St Jude's In The Mountains Anglican Church - Tehachapi CA
The snow lay deep on the roof of the small home where men gathered to worship. The stove crackled with fresh wood, warming the home as the makeshift altar was prepared for Holy Eucharist. A large Bible sat prominently on a table nearby. Several men were dressed in the traditional cassock and surplice with an alb and stole. Others wore the normal clothes of the day. The service looked very Catholic, but it was in English, even though one of them was Italian and they happened to be near Frankfurt, Germany. These were exiles from England, reformers who escaped with their lives to help preserve the Gospel as Roman oppression from Queen Mary swept the land.
These exiles were mostly scholars, but a few of them were also clergy and influential laymen. One of the most important of these exiles was John Jewel, who was a tutor for King Edward VI and a scholar from Oxford. Another was John Knox, the theologian who helped establish the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. The Italian among them was Peter Martyr Vermigli, the Religious Professor of Divinity at Oxford, and an influential friend to John Jewel. The former Bishop of Rochester, Dr. John Ponet, was also among them, along with Sir Anthony Cooke, Sir William Cecil, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir Thomas Hoby and Sir Henry Killigrew. While some of their peers found fault in their exile, most recognized their effort to preserve the Reformation for England, to return at a time when systematic slaughter of reformers would subside.
The exile was a time of writing, planning and building an underground support, for the day of the Reformation resuming in England. Exile congregations were established in Emden, Wesel, Frankfurt, Strassburg, Zurich, Basel, Geneva and Aarau. The congregation at Emden produced many of the pamphlets that were smuggled into England, supporting the underground Church. Zurich was the temporary home of John Jewel, with Peter Martyr and other friends, and was a center of scholarship for theologians to prepare great writings for future leaders in England and throughout the Reformed movement. The congregation in Geneva, with the scholarship of Whittingham, Gilby and Coverdale, produced the famous Geneva Bible, later printed en masse by Rowland Hall in 1560. This was the first edition of the Bible that divided chapters into numbered verses. It also had scholarly notes from John Calvin and other reformers, and proved to be the most popular English Bible until the Authorized Version (later called the King James Version) of 1611. Thus God used the exile to later rebuild His Church in England.
Today, as many Episcopalians who love Jesus seek a place of refuge, our province of the Southern Cone has become such a safe place. Under Archbishop Venables we have been free to keep our bishop and all of our faithful clergy. Through the Common Cause Partnership we are informing faithful Anglicans in the Episcopal Church and beyond of the power of the Gospel at work among us. Through the GAFCON movement we are establishing theological reform throughout the Anglican Communion. As the lawsuits subside and the new Anglican province emerges in North America, our spiritual exile shall resolve into a homecoming.
These exiles were mostly scholars, but a few of them were also clergy and influential laymen. One of the most important of these exiles was John Jewel, who was a tutor for King Edward VI and a scholar from Oxford. Another was John Knox, the theologian who helped establish the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. The Italian among them was Peter Martyr Vermigli, the Religious Professor of Divinity at Oxford, and an influential friend to John Jewel. The former Bishop of Rochester, Dr. John Ponet, was also among them, along with Sir Anthony Cooke, Sir William Cecil, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir Thomas Hoby and Sir Henry Killigrew. While some of their peers found fault in their exile, most recognized their effort to preserve the Reformation for England, to return at a time when systematic slaughter of reformers would subside.
The exile was a time of writing, planning and building an underground support, for the day of the Reformation resuming in England. Exile congregations were established in Emden, Wesel, Frankfurt, Strassburg, Zurich, Basel, Geneva and Aarau. The congregation at Emden produced many of the pamphlets that were smuggled into England, supporting the underground Church. Zurich was the temporary home of John Jewel, with Peter Martyr and other friends, and was a center of scholarship for theologians to prepare great writings for future leaders in England and throughout the Reformed movement. The congregation in Geneva, with the scholarship of Whittingham, Gilby and Coverdale, produced the famous Geneva Bible, later printed en masse by Rowland Hall in 1560. This was the first edition of the Bible that divided chapters into numbered verses. It also had scholarly notes from John Calvin and other reformers, and proved to be the most popular English Bible until the Authorized Version (later called the King James Version) of 1611. Thus God used the exile to later rebuild His Church in England.
Today, as many Episcopalians who love Jesus seek a place of refuge, our province of the Southern Cone has become such a safe place. Under Archbishop Venables we have been free to keep our bishop and all of our faithful clergy. Through the Common Cause Partnership we are informing faithful Anglicans in the Episcopal Church and beyond of the power of the Gospel at work among us. Through the GAFCON movement we are establishing theological reform throughout the Anglican Communion. As the lawsuits subside and the new Anglican province emerges in North America, our spiritual exile shall resolve into a homecoming.
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