The Society for Sacramental Mission

For Catholic Mission and Renewal

Society Articles and Sermons

Please see below for the Society’s Articles and Sermons

The Society for Sacramental Mission exists in order to further the prayer and study of lay Christians throughout the world.  We are an organisation thus dedicated to the magnification of God’s Glory and to the dissemination of Christ’s Gospel throughout the world.  We are one in our faith in God and Jesus Christ and we hold to the faith revealed in the Scriptures and set forth in the doctrine of the Church.

 

Our study centres on the revelation of Christ Jesus in history, in Scripture and within our own lives.  Our Patron Saints, Mary the Mother of our Lord and St Teresa of Avila are holy and blessed examples of this, although his grace and presence was revealed among them in different and wonderful ways.  We aim to promote such study in order to build up our members in Christ and to make them examples to the world of spiritual and worldly blessing.

 

Mary is an example to us of fidelity to God’s will and promise.  In the midst of youth and trial she surrendered herself to the Divine request and bore the Son, the Saviour.  By her God was glorified and she became most honoured among all the Saints.  It is our hope that we may in some small way reflect her humility, Godliness, loyalty and understanding.  We pray that God may bless our humble endeavours.

 

Mission Society Prayer

 

Almighty God, in whose hand is the work of peace and whose will is gentleness, hope, mercy and love, Renew within thy servants thy wondrous Spirit, That we, being dead to the conceited and deceitful pleasures of this world, May come to thy grace and work and therein find our home, our rest and our joy.  This we ask, most gracious Father, through Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end.  Amen

 

All texts are under Copyright and may not be used for any purpose other than personal use without prior permission.  Please e-mail president@missionsociety.org.uk.

The English Hymnal and Anglican Catholic Devotion

 Racks of pale green hymn books are one of the happiest outward signs of the catholic movement in the Church of England. If it is true - and I am convinced it is - that worship is the goal of mission, then the means and products of our worship must be dear to us. The English Hymnal (and, to some degree, its 'New' successor) has been dear to many generations of Anglican catholics because it has been central to their mission and worship.

Nevertheless, the book came out of a very particular milieu. The catholicism which gave birth to the book had its roots in the Primrose Hill of the Percy Dearmer days, with his 'Sarum' or 'British Museum' ceremonial and left-wing politics. It is this which led to the accusation which Rowan Williams, in his excellent preface to Strengthen for Service, cites: that the book is 'the Edwardian ecclesiastical equivalent of sun-dried tomatoes in Islington'. Leaving aside the issue that the predominant tradition found in the Islington deanery would be more at home with Sing Glory or Mission Praise than The English Hymnal, the charge leaves Anglican catholics with an uncomfortable question. Is catholic worship, whether in form or substance (as if the two could ever be separated) really suitable for a Church which would be 'mission-shaped'. Is catholic worship concomitant with evangelism?

The English Hymnal included a part (Part VIII) entitled 'For Mission Services'. Underneath the title, in small lettering, were the words 'Not for ordinary use'. It is a stark reminder of a day when the worship of the Church could be divorced from mission, and in which good taste, even the good taste of Dearmer's north London, could dominate liturgical life. The section contains hymns of two sorts. One sort is primarily evangelistic, expressing the simple gospel in traditional terms. The other sort is sentimental, giving voice to some of the emotional concerns of those who attended the mission services.

We have moved on. The first category of mission hymn includes items such as I hear thy welcome voice, with its cross-centred, biblical gospel. Such hymns deserve a place in our repertoire, even if they are undervalued by contemporary Anglican catholics. The second category includes items such as Evensong is hushed in silence, with its rugged work-centred, urban imagery. We may need equivalents for our own day, but the genre begs for serious re-working. One of the primary senses in which we have moved on, however, is in our understanding of the place of the Eucharist. No longer do we separate out sacrament and mission. The two must be seen together. Apart from Christ's sacramental presence, which is an expression - some would say the expression - of God's mission to the world, there can be no mission. No Eucharist, no evangelism.

The English Hymnal is a book for a praying people. This can be evidenced from the large number of Office Hymns which it includes for use at Morning and Evening Prayer. Those who pray are those who work for the kingdom, and those who work for the kingdom are those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, present in word and sacrament and active through the mission and ministry of his Church. As EH 488 puts it, 'The Church of God a kingdom is, / Where Christ in power doth reign'. The English Hymnal and The New English Hymnal are truly books for a mission-shaped Church. They do need supplementing. Anglo-Papalists of past (and present) generations understood this and added The English Catholic Hymn Book, The Mirfield Mission Hymn Book or The Celebration Hymnal. More moderate Anglican catholics are happy both to pass over some of the EH material and to incorporate items familiar from sojourns in the Islington deanery. But Anglican catholics depart from the spirit of The English Hymnal at their peril, for it is there that historical roots and substance are to be found.

A sacramental people and a praying people will be an inviting people and a dedicated people, speaking out as the body of Christ in his world. The English Hymnal reminds us to keep the sacrament and prayer at the centre of our lives as we seek to live and work to God's praise and glory. Only thus will we be 'mission-shaped', and only thus will England be filled with the sort of worshippers the Father seeks - those who worship in spirit and in truth.

Liam Beadle, Cranmer Hall, Durham, 18 January 2008.

Our thanks to Liam for writing this excellent piece