Archive for the ‘Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta’ Category
Above: The Flag of The Episcopal Church
Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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Thirty years ago today–Sunday, December 22, 1991–the Right Reverend Harry Woolston Shipps, the Eighth Bishop of Georgia, confirmed me into The Episcopal Church at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church. I have been a contented Episcopalian since.
I spent about fourteen years (1991-2005) in six congregations in the Diocese of Georgia. About sixteen years in St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, in the Diocese of Atlanta, followed. I have returned to the Diocese of Georgia and joined Calvary Episcopal Church, Americus.
The Episcopal Church suits me. I am on this planet to be an Episcopalian, I am certain. Therefore, December 22 is one of the anniversaries I observe annually.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 22, 2021 COMMON ERA
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Above: Some Items on My Writing Desk, December 22, 2022
Photographer = Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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I became an Episcopalian 29 years ago today. At St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Tifton, in the Diocese of Georgia, Bishop Harry Woolston Shipps confirmed me. I had made an important decision as an adult; I had chosen my affiliation.
I had a Low Church Protestant upbringing. My father, ordained a Southern Baptist in 1975, had switched to The United Methodist Church in 1980. I, baptized at North Newington Baptist Church, Newington, Georgia, in November 1979, formed theologically in rural United Methodist congregations. Yet I did not quite fit in. My attachment to Holy Communion, which I got to take once every three months, marked me as an outlier. So did my interest in ecclesiastical history, most of which the congregations in which my father served were oblivious. Furthermore, my inherent attraction to Roman Catholicism stood out in the rural communities and towns in which I lived and worshiped.
When I joined The Episcopal Church, I came home. I departed The United Methodist Church amicably; I was not angry about anything going on the denomination.
I have changed greatly since December 22, 1991. Lutheranism has become more prominent in my variation on Anglicanism, which stands between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. I have given up the United Methodist refusal to acknowledge Single Predestination. Now, even if I wanted to do so, I could not return to The United Methodist Church and be intellectually and spiritually honest. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has become my denominational Plan B, even though I have not identified as a Protestant for a long time.
Consider the items in the photograph at the top of this post, O reader. There are three Marian images, two versions of The Book of Common Prayer, a Daily Prayer book from The Church of England, and a devotional book a minister from the United Church of Christ wrote. I identify as an Anglican. I identify as an Anglican in the collegial sense of Anglicanism, not the Donatistic sense of that word. I object strenuously to the use of “Anglican” as a Donatistic label for congregations, dioceses and congregations in the United States of America. My variety of Anglicanism is open and cordial. It also has prominent Marian tendencies. These tendencies spill over into my parish, St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, in the Diocese of Atlanta. I, as the parish librarian, maintain the parish library as a collection of books and as a Marian shrine.
The Protestant boy I used to be has long ceased to exist.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
DECEMBER 22, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF ADVENT
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK AND WILLIAM TEMPLE, ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF SAINTS CHAEREMON AND ISCHYRION, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, CIRCA 250
THE FEAST OF CHICO MENDES, “GANDHI OF THE AMAZON”
THE FEAST OF HENRY BUDD, FIRST ANGLICAN NATIVE PRIEST IN NORTH AMERICA; MISSIONARY TO THE CREE NATION
THE FEAST OF ISAAC HECKER, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARY SOCIETY OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE
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This is post #2150 of SUNDRY THOUGHTS.
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Above: Flag of Connecticut
Image in the Public Domain
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ELIAS BENJAMIN SANFORD (JUNE 6, 1843-JULY 3, 1932)
U.S. Methodist then Congregationalist Minister and Ecumenist
Elias Benjamin Sanford comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006).
Sanford was simultaneously of his time and ahead of it. He transformed his time.
