Anglican Identity: Part one

I am a hospice chaplain by trade.  My patients,  many of whom are confused, will sometimes say memorable things.  Recently I was visiting a patient who asked if I was a woman.  I said, "I'm not a woman.  I have a beard!" "Well you look like a woman," she replied.  I then informed her that I had to be a rather ugly looking lady then. She reassured me, However, that I was in fact a beautiful woman.  Regardless, I am very much a man.

Being a man is central to my identity.  Its apart of who I am.  It's a fundamental part of my identity.  Identity, who we are, is critical to a fulfilled life.  It is from our identities that everything flows.  What we do in life, how we behave, our morality and beliefs are all structured by who we understand ourselves to be.  This is why identity conflicts and confusion is so profoundly problematic.   

So who are we? And by "we" I mean Anglicans.   I ask because I have experienced a great deal of confusion about that from both other Christians and other Anglicans.   

It will be impossible to do justice to that question in such a brief blog post. So...  if this topic interests you come out and join us at O'Lordans in Westminster and we will have good discussions for sure.  In the meantime, however, I'll keep my thoughts as brief as possible and spread them out over several posts.  

Firstly, I dont believe that Anglicanism spontaneously formed during the English Reformation.  In fact the term Re-formed itself indicates that instead of being a formation of something new, it was the reorganization of something old.  And that's exactly what the English reformation was! 

The church in England existed from very early times. The legend, which I am a huge fan of, was that St. Joseph of Arimathea brought the gospel to England through his trading with the ancient peoples of Glastonbury.  There is a thorn that grows in Glastonbury which is attributed to this legend.  It blooms twice a year, Christmas being one of the times, and its flower is given as a gift to the reigning sovereign each Christmas.  

How Christianity arrived in England,  however, is less important then the fact that it existed there in ancient times independently of the bishop of Rome.  

It was not until 597 A.D., when St. Augustine of Canterbury became the first Archbishop of Canterbury, that the English Church came under papal supremacy.  This is important,  because the reformation was not about forming a new Church, but rather about reorganizing an ancient church and reclaiming its ancient liberty from an erroneous bishop.   

The reason all of that is important to our identity is because its who we are, but also because it changes how we are to understand ourselves.  Our church didn't get started because the King wanted a divorce, it existed before that.  Nor is our apostolicity dependent upon a connection with Rome.  We are, and always have been, autocephalous.   This is all critical to a healthy Anglican identity.  

So Anglicanism's identity is first and foremost Catholic in the best sense of the word.  Our roots are firmly grounded in the 1st century church and the missionary efforts of the apostles and their successors.  We are not a church that developed spontaneously as a result of a Kings Carnal desire for women and divorces.  Our history is much deeper and more richer then that.  

But we are reformed in the protestant sense too.  More on that later...  

The picture above is of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II recieving her cutting of the Glastonbury thorn at Christmas.