticut:

O God, merciful and compassionate, who art ever ready to hear the prayers of those who put their trust in thee; graciously hearken to us who call upon thee, and grant us thy help in this our need; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them.

Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us.

Jesus, mercy. Mary, pray.

The Conception of Our Lady

O GOD Most High, who didst endue with wonderful virtue and grace the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord: Grant that we, who now call her blessed, may be made very members of the heavenly family of him who was pleased to be called the first-born among many brethren; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. (1962 Canadian Prayer Book)

O ALMIGHTY God, who didst endue with singular grace the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord: Vouchsafe, we beseech thee, to hallow our bodies in purity, and our souls in humility and love; through the same our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. (1929 Scottish Prayer Book)


























The Church affirms that Mary is Full of Grace (St Luke 1.28) and therefore has no room in her life for sin, as she, the Woman whose Son is the Seed that crushed the serpent's head and who Himself was bruised by the serpent, the Mother of the Redeemer (Genesis 3.15), is perfectly faithful and obedient to the will and plan of God. 'I am the Handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy Word' (St Luke 1.38). Mary, in essence, is the Second and New Eve, who, freed from the power of sin, reverses the disobedience of the first Eve by her own obedience and fidelity to God. 'She loosed by her obedience the knot first tied by the disobedience of Eve' (St Iraneaus of Lyons). 'In the name Theotokos is wrapped-up the whole mystery of the economy of the salvation of God' (St John of Damascus).

The most ancient opinion about original sin in Our Lady was that which celebrated her freedom from original sin at the moment of the Annunciation, in which by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, Mary conceived Our Lord in her now-immaculate womb. This was called Our Lady's purification or katharsis and is still generally believed in the Eastern Churches today. 

'Conceived by the Virgin, who first in body and soul was purified by the Holy Ghost - for it was needful both that childbearing should be honoured, and that virginity should receive a higher honour, He came forth then as God with that which He had assumed, One person in two natures, flesh and Spirit, of which the latter deified the former.' (Oration 38, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus). 

This view is consistent with Scripture. We can summarise the whole subject with St Augustine of Hippo, who said so beautifully, 'Where sin is concerned, I do not even discuss it in relation to Mary.' All the Catholic Churches, including the Anglican, regardless of belief about the details of her conception, celebrate the Feast of Our Lady's Conception with great solemnity on December 8th. What all Catholics adhere to faithfully is the pious belief that the Blessed Virgin Mary is immaculate - negatively, free from sin, positively, full of all grace and virtue. So, as the Bible implies it and does not require it, the Church piously and simply calls Mary, the Spotless One.

The Eastern Orthodox Church does not accept the teaching that the Mother of God was exempted from the consequences of ancestral sin (death, corruption, sin, etc.) at the moment of her conception by virtue of the future merits of her Son. Only Christ was born perfectly holy and sinless, as St Ambrose of Milan teaches in Chapter Two of his Commentary on Luke. The Holy Virgin was like everyone else in her mortality, and in being subject to temptation, although she committed no personal sins. She was not a deified creature removed from the rest of humanity. If this were the case, she would not have been truly human, and the nature that Christ took from her would not have been truly human either. If Christ does not truly share our human nature, then the possibilty of our salvation is in doubt.

The Anglican Province of America

Heresies

Please join us at Saint Barnabas Church Dunwoody on Thursdays each week after the 7pm Eucharist for a new six-week course on the heresies condemned by the Seven Ecumenical Councils. What does the orthodox and catholic Faith teach on these matters?

We should be very careful to avoid any sense in which we might inadvertently imply that Our Lord was adopted as the Son of God by the Father - and that we are not therefore different from Christ in nature or kind, but only degree. Early adoptionists and the Arians held the view that Christ was different from us only in degree, for Our Lord was a created being adopted and loved by God, to whom God imputed divine status and adoption. The Christ of the Arians was thus deuteros theos, a second God, or a God by grace and in name only. But that, of course, is what we are by theosis - adopted by God to 'be God' in a relative and secondary sense, by grace and adoption (II Peter 2.4, Saint John 10.33-38). Jaroslav Pelikan and John Henry Newman both remind us that the Arian Christ takes the place of the Orthodox Catholic Mary - that for the Arians, Christ, a created being made perfect by divine grace, replaces the role that God has in fact reserved to Mary, the first human hypostasis fully to receive divinisation. We should make it clear that Christ is the Son of the Father in nature, being and essence, consubstantial with the Father, and that we live as Christ only because we share Our Lord's divine sonship through justification and grace only. 

Arianism, like one form of protestantism, was essentially the rationalizing spirit -- the inability to accept or see things beyond reason. - Hillaire Belloc

Church of England Postpones Bishopesses

Final approval of the legislation to allow women to become 'bishops' in the Church of England was defeated by the General Synod today, because the vote in the House of Laity was less than the necessary two-thirds majority.