Once upon a time, in the United States of America, anti-Roman Catholicism was a dominant characteristic of Protestantism. (It remains a dominant characteristic of fundamentalism and much of evangelicalism. The mainline has repented of its anti-Roman Catholicism. For example, the United Church of Christ, with Puritan/Congregationalist heritage, has become a haven for married former Roman Catholic priests seeking a way to continue in ordained ministry.) This bias was the mirror image of a negative Roman Catholic attitude toward other branches of Christianity prior to the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), when the rest of we Christians, whether Protestant, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, or Oriental Orthodox, formally became “separated brethren.” This was a declaration that echoed Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903). Not all American Protestants were anti-Roman Catholic, just as not all American Roman Catholics thought that non-Roman Catholic Christians were bound for damnation. Nevertheless, these hardline attitudes were baked into religious cultures. In 1928, when the Democratic Party nominated Governor Alfred Smith for the presidency, Smith’s Roman Catholicism became a political issue. During the primary season of 1960, when Senator John F. Kennedy campaigned for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, his Roman Catholicism became a political issue. George L. Ford, Executive Director of the National Association of Evangelicals, wrote a pamphlet, A Roman Catholic President: How Free from Church Control? (I own a copy of this pamphlet.)
Above: The Cover of the Pamphlet
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
Sanford’s life and ministry played out in the culture of anti-Roman Catholic Protestantism.
That summary is objectively accurate. Know, O reader, that I refuse to condone religious bigotry. I come from a Protestant background, mainly United Methodism in the rural South. I, an Episcopalian, consider myself an Anglican, not a Protestant. To be precise, I describe myself as an Anglican-Lutheran-Catholic, for “Anglican” and “Episcopalian” cover a great range of theological ground. I affirm Transubstantiation, all seven sacraments, and the 73 book-canon of scripture. How can I be a Protestant? I am too Protestant to be a Roman Catholic and too Roman Catholic to be a Protestant. And, as anyone who follows, this, my Ecumenical Calendar, should know, names of many Roman Catholics, whether Venerables, Beati, fully canonized, or not formally recognized, are present here. To paraphrase what Martin Luther may or may not have said at the Diet of Worms (1521), I will do no other.
Above: The Former First United Methodist Church, Thomaston, Connecticut
Structure erected in 1866
Congregation seemingly closed in 2018
Image Source = Google Earth
Sanford was originally a Methodist. He, born in Westbrook, Connecticut, on June 6, 1843, graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (B.A., 1865). Our saint served as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church (extant 1784-1939) in Thomaston, Connecticut, from 1865 to 1867. Then he became a Congregationalist. Our saint spent the first half of 1868 traveling in Europe.
Above: The United Church of Christ in Cornwall, Cornwall, Connecticut
Structure erected in 1842
Image Source = Google Earth
Sanford, back in the United States, served as a Congregationalist minister in rural Connecticut. He also studied at Yale. Our saint’s first parish in his new denomination was First Congregational Church, Cornwall, Connecticut (1868-1872). For the next decade, he supplied in Northfield and Thomaston, Connecticut. Sanford’s final pastorate was the First Congregational Church in Westbrook, Connecticut (1882-1894).
Above: First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Westbrook, Connecticut
Image in the Public Domain
Sanford made the transition to ecumenical Protestant work. He, the Editor of Church Union magazine since 1873, served as the Secretary of the Open and Institutional Church League (founded in 1894, from 1895 to 1900), committed to opening church buildings for social service. In that same vein, our saint served as the General Secretary of the National Federation of Churches and Christian Workers from 1900 to 1908. Sanford generally opposed the organic union of denominations on the grounds that mergers brought branches of Protestantism closer to “submission to Rome.” In context, Sanford’s Protestant ecumenism was a way of resisting Roman Catholicism. He helped to found the Federal Council of Churches (1908-1950), a forerunner of the National Council of Churches (1950-). Our saint served as corresponding secretary (1908-1913) then as a honorary secretary (1913-1932) of the Federal Council of Churches.
Sanford, 89 years old, died in Middlefield, Connecticut, on July 3, 1932.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MAY 1, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS PHILIP AND JAMES, APOSTLES AND MARTYRS
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Lord Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd, thank you for tending to us, members of your flock.
May we, rejoicing in your work of breaking down barriers,
recognize each other as sheep of your flock, and therefore, work together, for your glory.
