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| Chichester Cathedral, from the garden |
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About the Episcopal Church
Q. I’ve heard of the Episcopal Church. How is it different?
A. The Episcopal Church is the bridge between Protestants and Catholics. That bridge is the Church's hope in reuniting the divided Christian world.
Whether they honor it or not, all Christians have a stake in the Episcopal Church. Sectarianism is inevitable, but it's also a sin. So much of faith depends on our unique personal experience that no two people ever completely agree about everything in their conception of God; but we do cluster in consensus, and if we also maintain an openness to others' views, we can congregate. Therefore the "bridge church" is crucial. The Episcopal Church builds consensus among Catholics and Protestants.
A little history: the word “episcopal” comes from Greek and refers to bishops, who are the successors to the 12 apostles of Christ. The Anglican Communion (of which the U.S. Episcopal Church is a part) traces its line of bishops all the way back to St. Peter, the rock on whom Jesus built his church. Every succeeding Episcopal bishop has been approved by the ones before, in the apostles’ own succession plan.
That’s important; it establishes authority. It helps ensure that you’re getting the real Christianity, as Jesus and his chosen disciples developed it. Other important Communions also share this trait: the Churches of Rome, Sweden and Orthodoxy are three examples. Recently and with great joy, this authority has been restored to greater Lutheranism. Churches are coming together!
The Episcopal Church is unquestionably Catholic and necessarily Protestant. We cannot invest ultimate authority in any man but Jesus. God alone is infallible.
We love the Catholic Church but Jesus is the only one we follow. We keep the mass and the apostles' fellowship, but we protest the claims of the president of Catholicism.
We respect him but deny his authority. That's what makes us the bridge between Catholics and Protestants.
How did we get this way? Most people start with Henry VIII, but he did not create the Church of England; it was there for 1400 years before he showed up. Instead, the English Church gained its independence from Rome under Henry. His motives were human and in later years extreme, but the results have been glorious.
All Americans understand a declaration of independence such as Henry made from Rome. And the Episcopal Church mirrors American history: its governance is free and democratic. The people elect their clergy and lay leaders without any decree from a faraway prelate. Clergy are accountable; abuse of power is rare.
The Episcopal Church is not fundamentalist. We don't shove religion down anyone's throat. We worship God, not the Bible; there is a profound difference. One is fixed, written down, full of glorious teachings but potentially stagnant; God is alive and continues to teach us more.
The Bible is the incomparable divine library about God, but it was written by human beings. Episcopalians revere the Bible, use it as the supreme authority in essential matters of faith and read it more than most churches do; but we also believe in ongoing revelation—and we don’t have to rewrite our theology every time a scientist discovers something new.
Episcopalians have the courage and the faith to face the fact that the earth revolves around the sun, not the other way around as the Bible states. The Bible assumes the earth is flat. That alone should make you question fundamentalism.
Biblical writers didn't know any better; telescopes hadn't been invented yet. The Bible is not a science text, but a profound guide to faith. It doesn't contain all the answers; but oh, the answers it contains!
God is not served by making ever more exacting, precise, legalistic, perfectionist demands on people through misinterpretations of the words. In fact this dishonors the living, steadfast God.
Perfectionism leads nowhere. The Amish used to fight about whether reflector shields on buggies were impermissible "decorations." They finally decided God didn't want believers to get run over.
It is an essential part of the Christian faith that ministers lift up standards of moral behavior. But Jesus said that we judge each other at our own peril. Those who compete to be the strictest are invariably the most judgmental. Does "Woe to you Pharisees, you hypocrites" apply to people long dead, or to us?
Jesus opposed the religious authorities of his day. What lesson do we learn from that? That we're so much smarter now, or that we should seriously examine our own assumptions?
In the Episcopal Church, during Holy Week when Christ was crucified, we make congregations shout "Crucify him!" We make people identify with the oppressors, not the Christ-victim. Everyone gets horribly uncomfortable.
We don't need reinforcement of our goodness; we are mostly good people. What we need is awareness of our sin.
Thus it's common to find Episcopalians down on their knees, in the posture of begging and worship.
