The Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs

Talking Points:

The Episcopal Church, its History and its long Heritage

* The Episcopal Church boasts a long history. The Episcopal Church, a hierarchical church, traces its heritage to the beginnings of Christianity.

* The Episcopal Church is an independent church which is a constituent member of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its origin is in the planting of the Church of England in the colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

* The first known celebration of Eucharist on North America was in 1607 at Jamestown , VA , an English settlement. Since that long ago day, our liturgy retains ancient structure and traditions, and is celebrated in many languages. We uphold the Bible and worship with the Book of Common Prayer.

* Since the end of the American Revolution (when American Episcopalians became independent from the Church of England), The Episcopal Church has been organized on three levels: with a General Convention on the national level, individual dioceses, and parishes.

* General Convention, made up of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, has ultimate legislative authority. It authored (and continues to amend) the Church’s Constitution, establishes the Book of Common Prayer, sets out rules for the ratification of bishops, and through its canonical actions sets forth governance of the Church.

* New dioceses are “formed with the consent of General Convention.” Each diocese offers “unqualified accession” to the Constitution and Canons of the Church. Dioceses, in turn, require that individual congregations must accede to the Constitution and canons in order to be members of the diocesan convention.

* Dioceses govern themselves through conventions (sometimes called councils), and in turn also pass canons, but these are subservient to the national canons.

* All clergy swear loyalty to “Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship” of The Episcopal Church.

* Today the Episcopal Church has members in the United States, as well as in Columbia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Haiti, Honduras, Micronesia, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and the Virgin Islands (both US and British).

* William White said that the Church of which he was a prime architect was to contain “the constituent principles of the Church of England, and yet independent of foreign jurisdiction or influence.”

O Sapientia:
“O Wisdom, O holy Word of God,
you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care.
Come and show your people the way to salvation.”

O Adonai:
“O sacred Lord of ancient Israel,
who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush,
who gave him the holy law on Sinai Mountain:
Come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.”

O Radix Jesse:
“O Flower of Jesse’s stem,
you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples;
kings stand silent in your presence;
the nations bow down in worship before you.
Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.”

O Clavis David:
“O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel
controlling at your will the gate of Heaven:
Come, break down the prison walls of death
for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death;
and lead your captive people into freedom.”

O Oriens:
“O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come, shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.”

O Rex Gentium:
“O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart;
O Keystone of the mighty arch of man,
come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.”

O Emmanuel:
“O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver, desire of the nations,
Savior of all people, come and set us free, Lord our God.”

But most of us are ready for it.  We have filled our oil and gas tanks, and we have sealed our windows and doors.  Of course, the name of the game is staying warm.  And we in the northland are experts at staying warm!

In my own home, we heat with wood.  We have a small woodstove located in the center living room of our home, and we have loads of wood stacked outside.  We, like so many of you, have established regular routines for gathering kindling, hauling wood, storing wood, stoking the stove, etc..  I have noticed also that the woodstove is the most common gathering place for our family – especially on days like today when the red of the thermometer dips into the lowest recesses of the scale!  We all stand, kneel and sit as closely as possible to this warm, inviting piece of iron which, for us, has become so much more than just a piece of metal.  Each day around the stove is almost like liturgy.  We do the things to take care of the stove; and in return, the stove gives back to us.

Our souls, like our bodies, crave to be warm.  Just as we are intentional about doing those things necessary to keep our bodies warm, if our souls are to stay warm, we must be no less intentional.  And just as our family gathers around the woodstove in order to keep our bodies warm, so the family of faith gathers around the altar to keep our souls warm.   It is at God’s altar that we are reminded that we are dependent upon God and upon each other.  It is at God’s altar that we hear of the outpouring of God’s love into our lives in the life and death of Jesus.  It is at God’s altar that we are invited to receive the gifts of bread and wine, body and blood, that nourish us and sustain us.  It is at God’s altar that together we say the prayer that our Lord taught us, and we ask that God’s will be done in our lives just as it is done up in heaven.  And it is from God’s altar that we, as people of faith, are sent back into the world.

Jesus tells us that we are to love God with our heart, mind, soul and strength.  This entails us having warm and pliable souls.  We just can’t love as we are called unless our hearts are warm.  So, come to the altar.  Allow coming to the altar to be as natural and necessary to you for spiritual warmth as coming to a woodstove is for physical warmth.  Extend your hands and hearts to receive.  Invite God to warm your soul.  And then go.  Go forth from the altar to bring the warmth that you have received to those living in a very cold world.

