The Anglican Way

February 8 is Sexagesima Sunday, the second before lent. In the parable of the sower (Luke 8:4ff) - illustrated in this Durer woodcut - Christ speaks of the receptive patience required to bring the seed of his word of promise to fruition in the soul.

February 2 is Candlemas, the feast of Christ’s Presentation in the Temple (Luke 2:41ff), where aged Simeon recognized him as the Lord’s Christ, “a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of the people Israel”. (Seen here in a detail of altarpiece by Ambrogio Lorenzetti)

This Sunday is Septuagesima - the third before Lent. We are called to spiritual labor in the vineyard of the Lord (Matthew 20:1-16) with this proviso: When you trust in your works and merits rather than God’s gracious promise you will be resentful of his goodness and mercy.

January 25 is the Conversion of Saint Paul: Saul discovers that he has no righteousness but that of Jesus, whose followers he is persecuting: and so by grace alone the ferocious persecutor of the church becomes the fervent preacher of the gospel.

At the wedding in Cana (John 2:1–11), Jesus “manifested forth his glory”, and changing water into wine. It is a moment of epiphany, Jesus manifest as the Bridegroom come to claim his Bride the Church, and to transform her nature by his grace.

The first Sunday after the epiphany in the ancient Eucharistic lectionary of the classical Prayer book. Christ among the doctors: Divine wisdom manifested to us, that it may be manifested in us. “Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds“.

Epiphany means manifestation. God was manifested to us in the humanity of Jesus, not only to the wise men, but also in his baptism. As he arose from the waters, a voice from heaven acclaimed him the Son of God, and the Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove.

Epiphany is manifestation, the showing forth of Godhead in the substance of manhood. Manifested to us, that it may be manifested in us. “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee”.

January 1 we commemorate Christ’s Circumcision (Luke 2:21), who came to fulfill the law for us - in his own body through suffering. On this feast, we begin a new year in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray for the “true circumcision of the heart”.

December 27 is the feast of St. John the apostle and evangelist, seen here in a bust by Algardi (1657): “ that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you“

December 26, the second day of Christmas, is also the feast of Steven, the first martyr, Seen here in a painting by Giotto. The original collect for the feast is seen below in an early 17th century edition of the 1559 prayer book. It is an admirably pithy petition addressed to Christ: “Grant us, O Lord, to learn to love our enemies, by the example of thy martyr, Saint Steven, who prayed for his prosecutors to thee…”

Caravaggio captures that theological and psychological truth of Matthew‘s conversion – “God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ“

This c 830 AD wall painting is a rare depiction of the healing of the deaf-mute in this Sunday’s gospel (Mark 7:31-37, Trinity 12). Jesus touches the tongue of the deaf-mute with his own saliva - a sign that healing power of God is mediated by communion with his Body.

September 1st is the feast of St Giles - and here is St Giles Cripplegate in London, which survived the Fire, was burnt out during the Blitz, and now restored amid the postwar Brutalist architecture of the Barbican: a symbol of continuity and rebirth amid destruction.

Good works do not merit grace - unmerited grace causes good works. What Paul learned in his conversion is the teaching of the scriptures for Trinity 11 (- Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 18:9-14) on August 31,2025

Drew Keane addresses the "persistent narrative" that "the Scottish Communion Office contains a higher and more 'catholic' doctrine of the eucharist than the English Communion office" of 1662. anglicanway.org/the-scottish-l…

On August 28 the church commemorates Augustine Bishop of Hippo (a coastal city in late Roman North Africa) and preeminent Teacher of the Faith. Perhaps no other theologian has written so comprehensively, creatively, and consequentially about the Christian mystery.