An Introduction to Episcopal 101 by the Rev. Ed Bird+ God Is Always out in Front of Us Calling Us Closer
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Episcopal 101 Theology An introduction to Episcopal 101 by The Rev. Ed Bird+ God is always out in front of us calling us closer. Christians do well to continue to be “L.I.T.” for the God’s voice in our individual and collective lives: LISTEN for God’s voice; constantly and continually INVITE God into our inner space; and TRUST that God loves us dearly, speaks to us, and guides us ever forward. Our God is eternal; that doesn’t mean God is stagnant. And following the call of God, and following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, means we aren’t expected to stand still either. Our journey with God, LISTENING, INVITING, TRUSTING, is hardly a straight path (think of the many turns and twists there must have been in the Exodus to take “forty years” to travel about 380 miles). And like the Israelites, it is important that we try to stick together and leave no one behind, as hard as that can be ecclesiologically, and theologically. But it is spiritually and humanly important that we all and each have eyes and ears and hearts on and with others in our faith. Episcopalians, as descendants of, and siblings to, the Church of England, know that from our own genesis, we don’t all need to agree on everything to be a whole, to be in communion with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. In fact, it is decidedly Anglican that we love and engage one another and with our diocese, our US Episcopal Church, and the larger still worldwide Anglican Communion. Hence from our earliest days, when we were new to the “not following Rome” branch of Christianity, the Church of England importantly agreed that we need NOT all follow the same theological path (the Creeds were sufficient for us as Christians) but continue in fellowship especially through worship. Our national Episcopal Church has continued her level best to continue to listen for the voice of God in our midst, in each other as Anglicans and as Christians, and to those who have wisdom to share who do not, for whatever reason, ever brighten the doorway of the Church. Episcopal 101 Theology An introduction to Episcopal 101 by The Rev. Ed Bird+, CON’T. God calls us constantly, consistently and in deep love for us to keep finding out how to bring God’s presence to the world—how to know Christ ourselves, and to make Christ known. God’s deep love for the creation and humans as stewards wakes us up to new ways, even new people, we had not worked well to share God’s love with. God calls us to constantly evaluate how we are “living life” and how we can continue to grow in how we respond to the five action items listed at the end of the Baptismal Covenant (BCP 304-5). Each question calls us from general to more specific ways of sharing and showing the powerful, creative, redemptive, and ever present love of God to others. And as the world God made continues to turn, in our dynamic efforts to continue to find God in others and share God with others, new ways of being Christ to the world become known to us in ways they hadn’t before. Humans journey with God and while we can and should stop and rest at times, we are not expected to be static in our faith. The Episcopal Church works hard to do that as a body at the parish level, the diocesan level, and at the national level. We are not in communion at the parish/ congregational level only; we are part of a larger polity of {we hope and we strive} many groups and myriad individuals. We are and strive to be a diverse body of faith, which is why it is so important that we at the parish level try to keep up with what other parishes are doing, what our diocese is doing, and what our national church is doing. We don’t necessarily take all of our cues for faith action from them but it’s important that we keep in touch with what being Episcopal means at this time…. And at this time… and at THIS time. ~ETBIV+ Note: Some of what follows are narrative to specific slides from the Episcopal 101 PPT PDF.. Beyond those are some information that is of value but could not be fit into the PPT presentation proper for the time allotted. Episcopal 101 Theology SLIDE 3 &4 The Episcopal Church has 111 dioceses and regional areas in 17 nations. The Episcopal Church is a member province of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Originally, we were the Church of England’s US wing. Later we were the US wing of the Anglican Communion. The nations of Latin America include Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Cuba. The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe is a collection of churches, mission congregations, and specialized ministries spread geographically over several countries in continental Europe. