The Rapture is coming on May 21, 2011! Don’t delay, act now while supplies still last!

Thanks to the miracle (sometimes) of the Internet, the prediction of Harold Camping that Jesus will Rapture true believers will happen on Saturday May 21st, of 2011 is all over the place. People are posting billboards, handing our flyers, etc. I admire them for their tenacity but after examination of the prediction I must disagree (surprise!)

It seems to me that the date postulated not only by Camping but by some of those in the Latter Rain Movement are guilty of making several unfair assumptions about the Scriptures and the way God operates. I will list these assumptions in the hopes that if you are worried (and I don’t fault you for it) you can relax and take a deep breath. All is not lost as Camping would have you believe.

Assumption #1: We can know for certain when Christ will return. Camping believes that we can and he is so sure of it that his website is called wecanknow.org. This certainty is in direct violation of Matthew 24:36 where Jesus, speaking about the end, says that no one knows the end but the Father. No one, not Jesus, not the angels, not Nostradamus, not Edgar Cayce, not Obama, not Oprah (and she knows almost everything), and yes dear friends not even Harold Camping. But instead he persists and he does so because of the next verse, verse 37 which states, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Most Christians would interpret this to mean that just as in Noah’s time people were eating and drinking and were not suspecting the coming of the flood, so people would not suspect the return of Christ. However, Camping takes this as a clue and jumps back to the story of Noah and the flood.

Assumption #2: The dates for ancient biblical events are known. This whole scheme is based upon the belief that Noah’s flood happened May 21st, 4,990 B.C. This is not the only date set in stone. The Latter Rain group (which believes that we are in the end times but even more so than the Left Behind group) believes that the world was created in the year 11,013 B.C. (which is quite a bit earlier than the figure Archbishop James Ussher came up with in 1648. He thought the world was created in the year 4,004). They also believe that Abraham entered Canaan in the year 2,092 B.C., that the patriarch Jacob (Israel) entered Egypt in 1,877 which makes the Exodus occur 400 years after in 1,477. While Archbishop Ussher’s ideas were quite laudable and brilliant at the time, today we know different because we know a great deal more about history, geology, astronomy, etc. Even so, the idea of creation happening in 11,013 is not feasible given what we know about the beginnings of the planet. Also, though I do believe Abraham lived, there is no extra-biblical evidence for him or his sojourn into Canaan and so while scholars may agree that he entered Canaan around the year 2,000, an exact date is impossible. The only way to come about with the date of the Flood is to know exactly when Abraham lived (which we cannot know exactly) and from him walk back by years through the different genealogies the book of Genesis presents us with. The issue with is whether or not the people in Genesis really lived almost 1,000 years. It can be argued that because Sin was not as prevalent at the beginning the bodies were not as weak and so lived longer. Also in Genesis 6:3, God decrees that the length of a man’s life shall not be more than 120 years. Although don’t tell Jeanne Calment that because she lived 122 years from 1875-1997. God must’ve missed it, or, this is not to be taken literally. In any case, the assumption that we can know some of the ancient biblical dates with exact certainly is not good scholarship, especially to the exact day!

Assumption #3: Noah’s flood had eschatological overtones. Camping asserts that Genesis 7:4, “Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.” Should be taken not only as how many days Noah has left to get it all together, but as a projection to the end times. The idea is that Noah’s ark is a pre-cursor to the Church which also shelters the faithful during the storms of life. It is true that historically sometimes we use the ark as a symbol of the Church but never do we use Noah’s ark as a foreshadowing of the Church. Camping does however. He then asserts that we can take God’s warning of 7 days into the future as a prophecy of the end of the world. But, how does 7 days equal the end? That brings us to our last assumption.

Assumption #4: We can know God’s sense of time. Camping and the movement refer to 2 Peter 3:8, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” So, if 1 day to God is 1,000 years to us then 7 days equals 7,000 years. And, since 4,990 (Noah’s flood date) – 7,000 years = -2010 (which is actually +2010 when you remember that BC counts down and AD counts up). But, we also must remember that there was no year 0 which adds 1 to the number making 2010, 2011. To be precise, May 21st, 2011. Hence, this is when the Rapture occurs. Confused? Yeah, me too. But that’s what they believe. Now, the problem with this assumption is that when Saint Peter says 1 God day is like 1,000 human days he is to be taken literally. Peter is not speaking poetically, but literally. Also, this assumes that God is bound by our human invention of Time which did not even exist until we invented it (You can argue with that if you want but this is my blog)!

