The dappled colors from the stained glass window played across the altar onto the tiles in front of the altar rail. I listened to my priest repeat these words to each communicant:
“The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.”
“The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life. Drink this in remembrance that Christ’s Blood was shed for thee, and be thankful.”
As I knelt, I seemed to observe across the centuries the millions who have heard those words, have thankfully received the Word of God, and the Lord’s body and blood at his holy table. The Lord seemed to impress upon me that he has placed me into that throng, into something larger than I, into his Body that encompasses both Church Militant and Triumphant.
That touched me in a deep way. That is why I go to church.
Back in July, Lector wrote an open letter to Millennial Christians urging them to get involved in a church. I agree with him, yet I am not going to tell you why you need to be involved in a good church, but rather why I am. A year ago, the little home fellowship I attended folded when our pastor and his wife moved out of town. I was still grieving, for my wife had died the summer before, and without a fellowship, I felt quite alone and out of sorts. So, I searched for a new place to go. After a little investigation, I settled on a local Anglican church to visit. A liturgical church was somewhat unfamiliar to me, but not unknown, and the words of the Book of Common Prayer resonated within me—the confessions of sin and repentance, the pronouncement of forgiveness through Christ, the preached Word, and the Holy Communion were a great blessing to me. I soon joined and have been active ever since.
Opportunities to serve have opened to me: choir, being a reader, running a home fellowship group. The contacts and friendships connect me to like-minded Christians, and that gives me strength for when I have to go it alone. Is it a perfect church? No. Are there hypocrites there? Probably. Are there people there who do not always live for the Lord? No doubt. I have been guilty of all three at some point in my life, so that is no excuse. Remember, the church is not a museum for saints, but a hospital for repentant sinners who need cleansing by the blood of Christ.
Hebrew 10:24-25 says we are to provoke one another to love and good works, and we are not to forsake assembling together. The most casual reader of this website knows we are in a deadly struggle for our civilization; we are surrounded by physical, moral, and spiritual dangers. Given the hatred toward Christianity and all things holy, it behooves us to find a place to serve, be fed, comforted, bandaged, and prepared for the battles ahead. I have, and that is why I go to my little Anglican church. Get thee to a church!
He believes the main pillar of Western Civilization is Christianity, and only a return to the Faith once delivered to the saints will preserve it.
Well, the Faith once delivered refers to aught but The Catholic Church.
As for the Anglican Church, unless your pastor was ordained by a Bishop who became Bishop via “The Dutch Touch” he is not a priest and, thus ,can not confect the Holy Eucharist.
Said otherwise, unless you attend a Church that has Apostolic Succession, The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass/Eucharist, Holy Orders, you are not a Church but, rather, a lay community of like-minded christians which ain’t too bad but it is major league sad.
Jesus Christ established His one true Church for two reasons
Salvation
Sanctification
and, outside of it, one is unlikely to be able to attain unto either.
There are some here who agree with your stance. There are others that do not. Ultimately, the purpose of our website is not to convert anyone to a specific “Christian” group – and I will use the quotes there on purpose. Rather, we are seeking to turn our culture from heading directly into the path of satanic and demonic, absolute Godlessness. Once that tide is turned, we can train our attention to these other matters.
Indifference over which religion is true or not led our Founding Fathers to establish religious liberty which set us ineluctably on the path to the progressive perdition we are rushing towards. Religious liberty and Indifference always results in practical atheism.
U.S.A. can be understood as referring to Usury, Sodomy, Abortion (we have established positive law succoring each of those sins crying to Heaven for vengeance) as much as United States of America and a generic Christian response is inadequate to such grave evil.
But, Theophrastus, this is your blog and I will respect your desires – but that doesn’t mean that from time to time I won’t try and persuade you and others of the necessity of choosing the right religion for there has only always been one religion – Bond with God – and that was established by God Himself
Fair enough. And I am quite content with being Orthodox – you know, the actual church that the Roman Bishop left.
