Earth & Altar Journal
St. Andrew's Journal
Earth & Altar: a religious blog on Anglican life and worship
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EDUCATION & ENCHANTMENT:
RECOVERING THE LOST LOVE OF LEARNING
Is your child bored by school? To what extent are children’s imaginations being engaged by going to school. If you ask the children, it’s not much. Our educational institutions are perfectly designed for what they are producing: bored failure. Consider it from the perspective of the young student. They are …
20 YEARS OF ST. ANDREW’S ACADEMY, LAKE ALMANOR CA
St. Andrew’s Academy, in the Lake Almanor area of Northern California, was founded twenty years ago this past fall, by a local boy—me. Growing up in Lake Almanor I had what I consider a story-book childhood. I swam the lake like a fish in the summer, forded every creek and …
THE ENGLISH AND THEIR CAKES
I’ve been blessed to travel to England at least ten times, and that doesn’t count the little stopovers for a day or two while going somewhere else. I studied English Literature at the undergraduate level and have studied English history and particularly English theology; thus, I enjoy my time in …
HALLOWEEN
Ghouls, ghosts, and witches, warlocks, and spooks of all kinds. These, along with every sort of Disney princess and comic book hero, seem to be the common theme of the average Halloween celebrations in American culture today. Of course, many rural places add a harvest theme to the celebration, and …
HOLY WEEK
“Behold, we go up to Jerusalem!” With these Gospel words on Quinquagesima Sunday, the Church declares the Season of Lent to be a journey toward Jerusalem, toward the passion of Christ. Holy Week is certainly the climax of that journey, beginning on Palm Sunday when we arrive at Jerusalem with …
PREPARATION: THE PRACTICAL SIDE
This Lenten Season, it is my hope that I will learn and grow in spiritual disciplines; that my family will learn and grow in the same; and also, of course, that my students and parishioners will be sanctified in the practice of those disciplines which the Church, through the wisdom …
A WORD ABOUT COLORS
When traditional Anglicans think of Lent, they usually see it in purple. Certainly, purple is commendable and was long a nearly universal practice. However, the Anglican cleric Percy Dearmer records rich traditions and ancient practices which can inform the church and help Anglicans recover a fuller Anglican practice. Two of …
RISEN: ANOTHER CHRISTIAN FILM BELOW THE MARK
By Jared Tomlinson Gregorian chant. Byzantine iconography. Gothic architecture. Renaissance polyphony. The Inklings. For most of the past two millennia, Christians have been at the forefront of the world’s aesthetic life. And then the twentieth century arrived. During the twentieth century, especially its latter half, Christians traded their leading role for …
PRAYER, FASTING, ALMS: IMPORTANT DISCIPLINES
By the Rev’d Dr. Daniel McGrath This year during Lent the topics of Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving will be featured in many sermons, written about in many parish newsletters, and thought about in detail by most practicing Churchmen around the country. These three disciplines were commended by our Lord in his …