Almighty God, by whose Spirit the Scriptures were opened to thy servant Roland Allen, so that he might lead many to know, live and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ: Give us grace to follow his example, that the variety of those to whom we reach out in love may receive thy saving Word and witness in their own languages and cultures to thy glorious Name; through Jesus Christ, thy Word made flesh, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Prepare for our 2019 theme of Missional Ecclesiology by reading the works of renowned missiologist Roland Allen. https://t.co/ooybDZd4VF pic.twitter.com/YNHu2CgwBm

— The Telos Collective (@TelosCollective) July 31, 2018

Loving God, may thy Name be blest for the witness of Ini Kopuria, police officer and founder of the Melanesian Brotherhood, whose members saved many American pilots in a time of war, and who continue to minister courageously to the islanders of Melanesia. Open our eyes that we, with these Anglican brothers, may establish peace and hope in service to others, for the sake of Jesus Christ; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today the church commemorates the Melanesian Brotherhood, an Anglican religious community of men in simple vows, formed to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the non-Christian areas of Melanesia by Ini Kopuria, from the Solomon Islands. pic.twitter.com/pbae21DB1s

— Tewkesbury Abbey (@TewkesAbbey) June 6, 2020

Almighty and everliving God, whose servant Thomas Cranmer, with others, did restore the language of the people in the prayers of thy Church: Make us always thankful for this heritage; and help us so to pray in the Spirit and with the understanding, that we may worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

9 June 1549: #otd The first Book of Common Prayer became compulsory in #England (BM) pic.twitter.com/j98KXHwhoT

— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) June 9, 2018

{This book]…is the fruit of a conference that took place in early 2019, and was published to mark the 150th anniversary of that icon of High Church Anglicanism, Keble College, Oxford. The book is a proper tribute to Farrer in that anniversary year, providing a series of essays on him as Warden, theologian, philosopher, exegete, and preacher.

It is not often that a book compiled from many sources is of such a uniformly high quality; and this makes it seem unfair to highlight what are really no more than personal enthusiasms. But I especially enjoyed the chapter by Ian Archer on Farrer’s time as Warden of Keble, not least because it is written with benign historical detachment — a useful balance to the hagiographic tendency in many Christian biographies.

The other highlight of Part One for me was the chapter by John Barton on Farrer as a preacher. Again, this combined a personal warmth for the man with honest acuity about his excellence, and sometimes shortcomings, as a preacher. Praise from the praiseworthy is praise indeed.

Read it all.

Almighty God, who didst call thy faithful servant Boniface to be a witness and martyr in the lands of Germany and Friesland, and by his labor and suffering didst raise up a people for thine own possession: Pour forth thy Holy Spirit upon thy Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many thy holy Name may be glorified and thy kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Boniface, Apostle of Germany, martyr, d.754. Image from ‘Ecclesiae Anglicanae trophaea’ (Rome,1584) [Sion G55/C31] pic.twitter.com/VLCq8I4tbp

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) June 5, 2015

Lord of all truth and peace, who didst raise up thy bishop John to be servant of the servants of God and bestowed on him wisdom to call for the work of renewing your Church: Grant that, following his example, we may reach out to other Christians to clasp them with the love of your Son, and labor throughout the nations of the world to kindle a desire for justice and peace; through Jesus Christ, who is alive and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

On this day in 1963 St John XXIII died. His testament reads: “At this moment of goodbye, or rather, arrivederci (until we meet again), I remind everyone of what counts most in life: Jesus Christ, His Holy Church, His Gospel; and in the Gospel, above all, the Pater Noster” pic.twitter.com/Okduq0w5TX

— Archdiocese of Glasgow (@ArchdiocGlasgow) June 3, 2020

Precious in thy sight, O Lord, is the death of thy saints, whose faithful witness, by thy providence, hath its great reward: We give thee thanks for thy martyrs James Hannington and his companions, who purchased with their blood a road unto Uganda for the proclamation of the Gospel; and we pray that with them we also may obtain the crown of righteousness which is laid up for all who love the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The king had brought blessed Oda into battle with him, trusting that he would defeat the enemy much more by the merits of this man than with hordes of soldiers. And while the most bitter and wretched slaughter was happening all about, a lamentable event occurred. For while King Æthelstan was fighting, his sword shattered close to the hilt and exposed him to his enemies, as if he were defenceless. Meanwhile Oda stood somewhat removed from the fighting, praying to Christ with his lips and in his heart for the safety of the Christian army, and for the sake of this continually raised his face, hands and eyes to those in heaven.