So, you see above 4 assumptions that Camping and the Latter Rain Movement make that are unfair, unbiblical, and frankly bad theology. Now look, I agree that Jesus is coming any day now just as He has been since A.D. 33 when He went away and yes, Jesus could return on Saturday the 21st. But He could also return now while you are reading this blog and before I finish writing it

Just kidding I’m still here! The point is that Christ admonished us to be ready for His return all the time because we don’t know when it will be. I think that God did that because He knew that if we knew when the end would come we would stress over it as no doubt people are doing right at this moment. We don’t know when it will happen and I’m okay with it. It will happen and when it does let us be prepared to be taken up to Christ however that happens. Camping is, in my mind, a false prophet. He may not be a bad guy and his heart may be in the right place but he is misinformed. If Christ returns Saturday its not because Camping figured it out, its because that’s the day God chose to make it happen. Remember what Jesus said to us, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time (Matt. 24:22-25).”

Friends, set your mind upon Christ and follow Him earnestly. Then, whenever He returns, you will be taken with Him. Do not be worried about it, have a Happy Saturday and don’t be late to Church on Sunday.

If you are interested in reading the proofs of Harold Camping and the Latter Rain Movement you can go to http://www.wecanknow.org and/or http://www.the-latter-rain.com. Feel free to disagree with me. I’m an Episcopalian, I’m used to people disagreeing with me.

Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. It has been one hundred and nine since my last confession.

I confess…I should take a cue from the Jews about history. Tonight, the Wednesday in Holy Week, my church held its annual Seder meal. It was a great meal and I enjoyed connecting the Exodus story with the taste of bitter herbs, horseradish, and lamb. Of course the connections with the Passover Lamb and the Lamb that was Slain give greater meaning to the Seder for me.

Now, during the Seder, my bishop who was leading it read something that hit me. He has read this same thing three years in a row but this time it hit me differently. As he read the script of the meal he referred to God’s Exodus in the first person. It was not, “When God delivered the Hebrews from Egypt.” It was, “When God delivered us from Egypt.” There is this understanding in Judaism that the history of the Exodus, the Conquest, the United Monarchy, the Babylonian Captivity, etc. are all part of the great story of the Jewish people. They claim their heritage personally and accept that God has acted decisively in their history and therefore He will act again. There is no compartmentalizing.

Now, as a Christian, I do not do this. I do not claim the Exodus as God delivering my people from bondage but rather, God delivering the Jews from bondage. But, as a Christian who is a disciple of Christ I am a son of Abraham by faith (Galatians 3:29). Therefore, as a son of Abraham, my story is the story of the Jews. I too can say when God delivered ‘us’ from Egypt, when Solomon built ‘our’ Temple, when Christ died for ‘our’ sins, when St. Paul preached the Good News to ‘us’, when ‘we’ were being killed for our Faith, when ‘we’ killed others for not believing in Christ, when God brought ‘us’ reformation.

Let us connect our personal stories with the story of Faith, the Remarkable Journey of God’s Salvation. Let us not compartmentalize our history but embrace it and make it part of who we are today. Just as God delivered us from slavery in Egypt, so He delivered us from slavery to Sin and Death on the Cross, so He delivers us now through the empowerment of His Holy Spirit.

Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner.

Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. It has been one hundred and ninety days since my last confession.

I confess…my views on the Bible are being challenged. In my latest class called ‘Methods of Biblical Interpretation’ we are looking at the different ways of interpreting the Scriptures. First, we looked at patristic exegesis as laid out by the Early Church Fathers. Then we discussed different literary forms, and now historical criticism. Thanks to ‘Introduction to Biblical Literature’ at Hesston College I am familiar with all these except for patristic exegesis.

Today was the first day of our Intensive Weekend and we discussed the historicity of the Scriptures. First, we talked about the book of Jonah being an allegory and that its message was, “Even though the Jews are the chosen people, Yahweh loves everyone and wants them all to be saved.” Very good. I’ve heard this before and have accepted that the book of Jonah is not historical. But what about the rest of the Bible?

During our discussion it was revealed that there is no archeological evidence for the destruction of Jericho by Joshua and that the Exodus event may not have occurred as is recorded in the Bible. Okay, most of this I have heard about and accepted on an intellectual level but until tonight I haven’t let it sink in. I want to point out that just because archeological evidence for the destruction of Jericho by Joshua hasn’t been found it doesn’t mean that it will never be found. In other words, just because we haven’t found evidence for it doesn’t mean it absolutely did not happen but it is unlikely.

