Why I am still an Anglican
Peter Carrell
| 24 Apr 2009
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I am an Anglican by lifelong habit, reinforced by the sober realism that my superannuation prospects are tied to the Anglican Church’s pension fund. Yet I am not immune to the charms of other churches. Sometimes I see in them an attraction by virtue of its absence from Anglicana.
Sometimes I see something done well which Anglicans – as a general rule – do poorly: why do we read the liturgy with heads buried in our books, for example, rather than saying it from memory? At such times, as well as when Anglican life is, well, just a bit turning-to-custardy, I often run through a checklist of reasons why I am an Anglican not only by habit but also by conviction.
Here are three convictions:
• First: continuity with the most ancient form of the church is a good thing; even better is removal of unwarranted accretions accumulated along the way; as a reformed-and-catholic church, the Anglican Church fits the bill admirably.
• Second conviction: Scripture should guide and shape all that we do. In Anglican liturgies (eucharistic and non-eucharistic) we find not only that several readings from Scripture, as well as exposition of Scripture, are mandated but much of the wording of the liturgies is cleverly sourced from Scripture itself. OK, it can be said that other liturgical churches do similarly. But do they preach as well as Anglicans?
• Third conviction: order is vital to steadfast, long-lasting churches, and the best order the church has developed involves bishops, clergy and laity sharing in governance and management of the church. In fact, the Anglican Church, of all episcopal churches, arguably, provides the most significant and powerful role for lay leadership.
Alongside convictions such as these are some deep appreciations about being Anglican: we allow ourselves some margin for exploration in our theology, some tolerance for experimentation in liturgy, and some forgiveness for failing to be the ideal church! Perhaps this environment lies behind the Anglican geniuses who inspire me – as pastor, teacher, and leader. A dinner party in heaven with our Lord, surrounded by St Bede, Thomas Cranmer, Elizabeth I, Richard Hooker, George Herbert, Charles Simeon, C.S. Lewis, John A. T. Robinson, John Stott, Jim Packer, N.T. Wright, and Rowan Williams would be, well, heaven.
Seemingly unable to produce truly great theologians – none of the stature of Calvin or Barth, for example, though St Anselm might count – the Anglican Church has provided plenty of biblical scholars and teachers. For this I am very grateful. This appreciation brings me back to the chief anchoring point for me as an Anglican: I belong to a church whose true mind is a rare combination of Scripture, liturgy, and learning, the depths of which I have barely begun to plumb.
Then I note that anchored though our church is into Scripture, liturgy and learning, it is also a gospel church, sailing the seven seas of world mission, anxious that all should hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Precisely this characteristic lies at the heart of our church, Te Haahi Mihinare, begun with the work of Samuel Marsden and Ruatara, and flourishing through the commitment of gospel witnesses such as Tarore and Tamihana Te Rauparaha (missionary to this island on which I live).
Yet this peon of praise for Anglican life must not be the last word. Happy though I am in my conviction that the Anglican Church, for all its obvious shortcomings, is the best church around, it is not the true church of God. That church is the ecumenical church, the church of all churches. I would gladly jettison ‘Anglican taonga’ in order to belong to the ecumenical church, a step on the way to which we nearly made in the 1970s. Is it time to talk again to our sisters and brothers in other denominations?
Peter Carrell is Ministry Officer for the Diocese of Nelson.
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