Not Bricks and Mortar

Our subject for next Sunday is the Church.

We use the word "Church" a number of different ways.

We use it to refer to the building.

We use it to refer to our own parish family.

We use it to refer to our own Anglican denomination - locally, nationally and internationally.

We use it to refer to the entire body of those who believe in Jesus Christ - whether they believe quite the same as us or not.

And all of these interpretations are correct in their own way.

The most important sense of "Church" is the last one. St. Paul calls the Church "the body of Christ." All those who confess the name of the Lord Jesus are part of the Church at some level or another.

As part of your confirmation preparation, you need to have some understanding of the Church - in every one of these senses. And as Anglicans, it's useful for you to understand what Anglicanism is about - and how we understand the place of Anglicanism within the universal Church.

Take a look at the following links. They'll tell you a little about our doctrine of the Church. They'll tell you a little about what distinguishes Anglican Christians. They'll tell you a little bit about Anglicanism in Canada.

Look at the next few sections of the American Catechism. As always, you can use the link at the right, or you can use these ones:

• The New Covenant
• The Creeds
• The Holy Spirit
• The Church

The British Broadcasting Corporation has a website that gives a general introduction to Christianity. It isn't a particularly Anglican perspective, but there's a lot of good stuff there. Make it a special point to look at the history page, and especially the basics section. This includes a summary of the history of the New Testament Church, and the early Church until 1054. The Subdivisions page links to explanations about several different Christian denominations. Anglicans are included in the section about the Church of England.

The BBC also has a fact sheet about the Anglican Communion, which is the collective name we use to describe all of the national and regional Anglican Churches throughout the world.

The Episcopal Diocese of Texas has a good page that gives a quick overview of what Episcopalians believe. The Anglican Churches in Scotland, the United States and some other parts of the world use the name "Episcopal."

Also check out the Beginner's Guide to the Anglican Church from St. John's Church in Roslyn, New Zealand.

Anglicans Online has a good Wondering About Anglicans? Start Here page, with links to all sorts of other people's pages. Feel free to explore.

I'd like you to check out this video greeting from Bishop Tom Shaw of the Diocese of Massachusetts. Again, he's talking about his Episcopal Church diocese, but I think his comments apply to us as well.



Take some time to explore some of the videos at Father Matthew's site. He is an Episcopal priest in New York state.

Of course, we're Canadian Anglicans, so you should also check out the Anglican Church of Canada website, especially the Generations section, which is specifically designed by and for young Anglicans in Canada.

Please notice that in the first blog post, when I set out our schedule over Lent, I said that this week's topic was not What is the Church?, but Who is the Church? The Church is the people, not the building - flesh and blood, not bricks and mortar. This next video is a little meditation on Anglican identity, with pictures of many famous and not so famous Anglicans. They are the Church. And so are you.



Finally, please look at this video of Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire giving the blessing at the end of a church service in California. Bishop Robinson is a very controversial figure in the Anglican Communion - but that's not why I want you to watch the video.

I want you to listen to the words he says in the blessing. They are very provocative words and very uncomfortable words.

Listen to the words. Listen to them a few times. Think about them.



See you next Sunday.

Malcolm+