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After a one-week delay the next four revised Podcast Homilies for Fourteenth through Eighteenth Sundays after Trinity are now linked from the Podcast Homilies page.  The remaining revisions should be completed before 21 June.  Apologies to our regular viewers for the delay.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on revisions to the New Testament: Gospels video series and expect to begin uploading the episodes on the Gospel of St. Mark before the end of June 2019 A.D.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Amen.  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

As promised last week, the next four revised Podcast Homilies for Trinity Season, for Eleventh through Fourteenth Sunday, have now been uploaded.  My plan is to complete the series before 15 June, with T-15 to T-18 during the week of Memorial Day.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

Episode Four in the revised New Testament: Gospels Bible Study Video series, delayed last week owing to technical issues, is now online.  The focus continues on the Life of Christ as fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  The episode begins with the coming of John the Baptist fulfilling prophecies of Isaiah and Malachi and ends with the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.   The featured illustration for this post is miniature fresco of scenes in the Life of Christ by Italian artist Giotto di Bondoni from his series of frescoes on the north wall, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy.

WATCH EPISODE FOUR

LISTEN TO EPISODE FOUR PODCAST

Episode Seven in the AIC’s newest Seasonal Video series is now available in both video and podcast versions.  The subjects are the Collect, Epistle and Gospel readings for Sixthteenth through Nineteenth Sundays after Trinity, which includes four more writings from the Pauline Epistles and two pericopes each from the Gospels of St. Luke (Raising of the Son of the Widow of Nain; Healing of the Blind Man with dropsy; and the Parable of the Chief Seats) and St. Matthew (The Greatest Commandment question and the Healing of Palsied Man).

Watch the Video of Episode 7.    Listen to the Podcast version of Episode 7

The episode includes 13 illustrations (not counting repeat uses) from the 6th C. through the early 20th C.  I’ve added more images to our archive of St. Paul but also found another image of St. Matthew, whose images are quite hard to find.  This one is from a Russian Gospel book produced in the last quarter of the 15th C., showing St. Matthew composing his Gospel.  The colors, textures and tones are exceptional. The work is credited to a monk, Michael Medovartsev.  It comes from the Egerton MSS 3045, Folio 10v from the Byzantine illuminated manuscripts collection at the British Library, London, England.

One of the changes made during this series is better correction of what is said and presented in each episode with similar work in the AIC archive of videos, podcast and publications.   Each episode closes with a short review of source, date, episode or page number of our Bookstore publications, Seasonal and Christian Education video, and Bible Study videos.  I hope viewers find the information useful.

The script, slides and sound for Episode Eight and Episode Nine, the final episode, are complete.  The work that remains is coordination of the sound to the pictures.  I hope to complete that work during the next two weeks.

The next work in the series is Advent: A Season of Penitence and Preparation, which will premier in late September or early October.  The format will be the same as the other Seasonal Videos based on the seasons in the Church Year.  Content will incorporate some material available in existing AIC videos and books.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  Please consider sharing this site with others or following the blog by clicking the Follow Anglican Internet Church tab in the far right column on the web site below my picture.  Your help increases the chances of greater public knowledge of these resources.

May the Lord bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Glory be to God for all things!  Amen.

As promised last week, Episode Four in the Trinitytide series is now available in both video and podcast versions.   I’ve used several of the images of St, Paul which have been added to our library either from the public domain or from various picture vendors.   The most unusual one is today’s featured image, an oil on panel by Dutch painter and sculptor Lucas van Leyden, painted circa 1520 A.D. and now in the collection at Yale University Gallery of Art, New Haven, CT.   It is distinctly Western and presents St. Paul as if he were one of van Leyden’s clients sitting in his studio for a portrait, as opposed to the more fierce facial expression and bodily pose favored in Eastern Church art.  As is customary in Western Church art, St. Paul holds a book and a sword, the latter a symbol of the manner of his death.  Traditional accounts say that St. Paul was beheaded outside Rome around 68 A.D. during the reign of Emperor Nero.  Many claims have been made about the whereabouts of his remains, but not, as far as I am aware, are widely accepted.

