Dear People of Christ Church,
Yesterday evening, our Introduction to the Episcopal Church class continued. The topic for was "The church's stance on contemporary moral issues." As with last week when we tried to cover the Bible, prayer, liturgy, and the sacraments in 90 minutes, we definitely had our work cut out for us, but still managed to have a great conversation.
The Episcopal Church is known for being a distinctive combination of traditional liturgy and "modern" social practice-or, as the comedian (and Episcopalian) Robin Williams puts it, "All of the pageantry, none of the guilt." On the "traditional" side, we share a deeply historic faith. The Episcopal Church is a daughter of the Anglican church (Anglican just means "of England" and we are still part of the worldwide Anglican Communion). But our history goes back before the church in England broke from Rome. Our confession of the Nicene Creed is 1600 years old, and our sacraments go back to the practice of Jesus. We gather, as his disciples did, in the breaking of the bread, and we, as they did, baptize in the name of the Trinity. At the same time, we are also a "modern" church-we ordain women and married people, support the right of people to limit their family size as they feel called, and respond to human sexuality in dialogue with the wider culture. What we sometimes forget, though, is that some of what is often called "new" really isn't-we're just being faithful to the theology we've shared for hundreds of years.
Early Anglicans talked about how the church was like a three legged stool, supported by Scripture, tradition, and reason. All three have equal claim-otherwise, you fall off! Too much Scripture, and you are worshipping a book instead of a living God. Too much reason, and you elevate human knowledge above mystery and faith. Too much tradition, and you find yourself in a museum, not a church.
This approach has real consequences for the practice of the church in the world. While it is true that women have only been regularly ordained since 1971 (Hong Kong was the first-the US followed in 1974 and 1976), it is not new theology that says this is finally OK. In our diocese, where gays and lesbians can legally be married, it is not "new theology"' that says that they should be offered the full benefit of the support and blessings of the church. It is our reason informing our tradition, reading Scripture for clues about how love is of God and how all love is to be honored. It is reason that looks at what homosexual practice was understood to be in Biblical times, and seeing how that's quite different from two people pledging their love as long as they both shall live. It is tradition that looks at the practice of marriage and thinks, "Gosh, it seems like marriage really helps society and it helps people keep their promises. Sounds like something everyone should have access to."
So, too, with women-the church is part of the world. It is a comparatively new thing that the world has "gotten" that women are equal to men. It's too bad that the church didn't figure it out first, but as the wider culture started to understand, so, too, did the church. But the church did so in applying its same old categories of analysis to the contemporary world-it didn't invent new justifications or new ideas. God is still the creator of all, and God is still a creator who named creation-all of it-good. God still wants to see the gifts of every person used to the fullest. This is a tradition that honors a Holy Spirit who still speaks.
When Henry the VIII wanted to get a divorce back in the sixteenth century, he was protesting the wider issue of a distant pope having say in English affairs. He wanted, in effect, for the church to respond to lives as they are lived, where they are lived. He wanted for decisions to be made close to the ground, in the same place where they impact people's lives. So, too, now: the Episcopal Church is nimble enough to allow same sex marriage in states where it is legal, but to allow dioceses (and, even congregations) where the people don't support it (either legally or theologically) to abstain.
Diversity, too, is the name of the game-we unite in prayer, but recognize that each of us may pray and believe differently. Queen Elizabeth I famously said that she did not "desire windows into men's souls." Each of us can believe differently, but coming together in those sacraments and those creeds feeds us in our differences. Not everyone has to agree on sexuality, or on abortion, or on the death penalty-but when we come to the altar, we are all equally fed-and there is enough for everyone. Thanks be to God!
Blessings,
Sara+
Showing posts with label anglican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anglican. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
April 15: Intro to the Episcopal Church
Continued Easter Blessings!
This week, our "Introduction to the Episcopal Church" Class met for the first time. I offer this every spring (or so) for new parishioners and for those who are considering confirmation or reception into the Episcopal Church. We had a good sized group meet, and we started with the rather ambitious goal of covering "The beginnings of the Anglican Church and the foundations of Anglicanism, The Episcopal Church in the US: polity, governance, and our diocese." Needless to say, it was a discussion from about 50,000 feet up.
