The Prayer of King Henry VI

During this stay in England, I was not expecting to attend a service remembering King Henry VI as I have on previous trips.  (And Henry VI is a saint and martyr whether the Bishop of Rome thinks so or not, and don’t you forget it!) But I had let it sneak up on me that tomorrow, St. Nicholas Day, is also the day Henry was born in Windsor Castle in 1421 . . . right across the street from me.

So at the choral obit service I attended last night in St. George’s Chapel, white roses and lilies were laid on his tomb by representatives of Eton and King’s Colleges.  And the service ended with the moving singing of the Prayer of King Henry VI by Henry Ley. Here is the Choir of King’s College Cambridge singing that composition:

Eton College has helpfully posted the Latin and English texts of this prayer of its founder:

Domine, Jesu Christe, qui me creasti, redemisti, et preordinasti ad hoc quod sum; tu scis quæ de me facere vis; fac de me secundum voluntatem tuam cum misericordia. Amen.

[O Lord Jesus Christ, who hast created and redeemed me and hast foreordained me unto that which now I am; thou knowest what thou wouldst do with me; do with me according to thy will, in thy mercy. Amen.]

What a beautiful, meet, and humble prayer of deep trust in God.  I have prayed it before, but now intend to increase its use in my personal times at least.

Henricus Sixtus Rex Ora Pro Nobis

Yesterday was my first service ever at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and it was a special one, Choral Evensong concluded with a commemoration of Henry the Sixth on the Eve of the Anniversary of his Death.

The choir was excellent.  It is smaller than some foundations, with 10 boys (and a probationer this service) and I think 8 men.  One could pick out individual voices a bit more than with larger choirs, but their singing was nonetheless exemplary.  It let me know that I missed English choral worship more than I knew!

At the conclusion of the Choral Evensong portion, there was a procession to the grave of King Henry to the right of the altar rail.  There two youths from Eton placed a yellow rose and a yellow lily on the grave.  And an official from Kings read a prayer.

I think it was immediately afterward that the choir sang Ley’s Prayer of King Henry.  It was beautiful and moving.  And it was the first time I had even heard that composition.  I need to find if a good recording is available somewhere.

After the service, I went over to the grave and prayed chiefly for two intentions.

This morning, I will go to a brief memorial service at Eton.

Primates Meeting Ends *Yawn*

Well, the Primates meeting has concluded with a communiqué, of course. Some conservative primates seem positive about it all. But my response is more in line with what Sarah Hey posted earlier this week:

It is essentially a useless meeting. Someone or other somewhere pointed out some days ago that the Primates Meetings have proved useless -- they can purport to "decide" all sorts of things but nobody ever does anything about it. The ACC was always talking into the wind anyway, and that hasn't changed. The Lambeth Meeting became a simple publicity device designed to pretend that everybody was "together" and "unified" even while 1/3 of the bishops of the Anglican Communion didn't bother to attend.

So . . . Rowan Williams wins.

Not the Archbishop of Canterbury, mind you. But simply, Rowan.

He alone has any power thanks to his non-exercise of the office when it came to enforcement of any of the other instruments' decisions and his exercise of the office when it came to enforcement of any of his decisions.

In other words, Rowan is going to play his passive-aggressive game of doing whatever he wants to do to back the apostates and undercut the orthodox no matter what happens at the Primates Meeting.

In short, *yawn*.

I could comment on what a sorry document the Windsor Continuation Report is, with its thinly veiled blaming of GAFCON –

Anxieties have been expressed about the purpose, timing and outcomes of the Gafcon; there is some perplexity about the establishment of the Gafcon Primates Council and of the Fellowship of Confessing Christians (FOCA) which, with withdrawal from participation at the Lambeth Conference, has further damaged trust.

and its bold calls for more “dialogue” and “listening.”

At least the report acknowledges the obvious in places –

Much has been undertaken in the Communion through and in response to the Windsor Process, but as a Communion, we appear to remain at an impasse. There is inconsistency between what has been agreed, and what has, in the end, actually been done.

But if I were the Bishop of West Texas (who hosted and was part of the Windsor Continuation Group), I would be embarrassed to be associated with this. The Windsor Continuation Group is well named though, I have to admit. For it just continues the same old same old in the Anglican Communion.