Episode Four provides the full texts and origin of the Collects for Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Sundays after Trinity.  Commentary, summaries and key quotations are provided for the Epistle and Gospel readings.   I’ve also mentioned the next three of the eleven hymns to the Holy Trinity from The St. Chrysostom Hymnal.  The final two hymns will be mentioned in Episode Five, which is focused on the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Sundays after Trinity.

Watch the Video.              Listen to the Podcast

This coming week I will be acquiring three more impressions of St. Paul, all three in stained glass from the 19th C, including his Conversion, the warning of Agabus concerning his arrest, and a full size, frontal view of St. Paul with book and sword.

As always, I thank viewers for their interest and support.  May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Amen!  Glory be to God for all things! Amen!

I’ve been reviewing reader/viewer comments and various email message concerning the Anglican Internet Church, particularly its various presences on the Web.  Two common threads, not actually spoken, are Why the Seasonal Videos; Why the Focus on the 1928 B.C.P.?; and Why No Actual Video of the author?   I hope the following provides readers/viewer with acceptable answers.

Seasonal Videos:  One of the original objectives of the AIC, when it was just the broadcast arm of St. John Chrysostom Anglican Church at St. Joseph’s Villa Chapel, Richmond, VA, was to extend the reach of traditional homilies and traditional local doctrinal teaching and Bible Study.  Today, the AIC reaches a broad audience in many parts of the world.  The Seasonal Videos, which will eventually include programs on the entire Church Calendar, offer viewers and listeners through the Podcast version, are a way of providing traditional teaching, easily-available, without either going over the heads of the viewers or insulting their intelligence — and giving them a glimpse of the treasures of Church art from both the Western and Eastern Church.

Why the B.C.P. Focus:  The greatest treasure left to Anglicans by the English Reformation is the American 1928 Book of Common Prayer (as amended in the 1940s).  The liturgies provided, especially for Holy Communion, provide a valuable link backwards in time to the early Church both at Rome and at Constantinople and at Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem and the many Christian communities throughout Asia Minor.  Every time an Anglican hears a Collect read he or she is reminded of the continuity of the Christian heritage which came down from the Apostles through the clergy, bishops, and archbishops who defended the Nicene Creed in the face of “reform” movements.  The Seasonal Videos, with their focus on how the Calendar is brought to life in Holy Communion or Morning Prayer, help Anglicans understand exactly where these beliefs came from, including the source of the Collects; provide the short summaries of the Epistle and Gospel readings, with appropriate religious art; and enrich the experience with commentary on appropriate Seasonal Music from The St. Chrysostom Hymnal, which is offered as a supplement to the 1940 Hymnal.

Why No Actual Videos of the Author:   All our video series, whether in the Bible Study, Seasonal, or Christian Education categories, are intended to keep the focus on the content.   Nothing would be gained by watching the author while he narrates a video.  In fact, I believe, such video content would take time away from both the Script and the extensive archive of icons, frescoes, mosaics, engravings, paintings, watercolors, illuminated manuscripts, bas reliefs, statues, monuments, and church buildings, all of which, I hope, leave the viewer reminded that 21st C. Christians are not alone!  We are part of a continuing legacy begun by the teaching, healing, preaching, Nativity, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and by the untiring work of His Apostles, whether of the 1st C., or the 4th when the Nicene  Creed was written; or the 5th-6th-7th-8th C. when most of the Collects were composed; or in all the intervening years until the 21st C.  That legacy remains alive, vibrant, and threatening to the secular world as long as modern day Christians continue to worship God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, constantly reminded by the words of the liturgies spoken by millions of Christians who have come before us.

As always, thank you for your interest and support.  May God continue to bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Amen!

Glory be to God for all things!  Amen!

The long-delayed Episode Six in the AIC Christian Education video series The War on Christianity is now online in both video and podcast versions.   Subtitled “The First Line of Defense,” the episode is focused on Part One of the Te Deum Laudamus canticle (from the opening sentence to “also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter”).  The episode includes a summary of the canticle’s history and a verse-by-verse commentary on its meaning and Scriptural warrant, with illustrations from the 6th through the 21st C.  This powerful and inspiring Canticle is the first suggested Canticle (or “Hymn” in the rubric in page 10) following the First Lesson in Morning Prayer.