Thank you God for the blessing of the woodstove that warms our bodies.  Thank you God for the blessing of the altar that warms our souls.  Amen.

Art+

To be quite honest, it can all become a bit daunting!  I become overwhelmed when I compare that which God has done for me in the gift of his only-begotten with my own meager, albeit honest response to his gift.  Before we realize it, Advent, instead of being a patient time of reflection and preparation, becomes a hectic time of hustling and bustling and trying to become good enough for the Kingdom of God.

Could it be, however, that faithful preparation comes not in the form of hustle and bustle but rather in quiet and still receiving?  That’s the way it worked for the Virgin Mary, after all.  When the angel comes to her and tells her of God’s plan for her life, she doesn’t kick into high gear.  Rather she responds with simple words of reception: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  As young and simple as Mary was, she recognized a truth about our relationship with God that so many of us who are older and more intellectually sophisticated seem to miss.  This great foundational truth is that our relationship with God is much more about receiving and being than it is about giving and doing.  And as such, Advent is a special time in which we are invited first and foremost to receive.

Richard Rohr has commented that “God does not love you because you are good; God loves you because God is good. God does not love you because you are good; you are good because God loves you.”  Now THAT is an Advent message that brings some peace and sanity into our lives!  So, prepare…yes.  But prepare by first opening your heart to receive the goodness and love of God.

Art+

Here are the bloopers. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

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The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
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The sermon this morning: ‘Jesus Walks on the Water.’ The sermon
tonight: ‘Searching for Jesus.’
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Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of
those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
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Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at
someone who is hard to love. Say ‘Hell’ to someone who doesn’t care
much about you.
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Don’t let worry kill you off – let the Church help.
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Miss Charlene Mason sang ‘I will not pass this way again,’ giving
obvious pleasure to the congregation.
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For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a
nursery downstairs.
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Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all
the help they can get.
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Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the
church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
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A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall.
Music will follow.
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At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be ‘What Is
Hell?’ Come early and listen to our choir practice .
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Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of
several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
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Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be
recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

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Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased
person you want remembered.
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The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment
and gracious hostility.
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Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM – prayer and medication to follow.
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The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They
may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

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This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park
across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
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Ladies Bible Study will be held Thursday morning at 10 AM. All
ladies are invited to lunch in the Fellowship Hall after the B. S. Is
done.
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The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation
would lend him their electric girdles f or the pancake breakfast next
Sunday.
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Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please
use the back door.
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The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the
Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The congregation is invited to attend
this tragedy.
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Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian
Church.. Please use large double door at the side entrance..
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The Associate Minister unveiled the church’s new campaign slogan
last Sunday: ‘I Upped My Pledge – Up Yours.’

My kinsman is sick.
What grows in his brain?
My sister feels his absence in the far future.
I start on another long journey
to visit, to watch life linger–
The ebbing glow of an ember.

My spirit brother–
I am comforted.
You light incense
and its prayer draws me home.
This lake hermit will return
to the touch of loon chant
on prayer beads,
to the sound of moon
caressing deep water,
to the sight of your voice
calling through pines.

There are, however, other aspects of our lives over which we have absolutely no control.  Birth and death top this list.  Between these parameters, however, are a whole host of other small births and small deaths.  These are the things that belong to God and God alone.  

For the last two Sundays we have sung Hymn 204.  This is a French carol from the 19th century called “Noel nouvelet”.  The first line of this carol begins, “Now the green blade riseth from the buried grain.”  Of course this line refers to the life cycle of which all living creatures take part.  We sing it during the Easter season, however, because it refers to the sacred life story which Christians believe we are also a part.  The great and wonderful mystery of God is that he takes death and transforms it into life.  This happens with the “dead grains” that are buried and yet in the springtime burst forth out of the ground.  This happens with our Lord Jesus who was crucified, dead, buried and yet after three days bursts forth from the tomb.  This is the great promise for all of us who claim the wonderful truth that God takes the death of our physical bodies and transforms us into new life.

