Exhibit
Through January 8
Free with Metropolitan Museum admission

The Tudors Art and Majesty in Renaissance England By Elizabeth Cleland and Adam Eaker Yale, pp. 352 pages, $65  As an Amazon Associate, TLC earns from qualifying purchases.

Review by Richard Mammana Jr.

The internal dynamics of one small Welsh family over 120 years shaped the English-speaking Christian world as we know it between 1485 and 1603. There were six Tudor monarchs — Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane Grey, Mary I, and Elizabeth I — all descendants of a French marriage with an ancient clan of Wales called Tuduriaid Penmynydd. They came to power through force at the end of the medieval period and were replaced after the death of a 70-year-old maiden queen who launched the mercantilism that became colonialism.

A breathtaking exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum gives us a sense of what this all looked like while it was happening — as the second Tudor Henry broke with Rome and took his many wives, as worship was introduced in English, during the severe Marian reaction, and in what we know now as a settlement under Elizabeth I. The exhibit is worth an entire afternoon punctuated by pauses for resting legs in the café.

The religious contexts for the several regnal changes are explained faultlessly, and illustrated with paintings, books, and objects assembled to give a comprehensive material account of the several English Reformations. The items have never been brought together in one place since they were part of their various palace and church collections more than four centuries ago, and the foremost donor to the exhibit was the late Queen Elizabeth II.

We see the pre-Reform splendor of Roman Catholicism in an illuminated Book of Hours from circa 1500 that belonged to Mary of France. The rise of humanism and revival of interest in antiquity is illustrated in tapestries of classical and religious topics. The comprehensive programs of religious change wedded to carefully crafted images of rule are shown over and over in priceless examples that are the immediate background for European exploration of the Americas, Africa, and Asia, as well as the fractured Protestant and Catholic worlds all Christians know today.

Standouts are hard to pin down, because one could study each object and excavate meaning from it at leisure while not attending to the whole in its assemblage. Images of Henry VIII, though, are important, no more so than in the juxtaposition of a well-known portrait by Holbein with a full suit of his armor. We see the king of the reform and one of its prime movers as he decided to be depicted, and in the very leather and steel battle clothing he wore. The effect and the immediacy of Henry’s presence to the museum visitor is powerful, giving a sense of the power of his will as he opposed the papacy and consolidated religious and temporal power in himself, in the arrangement that will be received by King Charles III at his coronation in 2023.

Another stunning object is a Henrician tapestry of St. Paul burning heathen books. We see the king’s effort to establish identity with religious reform in the New Testament, linking his work to purify the church with similar activities by the apostles themselves. The Roman clothing of the heathen is instructive and pregnant with meaning.

From later in the Tudor period, we have a domestic object: a Chinese ewer from the Ming Dynasty that likely belonged to Elizabeth and was given by her to Sir Walter Raleigh, first Governor of Virginia. That colony, named for the Virgin Queen, cemented English claims in the New World in actions that continue to be contested by churches and communities that repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery, as Episcopalians have on an official level. The reality of globalization, in progress already in about 1585, is crystallized here: a Chinese jug for bathing water or handwashing, given by a Tudor queen to a colonizer of the Chesapeake and its islands.

The exhibit is an extraordinary and seamless example of how museums are adapting to life in the midst of pandemic; it had been scheduled for October 2020. The delay allowed the museum to expand its already rich offerings of online audio tours, high-quality images of the objects on display, and even gallery title descriptions.

The accompanying exhibit catalogue is the usual very fine work of Yale University Press, which comes with a punishing price point in the museum store but can be ordered at much lower cost online. The book’s essays situate each part of the exhibit in a narrative of Tudor life, display, and after-history.

The rich published, online, and streaming audio resources of this exhibit mean it will endure as a learning resource long after it closes. They also raise the question of whether one must still go to a museum to experience an exhibit in its completeness.

The answer is a resounding yes. Just as a photograph of a fireplace gives us the feelings of warmth but not actual heat, the digital or printed experience of a museum installation is still a clean different thing from visiting on two legs. For people of the Book of Common Prayer, the opportunity to walk among the faces and clothing of the family who bequeathed it to us is an inestimable gift.

The Rev. Sione Ulu’ilakepa of Fiji and the Rt. Rev. Christopher A. Harper of Saskatoon will soon be consecrated as archbishops.

Ulu’ilakepa — principal of St. John the Baptist Theological College, Suva, Fiji — was elected as Bishop of Polynesia. He will become one of three archbishops and primates in the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia. He is scheduled for consecration in March 2023. A priest for 30 years and a liturgist, he will succeed Archbishop Fereimi Cama, who died on July 2, 2021, at age 66.

Harper, Bishop of Saskatoon, has been appointed National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop and Presiding Elder of the Sacred Circle. A consecration date has not yet been chosen for Harper. Harper will succeed Archbishop Mark MacDonald, who resigned in April amid allegations of sexual misconduct. MacDonald, former Bishop of Alaska, had served in the Anglican Church of Canada for 15 years.

Harper will shoulder responsibility for implementing The Sacred Circle: The Covenant and Our Way of Life, a foundational document for the Canadian Anglican Indigenous Church issued in February 2022 that will establish it as “a full, equal but separate, self-governing partner” of the Anglican Church of Canada.

Ulu’ilakepa was confirmed as Bishop-elect of Polynesia by majority assent of General Synod Te Hīnota Whānui, which makes him archbishop-elect of the three-Tikanga Church, Anglican Taonga reported.

“Fr. Sione is a deserving successor to Archbishop Winston Halapua and Archbishop Fereimi Cama, with a decades-long track record of ministry and leadership throughout Polynesia,” said the Most Rev. Don Tamihere, Archbishop of New Zealand. “I have known Fr. Sione for a long time. He is a good person, and he has a shepherd’s heart.”

Archbishop Philip Richardson, Bishop of Waikato and Taranaki, also welcomed the archbishop-elect: “Under Fr. Sione’s oversight and guidance, this will be a great season in the life of this church and his wonderful diocese.”

Ulu’ilakepa has led Tongan and Fijian communities in formation and training, helped develop climate disaster preparedness strategies, nurtured work in youth CIVA training, and offered his backing to the No Pelestiki plastic-free campaign.

In his liturgical work, this year he created “Together in Christ We Move,” a song and dance in Tonga and English. It was included in the opening worship service of the World Council of Churches’ General Assembly in Germany in late August.

“The Church is the voice of our voiceless, our marginalized, and those of us who are vulnerable,” Ulu’ilakepa said on Anglican Taonga. And the Church must listen to the cry of the land and the ocean which is our home … those voices call for a new proclamation of the good news of God.”

Harper’s appointment was announced by Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Rev. Canon Dr. Murray Still and Caroline Chum, co-chairs of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples (ACIP).

“Archbishop-elect Chris Harper brings years of experience in ministry among and with Indigenous Anglicans, urban and on reserve,” Nicholls said. “He has a passion for walking together with respect that will be essential as the Sacred Circle within the Anglican Church of Canada establishes its way forward. I look forward to working with Chris as we learn together how God is calling us to witness to this new relationship.”

