Canterbury Trails Podcast By Jared Lovell | C.Jay Engel cover art

Canterbury Trails

Canterbury Trails

By: Jared Lovell | C.Jay Engel
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Exploring the Riches of the Anglican WayCopyright 2025 Jared Lovell | C.Jay Engel Christianity Ministry & Evangelism Social Sciences Spirituality
Episodes
  • Episode 14 - Preaching in the Anglican Tradition
    Jul 4 2025

    What is the purpose of preaching? Is it just something to endure while waiting for the Main Event of Communion? Or is preaching itself the Main Event, with Communion merely a monthly or quarterly extra? Or does the truth lie somewhere in the via media?

    On this week’s episode of Canterbury Trails, Jared (without C. Jay, who is out this week) answers these questions with our special guest, Father Matt Kennedy, rector of Anglican Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton, NY, co-host of the Stand Firm Podcast, and, most relevant to today’s discussion, Canon for Preaching in the Anglican Diocese of the Living Word.

    God speaks directly to His people through the act of preaching, so it’s not just a 30-minute pep talk, or an academic lecture. There is business being done by the Holy Spirit when a pastor preaches.

    But there are different views on preaching among Christians—and a variety of experiences.

    For Anglicans who have come out of evangelical or fundamentalist churches, there can be a sense that Anglicanism is about getting away from preaching and doctrine and everything associated with their former churches: that the beauty of the liturgy will be enough to convey whatever sense of spirituality they are now looking for.

    And what about the different kinds of preaching: topical, liturgical/church calendar/lectionary, expository? Are pastors allowed to preach about politics and social issues from the pulpit, and if so, to what extent?

    Listen in to get wise commentary on all these matters and more, including some fascinating insight into the Biblical story of Joseph that you’ve likely never heard before.

    Visit Father Kennedy online at Good Shepherd Church: https://goodshepherdbinghamton.org/

    Listen to Father Kennedy’s Stand Firm podcast: https://standfirminfaith.com/


    Image of Anglo-Saxon map by Hel-hama - Own work using:InkscapeSource: England and Wales at the time of the Treaty of Chippenham (AD 878). From the Atlas of European History, Earle W Dowe (d. 1946), G Bell and Sons, London, 1910 (see: File:England-878ad.jpg), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19885072

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    1 hr and 20 mins
  • Episode 13 - Sanctification and Manual Labor
    Jun 25 2025

    What do sanctification, basketball, playing guitar, and plumbing have in common? And why does our special guest have “ora et labora” tattooed on his hands? On today’s episode of Canterbury Trails, C. Jay Engel and Jared Lovell talk to plumber, writer, and postulant in the Reformed Episcopal Church, Nathaniel Marshall, about trades, repetition, the mechanical arts, manual labor, and how they all relate to Christian sanctification. Glancing back to Episode 2 where we discussed Benedict and his Rule, our hosts and guest remind us that the Christian is apprenticed to a Carpenter. Many modern Christians separate the spiritual life from their day-to-day work life. But Nathaniel helps us to understand how manual labor trains us in virtue and helps us grow in faith and holiness.

    Read Nathaniel’s article, “Anglicanism: Apprenticeship to the Carpenter-King” at North American Anglican here: https://northamanglican.com/anglicanism-apprenticeship-to-the-carpenter-king/

    Image of Anglo-Saxon map by Hel-hama - Own work using:InkscapeSource: England and Wales at the time of the Treaty of Chippenham (AD 878). From the Atlas of European History, Earle W Dowe (d. 1946), G Bell and Sons, London, 1910 (see: File:England-878ad.jpg), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19885072

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Episode 12 - Time, Ritual, and the Christian Story
    Jun 6 2025

    C. Jay is away this week, but Jared carries on with a fascinating conservation about Time. With returning guest Jesse Nigro of The North American Anglican, Jared talks about how the way we think about Time can serve catechetical purposes. One reason Christianity was able to survive through the Middle Ages is how they thought about Time, and the rituals in which they engaged throughout the day, week, seasons, and years.

    Jared and Jesse discuss the need for us, here in the 21st century, to think about how we inhabit time. St. Paul wrote in Ephesians that we should be “redeeming the time.” How do we apply that in a world that resists deep reflection on Time? Ritual and the Christian Calendar can be helpful here: filling the hours and days with Christian meaning rather than emptying them and creating a vacuum for our secular age; or rejecting them in the name of a “simple, old-time religion.”

    Join the conversation as we consider various questions: How is ritual useful? How can we, as modern, untethered, evangelical Christians, think about ritual? Why was it virtually impossible to disbelieve in God in the Middle Ages, but so easy, perhaps unavoidable, for many in our modern day?

    Instead of living in a world where Time is marked by reminders of the God who created us, we live in a world where, if you’re mindful of Time at all, you’re doing it wrong. But what if there is a better way?

    Time will pass, no matter how or whether we mark it. Life will still fly by, but in a world where Ritual marks Time, you can think back: “what did I do this morning, or last week, or last year at this time?” And you will know. Because it’s a particular season of the Church Year, you know what you did, and what was going on, because you’re aware of the time.

    And because you mark the time using Christian categories, you can relate your story, your time on earth, to the Great Story of Christ.

    Image of Anglo-Saxon map by Hel-hama - Own work using:InkscapeSource: England and Wales at the time of the Treaty of Chippenham (AD 878). From the Atlas of European History, Earle W Dowe (d. 1946), G Bell and Sons, London, 1910 (see: File:England-878ad.jpg), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19885072

    The image on the thumbnail, "The Ancient Custom of Blessing the Fields on Rogation Sunday at Hever, Kent", was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by Ray Trevena and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

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    1 hr and 6 mins
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