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity is located in the centre of Paris. SLIDE 5: In the second century, merchants and other travelers first brought Christianity to England. SLIDE 6 St Augustine of Canterbury; First Archbishop of Canterbury; His mission to England in 597 as marking the formal beginning of the church under papal authority which continued until the English Reformation of the 16th century. SLIDE 7 As you can see by this photograph, being under Roman papal authority was all well and good. SLIDE 8 1534 this fellow decided enough was enough and declared the Church of England to be separate from the Church of Rome and by the way, Henry VIII was now the head of the Church of England. We don’t really talk about him all that much; it seems his little escapade resulted in 20 years of drama and train wrecks UNTIL: Episcopal 101 Theology SLIDE 9: AH, our dearly beloved Good Queen Bessie the First, like a good daughter, came in and cleaned up her father’s mess; the English church united again with the Elizabethan Settlement (below) and everything was: SLIDE 10: Butterflies and rainbows and our wonderful Fairy Godmother of a queen, like any Queen Elizabeth, held her throne for a thousand years to make sure everything stayed on track. SLIDE 11 With the advent of British colonization, the Church of England was established on every continent. It is up to your own interpretation if the Church of England was a progenitor, partner or useful dupe in English Imperial Colonization. SLIDE 12 In time, these churches gained their independence, but retained connections with the mother church in the Anglican Communion. It’s these Bonds of Affection along with the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, the keep us in communion and connection. HERE IS WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU ARE AN EPISCOPALIAN: SLIDE 13 AND 14 Episcopalians, like all Anglicans, are people of a book, The Book of Common Prayer, or the BCP. It contains tons of useful information, but its primary use is for worship, individual and collective. Most services, or liturgies, that you would expect to use at home or in a congregation, are found here with rubrics, or how-to’s for worship, in terms of template and content. Episcopal 101 Theology SLIDE 13 AND 14, continued The Episcopal Church’s website says this: it is also the primary symbol of our unity. As Armentrout and Slocum note in their Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, that “Anglican liturgical piety has been rooted in the Prayer Book tradition since the publication of the first English Prayer Book in 1549.” Why do we have a Common Prayer Book? According to the book itself (BCP p. 11) from the Preface, Oct 1789: For • “the preservation of peace and unity in the Church; • “the procuring of reverence • “the exciting of piety and devotion in the worship of God • “finally, the cutting off occasion, from them that seek occasion, of cavil or quarrel against Her (the Church’s) liturgy” This purpose of our book goes back to the early days of the Church. Elizabeth I brought civil unrest to order in part through allowing the Roman leaning and the Calvinist leaning English faithful to unite through worship rather than fight over Scripture or ecclesiology. Church of England still uses 1662 BCP. SLIDE 16: You also get female priests, deacons and bishops. SLIDES 17-18: A few fun factoids about being a female in the Episcopal Church. SACRAMENTS [SLIDES 19 And you get Sacraments. This mnemonic device, an idea given to me by my friend, Bruce the Buddhist, helps you have all of them committed to memory. • BAPTISM • RECONCILIATION • UNCTION Episcopal 101 Theology • CONFIRMATION • EUCHARIST • ORDINATION • MARRIAGE • The sacramental rites of the Episcopal Church include Confirmation, Ordination, Holy Matrimony, Reconciliation of a Penitent, and Untion (BCP, pp. 860-861). These rites are distinguished from the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist, which were given by Christ and are understood to be necessary for the Christian life of all persons ******************************************************************** TERMINOLOGY: While we are getting more mainstream with using more common church language, there is a rule of thumb that says “Whatever most US Christians call something, Episcopalians call it something else.” Nave; undercroft; apse; sexton; rector; vicar; Eucharist; host; lavabo; ewer; cruet; narthex; cincture; alb; cassock; altar; lectern; chancel; ablute; acclamation; crozier; etc. POLITY/ ECCLESIOLOGY The Episcopal Church’s governance is somewhat similar to and based on US governance: Presiding Bishop; bi-cameral legislature at national and local levels; bishops; priests. Laity are fully empowered with voice and vote at all levels.