“Gitchi-Meegwetch [great thanks] to everyone for their prayers and blessings during the selection process for our presiding elder,” Chum said. “We look to you now to continue your support for Indigenous Ministries and our National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop, Chris, as we journey to our Sacred Circle 2023. We are truly blessed. Thanks be to God.”

“We at ACIP were unanimous in our choice of Bishop Chris Harper for the next National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop,” Canon Still said. “I have known him since I first became active in the Sacred Circle in 1993 at Minaki Lodge in Kenora.

“Bishop Chris played a leadership role at that gathering when residential school survivors shared their painful stories. He is a pastoral man with vision and administrative skill. He also preaches well and knows the Christian and traditional spirituality. Walking in two worlds, Bishop Chris can gently bridge the two traditions at a time this is desperately needed.”

Born in Saskatchewan and a member of the Onion Lake Cree Nation, Bishop Harper is a graduate of Wycliffe College, Toronto.

By Kirk Petersen

America’s two oldest Episcopal seminaries have finalized the partnership they’ve been working toward for months, with Virginia Theological Seminary bringing its relatively vast resources to bear to save General Theological Seminary from extinction. But while GTS will survive, it will bear little resemblance to the institution that has prepared seminarians for the priesthood for the past two centuries.

On November 29, the GTS Board of Trustees appointed the Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, president of VTS, to the additional role of president of GTS. The Very Rev. Michael DeLashmutt, who had been acting president and dean of GTS, was named dean of the chapel and senior vice president.

In a joint interview with TLC a few days after the vote, Markham and DeLashmutt said the arrangement ensures that GTS will continue to be a degree-granting institution and a physical presence in New York City, where the Episcopal Church has its headquarters.

“We’re committed to not selling the campus,” Markham said, despite the potential value of five acres in the West 20s in Manhattan. “And we’re also committed to maintaining distinctive GTS-related programming, of which the high-quality, low-residency M.Div is going to be the flagship.”

At least for the near future, the hybrid master of divinity program will be not just the flagship, but the only ship. After a handful of remaining residential students graduate in May 2023, General Theological Seminary will no longer enroll students in master’s programs in spiritual direction, ministry, theology, and sacred theology, nor in the doctor of ministry program. And GTS will no longer offer the immersive experience of the traditional three-year, residential master of divinity program.

A majority of current GTS students already participate in a hybrid program, with lectures and events delivered online for most of the year. The entire class gathers on-campus for three “intensive weeks” each year of the program, in September, January, and May. There are currently 55 students enrolled in the various GTS degree programs, and “fewer than 10 live full-time on the Close,” Markham said later by email.

“We are recruiting cohorts of 15 students per year into the hybrid M.Div. program.  The program is designed for students to complete their degree in four years or less,” he wrote.

General’s transformation has been wrenchingly swift. As recently as November 2020, GTS’s leadership was committed to the residential model. Then-President Kurt H. Dunkle said the seminary would continue “to lean into that being the default option,” even though it had begun making pandemic-related accommodations for seminarians with health concerns.

Dunkle, who had announced his pending retirement earlier that month, succinctly described the benefits of the residential model.

“At General, we do two things: education and formation. Education happens mostly, but not exclusively, in the classroom. Formation happens exclusively, almost, outside the classroom, like in chapel, and at lunch, and walking around on the Close, and sitting around at night drinking a beer, or a lemonade,” he said. “For General, and a handful of other seminaries – Virginia, Sewanee, Southwest – we’ve made very clear statements that in-person education and formation are not just important, but essential, because the Church is a high-touch business. It’s about human interaction and human relationships. Seminary needs to be the same way.”

But the pandemic had other ideas.

Only two M.Div students started in the residential M.Div. program in the fall of 2021, DeLashmutt said. “And that was a signal for us that we needed a significant change.”

With the help of a Lilly Endowment grant, the GTS trustees spent several months in “a prayerful, and also data-informed, decision-making process,” DeLashmutt said. “And the research pointed in two directions for us. The first was that in order for the seminary to continue to fulfill its educational mission, we needed to move in the direction of a low-residency model. And to find a way that we could bring theological education into the context of students around the country who were not just unable to attend residential seminary, but perhaps weren’t called to attend residential seminary — but still deserve the very best education that they could possibly have.”

Second, “we needed to pursue a partnership with another institution that would help us to live into our third century of mission,” he said.

They didn’t have to look far, because GTS already had a budding partnership with VTS, the largest and most affluent Episcopal seminary. It began in 2018 with the launch of “TryTank: An Experimental Laboratory for Growth and Innovation, funded jointly by the two seminaries. The institutions announced in early 2021 that they were looking for ways to expand the partnership, a move they said was driven not by financial concerns, but by opportunities to offer seminarians access to the faculty and resources of both institutions.

“The only reason this is going to work is that we’re both stable organizations,” Dunkle said at the time. He acknowledged the disparity between the institutions — at the time, VTS had four times the enrollment and five times the endowment of GTS.

But then General’s financial health deteriorated quickly, and by June 2022, leaders of both institutions were raising alarms at an online legislative hearing in advance of General Convention. The hearing concerned Resolution A139, which would end the last formal ties between GTS and the General Convention.

General Theological Seminary was founded in 1817, and the vision at the time was that it would become a unified seminary serving the entire church. Thus the General Convention retained considerable control of the governance of GTS. But VTS was founded in 1823, Nashotah House in 1842, and the School of Theology at Sewanee: The University of the South in 1857, all with governance structures independent of General Convention. These challenges to the unified-seminary vision reflected broader conflict within the church and the country.

General Convention’s control of GTS dwindled over the coming two centuries, but until this year, the GC still retained the right to approve or disapprove any changes to the GTS constitution and bylaws. VTS considered that a deal-breaker.

DeLashmutt warned in June that if A139 failed to pass, “Plan B is the shrinking of the [campus] footprint and focusing exclusively on hybrid learning, and Plan C would be looking at some sort of significant sale or development of the institution, and possibly ceasing instruction for a period of time. This is a high-stakes vote for us.” The resolution passed without opposition.

At the time of the legislative hearing, both Markham and DeLashmutt rejected the idea that GTS would become a “subsidiary” of VTS. “That has a distinctive set of legal connotations. So I don’t think you can say that, actually,” Markham said. “The word we’re using is affiliation.”

But even if GTS does not meet some legal definition of a subsidiary, that term fits in a descriptive sense. In addition to Markham’s dual role, two of his senior executives from VTS have assumed similar positions at GTS. The Rev. Melody Knowles is the head of academic affairs for both seminaries, and Jacqueline Ballou is chief financial officer. The VTS Board of Trustees expanded to 40 people, with 32 from Virginia and eight from General.

There undoubtedly is more consolidation yet to come, and the uncertainty has created a tense atmosphere on campus. One faculty member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said faculty, staff, and seminarians alike are anxious about what the future will bring. The same person questioned whether the smaller program offering would continue to justify even the modest size of the current faculty. The GTS website currently lists 10 core faculty members, including Markham, DeLashmutt, and Knowles.

