The Priory Church, St. Bees

Heavenly Avarice [1]
The Theology of Prayer
By The Rev’d Dr. Robert Crouse
A Paper from a Western Canadian Theological Conference, published in Dr. M. Treschow, ed., The Lord is Nigh: The Theology and Practice of Prayer (Kelowna, B. C. Sparrow’s Editing, 1997), pp. 74-78. +

I. Prayer as Human Desire

Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks:
so longeth my soul after thee, O God.
My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God:
when shall I come to appear
before the presence of God? (Psalm 42:1-2)

Regarded from the standpoint of human psychology, and as a phenomenon of universal religious practice, prayer appears to be simply the articulation of human desires, human longings and human aspirations. “My soul is athirst for God,” cries the Psalmist, and it is indeed that thirst, that desire for God, which­ whether acknowledged or merely implicit ­underlies and impels every quest of the human spirit.

“All men by nature desire to know,” says Aristotle at the beginning of his Metaphysica.[2] But what is it that they desire to know? They long to know the reasons of things, the causes, the truth of things; finally to know that truth by which and in which all things have their truth. Thus Dante, in the Paradiso, compares the intellect’s desire to a wild beast’s racing to its den, where alone it can find rest.[3] What are all our sciences, what are all our fragments of knowledge but droplets from that fountain of which we long to drink in all its fullness? “My soul is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God.”

What is our quest for happiness, but a desire for the good; and what is that good we seek­ whether knowingly or not­ but some participation in the pure and perfect good which is God himself? What is our quest for liberty, but our longing for God’s own city, the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, and is free, and is the mother of us all? “My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God” (Ps. 84:2). What is our quest for beauty, but a longing for that pure and perfect beauty which belongs to Sion; and what are all our fragmentary images of beauty, whether in music, or painting,  or sculpture,  or  poetry, or whatever human arts, but pallid reflections of the unimaginable beauty of the countenance of God? “My heart hath talked of thee, Seek ye my face: thy face Lord, will I seek. O hide not thou thy face from me: nor cast thy servant away in displeasure” (Ps. 27: 9). Read the rest of this entry »

When I was a child and teenager (and young adult) I loved setting things on fire. Fire is one of my most favourite things. I used to spend time figuring out which household chemicals burned with the most interesting light. I used to spend a lot of time simply burning things that I found lying around the house. I also spent a lot of time being grounded by my parents and scaring myself. I set fire once to a ceiling light switch string and was amazed at how quickly the fire sped up the string towards the light fixture. Luckily I had a glass of water on hand to extinguish the fire. I usually planned ahead in order to avoid catastrophe, but one time (at least) I thought I had extinguished a fire in the forest behind where I lived, only to return later to see evidence of the fire department having sprayed everything down… Read the rest of this entry »

It was a grand event that filled the church.  We had special music from the Brownies, poems from the Sunday School, and a special anthem from the Choir.  There was a lot of donated food that is being distributed on Monday to various people around the village.  Thanks you to everyone who worked so hard to decorate the church, prepare the music and poems, and gave food. 

A photo of the sun shining through the west windows and the chancel screen on a crisp sunny autumn evening.  Please click on the thumbnail for to enlarge the photo.

This last summer Claire and I had the opportunity to spend some time with my parents on their boat on the west coast of Canada. This isn’t just any old boat. They live on it. It’s a 57 foot pre Second World War fishing boat with a checkered history. When my dad first saw it it was nothing but a wreck. It had sunk in the slip and was being fixed up by a drug smuggler. This drug smuggler ended up getting caught in another boat off the Washington coast with a substantial drug cargo so the work on it stopped while he sat in prison. Dad saw potential in this old boat. It had fine lines. It didn’t look like a typical wooden hull fishing boat. He bought this boat off of the marine salvage agent who initially raised it up and set to work on it.

A lot of the guys working on the ship yard thought the boat was too far gone, but my dad has an understanding of how long term projects unfold (he supervises mechanical contracting on large scale building projects in Vancouver). So, methodically and deliberately, he set about giving this old boat a new lease on life. He gave it a new name (Axelina, after my great grandmother). He went through Axelina beam by beam, plank by plank, pipe by pipe. Sorted the mechanics out, removed, replaced, revitalized whatever needed to be done. As my dad began to work on Axelina the smuggler’s illicit purposes became more clear. There were two water tanks in the back containing petrol with a pipe running from each tank into the bilge. The boat has a diesel engine. The intentions were clear enough, the smuggler was going to set fire to the boat if he got caught off the coast. Read the rest of this entry »

The Priory had a service of mixed emotions yesterday.  On the one hand we witnessed Jim’s ordination to the diaconate.  This service is part of a long process of prayer, consideration, meetings, and theological education.  Jim began to get involved as a Reader following his participation in an Alpha course, and one thing has led to another.  The parish has been unflinching in its support for Jim through this process.  It was a wonderful service of worship and celebration.  The Bishop of Penrith (James Newcome, pictured in the background of the photo below) presided over the service.  The archdeacon of Westmorland and Furness (George Howe) preached.  The church was full and a sense of joy was palpable as people sang and participated in the service.  The ‘mixed emotions’ come into it because now that Jim is ordained he is leaving the Priory to begin ministry in a neighbouring parish.  He’ll be missed.  We pray God’s blessing on Jim and Sheila as they begin life in ordained ministry.  We pray that as Jim seeks to be faithful to his calling God will draw him closer in relationship and dependance upon the Holy Spirit.

Jim Marshall

Hail the new ‘clergy spouse’ Sheila.

Jim being presented with a present by one of the church wardens, Rosalie.  The vicar

Lars is providing background music by quietly singing into the microphone… 

Not to be put-off by what has become a terrible British summer, members of our parish went and played in the mud on the latest parish walk.  Clearly  you can see that they are enjoying themselves nonetheless…

Sorry.  Now you clearly can see they are enjoying themselves…

Please click on the images to get a larger look at our upcoming schedule of services, midweek events, and study groups.

programme - september-to-november-08-2

programme - september-to-november-08-1 

Please click on the link to view the poster for this course.

lives-of-great-christians

I wasn’t brought up Anglican. I became a Christian in my last year of secondary school and attended a pentecostal church until my early to mid twenties. I joined the Anglican Church mid-way through my graduate studies in philosophy. When people hear this one of their first remarks is how strange a transition it is to move to a church that has liturgy (prayers printed out in a book) from a non-liturgical church. They are often baffled when I express my love not merely for liturgy, but for the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer (it is one of the most biblically faithful, theologically thoughtful, and poetically beautiful books in the English language). Read the rest of this entry »