Theophrastus. You may find this equal parts enlightening and frustrating:
https://ebougis.wordpress.com/my-eastern-papist-florilegium/
Thanks, I will stick with the interpretations provided by the church fathers, rather than a random blog.
Indeed.
Has the “My religion is right; yours is wrong. You must convert!” strategy ever worked? It has never affected my Catholicism.
5
I just had a discussion with my kids a few days ago about some folks we know who “Love the Lord” and read their bibles but never go to church. Being around like minded believers strengthens and heals you. You get questions answered. You can share doubts and have discussions. Going to church also keeps the lessons we learn, the reading we do, and our faith, in the front of our thoughts. It helps me for sure. And my sons say it makes a big difference to them. I think anyone who goes to church benefits from it.
I would say we Anglicans (at least the bunch I’m associated with) reject Popish fables and inventions, seeking only to follow the pure milk of the word, but the ordination of our bishops and priests can be traced back to the Old Church. Our sacraments are duly and properly administered. and valid. As far as the “right” church and salvation are concerned, there is only one church and only one way of salvation:
XVIII. Of obtaining eternal Salvation only by the Name of Christ.
They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of Nature. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.
XIX. Of the Church.
The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.
As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch, have erred; so also the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith.
(From the Thirty-nine Article of the Christian Religion)
My article was about none of this. It was about why I go to a faithful church, and the spiritual benefits I’ve enjoyed., as well as encouragement for the battle. Any arguments about Law or Sect belong to another post and time.
Anglican. If you believe what you posted, you are constrained to believe that Jesus Christ is the worst liar in history for He promised His church would never fail, that it is the pillar and ground of truth, that who hears it hears Him etc etc
If I didn’t believe it, I wouldn’t post it. And the Lord was correct, not a liar. The Church is not an organization, but an organism. Salvation is not in an organization, but in Jesus Christ. The Church is Christ’s body, composed of all who trust in Him for their salvation, regardless of what denominational label is applied. Ephesians deals with this quite well. The church, Christ’s body, will never fail, nor shall the gates of hell prevail against it. You can trust in your organization for your eternal salvation. I will trust in a person for my eternal salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As I said before, I wrote about why I am part of a good church. Disputations about visible church bodies belong to another post.
“The Church is Christ’s body, composed of all who trust in Him for their salvation, regardless of what denominational label is applied”
The consequences of your ideology is chaos. Your idea means that the arm is opposed to the head which commands the arm to move in thus and such a fashion but the arm says, nope, I don’t agree with the head of the body; in fact, I am the head/the authority.
Jesus clearly established a Hierarchical Church, the head of which on earth is Peter (Pope) but you oppose what Jesus established yet have the temerity to claim to be following Him.
You are quite confused.
Similarly, altho mother limbs and organs of the body are at liberty, according to you to do what they desire.
Well the so much for the Creed
I am not confused at all. You seem to lack reading comprehension skills. Whenever you see “church” or “body”, you read Roman Catholic Church. I don’t, nor do the scriptures.
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (I Cor. 12:12)
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence (Col. 1:18)
Etc., Etc.
Chaos? When Christ is the head and we obey him? Not at all.
Creed? We recite this every Sunday and believe it:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
As Theophrastus said, untwist your panties and move on.
“Once that tide is turned, we can train our attention to these other matters.”
But existential questions must be answered before we turn our attention to civic matters. I can’t imagine early christians were wrong to see to their sous and the souls of their loved ones before addressing the Roman Empire.
“Thanks, I will stick with the interpretations provided by the church fathers, rather than a random blog.”
That is an odd response because what is posted there are the interpretation of Church Fathers. I knew you had never encountered those statements before and so it is only reasonable to expect they’d be shocking to you but it is unreasonable for you to simply ignore them.
I think I have gotten from this blog what I can.
Thank you.
