I, at least, am proud to be an Anglican and to have the richness of the English and Anglican heritage to call my own. I remember when I was young and had just discovered the Episcopal Church. Then I thought of it as the center of all good, but now it seems to have become representative of the worst in Church and culture. But that has not effected by belief and love of the Anglican way. The classic Books of Common Prayer and the works and words of the great English, Scots and American churchmen have nurtured me and given me strength when there was little else to do so.
It is clear to me that the attack on the English Church and upon Anglicanism has raged for over a hundred years now. In truth it probably began with those of Elizabeth's bishops who were happy to have the title and the revenue of their office but who would have been happier if they had been allowed to import the faith and practice of their refuge during Mary's reign. They laid the groundwork for those who were later to rebel against both church and king, murdering Laud and then Charles. And the battle continued even after the Restoration with the Whigs under William and the German Georges persecuting the Church and loyal churchmen. Fortunately the American revolution left the stranded remnant of English churchmen the task of both founding a nation and finding a reason for remaining Anglican even as they became Americans and not English, Scots or Welsh.
I feel like going and reading that great speech which Shakespear wrote for Henry and thinking of it in terms of what we must be for God and His Church in the battle now and the greater one to come. Yes, I am proud to be an English Churchman, a servant and solder of God under the banner of St George.
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I, at least, am proud to be an Anglican and to have the richness of the English and Anglican heritage to call my own. I remember when I was young and had just discovered the Episcopal Church. Then I thought of it as the center of all good, but now it seems to have become representative of the worst in Church and culture. But that has not effected by belief and love of the Anglican way. The classic Books of Common Prayer and the works and words of the great English, Scots and American churchmen have nurtured me and given me strength when there was little else to do so.
It is clear to me that the attack on the English Church and upon Anglicanism has raged for over a hundred years now. In truth it probably began with those of Elizabeth's bishops who were happy to have the title and the revenue of their office but who would have been happier if they had been allowed to import the faith and practice of their refuge during Mary's reign. They laid the groundwork for those who were later to rebel against both church and king, murdering Laud and then Charles. And the battle continued even after the Restoration with the Whigs under William and the German Georges persecuting the Church and loyal churchmen. Fortunately the American revolution left the stranded remnant of English churchmen the task of both founding a nation and finding a reason for remaining Anglican even as they became Americans and not English, Scots or Welsh.
I feel like going and reading that great speech which Shakespear wrote for Henry and thinking of it in terms of what we must be for God and His Church in the battle now and the greater one to come. Yes, I am proud to be an English Churchman, a servant and solder of God under the banner of St George.
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