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Isaiah 49:1-6
Psalm 95
1 Corinthians 1:10-17
John 17:20-26
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 25, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARK THE EVANGELIST, MARTYR, 68
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Above: The DVD Cover for Series Eleven of Doctor Who
Scan by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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Never underestimate the human capability to ignore one’s faults yet recognize them in others. All of us need to be vigilant in efforts to be honest with ourselves about ourselves.
Recently I spent much of a Saturday participating in Dismantling Racism Training at church. The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta offered the training, required for those who lead in their congregations. The training was valuable and has remained thought-provoking.
My society influences me, of course. It influences me for better and for worse. One cannot grow up without learning preferences and biases. In my case, the better angels of my nature affirm that any human being who has both a pulse and brain waves also has unalienable rights. Nevertheless, I admit that I learned certain sinful biases from my culture. I thank my parents for raising me not to be a racist and acknowledge gratefully that their lessons dominate my thinking. However, I am not immune to other influences, which I resist in my mind. I, as a heterosexual Caucasian male, have a different set of experiences than many other people do. I, as a decent human being, can learn from the experiences of others and question many of my seemingly innocent assumptions, rooted in ignorance. I do so and seek to continue to do so.
Social media have done much to unleash the ids of many people, unfortunately. Entertainment franchises have become targets for many online expressions of bigotry. For example, before Jodie Whittaker filmed her first scene as the Doctor, many people on social media complained about her because she was a she. Later, many of these individuals complained about socially progressive messages in the new episodes. How many of these people watched serials (Yes, I understand the difference between serials and episodes. A serial consists of episodes. Inferno, from 1970, is a serial consisting of seven episodes. Please do not refer to Inferno as an episode.) from the classic series (1963-1989)? (I covered some of that ground in a recent post.)
Sometimes I listen to people discuss a series I have watched then wonder if they have watched the same series I did. Consider Star Trek (1966-1969), for example. I hear people contrast it with the contemporary substandard shows, such as Discovery and Picard. Some points of criticism of Discovery and Picard are legitimate. I even agree with many of them. Dropping F-bombs in Star Trek makes me want not to watch a Star Trek series guilty of that. Nevertheless, the condemnations of socially and politically progressive messages, as if they are unusually preachy for Star Trek, contradict objective reality. As I consult my copy of The Star Trek Compendium (1986), part of my library since 1988, I notice many “bonk, bonk, over the head” episodes. I know that Gene Roddenberry designed the series to consist of morality plays. Cold War allegories pervade the series, as in Errand of Mercy (1967). The name “Vietnam” is absent from A Private Little War (1968), but the allegory is obvious, and dialogue hints at Vietnam. Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (1969), with the black-and-white inhabitants of Cheron fighting each other until all are dead, is hardly subtle. The Mark of Gideon (1969) addresses overpopulation, one of the major concerns of the time. The Cloudminders (1969) has to do with social stratification. Patterns of Force (1968) is a story about a recreation of the Third Reich, down to the uniforms, on another planet. I could continue, but why belabor the point? Who can legitimately claim that the original Star Trek series was not preachy?
The space Nazis in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are the Cardassians.
My theory, not original to me, is that many of these vocal critics of socially progressive messages in media feel threatened. Why else would they be so vocal? A basic grasp of human psychology points toward this conclusion. I also factor in an unfortunate social reality that is either worse that it used to be or seems to be worse that it used to be; offending people across the spectrum of opinions is easier to do these days. Too much is needlessly partisan. Objective reality is objective reality. The preponderance of scientific evidence points to certain conclusions. Not liking objective reality does not negate it. Finding scientific evidence offensive does not change it.
Other “offending” series full of socially progressive messages include The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) and The Outer Limits (1963-1965), two of my favorite classic series. They are full of “bonk, bonk, over the head” moments.
We should be less defensive and more self-critical, individually and collectively.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 13, 2020 COMMON ERA
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Above: Clayton Street at College Avenue, Athens, Georgia, May 17, 2008
Photographer = Richard Chambers
Image in the Public Domain
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For a long period of time during my youth, I moved with my family an average of every two years. My father was a minister in the South Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church. Given my background, with its mobility, living in one place (Athens-Clarke County) as long as I have has astonished me. I have put down roots.
