We seek to know and love foremost God in the face of Jesus Christ and in that light come to know and love our neighbours as ourselves. We long to see the truth, beauty and goodness of God and to know better the astonishing gift of being human, the tragedy of sin, and the hope of glory, a glory unimaginable.
The Church of England describes its teaching this way in its canons:
The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal (the liturgy for the ordaining of ministers). [Canon A5]
On ethical issues, our church will teach what the vast majority of the Church has always taught and still teaches.
To live a moral life is to move from being carnally minded to spiritually minded. We seek to cultivate the virtuous life as we are graced with faith, hope and love. [e.g. 1 Cor 13] It includes, as a beginning, an awareness and a right ordering of the passions of the soul - pride, vainglory, dejection, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust. [e.g. Mk 7:14-23, Eph 2:3] We don't focus on one of these passions more than the others, neither do we forget any.
But to live a moral life is not an end in itself. As our passions are reordered by grace, our vision opens up. We are illuminated from above, we see more clearly God in the face of Jesus Christ, in creation and in our lives. We become more able to truly love God and our neighbour.
Through our union by Word and Sacrament with God in Christ, who has ascended, we too will ascend into the life of God who is our true end and joy.
