laudable Practice

The moment when I realised that I could not become a Roman Catholic took place in a restaurant in Islington, when we were arguing about the Roman view of Anglican orders being ‘null and void’. It shot in upon me, with terrible force, that I could not join a church that taught that George Herbert was no true priest. The words are those of Caroline Moore , in debate with her journalist husband Charles Moore (now Baron Moore of Etchingham), when the latter crossed the Tiber following the Church of England's ordination of women to the priesthood in 1992. Caroline Moore's words capture something of the significance of George Herbert for many of us. Herbert exemplifies something that is to be particularly cherished in the Anglican way. Ronald Blythe hints at what might lie at the heart of this in his perceptive comment: Lent was Herbert's season. He was born in Lent, married in Lent, and died in Lent.  Lent is the season when grandiose, exalted claims are to wither. When peniten...

At the Epiphany on previous years, I have sought to illustrate how the preaching and piety of the Laudian and High Church traditions bring us to rejoice in the richness of this festival. This year, we turn to the poetry and hymnody of the Laudian and High Church traditions, poetry and hymnody which draws us to celebrate the rich imagery of the Epiphany, grounded in patristic teaching on the leading of the Star and the adoration of the Magi. In The Golden Grove   (1655), Jeremy Taylor provides a hymn for use 'Upon the Epiphany, and the three wise men of the East coming to worship Jesus'. The hymn begins by drawing our attention to the 'Star of wonder', described by Taylor as "A Comet dangling in the aire", heralding a momentous event of cosmic significance: A Comet dangling in the aire Presag'd the ruine both of Death and Sin; And told the wise-men of a King, The King of Glory, and the Sun Of Righteousness, who then begun To draw towards that blessed Hemi...

Poetry is the person of faith's native language ... No other language could possibly begin to do justice to these inspiriting, daunting mysteries of reality itself - Mark Oakley, The Splash of Words: Believing in Poetry (2016). What does it mean to celebrate All Saints' Day?  What is the purpose of Cranmer's classic collect for the feast? Must Anglicans look elsewhere for a piety to draw out the riches of this feast?  Answers to these questions, we might propose, are to be found in the words of poets in the Anglican tradition.  It is they who hold before us the "daunting mysteries of reality" embodied in our "one communion and fellowship" with the Saints in glory.  It is they who explore what it is, in Cranmer's wonderful phrase, for us to be "knit together" with the Saints.  And it is they who show us the rich fare to be enjoyed in the Anglican tradition. So, as Hallowtide draws near, let us listen to poets in the Anglican tradition and ...

... I stay Awhile within this church: its simple Furnishings, and storied windows say More to me of heaven than the pale Abstractions of theology. A day Spent in an empty church has been as full Of goodness as an age elsewhere. I feel Its peace refresh me like a holy well. Reading Malcom Guite's 'responsive poem' on Psalm 84 led me to think of how examples of his poetry could be considered as a poetic celebration of what laudable Practice has previously described as the Old High, New Low tradition: how the reserve and modesty of the Old High Church tradition can now appear to be 'Low'.  Guite himself echoes something of this when he says that this particular poem gives expression to "my love of the simple, ancient English parish church".  This simplicity has deep roots, as indicated in the account of the parish church given in the  Homily for Repairing and Keeping Clean of Churches : God's house, the church, is well adorned with places convenient t...