The king was perplexed about what to do in such a situation, for he thought it unspeakable to take a weapon from one of his men in order to arm himself. When a group of his adversaries noticed that the king had a broken sword and was unarmed, though they had begun to flee they turned their faces back to battle and set about obtaining revenge for their shameful flight by killing him most cruelly. Then all at once the air resounded with the clamour of the multitude crying out both for God to offer assistance and for venerable Oda to come forth as quickly as possible.

He raced up to the king and, although weary, asked what it was he wanted him to do. He listened to the king and immediately responded with these words: “What is the problem? What is worrying you? Your blade hangs intact at your side and yet you complain that it is broken. Come to your senses, extend your hand to the sheath, draw the sword and, behold, the right hand of the Lord shall be with you. And be not afraid, since the sun will not set until either flight or destruction envelops the enemies of your Lord who have risen up against you.”

At these words all those who were listening were struck with great amazement, and casting their glance towards the king they saw hanging by his side the sword, which had not been there when they had looked earlier. Snatching it and taking comfort in the Lord, the king advanced and maimed or put to flight or dealt death to all the men rushing upon him from both his left and right. And so in accordance with the prediction of the servant of God, it came to pass that the king gained victory over his enemies exactly as the sun was setting.

Read it all.

St Oda the Good, who died on 2 June 958, has an amazing story: the son of a pagan Viking, he rose to become Archbishop of Canterbury, and legend said he saved the life of King Æthelstan at the Battle of Brunanburh https://t.co/OPT5jzzz4W pic.twitter.com/tKLE3pLr1P

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) June 2, 2019

Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that we who keep the feast of the holy martyrs Blandina and her companions may be rooted and grounded in love of thee, and may endure the sufferings of this life for the glory that shall be revealed in us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Blandina and Her Companions, the Martyrs of Lyons 177 https://t.co/rWG3wNy7Cp

Image: Window in the Basilica of St. Martin d’Ainay, France (via https://t.co/KyCm5QykMF) pic.twitter.com/sYbXa14r47

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) June 2, 2020

Jeanne d’Arc was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431 http://t.co/Qqiepd8w3z pic.twitter.com/ZIdicSS9kt

— executedtoday (@executedtoday) May 30, 2015

Holy God, whose power is made perfect in weakness: we honor thy calling of Jeanne d’Arc, who, though young, rose up in valor to bear thy standard for her country, and endured with grace and fortitude both victory and defeat; and we pray that we, like Jeanne, may bear witness to the truth that is in us to friends and enemies alike, and, encouraged by the companionship of thy saints, give ourselves bravely to the struggle for justice in our time; through Christ our Savior, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

For (such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity. Convinced, however, we are not, if we look to ourselves only, and not to the Lord also—He being the only standard by the application of which this conviction can be produced. For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself….

So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of Being he is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence. So far are those qualities in us, which seem most perfect, from corresponding to the divine purity.

–John Calvin, Institutes I.1.2

In Memoriam John #Calvin, founder of #Calvinism

He died on the 27th of May 1564 in #Geneva pic.twitter.com/kdXmBpS00p

— ProChristianis (@ProChristianis) May 27, 2020

Sovereign and holy God, who didst bring John Calvin from a study of legal systems to understand the godliness of thy divine laws as revealed in Scripture: Fill us with a like zeal to teach and preach thy Word, that the whole world may come to know thy Son Jesus Christ, the true Word and Wisdom; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, ever one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

The Church of England today also commemorates John Calvin, Reformer, 1564 https://t.co/7eYQ8QXMLw

Image: Portrait of John Calvin, c.1550, in the Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, via Wikimedia Commons, CC-by-SA-3.0 pic.twitter.com/NNiSR6HVVi