Anyway, it hit me hard because I have taken these Old Testament stories at their word and have believed them to be true. My professor was quick to point out that we are not saying that the Bible is a fairy tale and none of it really happened, rather we are saying that some stories in the Bible may not have been recorded exactly as they happened. Again, intellectually acceptable. But then I pondered, if not all of the stories in the Bible are historically true, can we put our faith in them? Is our faith, rather, is my faith in God made hollow because the Scriptures are not all fact?

I didn’t have the answer to that and so I talked it over with my teacher Father Joe and expressed my uncertainty. He posed a great question that I have been ruminating on since I left Newman. He asked, “do we put our faith Jesus Christ or in the Bible?” Now, at first one would say we put our faith in both and this is true, but what gives us salvation? Does the Bible bring salvation or does Jesus? Obviously, Jesus brings us salvation and this salvation is revealed to us through the Bible. My faith is not in the Bible, but it is in Jesus Christ. Since my faith is in Jesus and not the Bible then the idea that Yahweh did not create Eve from Adam and that Noah did not build an ark really should not rattle my faith in God. I’m not willing to say 100% that Noah did not build the ark or that Yahweh did not part the Red Sea but if He did not my faith remains for it is in Jesus.

I sense a paradigm shift in my future. I must pray about this and seek God’s wisdom.

Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner.

Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. It has been three days since my last confession.

I confess…I forgot Ascension Day. Don’t give me that smug self-righteous look, you probably forgot it also! Of all the Christian feasts that remember events in the life of our Lord, the Feast of the Ascension is one of the more forgettable ones. We don’t forget the Feast of the Nativity, we are normally somewhat aware of the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, we certainly know when it is Good Friday, and no good Christian would miss the Feast of the Resurrection. But the ascension? Well, that tends to fall into obscurity. Which is sad seeing as the ascension is vital to our faith.

On Earth after the resurrection His disciples did not want Him to leave again. But Jesus told them that unless He ascended back into Heaven He could not send the Holy Spirit. While it is the Father that created us and it is the Son that redeemed us it is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies us and empowers the Church to continue her mission of spreading hope and healing to the world.

Anglican theologian Claude Beaufort Moss states that our Lord ascended for 3 reasons:
1.) While on the Earth, even in His perfected resurrected body, our Lord was subject to the limitations of space and time. Therefore He could not be with all His disciples around the world at the same time. When He ascended He transcended and broke through time and space and reclaimed His full Godness.
2.) Were Christ still on the Earth and subject to our limitations He could not be mystically present in the Eucharist as we believe He is.
3.) As I stated above, if our Lord had not gone into Heaven He would not have sent the Holy Spirit to empower us.

Jesus went up into Heaven and reclaimed His Throne. But if the Spirit is on Earth with us now, what is Jesus doing in Heaven? Is He playing Battleship with the Father? Is He taking a well-deserved nap? According to Moss He continues to minister on our behalf in Heaven.

In Heaven Jesus Christ fulfills the role of Prophet, Priest, and King. As our Prophet He speaks through the Holy Spirit to the Church and to the World. As our Priest, our High Priest, He lifts up His own sacrifice before the Father and intercedes on our behalf. While at Hesston College I did a skit with my youth ministry class about this. In the skit we were standing before the Throne of God. I played the role of Jesus (type casting?), next to me in the center was the spirit of a dead human, and on the other side was the Devil. As the skit progressed the Devil would tell the Father something horrible that the human did but then I would step in and tell the Father that my death covered the sins of this forgiven human. Even now in Heaven, our Lord offers His sacrifice perpetually before the Father as our Great High Priest. As King, our Lord reigns over time and space in this dimension and any other dimension of creation there might be. Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords rules unquestioningly over the Universe and over His Bride, the Church.

If our Lord had not ascended then look at all the things we would miss. Christ would not fulfill the role of the Last and Greatest Prophet and the Church would no longer hear from Him and have benefit of His wisdom. He would not be our High Priest and without His intercession before the Throne of God we would be lost in our sins. Our Lord would also not set enthroned as our King and the Church, which would most likely not exist anyway, would be left to the leadership of fallen humanity.

We don’t talk about how integral the ascension of our Lord is to our faith but as you can plainly see, it is important. Besides, if Jesus did not ascend into Heaven then He would not be able to return and the Second Coming, the one thing all Christians throughout the ages have hoped and looked forward too, could not happen. So please take some time, and thank our Lord for going away.

Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner.

Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. It has been six days since my last confession.