“We’re in a review season, which will last some months,” Markham said.

Financial pressures remain, because of the need to address “significant deferred maintenance” on the GTS campus, DeLashmutt said. “I would say that the thing that we’re most excited about is moving forward with restoration of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd, which includes structural work on the tower, addressing the roof, and restoring the chapel itself.”

He described the chapel as “a rare jewel that is has been given for the service of education, formation, and training within the Episcopal Church.” But it is no longer an exclusively Episcopal jewel. Since 2019, Good Shepherd New York, a non-denominational church, has been the only congregation worshiping at the chapel on Sundays. The seminary is discontinuing daily chapel services in the spring.

The partnership between GTS and VTS is the latest example of a changing business model among Episcopal seminaries, and indeed in the broader world of theological education.

In 2019, Trinity Church Wall Street, with $8 billion in assets from Lower Manhattan real estate, reached across the country to acquire Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California. In 2017, Episcopal Divinity School closed up shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and relocated to New York as the Episcopal track of the ecumenical Union Theological Seminary. In 2013, Seabury-Western merged with Bexley Hall to form Bexley Seabury. The downsizing of the Episcopal seminary structure has been inevitable since 1970, when the Pusey Report called for reducing the number of seminaries from 11 at the time down to five or fewer, because of declining enrollment.

The Rev. Frank G. Adams, a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and the Korean War, died October 13 at 96.

Born in New York City, Adams was a graduate of Rutgers, Drexel, Monmouth, and Villanova universities. He studied for ordained ministry at Nashotah House. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1970.

He enlisted in the Navy at age 17 and flew seaplanes as an aviation radioman, participating in U-boat barrier patrols from bases in Brazil. After the war, he studied at Rutgers and remained a member of the Naval Reserves. His seaplane squadron was recalled to active duty in 1950 during the Korean War.

After completing his studies at Rutgers, Adams began work as an industrial engineer with the Ruberoid Corp. (now GAF). He worked for the Radio Corporation of America from 1959 to 1993.

He began his ordained ministry as a non-stipendiary cleric in New Jersey. After his retirement from RCA, the family moved to Chestertown, Maryland. He served as curate at Emmanuel Church in Chestertown and priest in charge at Christ Church IU in Worton. (The initials honor benefactor Isaac Usilton.)

Adams is survived by Lisbeth Ann (Bunny), his wife of 72 years; a son; a daughter; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

The Rev. Alberry Charles Cannon Jr., a U.S. Army veteran known for his ministry among homeless persons and AIDS patients, died October 27 at 86.

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, he was a graduate of The Citadel and the University of the South’s School of Theology. He was commissioned an Army lieutenant and served on active duty at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was ordained deacon in 1963 and priest in 1964.

Cannon worked among the deprived and homeless citizens of Greenville, having served on the staff of United Ministries, where he helped establish the Place of Hope. He was a past chairman of the board of Project Host, and a member of the Greenville Homeless Coalition, AID Upstate, the AIDS Task Force of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina, and the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition.

He served Episcopal churches for 33 years in South Carolina and Florida.

He was married for 44 years to Nancy Sterling Cannon, until her death in 2001. He is survived by a sister, three sons (two of them Episcopal priests), a daughter, 10 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

The Rev. Dcn. Charles de Saussure Jett, who served as an agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service before his ordination, died October 17 at age 83.

A native of Milledgeville, Georgia, he was a graduate of the University of South Carolina. He was an NIS agent until retiring at 50. He then earned another bachelor’s degree in his studies for the diaconate and was ordained in 1995. He served in the dioceses of California, Idaho, South Carolina, and Spokane.

Jett’s wife of 61 years, Jane, preceded him in death in 2020. He is survived by two brothers, a daughter, a son, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

The Rev. Alfred Joseph Jewson, who died November 5 at 78, was a former Roman Catholic priest married to a deacon.

Born in St. Louis, Jewson spent all his years of ministry in Missouri. He was a graduate of Cardinal Glennon College, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, and St. Louis University School of Divinity.

He served as a Catholic priest from 1968 until 1974, when he was received into the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri by Bishop John C. Buchanan.

He and his wife, Dayna Geddes Jewson, were married in 1988, and she was ordained to the diaconate in 2004.

While serving in the Diocese of West Missouri, Jewson was a regional dean and a member of the Commission on Ministry for 12 years.

When the Jewsons moved back to his hometown, he became a supply priest to many congregations.

“We mourn for the loss of our friend, counselor, and priest,” said an announcement from the Diocese of Missouri on the day after his death.

The Rev. Louise Lusignan, who was drawn deeper into faith when her husband survived a hiking mishap in 1978, died September 28 at 79.

When the Lusignans were on vacation in Colorado in 1978, he became lost while hiking a canyon alone. When searchers found no sign of him, she flew back to their parish, St. Columba’s in Washington, D.C., where she had been serving as a lay volunteer.

She asked the community to pray that Michael would be found. A parishioner suggested praying that he would find his way out. Dehydrated and hallucinating, Michael did find his way out. The experience drew her more deeply into the life of faith and the church community she had found.

Born in 1943, she graduated from Pomona College in 1965 and headed east, where she taught at schools in Pennsylvania and in Washington. She earned a master’s degree in teaching from Antioch-Putney Graduate School of Education in Vermont, and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Western Ontario.

She graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary in 1988. She was ordained deacon that year, and priest in 1989. She served as an associate rector at St. Columba’s from 1988 to 2000 before answering a call to serve as an associate at St. John’s in McLean, Virginia, until her retirement in 2013.

Lusignan is survived by her husband, a brother, nieces, and nephews. She is remembered for her warmth, sense of humor, commitment to pastoral care, and love of cats.

“My idea of a great day,” she once wrote, “is to putter around the house, take a long walk, either alone or with Michael, sit on the deck with a cup of tea, or stretch out to read a murder mystery with our two cats, Polycarp and Miss Punk, on my lap.”

The Rev. James Hugh Magers, the Episcopal Church’s director of stewardship from 1992 to 2000, died December 8 at 82.

A native of Abilene, Texas, he was a graduate of Texas A&M University and began studying law at the University of Texas at Austin. Realizing that he “wasn’t sorry enough to be a lawyer,” he felt called to ordination and attended Virginia Theological Seminary. He was ordained deacon and priest in 1968.

In Texas he worked in missions and parishes in a dozen cities. In his role with the Episcopal Church Center, he taught in churches in all 50 states.

Magers was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in his 60s, but his family said he kept his sense of humor to the end.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Joan; a sister; and four granddaughters.

The Rev. Walter Szymanski, a parish priest, family therapist, and advocate for gay rights in the Episcopal Church, died October 19 at 83.

A native of Pittsburgh, he was a graduate of St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, St. Bernard’s Seminary, and Colgate Rochester-Crozer Divinity School. His master’s degree was in theology and psychology. He was received as a priest from the Roman Catholic Church in 1973. He served several parishes in the dioceses of Rochester and Pittsburgh, and joined the Anglican Society of St. Francis in 2002.