And while we can control some things in our lives, this new life we cannot control.  Both the promise and its fulfillment belong to God.   So what is the duty of Christians with regard to these aspects of our lives?  Acceptance and gratitude.   When it comes to the things of God, may we be grateful for all the forms of new life that God initiates in our lives.  And may we accept with patience and perseverance those things which appear as death and yet in truth are “buried grains” waiting to burst forth into “green blades.”  Art+

One of the questions that seems to arise frequently is that of whether I think that we should stay or go.  What they are referring to, of course, is whether we (as individuals, as congregations, as a diocese) should remain within TEC (The Episcopal Church) given its current inclination to push the envelope with regard to our stance on issues of human sexuality.  My short answer to those who ask my opinion is “yes.”  For those who have patience for the longer answer, I have followed up with an explanation of how I think that God hates both heresy and schism, but if I were pressed on which I think that he hates more, it would be schism.  So, unless I am absolutely morally pushed to do so, I, as a priest, intend to remain within The Episcopal Church.  Further, I have every intention to continue to counsel those who care to listen to do the same.

Recently, Father Russell Levenson Jr., who is rector of the largest Episcopal congregation in the United States, was asked basically the same question that I am being asked.  Now his congregation is not only very large, but also theologically very conservative and evangelical.  He cites a number of excellent Biblical examples of those who chose to stay despite trying circumstances.  Levenson says, “…I do not think leaving is the answer.  Daniel had to stay in Babylon, but did not abandon his faith.  Jeremiah was not given another Israel.  Ezekiel had to preach to dry bones.  When Jesus and his message were completely rejected, he did not leave.  He wept.  He stayed.  He did not move on to Egypt.  He stayed and faithfully preached when they believed and when they did not believe.”

I am very fortunate at Ascension to be among a people who seem to be able, for the most part, to set first things first.  While the Church at large seems to be twisting and swirling and groaning and straining with these issues, the people of Ascension really seem concerned with simply hearing the Word of God and responding to it in profoundly simple but genuine ways.  Its not that we are ignoring what’s going on in the rest of the Church, its just that we’ve already got our hands full with following Jesus!  And so, to my brothers and sisters at Ascension… thank you for allowing me to be a minister of the majors rather than the minors.

And to those of you whose hearts are heavy as you soulfully contemplate the state of the Church… my advice would be to hang around awhile.  It’ll be alright.  The God of our Lord Jesus Christ is a whole, whole lot bigger than these present issues.  Hang around with those of us who are striving to be faithful from within.  Art+

I find that philosophy particularly refreshing as it takes so much of the pressure off of those of us who seek to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.  We are, after all, fallen creatures, are we not?  What does God expect of us anyway?  Perhaps the old carpenter is right…”purt near” may be all that we should shoot for after all.  Or maybe not.  If I aim at only “purt near,” won’t I end up with something even less?  Let me explain…

In my experience, I have found that even when I strive for absolute perfection, I end up with “purt near.”  For example… over the last week or so I have been working on a picket fence for my wife.  She seems bent on turning our half acre lot in town into a micro farm.  Already she has created a burgeoning garden, and the picket fence is intended to enclose a strawberry patch so that bunnies and squirrels are thwarted from munching on the delectable produce.  I was enlisted as “carpenter extraordinaire” for the project.

If you have ever attempted to construct a picket fence, you know that there are any number of variables with which to contend — the shape of the picket, the space between each board, the distance between posts, the irregularities of the ground, etc..  Taking all of these variables into account and submitting them to my very limited expertise as a carpenter has resulted in what my past coaches have deemed… “a good effort.”  Despite my best attempts at perfection, the best I have come up with for the fence is “purt near.”  It will certainly deter at least some unwanted creatures, but I don’t think that “This Old House” is going to feature my workmanship in any of their upcoming episodes!

In the Beatitudes, Jesus instructs his followers to “be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).”  As someone who is trying his level best to follow Jesus faithfully, I wrestle with this teaching.  In my ministry as a priest, in my relationships with family and friends, in my noble attempts to be a good human being, the best I seem to be able to muster is “purt near” rather than the perfection of which Jesus speaks.  

I wonder, though, if maybe that’s okay.  Maybe Jesus gives us this teaching so that we will come to understand that there will always be a gap between perfection and “purt near.”  The gap, of course, exists because even those who have committed themselves to the Lordship of Christ are still fallen and sinful beings.  And it is precisely because of this gap that Jesus came into the world — to bridge the gap.  It is solely by the grace of God in Christ Jesus that the gap between “purt near” and perfection is overcome.

So, today, I pledge to God that I will shoot for perfection in the full knowledge that what I will end up with is only “purt near.”  And may the grace of our Lord Jesus make up the difference.  Art+