I confess…I wonder about the Divine Mother? Today is Mother’s Day and we, as Christians, do not have a Divine Mother? Many ancient religions boast several goddesses but Christianity does not. We do not have a goddess. We have a god, the God. Within the Holy Trinity we have the Father, a male, the Son, a male, and the Holy Spirit which is often given the male personal pronoun. We have no female god figure, the Divine Feminine as it has been called.

Mothers are integral to our lives. They give birth to us, nourish us in our first several months, and then devote the next 18 years at least ensuring that we have all we need and many of the things we want. Our Mother is the one we turn to when we are hurt both physically and emotionally. When something goes wrong we go to our Mom’s because of all people they are the most compassionate to our us. Also, our Mom’s are our biggest fans. We need Mothers, we love Mothers, we are comforted by our Mothers.

Sadly our Mothers cannot be with us all the time. We move away, we go in different directions, eventually our Mothers die. It is a fact of life. But even though our Mothers are not with us we still yearn for that connection. Even though we grow older our need for Mom does not go away, it changes, but it does not go away. It is perhaps because of this need that many religions have created a goddess or female force, the Divine Feminine.

But as Christians, people who have dedicated our lives and our deaths to the service of Jesus Christ, who do we have? We do not have a goddess. We do not have a female counterpart to the Father. Within the Roman Church this apparent empty space is filled by the Blessed Mother Mary. After her assumption she was crowned Queen of Heaven and now, it seems, hears the prayers of the faithful and whispers them into the ear of her Divine Son. The idea is, of course, Jesus will listen to His Mother. There is a whole doctrine surrounding the Virgin Mary and while the Romans claim not to worship her, sometimes I wonder. In fact at one point some very pro-Mary Catholics wanted her to be granted the title co-redeemer, meaning that along with Christ she is helping to redeem the world.

I suppose that it is all fine and good to the Romans but what of us within the Anglican, Protestant, and Anabaptist traditions? We do not grant to Mary the same position as do the Romans. As Anglicans we set the Blessed Mother on a pedestal and admire her willingness to accept the Will of God in her life. We honor her for she agreed to be the bearer of the Most High God, she followed Jesus as a disciple, and she stayed with Christ while He was on the Cross. There is no doubt that after Pentecost the Blessed Mother was a leader within the fledgling Church. Yet even so, we cannot in good conscience from the Scriptures place Mary where the Romans do. But even so, she is a model of what it means to be a Mother fully committed to God and her children.

So, if we cannot accept the Blessed Mother as our Divine Feminine what can we do? Can we as Anglicans feel the spirit of a Divine Mother without falling into heresy? Can we accept the Divine Feminine without rejecting the Scriptures who reveal God as male?

The truth is that this seeming problem is really no problem that all. Yes, it is true that the Most High God, the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of the Universe revealed Himself to Israel as the Father. It is also true that the Second Person of the Trinity became Incarnate as a man, Jesus; and yes it is true that the Scriptures give to the Holy Spirit the pronoun of ‘He’. Does that make God male? Yes, it does. But we do a disservice to God if we stop there for God also teaches us that He is spirit and spirit transcends physical. While we are limited by two genders, by our physical existence in space and time, by the frailty of our bodies, by our eventual deaths, God is not. God is spirit and so He transcends these temporal limitations.

What does this mean? This means that God, who is above the temporal, is not physically a male nor is he physically a female. We are told that God made us in His image, male and female He created us. If we, boys and girls, were both made in His image than clearly God contains within Himself the attributes of both male and female. After all, all good things emanate from God. Therefore, while God is not physically male or female He is both male and female. God is our Father and our Mother. When we as Christians seek a Mothering God we do not need to look towards Mary, we do not need to look towards Wicca or other so-called New Age religions, we need to look no further than our own faith, to God our Mother.

Christian tradition has emphasized God’s masculineness for so long that is feels odd to us to refer to Him as Mother rather than Father but God is the One who teaches and disciplines us as our Father and who nurtures us and comforts us as our Mother. God is a two-for-one deal. So, I wish You, God over all things, a Happy Mother’s Day.

Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner. Amen.

Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. It has been nine days since my last confession.

I confess…Jesus is way better than Zeus. I just finished watching the remake of Clash of the Titans and as I sat through almost two hours of undeveloped plot and character film I was thinking about Greek religion in contrast to Christianity.