I moved to Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, on Tuesday, August 9, 2005, shortly prior to the beginning of the Fall Semester at The University of Georgia (UGA). My doctoral program in history died prematurely and ingloriously in December 2006. That affiliation with UGA ended in bitterness and tears, but my affiliation with St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church has been constant since late 2005. The number of my responsibilities in the parish has increased overall, and I have accepted these tasks gladly.
We do not know what the future holds or should have in store for us, but I do know the following:
- I like Athens-Clarke County very much. It is one of the few places in which I do not feel like a marginal figure, an outcast.
- UGA creates the intellectual and cultural environment that makes me feel welcome.
- I want to continue to live here for a long time.
- I may leave it one day, to pursue an opportunity.
- I continue to hope for a professional, long-term relationship with UGA. I realize that, although my previous applications have not been successful, I cannot succeed if I do not try. I am persistent.
- UGA is a place where I should have a place to make my full-time professional contribution of society joyfully. If that place is not UGA, it will probably be another college or university.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 9, 2019 COMMON ERA
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Above: Liberty Farm, Worcester, Massachusetts
Image in the Public Domain
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STEPHEN SYMONDS FOSTER (NOVEMBER 17, 1809-SEPTEMBER 13, 1881)
husband of
ABBY KELLEY FOSTER (JANUARY 15, 1811-JANUARY 14, 1887)
Also known as Abby Kelly Foster
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U.S. QUAKER ABOLITIONISTS AND FEMINISTS
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I do not talk of woman’s rights, but of human rights, the rights of human beings. I do not come to ask [for] them, but to demand them; not to get down on my knees and beg for them, but to claim them.
–Abby Kelley Foster, October 1850, at the first National Women’s Rights Convention, Worcester, Massachusetts
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In short, in the harangue of Abby, she simply demands that men and women should be treated as human beings, all alike….
—The New York Herald, October 15, 1850, criticizing Abby Kelley Foster and her positions
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Abby Kelley Foster comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saint’s Days and Holy Days, via G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, A Year with American Saints (2006). Stephen Symonds Foster joins her on the Ecumenical Calendar by virtue of being her husband and her fellow activist. After all, one of my purposes in adding to the Ecumenical Calendar is to emphasize relationships and influences.
STEPHEN SYMONDS FOSTER
Stephen Symonds Foster, born in Canterbury, New Hampshire, became a radical, according to the standards of his time. He, raised a Congregationalist, was a carpenter until the age of 22 years. Foster decided to study to become a missionary, so he matriculated at Dartmouth College. He eventually graduated, in 1838. During his college years, Foster found a new direction in life and endured hardships. He became an abolitionist. He also went to jail for being in debt and spent time incarcerated with hardened, violent criminals. This experience led to a movement that ended imprisonment for debt in New Hampshire.
Instead of becoming a missionary, Foster became an activist. The three social causes for which he worked were feminism, temperance, and the abolition of slavery. After graduating from Dartmouth College, he studied at Union Theological Seminary, New York, New York, in 1838-1839. He left that institution because the leadership forbade him from hosting abolitionist meetings. Our saint even rejected the offer of a scholarship in exchange for his silence regarding slavery. Foster’s abolitionist activism led to his expulsion from the Congregational Church in 1841 and to a physical attack in Portland, Maine, the following year. Our saint was outspoken in his criticism of religion that justified slavery. He expressed himself in both writing and on the lecture circuit of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
ABBY KELLEY FOSTER
Abby Kelley was also making the rounds on the anti-slavery lecture circuit.
Kelley, born in Pelham, Massachusetts, on January 15, 1811, became a radical, also. She came from a rigid, conservative society with gender norms–separate spheres. Women did not address mixed-gender audiences. Schools were not coeducational. Women’s suffrage was out of the question. The Quakers, her denomination, had a mixed record regarding opposition to slavery, but they were more progressive than many other Christian bodies. Abby, a teacher, joined the Female Anti-Slavery Society at Lynn in 1837. The following year, she began to lecture. Eventually, she became a full-time lecturer. Kelley made the connection between the rights of women and those of African Americans, many of whom were slaves. To insist on the rights of one group while ignoring the rights of the other was wrong, she understood. This was a minority position within the abolitionist movement in the United States.