In going around the room to talk about what people hoped to get out of the class, Christie mentioned that she had been raised in a non denominational church, which was an independent congregation, and liked the idea of how the Anglican Church spans the globe--and time. This is one of the things that I love about the Episcopal Church, too, and especially Anglicanism in general. Going all the way back to the beginning of the Reformation, the Anglican tradition has shared and honored some of the same traditions and commitments. We've always been "about" respecting local communities and local desires, even when those desires differ from place to place. We've always been "about" the experience of the individual and the local community, not about the dictates from a distant hierarchy.
At every stage of Anglican history, there has been someone saying, "That can't possibly hang together as a church. All those people are too different." But we're still here and still together. This is one of the tragic things about the disputes right now in the church; I think that those who would like to see the Episcopal Church in the US excluded in some way are misreading hundreds of years of Anglican theology. We are loosely allied, but that's been our strength. The Anglican Communion is a Communion because we are all, in some way, descended from the churches that have their home in the English reformation of the 16th century. All of us, in some way, are on a continuum of being "Catholic" and "Protestant," and all of us have some form of the Book of Common Prayer, whether it be the more recent books like our own, edited in 1979, or translations of the 1662 BCP translated into local languages. All of us believe in the Creeds, the Sacraments, and Scripture--and that we have experience and reason to guide our practice. That casts a pretty wide net, and it's one I'm comfortable with.
We had some news from our own diocese this week as well. Bishop Gayle Harris had taken a leave of absence this fall, which extended through the winter. She will be back in the diocese of May 3, working in some of the same capacities as before. Bishop Shaw goes on sabbatical starting in May as well, and Bishop Cederholm will be in charge of the diocese in his absence. Please keep them all in your prayers.
Blessings,
Sara+
This week, our "Introduction to the Episcopal Church" Class met for the first time. I offer this every spring (or so) for new parishioners and for those who are considering confirmation or reception into the Episcopal Church. We had a good sized group meet, and we started with the rather ambitious goal of covering "The beginnings of the Anglican Church and the foundations of Anglicanism, The Episcopal Church in the US: polity, governance, and our diocese." Needless to say, it was a discussion from about 50,000 feet up.
In going around the room to talk about what people hoped to get out of the class, Christie mentioned that she had been raised in a non denominational church, which was an independent congregation, and liked the idea of how the Anglican Church spans the globe--and time. This is one of the things that I love about the Episcopal Church, too, and especially Anglicanism in general. Going all the way back to the beginning of the Reformation, the Anglican tradition has shared and honored some of the same traditions and commitments. We've always been "about" respecting local communities and local desires, even when those desires differ from place to place. We've always been "about" the experience of the individual and the local community, not about the dictates from a distant hierarchy.
At every stage of Anglican history, there has been someone saying, "That can't possibly hang together as a church. All those people are too different." But we're still here and still together. This is one of the tragic things about the disputes right now in the church; I think that those who would like to see the Episcopal Church in the US excluded in some way are misreading hundreds of years of Anglican theology. We are loosely allied, but that's been our strength. The Anglican Communion is a Communion because we are all, in some way, descended from the churches that have their home in the English reformation of the 16th century. All of us, in some way, are on a continuum of being "Catholic" and "Protestant," and all of us have some form of the Book of Common Prayer, whether it be the more recent books like our own, edited in 1979, or translations of the 1662 BCP translated into local languages. All of us believe in the Creeds, the Sacraments, and Scripture--and that we have experience and reason to guide our practice. That casts a pretty wide net, and it's one I'm comfortable with.
We had some news from our own diocese this week as well. Bishop Gayle Harris had taken a leave of absence this fall, which extended through the winter. She will be back in the diocese of May 3, working in some of the same capacities as before. Bishop Shaw goes on sabbatical starting in May as well, and Bishop Cederholm will be in charge of the diocese in his absence. Please keep them all in your prayers.
