Along with joy, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has popularized sober reflection as a hallmark of the Christmas Season. Given North American Anglicans’ current reflective mood, perhaps the Ghosts of Anglican Past, Present and Future could shed their clarifying light again this Christmas. 

I first met the Ghost of (recent) Anglican Past in 2004 worshipping at the Destin, Florida Community Center as a curate of Immanuel Anglican Church. Fresh from seminary, I was warmly welcomed into this founding Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) congregation. Like thousands across the country, I heard captivating stories of courage, sacrifice and love. Grandmas and grandpas walked away from millions of dollars in Episcopal Church-owned property and multi-generation family investment. Priests and deacons left pensions, job security and intact reputations to lead their sheep through a steep learning curve of church in a box, new building programs and church planting initiatives, with little to no training. 

We left something, but we were also embraced.  Still reeling from their society-rending 1994 Genocide, the Anglican Church of Rwanda welcomed us to walk with them in healing, light and renewed Biblical faithfulness. Their provision of “alternative episcopal oversight” and consecration of two new American Bishops on January 29, 2000, in Singapore, with the Province of Southeast Asia, shocked the world and paved the way for reform from the outside. Other Global South Anglican Provinces followed suit. 

The third world leading the first world? The poor sacrificing for the rich? The grieving comforting the comfortable? The news stories virtually wrote themselves, sounding the trumpet of gospel sacrifice around the world. Here was something different in American Christianity.  Significant sacrifice, combined with a humble missional heart, rooted in Biblical historic orthodox Christianity, in the context of global relationship, which continues decades later for some Anglican churches.

This all before we consider the beauties of Anglicanism. But we should not miss how the beauty of gospel sacrifice created a generous plausibility context to consider the beauty of Anglicanism. By God’s grace, Anglicanism both made our cross-Atlantic rescue operation possible and received favor when the aroma of Christ ascended from the mutual sacrifices entailed in that operation. 

This is not to overlook the flaws, immaturity, personality conflict, disagreements about money and theological division of early-2000’s North American Anglicanism. Rather with God’s help, enough love overflowed during our feeble attempts at faithfulness to cover a multitude of our sins (1 Peter 4:8).

What of the beauties of Anglicanism? They echoed forth as well. Phrases like rootedness, structure, stability, ancient-future, three streams, multi-sensory worship, word and sacrament, reformed and catholic, liturgical calendar and formation through the life of Christ spilled from grateful pilgrim lips, young and old, who joyfully walked the Canterbury / Kigali / Kampala / Nairobi / Abuja Trail.  

Though easy to forget, the Ghost of Anglican Past is largely a story of humility, favor, love, broad trust and expanding relationship all in the context of global gospel-centered sacrifice. The domestic heroes were ordinary grandmas and grandpas, priests and deacons, grassroots servants remembered for their willingness to count and pay the cost of following Jesus.  If the Ghost of Anglican Past posed a question today, what would it be? Perhaps, can these good bones live? (Ezekiel 37:3). If so, what is the cost? (Luke 14:28).