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 26, 2020

God our ruler and guide, we honor thee for Queen Bertha and King Ethelbert of Kent who, gently persuaded by the truth of thy Gospel, encouraged others by their godly example to follow freely the path of discipleship; and we pray that we, like them, may show the goodness of thy Word not only by our words but in our lives; through Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Whilst going to wrong campus on way to #sharenhsla23…
Queen Bertha and King Ethelbert, cathedral, & St Augustine’s pic.twitter.com/VLGem9JmWN

— Julia Scott (@MedsManPharm) March 26, 2016

O Lord our God, who by thy Son Jesus Christ didst call thine apostles and send them forth to preach the Gospel to the nations: We bless thy holy name for thy servant Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury, whose labors in propagating thy Church among the English people we commemorate today; and we pray that all whom thou dost call and send may do thy will, and bide thy time, and see thy glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today is the Feast day of St Augustine of Canterbury, who reintorduced the faith to much of England. Today we pray at Mass for the Archbishop of Canterbury @JustinWelby and for the converstion of England. Mass is at 12noon on our facebook page https://t.co/ybgiSWrYY1 pic.twitter.com/tUpagswR4g

— St Leonard’s and St Jude’s Scawsby (@StScawsby) May 27, 2020

Heavenly Father, who didst call thy servant Bede, while still a child, to devote his life to thy service in the disciplines of religion and scholarship: Grant that as he labored in the Spirit to bring the riches of thy truth to his generation, so we, in our various vocations, may strive to make thee known in all the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Venerable Bede – And so as Bede lay upon the floor of his cell, sang, “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.” And when he had named the Holy Spirit, he breathed his last breath. We believe most firmly that Bede has now entered into the joy of the heaven. pic.twitter.com/lfGsxMvJHp

— Fr. Robbie O’Callaghan (@FrRobbieOCall) May 24, 2020

As the heavens declare thy glory, O God, and the firmament showeth thy handiwork, we bless thy Name for the gifts of knowledge and insight thou didst bestow upon Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler; and we pray that thou wouldst continue to advance our understanding of thy cosmos, for our good and for thy glory; through Jesus Christ, the firstborn of all creation, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler, Astronomers, 1543 & 1630 https://t.co/4ZmtA6dEAQ pic.twitter.com/OxvRXIHuc8

— Anglican Church SPb (@anglicanspb) May 23, 2019

There is a focus on spiritual formation and worship at Trinity now that echoes the spiritual seriousness of the earlier charismatic and Evangelical renewal movements, although the approach is perhaps more distinctly Anglican. Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and weekly Eucharist are at the center of the school’s worship life. Trinity’s faculty find themselves among successors to that earlier movement in academic theology: Biblical studies center on biblical theology; systematic theology and church history focus on the creedal core of trinitarian theology, christology, and the church as not only regenerated individuals, but the corporate community of the body of Christ gathered to worship the Triune God in Word and sacrament. TSM carries on the “Chicago Call” by hosting “The Robert E. Webber Center for an Ancient Evangelical Future.”

The current crop of students were not yet born at the height of the charismatic and Evangelical renewal movements of the 1970’s, and many of them were raised in Evangelical homes where what once was renewal is now “just the way things have always been done.” While the renewal movements of the 1970’s were in some ways responses to the cultural uncertainties of the 1960’s, the counter-cultural youth movement, and too placid mainline churches, the generation that attends seminary now faces a very different culture characterized by post-modern pluralism, the prevalence of social media, and a dominant secularism in which skepticism about religious faith is a given assumption.

What form renewal will take for the current generation is not evident. While today’s students are not dismissive of the charismatic and Evangelical renewal movements of their parents’ generation, many come to seminary with what is perhaps more of a concern for spiritual and theological depth. Some of our students come to us after doing undergraduate work at such Evangelical strongholds as Moody Bible Institute or Wheaton College, and they are looking for a liturgical church more rooted in the church’s tradition. Students express keen interest in biblical languages and theological exegesis. They write theses on the church fathers. They enthusiastically participate in the seminary’s liturgical life, and they pray for one another on campus and in each other’s homes. They willingly join in the worship and community of local churches, and take courses in church planting. Trinity’s students form deep friendships with fellow students and faculty that continue after they graduate. I have every reason to believe that this current generation of students will be the leaders of a new renewal movement in the church that may look somewhat different from the renewal movements of my own generation, but I pray will be the needed missional response in the presence of a now increasingly secular and post-Christian culture.