His writing for Integrity, the former caucus of gay and lesbian Episcopalians, included “Blessings of Same-Gender Relationships” (1982), “As We Believe God” (1982), and “Family Ministry in a Homophile Community” (1981). An obituary prepared by Szymanski’s family described him as “companion and friend of Paul Marrocco for over 40 years,” and his entry in the Episcopal Clerical Directory said they married in January 1984.

Every year, we ask some colleagues, friends, and supporters of The Living Church to share a Christmas gift idea.

We wish you a blessed Advent and a Merry Christmas!

For the children in your life, it’s never too early to encourage an enthusiasm for the languages of theological scholarship! You can find alphabet blocks and refrigerator magnets for Greek and Hebrew, and for other classical Christian languages like Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, and Ethiopic. Children will delight in learning an alphabet that their parents and teachers probably can’t read, and they will definitely thank you later if they go to graduate school for theology or the humanities.

Dr. Liza Anderson, teaching professor of church history and ascetical theology at General Theological Seminary

The composer John Sheppard served as leader of the choir at Magdalene College, Oxford, and then in the choir of the Chapel Royal during the English Reformation. He composed liturgical music for both English and Latin texts during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Mary Tudor. Media vita (Linn Records, 2019) by the choir of New College, Oxford, under the direction of Robert Quinney, offers a selection of Latin motets drawn from Old Testament texts, as well as hymns from the Latin liturgy.

The Rt. Rev. John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee and president of the Living Church Foundation.

The Rand McNally 2023 Large Scale Road Atlas is on my Christmas list, in part, because of smartphones. It’s no longer easy to pick one up at a gas station or truck stop. MapQuest and Google Maps have little in common with the real deal: sturdy paper over which you can trace roads, rivers, and mountain ranges — all the places we can go in this magnificent continent.

The Rev. Dr. Annette Brownlee, chaplain and professor of pastoral theology at Wycliffe College, Toronto

Everyone is Anglican at Christmas, and our sacred liturgy is the most evangelical tool we have. With those compass points in mind, I capture pictures of children living out their ministries boldly and without apology. My intent is to capture them sanctifying life, time, and space with their consecrated lives. I send the framed photos to parents, grandparents, aunts, or uncles. I ask that they enjoy the image by displaying it on their desk, allowing it to stimulate conversations with colleagues.

The Rt. Rev. Brian Burgess, Bishop of Springfield

Unwrapping the 12 Days of Christmas by Curtis Almquist, SSJE, is a Christmas favorite of mine and helps me slow down during the two weeks after Christmas. My wife and I have made it a perennial practice to add these short, daily readings to our daily prayers. The chapter on Mary is particularly helpful, and I have often shared it with friends who want to better understand an Episcopal/Anglican articulation of the mother of our Lord.

The Rt. Rev. Matthew Cowden, Bishop of West Virginia

Malcolm Guite’s Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year is an excellent gift, either as a work of literature or as a manual of devotions. The sonnet form enables the poet to say just enough to reach the heart without overwhelming it. A priest of the Church of England and a singer-songwriter, Guite intends his poetry to “be profound without ceasing to be beautiful.” I think he succeeds magnificently.

The Rev. Lawrence Crumb, a longtime TLC contributor and a retired priest of the Diocese of Oregon

Decline and Fall (1928) is a social satire by Evelyn Waugh. The novel follows the fall and redemption of theology student Paul Pennyfeather as fate casts him between Oxford, a Welsh boarding school, English country homes (both ancient and modern), and even prison for a spell. Decline and Fall is an excellent gift for the student, priest, prison guard, Englishman, or country squire in your life.

Weston Curnow, a TLC contributor, and a journalism student at the University of Kansas

Christmas in Australia is either hot or bloody hot, but traditions die hard. Some years ago, a retired caterer in our parish suggested cooking puddings and selling them as a fundraiser. If Christmas Day proves a scorcher, just roll out the fruit salad and keep the pudding for a “Christmas in July” dinner. But Christmas pudding is best reheated in a billy over a campfire.

Robyn Douglass, a TLC correspondent based in Adelaide, Australia

How about a gift that soothes our bodies, which in turn revives our minds and spirits? Physical therapists and serious athletes use massage guns to relieve muscle discomforts and pains. After a long Sunday on one’s feet, it is a nice way to relieve stiffness and muscle tension. They come in many styles and prices to fit one’s budget.

The Rev. Philene M. Ware Dunn, a supply priest in the Diocese of Virginia

One of the great prayers in our Anglican tradition was created from some words of a sermon by John Donne: “Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening to the house and gate of heaven.” For many years I have used this prayer at every funeral liturgy at which I have presided, and we heard it sung to Sir William Harris’s stunning setting at the Committal Service of Queen Elizabeth II. The British ensemble VOCES8 has a splendid recording of this piece on its CD After Silence.

The Rt. Rev. Peter Eaton, Bishop of Southeast Florida

High on my list of books is The Power of Reconciliation (Bloomsbury Continuum) by Archbishop Justin Welby, followed by Theology and Batman: Examining the Religious World of the Dark Knight (Lexington Books).

Neva Rae Fox, a TLC correspondent based in Somerville, New Jersey

Traveling to Kenya and back takes me no less than 60 hours. During this past November’s passage, I read Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, an American physician born to Indian Christian parents in Ethiopia. The second novel that rescued me from those interminable hours aloft is Warlight by Michael Ondaatje, a Sri Lankan émigré author who now makes his home in Toronto. Ondaataje writes with such understanding about growing up that I feel as if he sits at a corner table in my memory.

The Rev. Patrick Gahan, rector of Christ Episcopal Church, San Antonio

If you want to send the warmth of the Holy Spirit or wrap someone in God’s never-failing love, then send Nordstorm’s Bliss Plush Throw. I also love Alabaster’s books of the Bible. They are elegant, creative, beautiful — just like our church! Alabaster wants to help everyone experience God’s beauty in the world.

The Rt. Rev. Elizabeth Gardner, Bishop of Nevada

Historical fiction is my genre of choice when I need an escape from present-day woes; it also helps me keep my momentary afflictions in perspective. The Rose Code by Kate Quinn centers on three women who worked at Bletchley Park in England to break the Enigma code during World War II, and is one of the few novels by a living author that I will read again.

The Rev. Nathan Humphrey, rector of St. Thomas’ Anglican Church, Toronto

Pilgrimage trekking poles have not only saved my tired feet and weak knees after too many ambitious miles, but they also provided a handhold when ancient pathways were an overgrown bramble, a steep descent, or a mess of slippery stones. Opt for a collapsible pair in a composite material that are sturdy and compact enough for checked baggage, since TSA doesn’t always take kindly to the carbide tips in carry-on luggage.

The Rev. Jeff Hupf, rector of St. Martin’s on the Lake, Minnetonka Beach, Minnesota

The monks of Monastero di San Benedetto in Monte brew delicious abbey ales and sell them through the web. I love to support these monastics (who are rebuilding after devastating earthquakes) and to foster their “Birra Nursia” motto: Ut Laetificet Cor (“that the heart may be gladdened”).

