Although there are pockets of life here and there, by and large the Anglican experiment seems to have reached the end of its life. It was that, an experiment: a church created out of political purpose which could never decide if it was Catholic or Protestant (except with respect to the authority of the Pope), and which attempted to accommodate nearly every theological view within its tent. We are even now witnessing the death throes of the various forms of that body in nearly every one of its Western incarnations. The manifest signs in the US were when those who wished to be serious about the faith tried to leave and the remaining structures were willing to spend whatever it took to keep the buildings after long ago giving up on the Scriptures and the Creed. Welby's resignation is but one more crisis for a Church of England that found itself in turmoil over and over again -- but over the wrong things. They are more interested in their carbon imprint than imprinting people with the Gospel and retain the ceremony as cover for the lack of doctrinal content to their faith. Canada's version has all the same signs of death. Yes, there is Africa but it would seem the Africans have tried to choose between the vacuous shell of Protestantism and the appearance of catholicity. Time will tell if they have chosen rightly or if this is but one more stop on a bus leading to an ignoble end for Henry's gamble.
The latest comes from The Telegraph where apparently priests were warned against carols that might offend, such as O Come, O Come, Emmanuel which made the cut as being potentially offensive for suggesting that other religions are “outside of God’s grace”. Additionally, Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending had been flagged for containing “problematic words” because it affirms that Jesus Christ is the “true Messiah”. In an email sent out to the diocesan priests in Birmingham, they were were reportedly told: “Try to use language that won’t add further confusion or tension or take away anything from the good news of the Nativity.” The Church of England has come under criticism in recent years for promoting woke ideology rather than the Gospel and for a CoE launched a project to discuss the potential use of so-called “gender neutral” language in reference to God last year.
There is a lesson in this. All around us Protestantism of nearly all stripes struggles to maintain an identity. Is it the more conservative fundamentalist version or the liberal left or the progressive evangelicals. Will the real Protestants stand up? And everyone rises! They are all legitimate for without a regard for catholicity, the Sacraments, or reverence for God and His Word, there is not much left except clinging to a text or swimming with the stream of culture. We have all seen it. We all know it. There is little in Protestantism and its many faces that bears a resemblance to anything down through history or to the Scriptures as living voice. Yet they will plug on. Digital expressions of their religious entertainment have pumped temporary new life into their dying iterations but what need is there for a church except as producer of content -- certainly you do not need a building or a band. Eventually, it will end up as a mere digital ghost of its once more personal self. Then what? Has this experiment gone bust, too?
Rome seems inexplicably tied to the progressive and liberal wing of Protestantism. It treats the sacraments and worship rather casually (unless, of course, you want to do it in Latin) and seems to have adopted the skeptical view of Scripture normally associated with those who do not believe it is the Word of God. The Pope seems have a vendetta against those who take the faith seriously but will send flowers and candy to a renown abortionist and made sure that the Vatican calendar hosted a LGBTQ+ pilgrimage offer. The College of Cardinals is not a real college but an old boys club filled overwhelmingly with the new faces that Francis thought looked like him. It's only real duty seems to be to vote for Francis' successor and he has done everything in his power to orchestrate the views of that successor so that they will mirror his own. All the while, of course, mass attendance continues to decline, marriage is seen as optional, children in the womb as yesterday's trash, and diversity of doctrine a hallmark of authenticity. Is Rome an experiment that is waiting to explode in the lab?
The Missouri Synod is hardly anybody in the vast sea of Christianity but even isolated and insular Missouri will have to decide who the Synod really is. Are we the Protestants who occasionally wear fancy dress or are we the evangelicals who value friendship over truth or are we the remains of an ethnic history or are we the progressives just a little bit behind the rest or do we guard the catholic and apostolic faith like our Confessions say? At this point in time, it is still up for grabs. Is Missouri an experiment that has gone bust as well? I wish that there were enough clear signs to say we knew the future. Even though we are not the ELCA, we have lost many numbers over the last 50 years and are a shadow of our once more robust self. I remain convinced that Missouri could be the exception. I just do not know if Missouri wants to be. It may take longer to sort it out for Missouri than to signal now for the practical end to Anglicanism but the slowness may be a blessing in disguise.
1 comment:
Between 2003 and 2005, I attended an LCMS church. Several months in, the pastor, whom I had liked, reached mandatory retirement age. The new "man," who was forty, confessed to us in one of his first Sunday School classes that in the months before he arrived, he had been so nervous he had gained forty pounds. I don't have enough room to write about his weaseliness before I dropped out, but I remember thinking, "The LCMS is finished."
Post a Comment