Read it all.

William Witt–Renewal Past and Present https://t.co/iHGrnVOcqv #anglican #theology #religion #usa #churchhistory pic.twitter.com/9ulzwpWCs9

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) May 22, 2020

Most Merciful God, who didst vouchsafe to bless thy servant Helena with such grace and devotion to thee that she didst venerate the very footsteps of our Savior; Grant unto us the same grace that, aided by her prayers and example, we too may evermore behold thy glory in the cross of thy Son. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Saint Helena of Constantinople, by Cima de Conegliano, 1495. A panel now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC pic.twitter.com/dQErpfthSR

— Pictures of Churches (@ChurchPictures8) August 18, 2017

The readers may learn out of our Institutions what profit we reap by the ascension of Christ. Notwithstanding, because it is one of the chiefest points of our faith, therefore doth Luke endeavor more diligently to prove the same; yea, rather, the Lord himself meant to put the same out of all doubt, when as he hath ascended so manifestly, and hath confirmed the certainty of the same by other circumstances. For, if so be it he had vanished away secretly, then might the disciples have doubted what was become of him; but now, sith that they, being in so plain a place, saw him taken up with whom they had been conversant, whom also they heard speak even now, whom they beheld with their eyes, whom also they see taken out of their sight by a cloud, there is no cause why they should doubt whither he was gone. Furthermore, the angels are there also to bear witness of the same. And it was needful that the history should have been set down so diligently for our cause, that we may know assuredly, that although the Son of God appear nowhere upon earth, yet doth he live in the heavens. And this seemeth to be the reason why the cloud did overshadow him, before such time as he did enter into his celestial glory; that his disciples being content with their measure might cease to inquire any further. And we are taught by them that our mind is not able to ascend so high as to take a full view of the glory of Christ; therefore, let this cloud be a mean to restrain our boldness, as was the smoke which was continually before the door of the tabernacle in the time of the law.

–Commentary on Acts

The Ascension by Dosso Dossi. pic.twitter.com/t9SkATAGkB

— Saint Peter’s Hove (@HoveSaint) May 20, 2020

Almighty God, who in a rude and barbarous age didst raise up thy deacon Alcuin to rekindle the light of learning: Illumine our minds, we pray thee, that amid the uncertainties and confusions of our own time we may show forth thine eternal truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Church of England remembers Alcuin of York, d. 804. These leaves of Alcuin on the Creed (MS1233) date from the 10th century. They were used as part of the binding of
Georgii Acanthii … Partitiones in M.T. Ciceronis De rhetorica libros quatuor (Lyon, 1564) pic.twitter.com/UMOBlKzlUz

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) May 20, 2020

Lyrics:

If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father,
and he will give you another comforter, that he may bide with you for ever, e’vn the spirit of truth.

–John 14: 15-17

The text comes from Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church, ed. Inge B. Milfull (Cambridge, 1996), pp. 317-8. Here’s a translation:

Hail Dunstan, star and shining adornment of bishops, true light of the English nation and leader preceding it on its path to God.

You are the greatest hope of your people, and also an innermost sweetness, breathing the honey-sweet fragrance of life-giving balms.

In you, Father, we trust, we to whom nothing is more pleasing than you are. To you we stretch out our hands, to you we pour out our prayers….

Read it all.

