Christian Unity Sunday

Today was Christian Unity Sunday at church. As a result, Rev. Sails was off at another church, and we had an Anglican priest in his place. The priest is an Anglo-Catholic, which means he is an extremely high-church Anglican, much in the vein of Henry VIII (who was ardently Catholic in all but name, and just wanted to be in charge). He reported that he asked Rev. Sails "What order of service do you use?" and Rev. Sails replied, "Use whatever you like." The guy wasn't a huge fan of that answer. He was even less thrilled when he found out that he was expected to preach at 25-minute sermon in addition to planning the service. Apparently, he typically gives a 15-minute sermon, and isn't responsible for planning much, because he is Anglo-Catholic, and just opens a book, and *poof*, he knows what to do.

Much of the sermon was concerned with how much the Methodists and Anglicans need each other. Apparently, back in the 1970s, there was a movement to merge the two groups; however, the Anglicans voted against it. There seem to be some limited efforts to that effect in the works now; however, the broader effort is to promote understanding between the groups (as evidenced by groups like MethAng at the University of Exeter).