by the Rev. Laurie Brock
Article 35, along with the other Articles of Religion, was adopted at the 1801 Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States, but Article 35 had a qualification added to its adoption. In modern parlance, the Convention agreed with the substance of the Article, but passed a resolution asking a task force to be convened to address the points of Article 35 with which many deputies and bishops disagreed, mainly, that the Books of Homilies had references to the constitution and laws of England that weren’t applicable to the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
218 years later, no task force has produced a revised Book of Homilies.
Yet in a changing church, one where fewer clergy walk the path of a three-year seminary degree, where more clergy are serving congregations in a part-time or volunteer capacity, where some congregations are truly living a shared ministry of leadership between laity and clergy ministry, including the ministry of preaching, and where generations of those coming into the Christian community of the Episcopal Church have little or no familiarity of the Christian tradition, perhaps a conversation with our Anglican past and its insight about homilies, their importance, and their value in forming Christians is due a revisit. The original intent of the Books of Homilies, how they were needed and used in the Anglican Church and, by extension, the Episcopal Church, and the changing nature of the church makes the qualification added to the original passage of Article 35 as relevant as ever.
Article 35 (Of the Homilies) states:
The Second Book of Homilies, the several titles whereof we have joined under this Article, doth contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine, and necessary for these times, as doth the former Book of Homilies, which were set forth in the time of Edward the Sixth; and therefore we judge them to be read in Churches by the Ministers, diligently and distinctly, that they may be understanded of the people.
Of the Names of the Homilies
1 Of the right Use of the Church.
2 Against Peril of Idolatry.
3 Of repairing and keeping clean of Churches.
4 Of good Works: first of Fasting.
5 Against Gluttony and Drunkenness.
6 Against Excess of Apparel.
7 Of Prayer.
8 Of the Place and Time of Prayer.
9 That Common Prayers and Sacraments ought to be ministered in a known tongue.
10 Of the reverend Estimation of God’s Word.
11 Of Alms-doing.
12 Of the Nativity of Christ.
13 Of the Passion of Christ.
14 Of the Resurrection of Christ.
15 Of the worthy receiving of the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ.
16 Of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost.
17 For the Rogation-days.
18 Of the State of Matrimony.
19 Of Repentance.
20 Against Idleness.
21 Against Rebellion.
[This Article is received in this Church, so far as it declares the Book of Homilies to be an explication of Christian doctrine, and instructive in piety and morals. But all references to the constitution and laws of England are considered as inapplicable to the circumstances of this Church; which also suspends the order for the reading of said Homilies in churches, until a revision of them may be conveniently made, for the clearing of them, as well from obsolete words and phrases, as from the local references.]
The Books of Homilies were born from a Convocation of mostly-English bishops gathered in 1542. These bishops recognized the importance to educate both clergy and laity in the reformed tradition of the church, the Holy Scriptures, and the theology of Christianity and the sacraments. In the birthing of an expression of Christianity that celebrated the sacraments in the native languages of worshippers and that opened the Holy Scriptures to clergy and laity, Thomas Cranmer and other reformers recognized many clergy needed guidance in their homilies, as the homily in the service was a focused time of formation and education on matters of import in the Christian faith. A letter from one bishop rather bluntly explains that they “agreed to make certain homilies for stay of such errors as were then by ignorant preachers sparkled among the people.”
Preaching has its foundations in apostolic biblical account of the first followers of Jesus sharing the Good News by word and example. In the patristic period of the church, writings share of the reading of Holy Scripture, followed by admonitions and instruction to aid early Christians as they followed the teachings of Jesus. With Constantine’s official recognition of the Christian church, preaching was soon shaped by the Greek rhetorical proficiencies of the age. This was the age of the homiletical masterpieces of Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil the Great, and John Chrysostom (Chrysostom’s Easter Homily is, in this preacher’s opinion, one of the finest sermons ever preached). The homily became a tool of teaching and a reminder that worship included insight, formation, and learning. Settled in the context of prayer, praise, and communion, homilies informed the faithful of theology, spoke against the latest heresies of the church, and provided a conversation with the people and God about how Christians expressed and practiced their belief in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
Preaching continued to be influenced by the shifts and changes in Christianity. Various councils and correspondence reflect the growth of itinerant preachers from the monastic tradition and the concerns thereof; the concern that those preaching were too excited about their own personality and celebrity to preach well the Gospel of Christ; and the reality that many clergy were adept at celebrating the sacraments, but were woefully incompetent to preach an adequate homily.
These concerns wax and wane for several centuries, and the newly-established Anglican Church gave Cranmer and his fellow church leaders the power not only to refocus the homily as a tool for instruction for Christians within the setting of worship, but also the ability to assist local parish priests (and no doubt a few bishops) as they used the homily teach accurate theology in the Anglican tradition. Thus, the first Book of Homilies was produced.
