Awake My Soul: My First Year as an Episcopalian, Part 7 December 6, 2011
Posted by Matt in Awake My Soul.Tags: changing churches, EFM, reflection, St. Timothy's Episcopal Church
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The past year has been a great one and a wonderful experience, so we look to the future and wonder what lies ahead. The transformation from the CoC to the Episcopal Church has been like stepping onto another planet and discovering that you’ve been on the wrong one the whole time. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
We had our kids baptized on Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful experience and also served as our official way of stating that we were there to stay. We are Episcopalians.
Our oldest, Rachel, is an acolyte in the church, meaning that she gets to participate in various tasks during worship services. Generally, when it is her turn to serve, she carries in Gospel and presents it to Fr. Patrick to read during services, but occasionally she does other things. This past Sunday she carried the Virgin Mary for the Nativity scene set before the altar.
Bekah and J.D. aren’t old enough to take much of a role in services yet, but as far as I can tell, they are both very happy with the church.
Diana took on the weekly task of baking communion bread for our service, an act that has been a huge hit among our fellow parishioners who don’t care for the (non)taste of Styrofoam wafers. She also has another role in the works that I can’t mention yet except to say that we’re really excited about it.
As I’ve mentioned several times in the past, I began the EfM program this Fall and it has been a true revelation. As a first year student I am working my way through the Hebrew Bible, reading it, reading the EfM material, and reflecting on all of it. It’s an intensive study, much more so than anything I’ve done in the past and our regular meetings have quickly become one of my favorite times of the week. I love the fact that, when considering the Bible, we don’t start with the assumption that it is perfect and inerrant. Rather, we look at passages and study who wrote it, why they wrote it, and what meaning it would have had to people of that time. It’s the type of thing I’d read about for a long time, but had never actually heard it spoken of in a non-condescending tone at church. I love the way that they accept everyone, even a self-described “hopeful agnostic” like me and I’m consistently amazed at the amount of deep thinking and reflection I see from others.
It’s been a great year and I’m looking forward to many more to come.
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