The Te Deum Laudamus, so named after its first words in Latin, meaning We praise Thee, O God, is among the very best summaries of the most essential doctrines of Christianity — everything from angels, cherubim and seraphim; martyrs and apostles; to the Holy Spirit.   The slides include an annotated version of the text with emphasis and pause indicators.  To save time in the presentation, the text is read rather than chanted.   This episode is the first of several on the concept of understanding the teachings of the Church as the best “first line of defense” for individual Christians in the secular world’s on-going War on Christianity.

Watch Episode Six.    Listen to the Podcast of Episode Six.

Episode Seven, focused on Parts Two and Three, will be uploaded later in February or in the first full week of March.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support of The Anglican Internet Church’s online ministry.  You can help expand our reach by subscribing to this Blog by clicking the “Follow Anglican Internet Church” tab in the right side column.  Our site host, WordPress.com, will notify you of the latest posts.

May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Glory be to God for all tings! Amen!

 

 

Episode Two in the AIC Seasonal Video series, Lent A.D. 2018, is now available on our YouTube channel.  The subjects of Episode Two are other commemorations of Lent (Lenten meals, prayers and music) and the Collects, Epistle and Gospel readings, and suggested seasonal music, for First Sunday in Lent through and including the Fourth Sunday in Lent.  I’ve found some additional illustrations, including a stained glass window of St. Paul in East Anglia, England (above, left), to which I applied perspective correction.   I used this one because, since all four epistle readings are from the writings of St. Paul, I was running out of images not previously used (either in Episode One or in other AIC Video series).  Also in the episode is a Russian Orthodox icon of St. Paul in flowing robes from the 18th C., from the iconostasis at the Church of the Transfiguration, Kizhi Monastery, Karelia, Russia.  The music suggestions come from the AIC Bookstore publication, The St. Chrysostom Hymnal, which include hymns either not in the 1940 Hymnal or which are in it but set to different tunes.

Watch the Video.    Listen to the Podcast Version of Episode Two

I am already working on Episode Three, which will be the final episode in the series.  It will be focused on Passiontide, including the Fifth Sunday in Lent (Passion Sunday), Sixth Sunday in Lent (Palm Sunday) and Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday).  The episode, due for release before Passion Sunday, will include many illustrations not commonly seen in the Western Church, including mosaics, frescoes and icons.   The multi-part AIC service for Good Friday, In the Cross of Christ I Glory, is already available in Podcast version and in written form in another AIC Bookstore publication, Occasional Services for Anglican Worship (pp. 75-101).  The eight podcasts are linked from the Podcast Homilies page.  The book is linked from the Virtual Bookstore tab at the bottom on the home page.

The next AIC Seasonal Video series is Easter: From Easter to Ascension, for which I have developed a special graphic featuring a 16th C. icon of the Resurrection.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support of this Internet ministry.  Just a reminder, 100% of all book royalties are donated to the AIC and no one associated with the AIC receives any form of compensation.  Please consider subscribing to the Blog by clicking “Follow Anglican Internet Church” in the right hand column.  You’ll receive notice of each new posting.

If you have not already done so, I urge readers to attend an Ash Wednesday service today and receive the Imposition of Ashes.

May God bless you in all that you do in His Name.  Glory be to God for all things!  Amen.

Episode Two in the revised 2018 A.D. edition of Epiphany: the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles is now available both on our YouTube channel and through the episode links on the Digital Library page.   The focus of Episode Two has been changed since last week’s blog post.  The topics are Epiphany Eve, Epiphany (Day) and the First Sunday after Epiphany, including  appropriate Scripture readings from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the Proper for the Feast, the timeline of how and when St. Matthew’s “wise men” acquired a number and names, and seasonal music for Epiphany in The St. Chrysostom Hymnal (now available in a single volume paperback edition).

Watch the Episode Two video.    Listen to the Podcast version.

Illustrations for Episode Two include the 8th C. fresco shown above, an 11th C. mosaic, icons from the 15th to 18th C., paintings from the 15th C., statuary in a 15th C. cathedral in Spain, and stained glass windows from the 19th C. in the United States and Germany.