Richard Kennelly, a home brewer who serves as treasurer of Leadership Transformations and a new member of the Living Church Foundation

Since my children were quite small, we have each opened one present on Christmas Eve — our Christmas pajamas. My daughters are now 22 and 25, and they still look forward to opening those Christmas pajamas. If you are looking for traditional, cozy, Lanz nightgowns, check out the Vermont Country Store for an amazing selection.

Heidi Kim works with the Episcopal Church in Minnesota to engage the ministry of racial healing and justice-making.

My husband and I love playing games, and our favorite for parties is Telestrations. A hilarious combination of the childhood games Pictionary and Telephone, it’s a multigenerational crowd-pleaser that involves sketching and describing what others have sketched.

The Rev. Molly Jane Layton, associate rector for congregational care and worship at the Parish of Calvary-St. George’s in New York City

In 2021 my niece Alicia Joy LeBlanc was the co-director of Gun and a Hotel Bible, which builds on the Beatles’ song “Rocky Raccoon” to weave a story about lost faith, betrayal, temptation, and the hound of heaven. It’s available for streaming on many platforms.

Douglas LeBlanc, an associate editor of TLC

Readers who already enjoy C.S. Lewis’s popular works might be astonished at just how much of the great Western literary and theological tradition made its way into every page of those books. In The Medieval Mind of C.S. Lewis (IVP), medievalist Jason Baxter shows that for Lewis, the living, breathing tradition of Boethius and Dante could cast a counter-spell against the “evil enchantment” of the allegedly demystified, secularized modern world.

Ben Lima, an art historian, and a parishioner at Church of the Incarnation in Dallas

The most precious gift one can receive is a memorable experience with friends and family. Nearly every town in America has an escape room. The task is to solve a mysterious puzzle within an hour. I always learn something extraordinary about my fellow escapees.

The Rev. Dr. Ian Markham, dean and president of Virginia Theological Seminary

I suggest The Radical Disciple: Wholehearted Christian Living (2010), through which John Stott issues an evergreen call to nonconformity in the face of pluralism, materialism, relativism, and other contemporary trends that threaten to swallow us. Like Stott, I have sometimes wondered if anything is more essential to evangelism than a Christlike evangelist.

Jesse Masai, a TLC correspondent based in Nakuru City, Kenya

It’s never too late to start a new tradition. For almost 20 years, my family has given me a nativity set each Christmas. They vary in every way imaginable: size, scene, country of origin. The only thing that is consistent is the reminder of, and focus on, the incredible gift of Jesus and the incarnate nature of God. These nativity sets come from places we have traveled, fair trade shops such as Ten Thousand Villages, eBay, and neighborhood yard sales.

The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Mello, Bishop of Connecticut

For someone who appreciates the practical, sympathetic, or apocalyptic: a winter sickness prep kit. (Call it something more appealing.) Include a set of soft hankies, beeswax lip/nose balm, mentholated cough drops, a hot-water bottle, chicken soup mix, Lemon Zinger tea, honey, warm socks, or a big bottle of Olbas peppermint oil.

Amber Noel, an associate editor of TLC and director of the Living Church Institute

When I was serving as a priest in Colorado, my wife and I discovered Enstrom toffee, based in Grand Junction. Its famous recipe came to be during World War II, when Chet Enstrom made toffee for parents to send to their children serving oversees at Christmas. The almond toffee is the best I’ve had.

The Rt. Rev. Poulson Reed, Bishop of Oklahoma, and a member of the Living Church Foundation

The older of my two sons has a knack for choosing motion pictures that suit my tastes. He got me hooked on those written and directed by Tom McCarthy. The first I watched was Win Win (2011). Most recently, I watched Stillwater (2021). Spotlight (2015) might be the best-known. Each involves characters who aim to do good, but they do not always do right. Weaved into each story are themes of sin, mercy, and grace, the latter especially. Invite some friends for dinner and a McCarthy movie, but hold dessert for the end, when you can talk about how you saw these themes emerging. (Win Win is still my favorite!)

John Schuessler, TLC’s managing editor

My go-to option for purchasing Christmas gifts is Thistle Farms of Nashville, founded and still led by the Rev. Becca Stevens. With the mission of “helping women survivors overcome and heal from systems of prostitution and exploitation,” the folks at Thistle Farms fund their work by selling all sorts of things made by women. I love to give its handmade candles. As it says on the box, “a single candle lights up the darkest night.” Not a bad message for Christmas!

The Rt. Rev. Rob Skirving, Bishop of East Carolina

This year, I’m looking to give (and receive) things that make home cozier, such as warm and breathable boiled wool slippers. For smaller budgets, try Paine’s Balsam Fir Incense to bring a New England Christmas to your house. Finally, if you’re looking for a theological book, I recommend The Valley of Vision, a beautiful collection of Puritan devotional material.

The Rev. Canon Dr. Kara N. Slade, associate rector of Trinity Church, Princeton, and canon theologian of the Diocese of New Jersey

As your gift to your community, buy from local artists, farmers, and businesses. How great it would be, as well, to take some cookies to our neighbors who are of different political affinity and religious affiliations. In this season of abundance, I invite you to share a gift with those who are different, near and local.

The Rt. Rev. Jos Tharakan, Bishop of Idaho

I always suggest Douglas Kaine McKelvey’s Every Moment Holy series. Volume I is a book of prayers for things like changing diapers, preparing a meal, beekeeping, and gardening. Volume II: Death, Grief, and Hope is a necessity for walking through seasons of darkness.

Leslie Eiler Thompson, owner of Rogue Creative Consulting and TLC’s digital content manager

We’re focusing on nonprofit items, produced locally (and preferably within the diocese). That will include jars of marmalade made by the bell ringers of the Hampshire parish of Crondall & Ewshot, and bottles of gin (“Spirit of St Mary’s”) distilled for the Surrey parish of Ewell. But if you push me to recommend a book, it might be Wilding by Isabella Tree.

The Rt. Rev. Jo Bailey Wells, Bishop of Dorking

It’s a Wonderful Life has become my ultimate Christmas favorite. It features angels prominently and depicts how miracles can happen when you need them the most. It is a two-hour and ten-minute gift of reflection, inspiration, and love at Christmas time for families and everyone.

Melissa Williams-Sambrano, a TLC correspondent based in Chaguanas, Trinidad

As my husband and I look at our son’s ever-expanding collection of toys, we are leaning toward gifts focused on others this year. Several organizations sell chickens, honeybees, goats, ducks, alpacas, cows, or even a water buffalo for a family. We may give our son a small stuffed animal that reminds us to pray for the family who receive the animal.

Theresa Wilson, director of the Louisville Fellows Program in Kentucky

Over the years I have shared the Art of He QI with family, friends, and church leaders around the world. His wonderful posters and prints reflect his efforts to help change the “foreign image” of Christianity in China. His 1998 work Peace, Be Still depicts Christ stilling the waters in bold colors reminiscent of stained glass.