THE FOSTERS
Abby Kelley married Stephen Symonds Foster in 1845. Their marriage was, of course, unconventional. They were a team of activists. The Fosters purchased an estate, “Liberty Farm,” in 1847; their home became a station of the Underground Railroad. After Abby gave birth to a daughter, Paulina Wright “Alla” Foster, in 1847, husband and wife took turns traveling on the lecture circuit, so that one parent would stay home with Alla. More often that not, Stephen was a stay-at-home father.
Abby made her mark on the United States. She helped to organize the first National Women’s Rights Convention at Worcester, Massachusetts, in late 1850, and spoke at it. In 1854 she became the chief fundraiser for the American Anti-American Society. After the Civil War, she advocated for the ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. In 1868 she helped to organize the New England Women Suffrage Association.
The Fosters made their protest against the lack of women’s suffrage where they lived by refusing to pay taxes. Their justification was the revolutionary cry,
No taxation without representation.
The local government sold Liberty Farm for unpaid taxes in 1874. A sympathetic neighbor purchased the farm then sold it back to the Fosters. This pattern repeated until both Abby and Stephen died.
Stephen, aged 73 years, died on September 13, 1881.
Abby, aged 75 years, died on January 14, 1887.
IN RETROSPECT
From my vantage point in the United States in 2019, the once-radical and marginal ideas becoming mainstream are mostly hateful and exclusionary. They tend to be ideas such as white nationalism and Anti-Semitism, and frequently result in violence or other forms of abuse. The radical and marginal ideas the Fosters espoused fall into a different category: inclusion. As the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta says,
DRAW THE CIRCLE WIDE.
The Fosters, ahead of their time, helped to create a better future.
May their ethic of recognizing the image of God, or as their Quaker theology put it well–the inner light–in others then acting accordingly inspire us to do the same.
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Loving God, who has implanted your image and inner light inside all people,
we thank you for the lives and legacies of your servants,
Abby Kelley Foster and Stephen Symonds Foster,
who affirmed the inherent human dignity in those whom
society defined as non-citizens or as second-class citizens.
May we, in our times and places, affirm the image of God in all human beings and treat them accordingly,
so that a moral revolution of values may lead people to define all your children as insiders.
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Genesis 1:27
Psalm 97
Galatians 3:23-29
Luke 10:29-37
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
AUGUST 5, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ALFRED TENNYSON, ENGLISH POET
THE FEAST OF ADAM OF SAINT VICTOR, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF ALBRECHT DÜRER, MATTHIAS GRÜNEWALD, AND LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER, RENAISSANCE ARTISTS
THE FEAST OF GEORGE FREDERICK ROOT, POET AND COMPOSER
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Above: The Flag of The Episcopal Church
Photograph by Kenneth Randolph Taylor
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I have belonged to three denominations and chosen one. When my parents were Southern Baptists, so was I. Likewise, in 1980, when my father left the ordained ministry of the Southern Baptist Convention for that of The United Methodist Church, I became a United Methodist at the age of seven years. Thus, in June 1980, our family moved from Newington, Georgia, where he had been pastor of North Newington Baptist Church, and settled in the parsonage in Vidette, Georgia. He served as the minister of the Vidette, Friendship, and Greens Cut congregations in Burke County. In the ensuing years, I took the grand tour of rural southern Georgia. My initial spiritual formation occurred within the context of rural Southern United Methodism, a different creature from United Methodism as it exists in much of the rest of the United States and the world.
Yet I have always had an inner Catholic. The sacraments, central to my faith, were too infrequent in those rural United Methodist churches. My attraction to the Deuterocanon (what many call the Apocrypha) asserted itself, also. Furthermore, my interest in history, and therefore, in ecclesiastical history, made me an outlier in the congregations my father served. Church history, as it existed in those places, started with Jesus, ran consistently through the Apostles, jumped to the Crusades, jumped again to Martin Luther, ran forward, and really started sprinting with John and Charles Wesley. That version of church history left many gaps.
