Dear People of Christ Church,
This week in our Episcopal Church class I was reminded, as always when I pay attention, how very grateful I am to be part of the Anglican Tradition. Every church has something wonderful about it-the Lutherans have their focus on the grace of God, the evangelicals have their intimacy with Jesus, the Catholics have their long history and diversity, the Presbyterians their commitment to democratic governance…but it’s our theological breadth and flexibility where I really find myself at home.
The number of times someone has asked a simple yes/no question and I’ve answered “maybe” reminds me of just committed we are to this diversity of belief. “Do I have to cross myself?” You can, but you don’t have to. “Isn’t the difference between the Roman Catholic and Episcopal belief about communion that one believes in transubstantiation and one doesn’t?” Some actually believe in Jesus as really, bodily present, but for others it’s more symbolic. But we do teach that it has a reality independent of our own experience. Do you believe in the Bible literally? That’s actually a pretty clear no.
Sometimes all this ambiguity feels like maybe it’s because we’re not sure-we sometimes get accused of being a mushy middle, not committed to anything. It’s not mushy at all, though-it’s incredibly centered-centered on the freedom of your conscience, and also centered on our liturgical practice. One of my favorite Anglican quotes is (said to be) from Queen Elizabeth, who, during all the Catholic/Protestant controversies imperially declared “I do not desire windows into my subjects’ souls.” At the same time, in consolidating the practice of the church with worship in the English Language and independence from the Pope, an undeniable center still holds us together and links us to each other and across time.
A unified community coalesces around prayer, even if we differ on the particulars of that prayer. This humility around doctrine, I think, also leads us into a constructive humility around our place in the world. We don’t have all the answers. This means that part of our work as Christians is the work of interpretation, of contemplating new learnings from science and psychology and philosophy and theology and how our tradition can be in conversation with them. From evolution to climate science to the plasticity of the human brain, we are always learning about this good creation God has given us, and there’s always more exploration and curiosity to be had. I’ll leave you with the prayer we say for the newly baptized, which I think captures this nicely:
Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace. Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.
Amen!
Blessings,
Sara+