Like a mighty army moves the church of God;
Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod;
We are not divided; all one body we,
One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.

--- Verse three of Hymn 557, “Onward, Christian Soldiers” by Sabine Baring-Gould

Well, yes and no. The Post-Communion Prayer of Thanksgiving on page 83 of The Book of Common Prayer refers to the Church as “ the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people,” which I take to mean all those who believe in Christ as the divine Son of God and trust in Him for their ultimate salvation from sin and death. So in that mystical and spiritual sense I suppose we can say “yes” to “all one body we.” But in an earthly sense we are certainly not “One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.”

As to doctrine, some doctrinal differences are of minimal importance, but some are critical to how we understand many fundamental aspects of our relationship to God. A good example of this is how various Christian groups understand baptism. Many Protestant denominations adhere to what is generally referred to as “believers' baptism,” the practice of those who allow the baptism only of those persons who are judged to already understand and to believe the gospel. These groups therefore explicitly deny the validity of infant baptism.

The more ancient Catholic and Orthodox practice holds that baptism is not simply an expression of belief offered by the person being presented for baptism but an actual occasion of divine grace whereby the person presented becomes a member of the Body of Christ not by his or her own natural human flawed and incomplete understanding or intention but rather by the action of God Himself. The very first page of our Prayer Book service of Holy Baptism (page 273) makes this point very clearly when the officiating minister says to the congregation “I beseech you to call upon God the Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that of his bounteous mercy he will grant to this Child (or Person) that which by nature he cannot have; that he may be baptized with Water and the Holy Ghost, and received into Christ’s holy Church, and be made a living member of the same.”

As it happens, I was baptized by full immersion at the age of nineteen in a denomination that practiced believer's baptism. I left that denomination for a number of reasons, and have never regretted doing so. Looking back, I recognize that I most certainly did not then have anything even approaching a full understanding of the Gospel. In fact, I am well aware that I still do not, and do not expect ever to have one unless and until it is revealed to me in the next life. The fullness of the grace of God is one of many mysteries that we can come to know a great deal about but can never perfectly understand in this present life. A rather considerable degree of spiritual and intellectual humility seems to me to be an important and even a necessary attitude for growth in the Christian life. Knowing that some of the churches in that denomination are now baptizing children at the age of five really amazes me. Nevertheless, I am morally certain that there are many truly sincere believers in that denomination and many other denominations, some of whose doctrinal beliefs I simply cannot accept. It is at very least possible and certainly probable that I am mistaken on some of those points, but I must believe and attempt to live according to the truth as I can best comprehend it here and now and trust God to forgive and to correct my understanding as and when He sees fit to do so.

In the meantime, the fractured nature of Christianity today ought to be a scandal to us all. The spiritual union of “all faithful people” is certainly not embodied in the world as we experience it. How can it be when there are more than 200 recognized denominations in the United States today and thousands more around the world, and when the fastest-growing segment of American Christianity is non-denominational congregations, independent stand-alone congregations that intentionally maintain no ties to any of the established denominations? We are obviously not “a mighty army” united in doctrine and practice. Indeed, some Christian groups regularly and persistently denounce and belittle other denominations with considerable vigor and more than a little ill-will. That state of affairs clearly does not make the work of presenting the Gospel to the world any easier; it impedes it. We could certainly serve God better if we were indeed “One in hope and doctrine, one in charity,” starting with charity to one another.

For a number of years I was involved with the LARC (Lutheran-Anglican-Roman Catholic) movement. Joint conferences, retreats, worship services and study groups were held, and some shared social and charitable ministries were founded, but it eventually became apparent that no real restoration of organic unity was possible. Centuries of doctrinal and structural governance decisions had become so ingrained in the various denominations that no restoration of real unity was possible.

One of many reasons why I consider myself blessed to be a part of the Anglican Catholic Church is that I believe that we are truly and sincerely trying to be faithful in doctrine, polity (Church governance), and spirit to the Biblical injunction in the first chapter of The Epistle of Jude in these words: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”  We have as our model the faith and practice of the first five centuries of the Church's life when there were no denominations, when every Christian person could know that as a member of the Body of Christ he or she was truly in communion with every other Christian person.

We focus on what we understand to be the core message of faith in Christ as the earliest and still unified Church knew and practiced it. The essentials of the Faith, such as the supreme authority of the Bible, the sufficiency of the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed as statements of necessary doctrine and the objective efficacy of the sacraments were all agreed upon when the Church was one.

An old proverb says that no stream can rise higher than its source. I believe that many of the deviations from the central message of the Gospel and the essential nature of the Church, no matter how sincere, have divided Christians by claiming to have greater insight and understanding of God's mind than those who stood closer in time and culture to Christ and those who knew Him in the flesh. Century after century Roman Catholics and Protestants alike have set forward as necessary both doctrines and also practices which were unknown to the undivided Church.