In the autumn of 1991, I started my studies at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, Tifton, Georgia. I started attending services at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Tifton, on the Sunday after All Saints’ Day. On December 22, 1991, Bishop Harry Woolston Shipps confirmed me. I remained in the Diocese of Georgia through 2005, belonging to the following congregations:
- Christ Episcopal Church, Valdosta, Georgia (1993-1996),
- St. Thomas Aquinas Episcopal Church, Baxley, Georgia (1996-1998),
- Christ Episcopal Church, Cordele, Georgia (1998-2001),
- Trinity Episcopal Church, Statesboro, Georgia (2001-2003), and
- Christ Episcopal Church, Dublin, Georgia (2003-2005).
I have worshiped as a member of St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia, in the Diocese of Atlanta, since August 2005.
I have enjoyed the liberty of being a layman and the pleasure of belong to congregations that respect scholarship and encourage the asking of questions. My father, as a pastor, censored himself; he made honest theological statements at home he dared not utter from a pulpit. I did not feel free to ask certain questions in those churches. In Episcopal churches, however, I have asked questions freely and heard priests utter statements (not all of whom I agreed with) that would have gotten my father into great trouble. The threshold for offending people was low in his case; my father once offended people by supporting the Martin Luther King, Jr., federal holiday. That position contributed to us moving. On another occasion, he upset a parishioner by preaching that Jesus had a sense of humor. He had allegedly insulted her Jesus. The District Superintendent did not take the complaint seriously, fortunately.
Many of my statements on my weblogs, such as this one, would have cooked my goose in those churches.
So be it. I refuse to back down from my Catholic tendencies and my acceptance of Single Predestination. I refuse to back down from my support of civil rights (and not just based on skin color), of Biblical scholarship, and science.
I am where I belong–in The Episcopal Church. Thanks be to God!
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 25, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES BAR-ZEBEDEE, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
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Above: A Clip from The Episcopal Church in Georgia, December 1997
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I have been a (Lay) Eucharistic Minister (the “Lay” part of that title is redundant) in The Episcopal Church since 1997, with a brief interruption after I transferred from the Diocese of Georgia into the Diocese of Atlanta, in late 2005. I have been a LEM/EM in the following congregations:
- St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Baxley, Georgia;
- Christ Episcopal Church, Cordele, Georgia;
- Christ Episcopal Church, Dublin, Georgia; and
- St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia.
I do not recall having ever served in this capacity at Trinity Episcopal Church, Statesboro, Georgia, at which I worshiped from August 2001 to December 2003. I do remember habitually attending the early, quiet service, followed by Sunday School, then going home, eating brunch, and resuming my studies. (I was in graduate school.)
Most of the time (1996-1998) I was a member at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Baxley, the congregation had Eucharist every other Sunday, for we shared a priest with St. Matthew’s Church, Fitzgerald, a few counties away. We LEMs assisted at Eucharists, of course. Every other Sunday, when Father Basinger was in Fitzgerald, two of us presided over Morning Prayer, a beautiful ritual displaced in the 1960s and 1970s, when Eucharist became the default service. (Morning Prayer does come with the option of celebrating Eucharist, though.)
I took this responsibility seriously, and planned accordingly. For example, one week, I noticed that the lectionary readings for the upcoming Sunday were about forgiveness of sins. I consulted Morning Prayer Rite II in The Book of Common Prayer and selected the two canticles. The first canticle was a prayer for forgiveness. The second canticle thanked God for forgiveness.
Officially, The Episcopal Church does not attempt to explain how Jesus is present in the consecrated bread and wine; it merely affirms his presence in the elements. My position is the Roman Catholic one: transubstantiation. Most months, at St. Gregory the Great, I distribute consecrated wine two Sundays. I tell people that the wine is
The blood of Christ, the cup of salvation.