The demand for the first Book of Homilies, published during the reign of Edward VI, was high, although in some congregations there were clergy who could not read the homilies because they were illiterate and other clergy who would not read the homilies because of their opposition towards church reforms. A second Book of Homilies was published under Elizabeth I, and the titles of the sermons are those listed in the current embodiment of Article 35.
These titles are homilies that help craft a foundational faith in the Anglican tradition. They address matters of prayer, of how we understand scripture, and of the Nativity and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and other major feasts and fasts. They address issues of the sacramental understanding of time in the liturgical calendar, of common and well-experienced sins, and of the care and keeping of the holy space that is the church.
The sermons in the Books of Homilies reflected Cranmer’s commitment to sound teaching in the language of the people. The sermons were rooted in Holy Scripture and the writings of the church fathers. They encouraged Christians to read, learn, and inwardly digest Holy Scripture, to pray regularly, and to engage in a true and lively faith. They informed church leaders, both lay and ordained, of church history, patristic theology, the heresies of the church, and the practices of the Roman Catholic church with which the Anglican church and, more broadly, the reformed tradition, disagreed (and even on some occasion, agreed). These collections of sermons were considered, along with the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Religion, as foundational Anglican theology. These sermons were appointed to be read on Sundays and on Holy Days.
These sermons explained doctrine. The gave context to Anglican theology and were a vehicle to share this theology during the Holy Eucharist with the gathered faithful. As John Henry Newman wrote, “The second Book of Homilies…doth contain a godly and wholesome doctrine, and necessary for these times, as doth the former Book of Homilies. Now, observe, this Article does not speak of every statement made in them, but of the ‘doctrine.’ It speaks of the view or cast, or body of doctrine contained in them.”
These Books of Homilies were a way to give shape to the vision of our Anglican/Episcopal faith. There were not merely TED talks about self-improvement, personal enlightenment, or motivational chats that could be live-tweeted; they were about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as understood by the Church. The Books of Homilies addressed the complex and humble aspects of our faith, reaching back into the ancient wisdom and forward into growing insight. They were and still are significant contributions of the substance of Christian faith.
The Episcopal Church endorsed the content of the homilies, but did not endorse reading the homilies themselves until they could be updated. I wonder, then, if that time has come. The internet provides countless options for sermons and homilies, many posted by Episcopal clergy. The Episcopal Church itself has homilies available for laity and clergy to use on Sundays and Holy Days. We certainly recognize the need for homilies to be preached.
But what about the content of them? Cranmer wasn’t only concerned that a homily be preached, but that the content of the homily assisted Christians in their discipleship and what constituted Christian discipleship–studying the Holy Scriptures, engaging in the daily practice of prayer, and knowing what our faith is and why our faith is expressed in this particular way and how we live that faith in Jesus. Cranmer wanted Christians to know what they believed, why they believed, and how that belief was to be lived in daily life.
For the early church straight through to our modern time, homilies aren’t simply a way to fill the space between the readings from the Bible and the Nicene Creed; they are a way we instruct, teach, challenge, and inform Christians.
Too often, preaching is heavily focused on style over substance. We practice voice projection and learn how stories from everyday life can make our homilies more entertaining (a word – they don’t). Some of these techniques can be learned. Others can’t. We can all learn to enunciate, to allow our personal voice to be present, and to ground our homilies in scripture. But our Anglican tradition, even our Christian tradition, is deeply rooted in substantial homilies.
Homilies aren’t entertainment; they are the Word of God preached.
Some people have a charism for preaching homilies with a style that is clearly of the Spirit. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly has what I would identify as a gift for preaching. But the substance of what he says is equally, if not more, important. He preaches the substance of the Gospel, just as John Chrysostom and Sojourner Truth did. That substance is why, even today, we can stand in a pulpit and read their words in our own voices and still hear the deep echo of God’s love speak to us from across the ages. The substance of their holy words is why we still share their words.
As our church again faces a reality that not every worshipping community has a full-time priest (although a full-time priest certainly doesn’t guarantee a homily grounded in the theology and prayer of the Episcopal Church) or even a priest at all. More and more people coming to hear the Good News of Jesus have little to no knowledge of the Christian faith. Might these realities call us to revisit the hope of our General Convention from over two centuries ago and take seriously the need to have a resource of homilies that contain a godly and wholesome Doctrine, necessary for these times, that can be read in Churches by the Ministers, both laity and clergy, diligently and distinctly, so they may be understood by the people?
Might we revisit the homilies of our ancestors and let the substance of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit wash over us and drench us in the what, whys, and hows of our Episcopal faith? Might we, in this new age of the Church, remember the value of substantial homilies that, along with prayer and sacrament, speak of God?
The Rev. Laurie Brock serves as rector of the St. Michael the Archangel Episcopal Church in Lexington, Kentucky. She blogs at revlauriebrock.com, and has authored and contributed to several books, most recently Horses Speak of God (Paraclete Press). She has written for Forward Day by Day and is a Lent Madness Celebrity Blogger, both from Forward Movement. When she’s not sharing the message of the importance of preaching, she’s riding her American Saddlebred Nina or walking her rescue pup Evie.