It seems to me that if there is ever to be a truly united Christian Church on earth before The Second Coming, it can only be achieved by accepting as truly necessary those things, and only those things, which the early Christians, the Christians of the undivided Church, saw as necessary. Much of what has been added since may or may not be beneficial, or perhaps beneficial to some but not to all, but none of those additions should be held as necessary; to maintain that they are necessary is to assert that the early and undivided Church was in effect not Christian, which seems to me a logical absurdity. I find in the Anglican Catholic Church a wholesome and humble willingness to recognize that there are many doctrines and practices upon which we may disagree, but that so long as we recognize that they are what we call “pious opinion,” things that may be believed but that are not necessary to our salvation, we can continue in full and fruitful unity with one another. That is, in my opinion, a necessary attitude that alone can provide a basis for any real reunification of fragmented Christendom.

I find very helpful a phrase that is often used to describe our denomination and the other continuing Anglican denominations: “An ancient faith for the modern world.” Ours is indeed an ancient faith, because we understand Christ and His Church to be fully and adequately revealed in the scripture, creeds, doctrine, and practices of the ancient Church. It is a faith for the modern world because it refuses to substitute for the timeless and unshakeable truths of the Gospel any current cultural contradictions to those truths. Our faith and practice are not dictated by the fads, fashions, or passions of the moment. They grow naturally out of an attempt to heed Saint Paul's word in Romans 12:2: "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

 --- Father Bragg +

All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee

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Services & Events

This Saturday, August 29, 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. in the undercroft. Women's brunch honoring the MaRiH Crisis Pregnancy Center: Enjoy some end-of-summer fun and fellowship while helping local women and their babies. Please bring an item from MaRiH Center's critical needs list. Brunch is potluck; please consider bringing a dish to share. Please RSVP to margot.anderson@proton.me or you're also welcome if you haven't RSVPed. 

Sunday, 9:00 AM and 11:15 AM services, for online participation go to
https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland or to 
https://www.youtube.com/@StAndrewandStMargaret/streams

Nursery during both services

Sunday School, on recess for the summer, returns September 27
 
Wednesday at Noon – Holy Communion and anointing for healing, for online participation go to https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland or to 
https://www.youtube.com/@StAndrewandStMargaret/streams
 
Sunday, Sept 20, Annual Parish Picnic at Fort Hunt Park, following combined 10:00 AM service. Pork Barrel BBQ in Del Ray will provide pulled pork, coleslaw, mac and cheese, baked beans and potato salad. The Parish will provide hamburgers and hot dogs. A sign-up sheet for appetizers/side dishes and desserts is posted on the bulletin board in the undercroft.

Monday, Sept 21, St. Matthew’s Day Service at 12 noon

Monday, Sept 21, 7:30 PM, Vestry, meets at 7:30 PM in church undercroft

Tuesday, Sept 29, St. Michael's Day Service at 12 noon
 
MaRiH Crisis Pregnancy Center: Critical Needs
& More
 
Below are 2 lists: the critical needs list and the updated needs list. The all volunteer staff of the MaRiH Center and the families that they help are very thankful for the support that our parish continues to provide.

Critical Needs:
Diapers: sizes 5 and 6
Spring/Summer clothing (Boys & Girls): size 0-3 months, size 2T 
Baby Wipes
Baby Blankets
Baby formula: Similac Advance Formula
Bibs: toddler
Car seat: infant
Other needs:
Diapers: newborn, 1, 2, 3, 4
Spring/Summer Clothing: 3-6 month, 9-12 month, 18-24 month, 
Bibs: infant
Maternity clothes: (Spring/Summer). (Fall/Winter)
Wash cloths
Hooded towels
Diaper rash ointment, Baby shampoo
Baby bottles
Baby formula: All other Similac & Enfamil types. Also accept Alimentum & Nutramigen. No other brands are accepted. Please make sure dates have not expired.
Sleep sack: 0-6, 6-12 month
There are two options for helping the Center with these needs:
Option 1 
Amazon has all the specific items needed. You can order the specific item(s) and have them delivered directly to the Center.  

The MaRiH Center
3230B Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-4521
703-370-4774

Option 2 
Go to your local store, purchase the items requested and drop them off at church on Sunday. We will deliver them to the MaRiH Center.
 
 
Food Bank 
 
The food bank continues to need our assistance to feed the hungry. Summer means less food donations are available to the Food Bank often with more requests for help.

Please help this month with a food donation if you are able. Those we help feed are very thankful for the food we provide to them each month. Please also buy low sugar cereals (and not the kid's types that have lots of sugar). Also lower sodium products are better and more healthy.

Current needs include the following:
canned meats (chicken, corned beef, spam)
tuna (cans or foil packages)
peanut butter. jelly
canned vegetables (corn, green beans - (regular and low sodium)
individual fruit cups (low sugar)
canned fruit (low sugar)
canola or vegetable oil (48 oz)
boxed cereal (low sugar) and instant or old fashioned oatmeal (18 oz or 42 oz)
pasta (regular and gluten-free):
instant potatoes
single serving fruit juice
macaroni & cheese
soups: Chunky or Progresso, chicken noodle soup; chicken broth, cream of mushroom. tomato
coffee, cooking oil, flour, sugar

 
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Our mailing address is:
St. Andrew & St. Margaret of Scotland
1607 Dewitt Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22301-1625