Here is a summary of Greek religion which is often confusing and contradictory. In the beginning there was Chaos and out of this Chaos came two gods, Gaia the Earth and Uranus the Sky. These to gods got together, in the Biblical sense, and gave birth to the Titans. The chief Titan was Kronos. Without Gaia knowing it, Uranus threw some of his ugly kids known as the Hundred-Handed Ones and the Cyclops into Tartarus, a hell-like abode. When Gaia got wind of this she was ticked. She gathered the Titans and encouraged them to attack Uranus and castrate him. Of all the Titans only Kronos was willing to do the deed. He released the Hundred Handed Ones and the Cyclops and attacked Uranus. Kronos emasculated his father and took the throne of creation. Kronos became king and his sister/wife Rhea became his queen. At this point in time there was no crime or immorality, humans were innocent.

Kronos and Rhea began to have children and, because of a prophecy that his children would one day usurp him, Kronos swallowed his kids as soon as they were born. Rhea didn’t like this and so when she gave birth to Zeus she wrapped a stone in a blanket and gave it to Kronos to swallow. Meanwhile she hid Zeus where he grew up safe from Kronos.

When Zeus grew up he returned and, after making his father throw up his siblings, the Olympians declared war on the Titans. The Olympians defeated the Titans and threw them all into Tartarus, except for the Titan Atlas whom he forced to hold up the sky for all time.

Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades then drew lots for control of creation. Zeus became the king of Heaven and Air, Poseidon the king of the Oceans, and Hades the king of the Underworld. The Olympians, especially Zeus, have a habit in cavorting with  humans and producing half-god half-men called demi-gods. Hundreds of stories exist concerning the struggle of the gods against each other and the struggle of man against the gods. What is the purpose of mankind in Greek mythology? Simple. The purpose of man is to serve the gods. To worship them, sacrifice to them, and love them. The afterlife for most humans is to exist forever in the Underworld, also known as Hades. Those really bad humans however will go to Tartarus and those really good humans will go to the Elysian Fields.

To summarize Christianity. In the beginning there was One God who created everything. He created humanity to live in harmony and communion with Him. Humans disobeyed God and fell out of communion with Him. When we fell out of shalom with God, death became our reality. Because of our loss of communion our eternal destiny was to go into Hell which was created for the angels that rebelled against God. God, however, didn’t want us to have that fate and so He revealed Himself to the Hebrew people through prophets, priests, and kings. Through a system of sacrifices and laws the humans were able to be reconciled to God and be freed from Hell. Then, God became incarnate in the Person of Jesus Christ. He was born to the Virgin Mary and revealed to us the fullness of God. Jesus was crucified and died. His death, as the Lamb of God, secured the forgiveness of our sins and His resurrection from the dead proved His divinity and gave us victory over death. Now, through Him, we do not have to go to Hell but can live forever in Heaven with God. The purpose of humanity is to live in communion with God and with each other, this communion is made possible only through living a life dedicated to the service of Jesus Christ.

These are two very different religions. One sees humanity as servants and resources to be harvested by the gods, the other sees humanity as God’s greatest creation of love; something to be admired and respected.

Humanities attitude towards divinity is also very different. The Greeks served the gods not out of love, but out of obligation. To reject the gods meant that they would send plagues and disaster upon the people.  Fear motivated their worship. Christians serve God out of love and devotion. The rejection of God is the rejection of eternal life, it does not mean that God will send disaster and plague upon us. Love for our Creator motivates our worship.

When I bow before the Almighty God I do not do so out of fear but out of love. I am not afraid that God will smite me down, rather I believe that because He loves me He will listen to me and will give me what He sees fit. God is my Provider and, because of His love for me, He will send His angels to watch over me. It is true that when I first became a Christian it was to avoid Hell when I died but now, almost 11 years later, it is because I love God. He has saved me from Hell, yes, but He has also strengthened me and surrounded me with His Presence. I love God because He is worthy to be loved by me, because He is Goodness, He is Light, He is Pure. I serve God because He is the Almighty Ruling Benevolent God that always looks to the good of humanity and pulls out of us our potential. He sees what we can be, not what we are. This is why I serve God and this is why Jesus trumps Zeus any day.

Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner. Amen.

Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. It has been almost one day since my last confession.

I confess…I have a special devotion to the rosary. I know that it is seen as primarily a method of prayer for Romans and a prayer to the Blessed Virgin at that. But I love it.

According to the story, the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Dominic and gave him a rosary and told him to faithfully pray it. Dominic went about preaching about the rosary and getting his followers, the Dominicans, to pray the rosary and it caught on. Mary appeared to other people and encouraged told them to pray the rosary and several popes began encouraging the faithful to pray this devotion. Now in the 21st Century the rosary is a common site and is instantly identifiable to Catholicism and Christianity.