The Rev. Bruce W. Woodcock, the Episcopal Church’s Asia and the Pacific partnership officer

Several years ago, I saw a copy of Plough Quarterly on the desk of a colleague. I was astounded by the literary quality, theological reflection, and aesthetic sensibility of the publication. I discovered that undergirding its publishing ethos is a fundamental conviction that faith has the power to transform every aspect of life.

The Rev. Dr. Manoj Zachariah, rector of St. Anne’s, Annapolis, Maryland

What I want this year is a Light Phone, a de-engineered smartphone that keeps all the good (directions, music, texts) while ejecting the bad (social media, internet apps). Andy Squyres has published Poet Priest Vol. 2, a print edition of his inspired work on Instagram.

Dave Zahl, founder and director of Mockingbird Ministries

Some of the links above are Amazon affiliate links. If you make a purchase after following one of those links, a small portion of what you spend will support The Living Church‘s ministry.

By Douglas LeBlanc

The Diocese of New York has elected as its bishop coadjutor a self-described mystic who believes a bishop should be an “organizer of our witness together to a world that deeply needs to hear a message of grace, hope, and love.”

The Rev. Matthew Foster Heyd, rector of Church of the Heavenly Rest since 2013, was elected on the fourth ballot on December 3. Heyd led from the first ballot in the clergy order, and traded the lead in the lay order with the Rev. Steven D. Paulikas, rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church Park Slope in Brooklyn.

There were five nominees on the first ballot, and the election was settled when only Heyd and Paulikas remained. The other three nominees were the Rev. Stephanie M. Johnson, rector of St. Paul’s Church, Riverside, Connecticut; the Rev. Matthew Hoxsie Mead, rector of Christ the Redeemer, Pelham, New York; and the Rev. Robert Jemonde Taylor, rector of St. Ambrose Church, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Heyd is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Yale University, and General Theological Seminary. He retains an accent from his native state of North Carolina, but he has spent all of his ordained ministry in the Diocese of New York. Bishop Mark Sisk, Bishop of New York from 2001 to 2013, ordained Heyd as deacon and priest in 2009.

He wrote that New York is “where my children were baptized. It’s where I’ve served the church, both as lay leader and as priest. My daughter was confirmed in the Cathedral where I was ordained. We’ve lived through responses to 9/11 and the pandemic. Our whole family marched with Black Lives Matter after George Floyd’s murder.

“A decade ago I was part of a bishop election back home in North Carolina,” he added. “I’ve said ‘no’ to every nomination since in both congregational and bishop’s searches.

“But New York is home and I owe an enormous debt to the Church here. I believe deeply in our people and our possibilities. I know that we can thrive — if we change together.”

Heyd described his love of mysticism and ascetic theology as emerging from his post-seminary life, when he was preparing for marriage.

“I weighed much more than I should, my ADHD was disrupting my life, and I had begun to deal with the rising anxiety that I’ve now experienced in my entire adult life,” Heyd wrote in his profile. “Finding a practice of the presence of God changed my life. I have a wonderful little book that my mother and I have read for a very long time that is a modern translation of Benedictine spirituality. There’s one line at the beginning of the book that goes like this, It is for us to train our hearts to live in grace and, when we fail, to begin again each day. Practice opens us to Grace. A rhythm of life opens us to experience the dynamic transcendence of a living God.”

By Richard J. Mammana Jr.

The Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church has met for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The guild gathered at Santa Maria de la Vid Abbey and nearby St. John’s Cathedral, Albuquerque, October 27-30.

Two dozen members of the 84-year-old organization discussed papers, worshiped at the cathedral and the monastery, elected new members, and planned a 2023 meeting at the House of the Redeemer in New York City. Remote participation was available this year.

The Guild of Scholars was founded in 1938 at Hobart College in Geneva, New York, to bring together lay Episcopal academics annually for discussion, mutual encouragement, and fellowship. The guild was reorganized after the Second World War by the medievalist and philologist Urban T. Holmes Jr. (1900-72) with poet W.H. Auden (1907-73) and Vanderbilt-based literary critic Cleanth Brooks (1906-94). The guild includes scholarship in fields unrelated to church history or theology if the scholars are lay Episcopalians. Membership is open through application or nomination.

President Edward Hansen (geological and environment science, Hope College, Mich.) led the meeting and was succeeded by Mark Brown. Jameela Lares (English, University of South Mississippi) maintains social media for the group, and composer Robert Benson of Miami University edits its journal, Vox Scholarium. The guild plans to upgrade its website (guildofscholars.org) in the coming year.

The guild marked the deaths of several members, including its chaplain in perpetuity for several decades, the Rev. Canon J. Robert Wright of General Theological Seminary. Recent retirements include Robert Bruce Mullin, historiographer of the Episcopal Church, and Mark Duffy, canonical archivist of the church.

The guild welcomed three new members:

• Kay Cook (psychology, Gordon College), a parishioner at Christ Church, Hamilton, Massachusetts;
• Michael Krasulski (library and learning resources, Community College of Philadelphia), archivist and historiographer of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, and parishioner at the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany;
• Jeffrey Toliver (University of New Mexico), Diocese of the Rio Grande.

Six guild members have published books since 2018:

• Nicholas Birns, Anthony Trollope: A Companion (McFarland, 2021)
• Mary Chilton Callaway, Jeremiah Through the Centuries (Wiley Blackwell Bible Commentaries, 2020)
• Philip Jenkins, A Global History of the Cold War, 1945-1991 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021)
• Norman W. Jones, Provincializing the Bible: Faulkner and Postsecular American Literature (Routledge 2018)
• Debora Shuger, Paratexts of the English Bible, 1525-1611 (Oxford, 2022)
• Peter Williams, Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression (UNC Press, 2019)

Historian Richard J. Mammana Jr. is a member of the Guild of Scholars. He is the ecumenical and interreligious associate of the Episcopal Church, and archivist of The Living Church Foundation.

SUNDAY’S READINGS | December 11, 2022

Isa. 35:1-10
Ps. 146:4-9 or Cant. 3 or 15
James 5:7-10
Matt. 11:2-11

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, before the moment of baptism, a child is stripped naked and handed to the priest, who fully immerses the child three times in the name of the Holy Trinity. As the child emerges from the water each time, a splash of water no doubt hits the parents, godparents, the priest, and assisting servers. It is a beautiful moment when a life, though a gift and though beautiful, is transferred to higher existence; a mere human becomes the vehicle and home of Christ. In the moment of stripping, the child is exposed in all vulnerability.

This naked exposure reveals the totality of human life. What will happen in time? How weak are we, really? The moment comes — it always does, inevitably — when we know how low and vulnerable we are. The prophet Isaiah, speaking to the nation in a time of devastation, speaks no less about us, collectively and personally. Life can be, at times, a dry land, a desert waste, a wilderness, a hopeless string of one apparently meaningless event after another. People are weak and feeble and fearful. They are often blind to the glory of God and deaf to the voice of the Word. People are oppressed, bound, and cast down. As every medical professional knows, particularly in the prosperous West, and especially in the United States, depression and anxiety are epidemic. There is a lot of despair at hand, and it should be named and it should be faced. There is, thankfully, medical help that is often effective, but deeper questions lurk in all this human despair.