We are all crucifiers. We are all oppressors AND victims, just sinners. It's a shattering experience, having to focus on our own sin.
But that's where the Episcopal Church begins to purge itself from hypocrisy, while fundamentalists congratulate themselves for their faith. Search for authenticity, and you might become an Episcopalian.
We are the chief sinners, but also the chief confessors. Without grace we'd be dead. Yet somehow we survive, even with an elected Gay bishop.
Is God calling us to confront today's Pharisees? How do we find authenticity in this modern world?
We have to be very careful with the holy Book. It's easy to misuse it. Religion can be dangerous. Most of the world's wars have been fought in its name. Islam is the current example, but the Christian Church has also perpetrated violence.
The Old Testament seems to condone slavery, polygamy and the subjugation of women. Was that God talking or a particular society?
The central commandment of worship in ancient Israel was animal sacrifice for sins. This was an improvement over human sacrifice, but still incredibly crude. Then Jesus came along and made a once-for-all human sacrifice. It's a hard thing to understand, until we consider the massive volunteerism of police officers, firefighters, soldiers and sailors, doctors, nurses and ordinary citizens (even if we only reached into our pockets) from the Netherlands to tsunami-torn Sri Lanka to relieve the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Can you have any doubt that self-sacrifice is holy?
God hasn't changed in what he requires or desires; but we have changed. Giving of ourselves is how we connect to the cosmos.
Yet we worship the God of Israel. He doesn't give contradictory commandments; God is unchanging, but he's not static. He lives; therefore he continues to communicate and draw us closer, in ways that often surprise people. The ongoing relationship of human beings to God is the story of faith these past 2000 years.
Jesus was constantly attacked by Pharisees and Sadducces, who tried to outdo each other in the strictness of their Jewish fundamentalism. The Episcopal Church is under similar attack today. Jesus often mingled with outcasts, while other churches keep creating outcasts. (Headline, May 8, 2005: "Church ousts members who don't back Bush," Associated Press, Waynesville, N.C. It would have been just as shameful if that pastor ousted Republicans or people named Smith.)
All-or-nothing thinking is childish, and when used as a weapon by the aggressively religious, it can be deadly.
Episcopalians try to leave ultimate judgments about other people to God. He's bigger than the Bible and he's bigger than we are; if he decides to sanctify Mahatma Gandhi, that's his business.
Among Christians, the Episcopal Church is a leader in bringing together music, architecture, art, spirituality and the spoken Word. Millions of people find Anglican worship the soul’s most satisfying approach to God.
Maybe you will too.
Episcopalians employ ritual—a physical act reflecting a spiritual grace; we get down on our knees to pray—lively but time-tested prayers, and a frank objectivity: the Anglican Way doesn’t depend on emotion, manipulative guilt, a charismatic and dominant preacher, or a particular Bible verse out of its vast context. Instead, balance and wholeness are the goal and often the result. Intellect and emotion both arise, but aren't forced on anyone. The mind responds to ideas as the soul responds to love, whether the setting is a magnificent cathedral or a tent on an Indian reservation. Episcopal worship is essentially the same in Dubuque as in Dubai, and the Good News of Christ crucified is the same in New York as in New Delhi. Times and places change, but God’s mighty act of salvation is once and for all.
Other churches, of course, are also profoundly faithful, and Episcopalians delight in the spiritual insights of sister churches. *We don't have to agree on everything to be members of the family.* Therefore we help lead the way ecumenically throughout the world to unify the various and competing ideologies of Christianity into one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, on earth as it is in heaven.
But don’t take our word for it; discover this for yourself. For more information and to find the Episcopal church nearest you, click below.
As you search, keep in mind that the Way of the Lamb ultimately requires a hard, fast commitment from each of us. As Jesus said in Luke 12:8-9:
“Whoever declares publicly that he belongs to me, the Son of Man will do the same for him before the angels of God; but whoever denies publicly that he belongs to me, the Son of Man will also deny him before the angels of God.”
To explore that commitment and join with other Christians throughout the world, the Episcopal Church Invites You!++
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