St Dunstan, one of the greatest saints of Anglo-Saxon England, died on 19 May 988. He was famously multi-talented: not just an archbishop, statesman, and scholar, but a musician, metal-worker, and devil-fighter too. https://t.co/HblFsbRp5o pic.twitter.com/zDHarSG7RG

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) May 19, 2019

O God of truth and beauty, who didst richly endow thy Bishop Dunstan with skill in music and the working of metals, and with gifts of administration and reforming zeal: Teach us, we beseech thee, to see in thee the source of all our talents, and move us to offer them for the adornment of worship and the advancement of true religion; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

On this, his saints day, the statue of St Dunstan, carved by Anton Wagner, was dedicated in 1993. It was given in memory of George Taylor by the serving team, of which George was a member, and The Friends of Tewkesbury Abbey. pic.twitter.com/pcREafloKH

— Tewkesbury Abbey (@TewkesAbbey) May 19, 2020

O God, steadfast in the midst of persecution, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: As the martyrs of the Sudan refused to abandon Christ even in the face of torture and death, and so by their sacrifice brought forth a plenteous harvest, may we, too, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ; who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Episcopal Church also commemorates the Martyrs of Sudan https://t.co/L2QlqfR4We

During the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005), 2m+ were killed, half of them members of The Episcopal Church of the Sudan: https://t.co/nyo1LwMPDv pic.twitter.com/LdBzIHb83T

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 16, 2020

Lord God, who in thy compassion didst grant to the Lady Julian many revelations of thy nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to seek thee above all things, for in giving us thyself thou givest us all; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Julian of Norwich is commemorated on 8 May, the likely date on which she began to receive her visions of divine love in 1373.

‘Right the same we shall be without end, the same we were, treasured in God, and hid, known, and loved from without beginning.’ https://t.co/gAHAwOGxhU pic.twitter.com/n013X3olbj

— Fintry Trust (@FintryTrust) May 8, 2020

Pour out thy Spirit upon all of thy sons and daughters, Almighty God, that like thy servant Elisabeth Cruciger our lips may praise thee, our lives may bless thee, and our worship may give thee glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Olympia Morata of Elisabeth Cruciger? https://t.co/w3sDOoT7ZR pic.twitter.com/TYJskJZQN9

— Margriet Gosker (@margrietgosker) May 5, 2017

Almighty Father,
whom truly to know is eternal life:
teach us to know your Son Jesus Christ
as the way, the truth, and the life;
that we may follow the steps of your holy apostles
Philip and James,
and walk steadfastly in the way that leads to your glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Today the Church of England celebrates Philip and James, Apostles https://t.co/Cx5NEa3m40

Image: Triptych icon of St Philip & St James the Less, flanking 'Our Lady of Peace', in the Parish Church of St Philip and St James in Palma, Mallorca pic.twitter.com/xTV8t7DNV5

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) May 1, 2020

Almighty God, who didst give to thine apostles Philip and James grace and strength to bear witness to the truth: Grant that we, being mindful of their victory of faith, may glorify in life and death the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

“Such a one will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1.12). On this Feast of St Philip and St James, increase in us, Lord, the gift of #kindness, that we, like the Apostles, may be encouragers of others. #prayer #apostles pic.twitter.com/owsiNnL6e3

— Andrew Zihni (@asstddo) May 1, 2020

“Can you not see,” I said, “that fairy tales in their essence are quite solid and straightforward; but that this everlasting fiction about modern life is in its nature essentially incredible? Folk-lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels. Realism means that the world is dull and full of routine, but that the soul is sick and screaming. The problem of the fairy tale is—what will a healthy man do with a fantastic world?

–GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles

“There are a hundred improved means of communication, and there is nothing to communicate.” GK #Chesterton, The Illustrated London News, 2nd October 1926 pic.twitter.com/d6Cz0Qvgef

— Catholic Chesterton (@CatholicGKCSoc) April 26, 2020

Gracious God, we bless thy Name for the vision and witness of Sarah Hale, whose advocacy for the ministry of women helped to support the deaconess movement. Make us grateful for thy many blessings, that we may come closer to Christ in our own families; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

155 yrs ago Lincoln made the official proclamation of fixing the national observation of Thanksgiving on the final Thursday in November, a move he hoped would help “heal the wounds of the nation.”
Sarah Hale deserves credit for her 30 yr relentless push to to make it official pic.twitter.com/nJl4Qwb8jT

— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) November 22, 2018