Baptism is preemptive action. Baptism acknowledges that we need “grace and mercy” not simply as a momentary dose of divine kindness, but as a real participation in the life of God. The naked and vulnerable human being is plunged into the waters of baptism to emerge anew as a son or daughter of God who is the household of God. The kingdom of God is at hand in baptism. God is at work, and something extraordinary happens as the life of Christ is transferred, in the power of the Spirit, to the newly baptized. In this moment and all subsequent moments baptism does its mysterious work.

The Scriptures help us describe it. The parched earth becomes glad, the desert rejoices and blossoms and sings. The glory of the Lord is seen with the eyes of faith. Hands are strengthened, feeble knees are made firm, the fearful heart becomes strong and confident, the Word of God is heard in Scripture, tradition, every human discipline, and in all the wonders of nature. The tongue is the instrument of a new song (Isa. 35:1-6). “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them” (Matt. 11:4-6). We may take offense at these words, if we read them in their most literal sense, but that would be to read them wrongly. They are signs and metaphors of new life that is mysterious and hidden and yet absolutely real. In baptism we meet the grace of Christ, the energy of Christ, the power of Christ, the unadulterated reality of Christ, and from that reality a new life begins.

Anything that may happen to any human being may happen to a Christian. We are in the world. We share all the sufferings and joys of humanity. But our lives are not merely human. They are the home of God, who brings life from death.

Look It Up: Matthew 11:2

Think About It: Baptized into Christ, you have everything. There is no other.

Fantasy and Myth in the Anthropocene: Imagining Futures and Dreaming Hope in Literature and Media Edited by Marek Oziewicz, Brian Attebery, and Tereza Dědinová Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 250, $34.95 As an Amazon Associate, TLC earns from qualifying purchases.

Review by Christine Havens

This headline flashed on my cell phone’s lock screen recently: “Breaking: A second round of drastic water cuts from the Colorado River is set to hit Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico as climate change-driven drought deepens the water shortage in the Southwest.” Just a few weeks earlier, I was helping lead a book study of The Water Knife, a climate fiction (cli-fi) classic by Paolo Bacigalupi, at the invitation of the Diocese of Arizona’s Creation Care Council. This apocalyptic, dystopian novel, published in 2015, takes place in a drought-stricken American Southwest of the near future. The story occurs mostly in Phoenix, with California, Nevada, and Arizona the main participants in a violent water-rights battle.

The Rev. Pam Hyde, the diocese’s canon of creation care, said the group felt that using climate fiction rather than nonfiction for a book study would offer participants “something to grab onto” for conversations centered on creation care. Churches are needed at the forefront of this mission to counter “resistance to change the way we use the earth.” Book studies are one option in the diverse approaches the diocese hopes will answer questions like “Why is the church getting into climate-change issues?” and “What does climate change have to do with me?”

What intrigues me is that when I included The Water Knife in the list of titles I gave the council, I really did not think the group would choose it because of its bleak outlook and not-so-favorable view of Christians (Google “Merry Perrys”). And yet two of the participants have recommended it to other book clubs they belong to.

This brings me to Fantasy and Myth in the Anthropocene: Imagining Futures and Dreaming Hope in Literature, an intriguing and complex project edited by three literature scholars, Marek Oziewicz, Brian Attebery, and Tereza Dědinová, that explores the ecological influence of fantasy and mythological literature. Oziewicz’s introduction sets the tone of the anthology as he asserts that the “greatest challenge facing humanity in the twenty-first century is how to transition to an ecological civilization.”

One way to do this, according to this collective of storytellers, is to change our narratives. The stories told thus far, in which humans have positioned themselves at the apex of creation as well as in opposition to nature, helped to usher in the “urgencies” of what we call the “Anthropocene,” such as climate change. Oziewicz argues that the proliferation of dystopian literature results in part from an awareness that the systems we have in place are not sufficient to make the changes necessary for the earth to survive, let alone thrive.

Literary scholars examine a variety of fantasy narratives, ranging from TV shows such as Captain Planet to movies like Disney’s Moana to books from authors including J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula Le Guin, J.K. Rowling, and Kim Stanley Robinson. The group eschews “discussions of dystopia,” instead looking to encourage “counternarratives that mobilize resistance, offer visions of equitable futures, and jumpstart conversations about translating visions into lived realities.”

Woven between the scholarly work, which, despite efforts to avoid jargon, still reads like academic writing, are evocative intervals — poems, reflections, illustrations — that offer the same plea from popular authors such as Jane Yolen, Katherine Applegate, and Jon Scieszka.

Works like this anthology and The Water Knife often express a popular impression that Christian teaching is ineffective or, indeed, responsible for that sense of exceptionalism entrenched in humans who consider themselves unconnected with creation. While this assessment stings, we must acknowledge that humans generally remain as stiff-necked as the Israelites wandering in the desert when it comes to admitting our responsibility for the effects of climate change.

If creation care councils want to address such questions, then the urgings in Fantasy and Myth should be heeded. They may go far to help persuade people that we do not have to live in a dystopian world; that we cannot focus solely on end-of-the-world stories but on “how can we work together to change the world” stories, like those found in “hopepunk,” a subgenre known for these tales of “radical hope.” Sound familiar?

One question I proposed in the study guide for The Water Knife was “What is your takeaway; does this novel inspire you to action in regard to creation care?” After reading Fantasy and Myth, I want to ask this: What is your takeaway from reading Scripture? How can these stories, which form the heart of our discipleship, help us work together to nurture God’s creation, of which humans are a part?

Christine Havens is a poet and writer and a graduate of the Seminary of the Southwest whose work has appeared in The Anglican Theological Review and Mbird, the blog of Mockingbird Ministries. She has an entry in this year’s AdventWord.

By Charles Hoffacker

In a sermon at Westminster Abbey on March 20, 1925, Frederick Lewis Donaldson proposed this list of seven social sins:

1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Commerce without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Religion without sacrifice
7. Politics without principle

A newspaper clipping about Donaldson’s sermon reached Mohandas K. Gandhi, who published the list in the October 22, 1925, issue of his Young India newspaper. Gandhi remains widely remembered throughout the world. In contrast, Canon Donaldson is largely forgotten. Who was that man in the pulpit that day?

Frederick Lewis Donaldson (1860-1953) was a Church of England priest and Christian socialist who occupied a series of parish and cathedral positions, including 22 years as vicar of St. Mark’s, Leicester. His assignments included three poor curacies in London.

In June 1905 he became the chaplain for a march of the unemployed from Leicester to London and back. At Trafalgar Square he addressed a huge gathering of the jobless. Special services for the marchers took place at Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral.

In 1913 Donaldson led a deputation of Church of England clergy to Prime Minister H.H. Asquith and demanded women’s suffrage. He was greatly opposed to the First World War and became active in the subsequent peace movement.

