Awake My Soul: My First Year as an Episcopalian, Part 6 November 30, 2011
Posted by Matt in Awake My Soul.Tags: acceptance, liturgy, non-judgmental attitude, role of women, The Episcopal Church, theology
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Over the past year, I’ve been asked on more than one occasion, “Why the Episcopal Church?” and so I’ve pondered on this in past, wondering what it is about this particular branch of the Christian tree that attracts me to a great extent than the others. This is certainly not a complete list, but here are a few that I could come up with off the top of my head at work.
1. The role of women
As the father of two young girls, it pained me for some time in our prior denominational affiliation when I considered their limited prospects. I struggled with it for years before finally deciding that I could no longer remain in a group that still considered women to be second class citizens in the sight of God. In the Episcopal Church, they are active participants, with my oldest already serving as an acolyte, and in the future, if they chose, they could do anything they wished, from the priesthood to higher.
2. Their acceptance of everyone
Never have I been part of a church that so readily drew in and embraced all comers. At our prior church, I always found such joy in their racial diversity, a quality for which all churches should strive, but there remained an underlying attitude that kept some at bay. Though St. Tim’s does not have as much racial diversity, it does offer diversity henceforth unknown to me in a church setting, namely with gay people. I find it so heartening to sit with my gay friends in a church setting where there is no judgment, no damnation, no calling down lightning from heaven. Which leads to…
3. Their non-judgmental attitude
In our church we have people who self-identify as conservative and others, like me, who nearly fall off the left hand edge, but at the core of it all is an attitude of loving non-judgment, an atmosphere where we do not just coexist, we form a community. It’s really a beautiful thing.
4. Liturgy
When we walked into St. Tim’s a year ago, I had absolutely no experience with liturgy, but despite our ignorance we eventually caught on and learned how the call-and-response style of worship worked. It quickly became such an integral part of our experience that I sometimes wonder how we ever worshiped in the past without it.
5. Their well-developed theology
As someone who considers themself an amateur philosopher/theologian and who is an avid reader, I have been nearly overwhelmed with the width and depth of theology employed in the Episcopal Church. It is rightly known as the thinking person’s church.
So, those are just a few aspects of The Episcopal Church that have drawn us in and embraced us on a deep level and I’m sure the list will continue to grow over time as we continue to learn (stumble?) our way through.
I love the liturgy too.Mom