I mean it literally.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 15, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT BONAVENTURE, SECOND FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT ATHANASIUS I OF NAPLES, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF DUNCAN MONTGOMERY GRAY, SR.; AND HIS SON, DUNCAN MONTGOMERY GRAY, JR.; EPISCOPAL BISHOPS OF MISSISSIPPI AND ADVOCATES FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
THE FEAST OF SAINT SWITHUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF WINCHESTER
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Above: St. Thomas Aquinas Episcopal Church, Baxley, Georgia, December 2018
Cropped from a Google Earth Image
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I was part of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia for nearly fourteen years. On December 22, 1991, at St. Anne’s Church, Tifton, Harry Shipps, the Eighth Bishop of Georgia, confirmed me. I moved to Athens, Georgia, and, by extension, into the Diocese of Atlanta, in August 2005. Shortly thereafter, my membership transferred to St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens. I have been part of that parish since. In the same length of time, from 1991 to 2005, I belonged to six congregations–four parishes and two missions:
- St. Anne’s Church, Tifton (1991-1993);
- Christ Church, Valdosta (1993-1996);
- St. Thomas Aquinas, Baxley (1996-1998);
- Christ Church, Cordele (1998-2001);
- Trinity Church, Statesboro (2001-2003); and
- Christ Church, Dublin (2003-2005).
I have, from time to time, checked on these congregations online. The current rector of St. Anne’s Church, Tifton, was in high school and a fellow parishioner at Christ Church, Valdosta, when I was a student at Valdosta State University (1993-1996). St. Anne’s Church, Tifton, and Christ Church, Valdosta, have added on to their facilities. Christ Church, Cordele, a struggling mission when I belonged to it, has become a lively congregation. Christ Church, Dublin, has also become more active since my departure for Athens. The Rector of Trinity Church, Statesboro, just left for Charlotte, North Carolina, after she had served for about seventeen years.
Above: St. Thomas Aquinas Episcopal Church, Baxley, Georgia, May 25, 2017
Cropped from a Google Earth Image
I have had little success in finding information at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Baxley, online. It, founded in 1982, was a small mission when I was part of it. I poured myself into that church. I served on the Mission Council and as Junior Warden. I redecorated two of the rooms. I began to serve as a Lay Eucharistic Minister in the Diocese of Georgia, and to lead Morning Prayer, for we shared a priest with St. Matthew’s Church, Fitzgerald. We had Holy Eucharist every other Sunday. The internal arrangement of the building has never left my memory.
I remember the way the worship space looked in 1996 and how it changed in for the better. I recall that the building, constructed for another congregation of another denomination, had a baptistry behind the high altar. I remember work to hide the baptistry, expand the altar area, add new railings, and replace the aging red carpet with green carpet. I also recall the redecoration of the altar space (the sanctuary, properly) to look good, as if someone cared. I remember that we did care.
A few days ago, on the website of the Diocese of Georgia, I read of the impending sale of the building. The congregation, with an Average Sunday Attendance of thirteen, has moved in with St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church.
Above: St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, Baxley, Georgia, May 2014
Cropped from a Google Earth Image
The first Episcopal Eucharist in that building will be at 6:00 p.m. today. This occasion marks the opportunity for rebirth.
St. Thomas Aquinas Church has come full circle. Prior to 1989, when it moved into its acquired building on the Golden Isles Parkway, the Episcopal congregation worshiped in the space of what was then St. Christopher’s Catholic Church.
I wish all the Episcopal congregations to which I used to belong well. I pray each one will serve God as effectively as possible in its community and county. I pray for St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Baxley, in particular. The mission occupies a soft spot in my heart, although I will probably never live in Appling County again.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
JULY 7, 2019 COMMON ERA
PROPER 9: THE FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF JOSIAH CONDER, ENGLISH JOURNALIST AND CONGREGATIONALIST HYMN WRITER; AND HIS SON, EUSTACE CONDER, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF FRANCIS FLORENTINE HAGEN, U.S. MORAVIAN MINISTER AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT HEDDA OF WESSEX, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF SAINTS RALPH MILNER, ROGER DICKINSON, AND LAWRENCE HUMPHREY, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYRS, 1591
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Above: The Temptations of Jesus
Image in the Public Domain
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For St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church, Athens, Georgia
Lent 2019
Texts: Mark 1:12-13; Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13
Reading the Bible for spiritual formation is an ancient Benedictine practice. My primary purpose in writing this short piece is to ask, how do the accounts (mainly the Lukan and Matthean ones) of the temptations of Jesus challenge us, both as individuals and a parish, to follow Jesus better than we do.
