VIA MEDIA The Communion of the Saints, Anglican Style
		All Saints Anglican Church, Fountain Valley, California

"We and our people -- thanks be to God -- follow no novel and strange religion, but that very religion which is ordained by Christ, sanctioned by the primitive and Catholic Church and approved by the consentient mind and voice of the most early fathers." -- Elizabeth I of England, 1563

C. S. Lewis and Other Reasons to be Anglican

Let us say at the outset that this is not intended to be a formal argument for either Christianity in general or Anglicanism in particular, but rather a personal perspective on both based on our journeys to and through them.

Stan's Journey:

Stan concluded at a young age that he was an agnostic, and he was fairly hostile towards Christianity until his mid-college conversion. (A C. S. Lewis fan since his pre-teens, he was extremely distressed to belatedly discover -- he now wonders how he could ever have missed it -- the Christian content in The Chroncles of Narnia.) Stan became a Christian under the influence of both intellectual self-debate and Christian friends made at the University of California (yes, he converted at Berkeley, that "radical" school!). He attended a Presbyterian church in Berkeley, and later, through the influence of a deacon he worked with, a mainline Episcopal church. After meeting Angelee and being transferred from Sunnyvale to Orange County, California, his journey of faith became one with . . .

. . . Angelee's Journey:

Angelee was a whole-hearted and mystically-inclined believer in God and the supernatural from her earliest memories, but knew very little about any religion in particular until she began investigating the subject for herself at about age 12. Like Stan, she was hostile towards Christianity, and was taken by surprise at her own conversion to it at age 14. (Unlike Stan, she was not substantially influenced by anyone she knew with regard to religion; had she felt any pressure to convert, rebel that she was, she would not have done it.) Angelee attended a non-denominational Evangelical church for several years, but grew increasingly dissatisfied with its limitations due to her exposure to the historical Faith through her reading of history and old literature. C. S. Lewis instantaneouly became her favourite writer when she first read The Chronicles of Narnia at age 19, and this led her to wonder about Lewis' branch of Christianity, Anglicanism (the Church of England), and Episcopalianism, its American counterpart. When she met Stan and they began looking for a church home together, their search led them to a parish in Fountain Valley whose rector quoted C. S. Lewis the first time they heard him preach and through whose agency they became acquainted with . . .

. . . The Via Media:

"Via Media" -- Latin for "middle way" -- has been used to describe Anglicanism because of its rather unique bridging of the gap between Protestanism and Roman Catholicism. The appeal of Anglicanism for us may be summed up by the following list of its strengths:

• Biblical -- Traditional Anglicanism's 1928 Book of Common Prayer -- and hence its liturgy -- is thoroughly immersed in Scripture. The majority of the Prayer Book either quotes Scripture or paraphrases it.
• Catholic -- Widely misunderstood because of its link with the Roman church, the word Catholic actually means "whole." Anglicanism purports to represent what the majority of Christians have believed in all times and all places. We subscribe neither to the exclusivity of Rome, nor to that of Evangelicals who believe that the Holy Spirit was somehow "lost" in the Church between the time of the Emperor Constantine -- when the Church was first sanctioned by the State -- and the Protestant Reformation. We believe that Christ's promise to us, that His Spirit would lead us into all truth, must apply to the Church as a whole, not just to one part of it either geographically or historically. Despite its family feuding, the Church was one until its split between East (Orthodoxy) and West (Rome) in about 1000 A.D. We believe that the only way for the Church to fully express the will of its Head is to once more be unified, and that the Church's schisms are one of its biggest disgraces.
• Creedal -- The core statements of the Faith contained in the Creeds -- Apostle's, Nicene, and Athanasian -- are necessary to belief for Christians, but in peripheral issues we are not to judge one another (as St. Paul said). With regards to non-essential matters of Christian practice, Anglicanism takes the position that "all may, some should, and no one must."
  
• Sacramental -- The Cathecism in the Prayer Book defines a sacrament as "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." We believe that as God made us physical as well as spiritual beings, the use of sacraments such as Holy Communion and Baptism (commanded by Christ) as well as the liturgy itself help us to worship God with our whole being -- body, mind, soul, and spirit. We reject both idolatry (confusion of the Creator with His creation) on one hand, and the antagonism toward symbolism and discounting of the physical creation which is typical of Protestanism at its most unfortunate. It is not, for instance, necessary for us to agree on exactly what Christ meant when He said that the bread was His Body and the wine His Blood; we need neither chemically analyze the change that takes place when the elements are consecrated, nor spiritualize it to the extent of saying it is "only a memorial." As C. S. Lewis said, Christ did not command us to "Take -- understand," but only to "Take -- eat."
  

A Bit about All Saints Church

In appearance, All Saints is the epitome of the "little white country church." Its building is a century old, and has been designated as a historical landmark of the city of Fountain Valley.

All Saints is part of The Anglican Church in America, one of a number of denominations -- collectively called "the continuing Anglican movement" -- that have separated from the mainline Episcopal church due to what we consider to be a steady veering away from orthodoxy in the mainline church.

All Saints' rector or priest is the Reverend Stephen Felkner, a strong defender and teacher of the Faith who is equally gifted at performing the liturgy, giving sermons, and counselling those in need. Father Stephen has been one of our best friends for the 14 years we have attended the church, and is godfather to our son, Gawain, as we are also godparents to John Paul, the youngest of Father Stephen and his wife Nancy's four children.

The parishioners of All Saints are as various as the breadth of Anglicanism itself. There are arty intellectual types and former Evangelicals (like we); there are those inclining more towards Protestanism and those inclining more towards Anglo-Catholicism (smells and bells), out-going go-getters and contemplatives, Calvinists and charismatics, former Romans (like our rector's wife) and (like our rector) former Baptists. Our church of about 100 members is very much of a family with all the intimacies and struggles that implies. Though we have seen our share of division and controversy (like any parish) in our 14 years there, Christ's Spirit has never ceased to be visibly active at All Saints for us whose social as well as spiritual life centers around the church.

The Church is located at 18082 Bushard Street in Fountain Valley, California. The phone number is (714) 963-3801; office hours are Monday through Thursday mornings.

Statement of Faith

All Saints' Services

Sundays

Weekdays