Beyond saying that, I really can’t be bothered. I got more important things to . . . do . . .

:gazes out window:

Look Who’s Coming to Town!

I was amused to find out about certain visitors coming to my turf:

The [Windsor Continuation Group], which includes West Texas Bishop Gary Lillibridge, is next scheduled to meet in private session at the Diocese of West Texas’ Mustang Island Conference Center in Corpus Christi Dec. 15-19.

The conference center is on the beach about 20 minutes from here. I drive by there frequently. This news makes me wish I could be one of those sand colored lizards that frequent the dunes so I could sneak in their private meeting.

But that is not possible. So I ask my kind and hopefully devious readers – any ideas for scams to get into the WCG meeting?

I am not impressed.

My forbearing readers may have noticed that I have had very little to say about actual proposals at Lambeth, including those from the Windsor Continuation Group. And, to be blunt, I really don’t care much about them and don’t have anything that profound to say.

For the Archbishop of Canterbury and his allies have made it clear by their actions that they will not discipline apostates and will not live up to agreements if that means disciplining apostates. ++Canterbury pretending The Episcopal Church is in compliance with Windsor/Dromantine/Tanzania and inviting everyone to Lambeth (save Robinson) makes that clear. Moreover, his not inviting the bishops of CANA among other actual orthodox bishops and turning up his nose at the real Bishop of San Joaquin are among the indications that he really sides with the apostates.

No proposal, forum, report, whatever is going to change this state of affairs. Only an Archbishop of Canterbury with a little Athanasius in him will. The Lord can certainly bring that about, but given the earthly powers who appoint the ABC, I’m not holding my breath.

So yet more papers and panels and meetings are just a charade wasting time and stringing along the orthodox foolish enough to play that game as far as I’m concerned. And I can barely bring myself to waste time commenting on them. As the Ugley Vicar has opined about the Windsor Continuation Group report, they are “as much use as a chocolate ladder at a house fire.”

Shame

In commenting on Michael Ingham’s attack on Dr. J. I. Packer, the Anglican Church League of Sydney absolutely nails it.
(The emphasis is mine. Thanks go out to Stand Firm.)

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The ACL notes with alarm the Bishop of New Westminster’s threat to revoke Professor J I Packer’s ‘spiritual authority as a minister of Word and Sacraments’.

Professor Packer, one of the leading Christian voices of the twentieth century, is amongst those who have voted to stand with authentic and orthodox Anglicans rather than those who have undermined biblical truth over many decades and most recently by their innovations regarding homosexual practice. As one of these he has now become a target for revisionist aggression. Once again the intolerance and anti-liberal heart of liberal Christianity has been exposed.

Professor Packer continues to be held in the highest regard by all those who seek to live in faith and obedience to the Scriptures as the written word of God. As a disciple of Jesus Christ he has provided a remarkable example of faithfulness and steadfastness for more than fifty years. We in the ACL assure him of our love, support, and continued prayer for him at this difficult time.

This latest incident highlights what has been happening to authentic and orthodox Anglican men and women in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom in the past few years. Ministers have been deprived, congregations have been forced to leave their buildings, law suits have been instigated and campaigns of misinformation have been launched in the religious and secular press. Others have simply been threatened with these things and more in an attempt to silence them.

This use of coercion by revisionist bishops has not been publicly addressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury or by those who champion the so-called ‘Windsor Process’. Their silence is deafening and shameful. In the light of this it is little wonder that so many of us have very little confidence in this process or in the resolve of those behind it to focus on the most important issues.

We look to the Lord of heaven and earth, who is more than able to protect his people and vindicate his own word. If even the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ’s church we need not fear ecclesiastical bully-boy tactics.

The ACL also give thanks to God for those who have begun to act to bring about genuine reformation and a renewed vision for the gospel mission in world Anglicanism and eagerly anticipate much good from the forthcoming Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem.

Mark D Thompson
President
Anglican Church League

March 2, 2008.

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The refusal of the Archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops to defend the sheep is indeed shameful. And it’s one reason I, who once eagerly yearned to be under Canterbury, now want little to do with that decrepit see.

As for the “Windsor Process,” instead of defending the faith and the faithful, it was and is a ploy to buy time for apostates and heretics and to give cover for their evil. To Hell with it!