The main motion before Synod was

That the Measure entitled 'Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure' be finally approved.

and this required a two-thirds majority of those present and voting in each of the three houses. [Abstentions are counted but not included in the calculation.] The votes were:

	For	Against	Abstention
Bishops	44	3	2
Clergy	148	45	0
Laity	132	74	0

Year-Ending and Year-Beginning

For our reflection as we embark on a new year of grace and salvation, and as we celebrate the Mystery of the Incarnation, Nativity and Manifestation of Our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ! Saint Barnabas has grown in remarkable and inspirational ways since its inception on 11^th June 1979 – we celebrated this year our 33^rd Anniversary and we note with thanksgiving to Almighty God what He has done in our midst. Beginning with rented space and a small faithful group of people, today Saint Barnabas has its new building complex and an official membership of 487 people. The actual number is higher, for many have not officially registered with the parish. Please do register your membership with the parish office if you have never done so before! Since 2008 we have grown 24% in membership. We are moving to a new level spiritually and numerically, as we have progressed from being a small parish to a larger parish. Saint Barnabas is one of the top five of the largest Continuing Churches in North America and one of the largest in the southeastern United States. We remain in the midst of a critical time of growth and expansion. I want to turn our gaze to what lies ahead and what opportunities exist for our future ministry and service. We are definitely entering the next phase of the life and witness of Saint Barnabas Church, and today we begin to look afresh at the challenges before us. A true axiom is that a Church that is not growing is dying; a Church can do only one of two things, move forward or fall behind. We are definitely growing, and we are called to keep up the momentum. The membership growth of our parish has in recent years been so significant that the time has come to evaluate that growth and develop a new plan for our future together.

In September 2012, the new ‘Planning for Growth’ Committee of Saint Barnabas chaired by Rette Ledbetter first met to begin its work on behalf of the parish: as our Church continues to grow in spiritual formation and membership, we are planning for the future! We have a fantastic collection of volunteers for this committee. We shall in the coming weeks and months create a strategic vision and plan for future development. We shall consider our needs for building space and facilities; yes, we need more space, for Sunday school, Christian education, social events, music, administration, and so forth. The time is soon coming when we shall need to contemplate another building programme. We are running out of room, a great problem to have! But we shall also consider how best to use our current resources and abilities to accommodate our increasing needs and challenges. Our strategic plan will not only consider our physical plant requirements, but most importantly, it will identify those areas of spiritual, pastoral, ministerial and theological growth which call for greater attention and the creation of new ways to address them. Saint Barnabas is graduating to a new stage in our corporate life together. Please watch our publications in the coming months for news of our progress and proposals to come.

The youth are our future, the future of the parish and of the Church at large. We have established and expanded our youth ministry, especially ministry to teenagers and young adults. In time we hope to expand our Sunday school classes as the anticipated need demands. We should make this expansion a priority for future service. Associated with the concern for greater opportunities for youth ministry is the need to increase the involvement of younger families in every aspect of Church life. To this end, we hope to see more social events geared toward younger families in the months ahead. Greater participation and involvement of young families will propel our efforts to see more Christian education and formation programmes for the young fill up. On a related note, I have been appointed director of the Diocesan summer camp, the Anglican Life Adventure Camp, in North Carolina! More information on that to come…

We continue our mission to support charitable work throughout the Church and the world; the Pregnancy Resources of Doraville, the Anglican Church in the Philippines, the Anglican Church in Haiti, the Norcross Cooperative Ministry, the Dunwoody-Sandy Springs Community Assistance Centre, the APA Dalit School in India operated by Operation Mobilisation, and Saint Peter’s Church in Nigeria have all been beneficiaries of our mission ministry. We continue in-house voluntary work at the Cooperative Ministry, PROD and the Assistance Centre as part of our outreach. May our future goal be a more vigorous, active and visible participation in these and other outreach ministries. Let us strive to obtain more personal involvement and interaction with outreach ministry – it would be wonderful if we could in the future boast that 10%, 20% or 30% of our membership were personally volunteering in the service of others. We need volunteers to join with us, and we ask you today to consider giving of yourself, your time, talent and energy to the service of those in need, those around us in our community. Ministry, service, the love of Christ in action, belongs not just to clergy or to a specialised group of lay-people, it belongs to all of us, to every baptised person. The early days of the Continuing Church understandably saw a concern and a need to preserve our heritage and to defend the catholic and orthodox faith. That focus was and is certainly right. But our parish, and the Continuing Church as a whole, has now matured and grown to the stage where our focus should not be solely inward, but outward. The authenticity of a Church is revealed by how she ministers to others outside the Church in the Name of Christ. We are the hands and feet of Christ in the world. Please join us in the exhilarating newer phase of our life as a parish family. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. As the great 20^th century Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, declared:  ‘The Church is the only organisation that exists for the wellbeing and fraternity of its non-members.'

The Year of Grace 2013 will be a rousing year for our parish as we look to the future, just as 2012 has been a year truly filled with God’s graces and blessings. May the Lord Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Lord, the true God born of Mary, bless and keep you all during this holy season!

+Chad