Just Curious

Good Friday

Went to the Advent tonight for the Liturgy of Good Friday, with a reading of the Passion of Christ According to St. John, the veneration of the cross and the mass of the presanctified.

The rituals were very stark, solemn and everything was done under a most heavy-hearted atmosphere.

Fr. Warren, the rector, preached some old time Gospel on the way of the Cross and the "folly of God", and I just have to love it. He is a superb cantor himself with a very sonorous voice, and the homily was really intense, the way I like 'em.

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From what I read George Fox was an electrifying preacher, with eyes that pierce straight through his audience's soul. (There were several occasions, according to his journals, when Anglican hireling priests would turn their eyes away from them, crying "Do not pierce me so with thy eyes; keep thy eyes off me.") To use the evangelist Leonard Ravenhill's words, "Fox was a large man with remarkable piercing eyes. His words were like a flash of lightning. His judgment was clear, and his logic convincing. His great spiritual gift was a remarkable discernment. He seemed to be able to read the characters of men by looking at them."

More importantly, he has a sense of judgment. "He saw hell and heaven, God and judgment with such a clear vision that he was forced to go out in season and out of season to snatch poor sinners from their awful doom. Constantly he appeared just where nobody expected him, blocking the road to hell and pointing the road to heaven - and all because he was completely delivered from all regard for public opinion and utterly impatient of useless routine."

The fruits of Fox's humble labor? "George Fox alone has, without human learning, done more than any other reformer in Protestant Christendom towards the restoration of real, primitive, unadulterated Christianity and the destruction of priest craft, superstition, and ridiculous, unavailing rites and ceremonies."

You know a little fire and brimstone every now and then is a good thing. It's a sorry fact that they don't preach them no more like this, neither in Quaker meetings nor Anglican churches (In all fairness, Friends are a little better, just a little, since due to the prophetic nature of their ministry we do have ministers breathing fire every now and then. The Episcopalians, with the exception of Anglo-Catholics, just got totally off the chart. Ask any Episcopal priest and she'll tell you that the best way to serve God is to stick with your sinful ways because, uh, God loves you...s/he loves you sooooooooo much that s/he wouldn't want to hurt your feelings by asking for repentance...)

posted by James Chang @ 9:29 PM