Episode Three, which will be uploaded during the week of January 15th, is focused on all the remaining Sundays in Epiphany season (2nd through 6th Sunday after Epiphany), their Scripture readings and Collects, appropriate seasonal music, and the prayer book’s provisions for transfer of services In years with either 26 or 27 Sundays after Trinity.

In other news, there were more attacks on Christians and upon Christianity during the Christmas and New Year holidays.  Remember that the secular forces at work in the world can only win the War on Christianity if we let them!  Fight back by continuing to read, study and learn the traditional teachings of the Church Universal.  I’ll have more to say on the topic when the next two episodes in our War on Christianity series become available, hopefully before the end of January, with Episodes Six and Seven, studies of the Te Deum Laudamus as a First Line of Defense.

As always, thank you for your interest in the online ministry of The Anglican Internet Church.  May the Lord bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Amen!  Glory be to God of all things! Amen!

 

 

 

What a busy week!  Phone conversations and site visits with clients, in town and out of town, and meeting with a potential singer/chanter for The War on Christianity series Episode Six and Episode Seven.  Plus putting up the family Christmas tree after Church on Sunday – and then nearly all day Monday as well.  But it was truly worth it on all fronts!

The tree is exactly 8′ tall, with the angel touching the ceiling.  There are approximately 1,000 small lights plus 4 strings of the old-fashioned bubble lights (which are what makes the all white blobs in the picture at left.  Imagine the white glowing blobs as yellow at the top with a red or yellow base.

There are probably an equal number of decorations, ranging from egg carton ornaments my mother, my brother and I made in childhood, plus several more made in the same style made by Corkie, Christopher and Laurie and by me, all hand-painted in gold or silver.  The oldest ornament is a tea pot my mother left me which had belonged to her grandmother.  There are painted ornaments from the 1940s, plastic musical instruments, cloth ornaments made for Christopher and Laurie with the year indicated, many ShinyBrite brand ornaments my mother and father bought (and we still have many of the cartons) from W.T. Grant or J. J. Newberry (both chains long gone) in the 1950s.  The angel on top is Corkie’s work.  There are four Department 51 brand ceramic Santa Clauses which fit over light bulbs.  There’s also a plastic drum-shaped ornament with an alumimun-bladed fan in the middle which moves as the heat from the lights increases.

The tree (bought from Costco just after Thanksgiving) doesn’t go up until mid-December because we celebrate Christmas in the old-fashioned way, honoring the Twelve Days of Christmas, which ends on the eve of Epiphany.  We leave both the tree and the exterior decoration up or on until Jan. 6th.  I’m the lighting person.  Corkie and I hang ornaments together, usually a two-day process.  When the children were little they too played a part in hanging the ornaments – and eating cookies, which Cookie made by the dozens.  The grandmother clock in the right background is a new feature for 2017.  Corkie bought it for $1 at a Church yard sale this Spring.  We had a clock specialist come in, tune it up and getting it going.  I plays 4, 8, 12 or 16 notes on the appropriate quarter hour, plus the hours chimes (Westminster tune) after the 16 notes at the top of the hour.  Many other Christmas-related art has been hung since the picture was taken earlier this week.

The slides for Episode Six in The War on Christianity are complete.  My friend Wayne Pask, a retired Lutheran minister, has agreed to chant the Te Deum Laudamus, which is the subject of both Episode Six and Episode Seven.  Part One is sung and discussed, line by line, in Episode Six, with Parts Two and Three being the focus for Episode Seven.   The Te Deum Laudamus was chosen as the best example of what I call The First Line of Defense in the War on Christianity:  understanding the teachings of the Church.   Both episodes are illustrated with historic art and quotations from either Scripture or Liturgy.

I invite readers to watch or listen to the installments of The Great “O” Antiphons series, which are archived on the Digital Library page.

Visit the Digital Library page for the videos.  Or the Podcast Archive page for the Podcast versions.

As always, thank you for your interest in and support for the online ministry of The Anglican Internet Church.net.   Help us by sharing this site and the other resources on the site with friends and family.

May God bless you in all that you do in His Name!  Amen

Glory be to God for all things.  Amen!