You are very sweet. Assuming I have not read the church fathers. Assumptions are not all that helpful in such cases. I do wonder what you think about Pope Gregory the Great (who you referenced earlier) saying the following:
Be it known then to your Fraternity that John, formerly bishop of the city of Constantinople, against God, against the peace of the Church, to the contempt and injury of all priests, exceeded the bounds of modesty and of his own measure, and unlawfully usurped in synod the proud and pestiferous title of œcumenical, that is to say, universal. * . . . For if one, as he supposes, is universal bishop, it remains that you are not bishops. * * (Book 9, Letter 68)
I have however taken care to admonish earnestly the same my brother and fellow bishop that, if he desires to have peace and concord with all, he must refrain from the appellation of a foolish title. . . . I confidently say that whosoever calls himself, or desires to be called, Universal Priest, is in his elation the precursor of Antichrist, because he proudly puts himself above all others. Nor is it by dissimilar pride that he is led into error; for, as that perverse one wishes to appear as above all men, so whosoever this one is who covets being called sole priest, he extols himself above all other priests. (Book 7, Letter 33)
[W]hat will you say to Christ, who is the Head of the universal Church, in the scrutiny of the last judgment, having attempted to put all his members under yourself by the appellation of Universal? . . . not one of them [the apostles] has wished himself to be called universal. Now let your Holiness acknowledge to what extent you swell within yourself in desiring to be called by that name by which no one presumed to be called who was truly holy. (Book 5, Letter 18)
In the latter letter (5, 18), Gregory also writes:
. . . I, unworthy, succeeded to the government of the Church, . . .
For what are all your brethren, the bishops of the universal Church, but stars of heaven, whose life and discourse shine together amid the sins and errors of men, as if amid the shades of night? And when you desire to put yourself above them by this proud title, and to tread down their name in comparison with yours, what else do you say but I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven? Are not all the bishops together clouds, who both rain in the words of preaching, and glitter in the light of good works?
. . . Peter, the first of the apostles, . . .
Was it not the case, as your Fraternity knows, that the prelates of this Apostolic See which by the providence of God I serve, had the honour offered them of being called universal by the venerable Council of Chalcedon. But yet not one of them has ever wished to be called by such a title, or seized upon this ill-advised name, lest if, in virtue of the rank of the pontificate, he took to himself the glory of singularity, he might seem to have denied it to all his brethren.
This link will sufficiently present my position on the issue.
But really, no need to get your panties in a twist. So you disagree with something that some of us believe. Whoopedeedo. Suck it up buttercup. No need to get so melodramatic about it.
Hahaha. Even those of us that are Reformed (yeah, yeah. Boo hiss) don’t believe that only the Reformed go to Heaven. I have NO doubt that some of my Catholic brothers will be called up in the Marriage in the Skies.
Someone will have to carry my couch up there.
Ha! Take care brothers in the Faith. When we have purged the pagan and the Saracen from our lands, I look forward to battling once more. Until that time, we stand in God’s name together.
I guess this is the time to ask. I generally try to hold the Peace of Westphalia here. But in the face of concern trolling like this, is the truce broken for enjoyments sake?
Editors, what is the command. Your house, your rules.
Given that this occurs every time the topic arises, I think the only sensible course would be for the moderators to ban such discussions except on posts that specifically address it (such as “Unschisming the Church”).
But that is merely the recommendation of one of those filthy Baptists (who happens to side with the EO on every East-West dispute).
We do allow for some leeway. We don’t want to get too far afield from the actual topic. We are probably at that point here.
The most important thing is NOT to fellowship
at a ‘church’ that agrees with abortion, faggot
‘marriage’, etc., left wing causes. Women are
not to be teachers of men.
That will eliminate almost all mainline ‘churches’.
Weekly observance of the Lord’s Supper was the
way it was done when the apostles were still alive
to correct errors, like observing the ‘communion’
however often they feel like it (there goes the baptists)
I left a church which had an outspoken witch who was
a screeching klinton supporter. Her family was from KY,
yellow dog demoncraps. You can’t be a christian and
support a political outfit with abortion and faggotry as
a main plank in its platform (1Cor. 5).
Leaves very few choices, huh?
Everyone is discussing the “Church”. It is about a relationship with Jesus Christ.