Blessings,
Sara+
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Prayers for the Church in Zimbabwe
This week, I wanted to share some news of our bishop, The Rt. Rev M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE. The SSJE means that he’s a monk—a brother in the Society of St John the Evangelist, a monastery in Cambridge (SSJE is a great resource—see www.ssje.org for more on their ministries). Bishop Shaw is our diocesan bishop, and his work is supported by two suffragan (assisting) bishops, The Rt. Revs Gayle Harris and Bud Cederholm. Gayle will be visiting us next fall, in September (she was also here in the spring of 2006), and Bud was here in March of 2007.
We’ll hear more about the international church in the coming weeks as Anglican bishops across the globe prepare to travel to the Lambeth Conference, a meeting of all the bishops that happens every ten years (the conference is from July 16 to August 3). Please take a moment now to pray for Christians everywhere, especially the church in Zimbabwe, and for fair elections there later this month.
For more background on the situation for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, see
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/africa/16zimbabwe.html?sq=zimbabwe%20anglican&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all
Tom just came back from a trip to Zimbabwe, taken at the request of our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori and with the invitation of Sebastian Bakare of the Diocese of Harare. This is from his statement about the trip:
I was asked to travel to Harare to express the church’s solidarity with our Anglican brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Harare who are under profound oppression and to gather information for the presiding bishop about the political situation there. I interviewed some 50 priests, lay people and human rights lawyers in Harare over the course of my one week stay. I can report that the situation in Zimbabwe is indeed grave. There are widespread violations of human rights, daily reports of murder and torture and an economic and humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions. The inflation rate is one million percent and unemployment ranges between 80-90%. There are long lines for gas and at banks, limited electricity and clean water and virtually empty shelves in supermarkets. . . . Thousands of Anglican worshipers have been locked out of their churches, their church properties have been occupied by government-backed allies and their personal automobiles have been confiscated. A local priest must move from house to house every night to avoid possible arrest. A nine-year-old boy and a widowed mother of five children were beaten by police for failing to leave the church site.
I was asked to travel to Harare to express the church’s solidarity with our Anglican brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Harare who are under profound oppression and to gather information for the presiding bishop about the political situation there. I interviewed some 50 priests, lay people and human rights lawyers in Harare over the course of my one week stay. I can report that the situation in Zimbabwe is indeed grave. There are widespread violations of human rights, daily reports of murder and torture and an economic and humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions. The inflation rate is one million percent and unemployment ranges between 80-90%. There are long lines for gas and at banks, limited electricity and clean water and virtually empty shelves in supermarkets. . . . Thousands of Anglican worshipers have been locked out of their churches, their church properties have been occupied by government-backed allies and their personal automobiles have been confiscated. A local priest must move from house to house every night to avoid possible arrest. A nine-year-old boy and a widowed mother of five children were beaten by police for failing to leave the church site.
In an article in the Boston Globe about his trip, Bishop Shaw talked about the inspirational faith of the Church there:
Sunday I went to this really poor township, and over 400 people were worshiping in this yard of this person's house, spilling out into the road. It was an unbelievable experience. The enthusiasm, the joy that these people have is pretty profound. . . I preached about the fact that they are not isolated in the Anglican Communion, and that there were literally millions of people around the globe that . . . are praying for them…. And I preached about that they were a real model for the rest of us around the world, in the way that they are standing up against oppression, and not letting it get in the way of their worship for God.
Sunday I went to this really poor township, and over 400 people were worshiping in this yard of this person's house, spilling out into the road. It was an unbelievable experience. The enthusiasm, the joy that these people have is pretty profound. . . I preached about the fact that they are not isolated in the Anglican Communion, and that there were literally millions of people around the globe that . . . are praying for them…. And I preached about that they were a real model for the rest of us around the world, in the way that they are standing up against oppression, and not letting it get in the way of their worship for God.
For a short video and the Boston Globe article, visit http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2008/06/06/bishop_finds_flock_tormented_in_zimbabwe/?page=full
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/world/africa/16zimbabwe.html?sq=zimbabwe%20anglican&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=all
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