I am not a Roman, I am an Anglican, but I love the rosary. I pray the rosary. Obviously I do not say the ‘Hail Mary’ because, though I have great respect towards the Blessed Mother, she is not the Messiah and is not worthy of receiving my prayers. Only the Christ is worthy.

The rosary is supposed to be prayed each day and throughout the week you are to pray through the Joyful Mysteries (concerning the advent and birth of Christ), the Luminous Mysteries (concerning the life of Christ, only recently added to the rosary by Pope John Paul II), the Sorrowful Mysteries (concerning the last week and crucifixion of Christ), and the Glorious Mysteries (concerning the resurrection of Christ). Of the five glorious mysteries the last two concern Mary. The Fourth Glorious Mystery is the Assumption of Mary into Heave and the Fifth Glorious Mystery is the Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven. Well, I don’t hold much to that. Sure, God may have assumed Mary’s body into Heaven and for all I know He crowned her Queen of Heaven but there is no Scriptural evidence for it and so I cannot hold to a doctrine concerning it.

Your everyday Protestant would have a problem with reciting the rosary because of the ‘Hail Mary’ prayers and the two final glorious mysteries. I too have issue with these things. So when I pray the rosary, I don’t recite the ‘Hail Mary’ and I change the two glorious mysteries. Basically, I make the rosary and full prayer to Jesus Christ rather than a prayer to the Virgin and to Jesus.

If you pray the rosary throughout the week you will meditate on the birth, life, death, resurrection, and return of our Lord. How wonderful that is! As Christians should we not meditate daily on our Lord and His life?

Within the Anglican tradition we have our own prayer beads which we call the Anglican Rosary. I’ve tried the Anglican Rosary but I just can’t get into it. I’ve tried. I’ve felt that, since I’m Anglican now it’s only right for me to use an Anglican Rosary. But it doesn’t feel right to me. I’ve ruminated on this and have come up with a decision. When I joined the Universal Church I began to use the Roman rosary. Not because I was Roman, I was not, but because the ritual appealed to me. I had not idea of an Anglican Rosary at that point so I bought a Roman one and went on my way. I even made up my own prayers for it. I became so used to praying with the Roman rosary that to use the Anglican one felt unnatural. Therefore now, I use the Roman one.

That’s right my anti-Roman Episcopal friends, you heard it here! I find the rosary very soothing and it brings me closer to God because through it not only to I pray to Christ but I meditate on His life. Isn’t that what prayer is about?

Finally, let me put down the prayers that I use so you can use them too if you feel so led.

Instead of the Hail Mary, I pray the Hail Jesus

Hail Jesus, full of Grace and Truth, the Lord Almighty.
Blessed art Thou above all things, and blessed is the Fruit of Thy Salvation.

Holy Christ, Son of the Father, intercede for us sinners, now and at the hour of our deaths.

Instead of the Hail Holy Queen, I pray the Hail Holy King

Hail, Holy King, Father of Mercy! Our life, our sweetness and our hope! To thee do we cry, the poor and banished children of Eve; to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this Valley of Tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy salvation, the Kingdom of Heaven. O clement, O loving, O sweet Jesus Christ!
V. Pray for us, O Holy Son of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of Your promises.

And instead of the Fourth Glorious Mystery of the Assumption of Mary I meditate on the Second Coming and instead of the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Coronation I meditate on the future Reign of God.

Granted, it may not be perfect but it works for me. I encourage you to begin using either the Roman Rosary (using my prayers if you’re not comfortable with the Mary-centric prayers), the Anglican Rosary, or even Orthodox Prayer Beads. It is a great way to pray.

Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner. Amen.

Father, forgive me, for I have sinned.

I confess…my name is Andy and I’m a former Wiccan, a former Mennonite Pastor, and now an aspiring Episcopal priest. It’s been a crazy ride and through it all I have learned one thing, Jesus is awesome!

I am an Episcopal youth minister who believes that God has called him to the priesthood. I am in the local discernment process but can’t move forward until my diocese elects a new bishop. Hopefully that’ll happen soon.

The purpose of this new blog is simple, for me to record my spiritual musings about this, that, and the other. I hope you enjoy this blog and before you begin reading my eye-opening and theologically astounding pontifications let me give you some advice…don’t take me too seriously, I’m a fan of sarcasm.

Go in peace, and pray for me, a sinner.