Donaldson served as a canon of Westminster Abbey from 1924 to 1951. His various positions included steward, treasurer, archdeacon, receiver-general, and subdean.

After an ordained ministry of more than 65 years, Donaldson was past 90 when he retired and became the first canon emeritus of Westminster. He and his wife, Sarah Louisa (c. 1860-1950), had two sons and four daughters. Their ashes are buried together in Westminster Abbey.

What is the connection between Donaldson’s seven social sins and the seven deadly sins?

The seven deadlies do not appear as a list in the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer, but the Litany of Penitence (pages 267-69) refers to each of them.

Donaldson’s list of social sins does not stand in simple contrast to the seven deadly sins; the latter are not merely individual transgressions. The two lists are related in a more complex way.

Each social sin recalls how our sinfulness produces a certain “without,” which infects a major sphere of human existence — wealth, pleasure, knowledge, commerce, science, religion, politics — so that it opposes human flourishing. However valuable each of these spheres may be, none remains safe from the possibility of cheapening and corruption.

We misuse these lists when we apply them simply to criticize other people and not to examine ourselves first and foremost. Both lists help us recognize that all of us are trapped in sin and can be raised to genuine life only through the grace and mercy of God.

Reflection on both lists is a worthwhile practice. Here are introductory thoughts on the social sins.

Wealth without work: Wealth tends to create rivalries and divides people from one another as they identify themselves and others according to their possessions. Work, especially shared work and work for the common good, can have an alleviating effect. While humility is always hard to maintain, wealth often enshrines pride, while the rigors of work sometimes break it down. The attention given to work or wealth must not deflect us from focusing on what the community’s welfare requires. Work is not to be avoided; it belongs to the human vocation.

Pleasure without conscience: Two misleading and opposite directions are possible regarding pleasure. Simply to disallow pleasure is sinful if this means rejecting, without a higher purpose, something good that God provides. To place no limits on pleasure is also sinful, for it amounts to substituting pleasure for God. These two directions both bypass conscience, the ability to make determinations that will issue in wise choices. Our choices are not private, as they influence, however indirectly, other people and the world in general. Nor must we deny ourselves certain opportunities to decide. Choices must be made.

Knowledge without character: Any form of education worthy of the name is not limited to transmitting information and technique. Another essential is shaping character. Our teachers shape us in a moral way; they help us to become people. Our stories of student years recall the personalities of teachers more readily than simply the content they presented. Character is shaped, for good or ill, at every level of schooling and in every subject area. If education is in crisis anywhere, the solution may well lie in restoring the formation of character, a development that will provide both students and teachers with relief, even delight.

Commerce without morality: Economics must not be determined by market forces only. Companies cannot answer simply to stockholders. All stakeholders merit a place at the table, including workers, government, corporate officials, and environmental advocates. To look on life solely in monetary terms is to distort and damage what’s needed for human flourishing: healthcare, education, democratic participation, community involvement, and religious commitment. A more expansive view of economic rights would be a boon. We are not simply an economy, but a society.

Science without humanity: Science appeals to our wonder and curiosity, enriching human life through applications of many kinds. All this research must be governed by a humane ethic, which respects every form of life and the abundance of this planet. In the face of increasingly apparent environmental devastation, there is a growing consensus among the peoples of the earth that a strong environmental ethic is the most pressing moral imperative of our time. No second planet is available for our use. Scientific and technological enterprises must be marked by restraint in favor of protecting life.

Religion without sacrifice: Look around at American Christianity, and costly discipleship in obedience to the gospel seems to be in short supply. In its place appear many substitutes: entertainment, power politics, assorted tribalisms, maintenance rather than mission, vacuous theologies, and an absence of consecrated imagination. Our consumer society produces consumer congregations aimed at personal satisfaction, peace of mind, and insistent self-righteousness in an uncertain world. The walls are starting to crack, however. Death and resurrection have happened before.

Politics without principle: Too often politics is another name for fear. Whether candidate, incumbent, or ordinary citizen, we may fear our opponents or even people of our own party. We fear the influence of money in politics and how hard it is to get out the vote. We regret that compromise, decency, and respect so rarely characterize relationships across the aisle. Loaded with these sorrows, it’s hard to fight the good fight, believe in the future, and stay confident in our democracy. We recall what drew us into the struggle. If only Lady Liberty would smile again on us and the entire nation, even our opponents!

In 1973 E.F. Schumacher published a small, wise book, Small Is Beautiful: Economics as If People Mattered. It remains popular and of perennial value. Schumacher titled one chapter “Buddhist Economics.” Charles Fager, writing for The Christian Century, asked if the book was more informed by Catholic sources such as encyclicals, John Henry Newman, Étienne Gilson, and Thomas Aquinas.

Schumacher grinned. “Of course. But if I called the chapter ‘Christian Economics,’ nobody would have paid any attention!”

The situation of the seven social sins is similar. Because Gandhi publicized this list, many people assume it is Hindu wisdom transported to the West. It is instead Christian wisdom first announced by an Anglican priest from the pulpit of Westminster Abbey, and like any true wisdom, it is a gift meant for one and all.

The Rev. Charles Hoffacker is a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington who lives in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Dear friend,

Warm Advent greetings in the name of the Lord.

This is my last appeal letter, as I have stepped down as Executive Director of the Living Church Foundation. On November 1st, I took up the role of Director of Unity, Faith and Order at the Anglican Communion Office in London.

I loved every minute of my 13 years at the helm of TLC. I took the job because I believe in the power of the published word, which for Christians can only be spoken in the wake of the original Word of God, to whom we will give an account. In his shadow and service, which is perfect freedom, we seek to speak truly to one another about God and the world he has made. We seek to understand the past in the light of his faithfulness and to hear his summons to the future, according to his will.

All the publications and products of TLC — our magazine and blog; our podcast, pamphlets, and offerings for musicians; our conferences and books — seek to build up the Church as the living body of the Word incarnate, in his grace and truth. With him, we raise hard questions, host debates, and seek to follow paths of obedience, along which may be planted trees that bear the fruit of the Spirit. We seek to harvest these fruits and to encourage their propagation by publishing news and analyses that evince a love of the Church, even when the matters are difficult. And we strive to give voice to words of peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Properly formed in Christ, we can assist others to speak similarly, with joy in hope.

We have also shaped our work sacrificially in and after our Lord. We have balanced our books. And we have undertaken new adventures, well described in our strategic plan (livingchurch.org/mission). I can’t wait to see what God does next with TLC, but know that it will be wonderful. Our board is totally committed to the mission, and Fr. Mark Michael has capably taken up the role of Interim Executive Director for the immediate months ahead.

Won’t you please join me this Christmas in giving generously to the Living Church Foundation? Give in thanksgiving for the faithfulness of the Lord, and in the expectation of what he has yet to do.

In the love of Christ, who forms the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts to make them acceptable in the sight of God, our strength and our redeemer.

God bless,

Dr. Christopher Wells
Executive Director

Give to the Living Church.