The Temptation to Turn Stones into Bread
Bread was especially precious in ancient Palestine, with relatively little arable land.
We are blessed to be able to purchase our bread inexpensively at stores. Bread is abundant in our context, so we probably take it for granted more often than not. We can, however, think of some tangible needs related to scarcity.
One challenge is not to permit tangible needs to overtake intangible necessities. We all depend entirely on God and dwell within a web of mutual responsibility and dependence. According to the late Henri Nouwen, this temptation is the temptation to be relevant. Relevance is not necessarily bad; in fact, it is frequently positive. However, maintaining the proper balance of tangible and intangible needs is essential. Furthermore, Christ’s refusal to cave into the temptation to use his power to make bread—to cease to depend on God—ought to remind us never to imagine that we do not depend entirely on God.
Questions
- Do we permit tangible needs to distract us from intangible necessities? If so, how?
- Do we manifest the vain idea that we do not depend entirely on God? If so, how?
The Temptation to Jump from the Pinnacle of the Temple
Many scholars of the New Testament have proposed what the pinnacle of the Temple was.
That matter aside, this temptation is, according to Nouwen, the temptation to be spectacular. It is also the temptation to attempt to manipulate God by trying to force God to intervene in a miraculous way. That effort, like turning stones into bread, would indicate a lack of faith.
We humans frequently like the spectacular, do we not? We tell ourselves and others that, if only God would do something spectacular, we will believe. We are like those who, in the Gospels, only wanted Jesus to do something for them, and not to learn from him.
Questions
- Does our attraction to the spectacular distract us from the still, small voice of God? If so, how?
- Does our attraction to the spectacular reveal our lack of faith? If so, how?
- Does our attraction to the spectacular unmask our selfishness? If so, how?
The Temptation to Worship Satan in Exchange for Earthly Authority
Many Palestinian Jews at the time of Christ thought of Satan as the power behind the Roman Empire and of the Roman pantheon as a collection of demons. Jesus affirmed God the Father as the only source of his identity.
This temptation is about idolatry, power, and morally untenable compromises.
Many well-intentioned people—ministers, politicians, and appointed office holders, for example—have, in the name of doing good, become corrupt and sacrificed their suitability to do good. They have sacrificed their moral integrity on the altar of amoral realism.
Some compromises are necessary, of course. As Reinhold Niebuhr reminded us, we cannot help but commit some evil while trying to do good, for human depravity has corrupted social systems and institutions.
Questions
- Have we established our identity apart from God? If so, how?
- How have we, with good intentions, committed or condoned evil?
- Have we made morally untenable compromises? If so, how?
The Good News
The good news is both collective and individual.
I discover the principle, then: that when I want to do right, only wrong is within my reach. In my inmost self I delight in the law of God, but I perceive in my outward actions a different law, fighting against the law that my mind approves, and making me a prisoner under the law of sin which controls my conduct. Wretched creature that I am, who is there to rescue me from this state of death? Who but God? Thanks be to him through Jesus Christ our Lord! To sum up then: left to myself I serve God’s law with my mind, but with my unspiritual nature I serve the law of sin.
–Romans 7:21-25, The Revised English Bible (1989)
Jesus has modeled the way to resist temptation—to trust God and to understand scripture.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 10, 2019 COMMON ERA
THE FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR C
THE FEAST OF MARIE-JOSEPH LAGRANGE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF SAINT AGRIPINNUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; SAINT GERMANUS OF PARIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP; AND SAINT DROCTOVEUS OF AUTUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN OGLIVIE, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MACARIUS OF JERUSALEM, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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Adapted from this post:
https://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2019/03/10/thoughts-and-questions-about-the-temptations-of-jesus/
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SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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