After nearly a decade in the Episcopal Church as a priest in a diverse parish and one who is committed to the life and health of our church, there are a few things I feel great liberty to comment on how I perceive our health to be!
I speak about my faith and family! We are an interesting bunch, a lovely part of the body of
Christ! Episcopalians have so much potential, so much energy; there is so much
beauty and mystery in our church! Yet we live among…such contradictions, which
more often than not, we refuse to acknowledge or very expertly explain away!
We pride
ourselves on being progressive and cutting edge, yet are
probably the most aged of all denominations.
We take
the Bible "too seriously to take it literally" yet
ignorance of the Bible is rampant among Episcopalians...and sadly for many
clergy, functionally irrelevant in modern life.
We pride
ourselves on diversity, yet are among the least racially and
ethnically diverse of all Christian groups.
We are a
branch of “the Jesus” movement yet have a cafeteria approach to
his actual words.
We speak
incessantly of inclusion yet are a bastion for a very narrow set of
political and theological views of a progressive nature.
We have signs that boldly proclain, The Episcopal Church Welcomes You! Yes, surely but on whose terms? I have found as a Latino, that often that welcome is on someone else's terms, as if simply translating a document into Spanish, somehow made what was offered culturally appropriate or desirable.
We have signs that boldly proclain, The Episcopal Church Welcomes You! Yes, surely but on whose terms? I have found as a Latino, that often that welcome is on someone else's terms, as if simply translating a document into Spanish, somehow made what was offered culturally appropriate or desirable.
We have
plenty to say about fundamentalism, and how that puts people off to
the church yet, some of the churches we critique, continue to grow as ours
wither.
We are
all about Evangelism…this year, which of course has to be the Episcopalian
version, yet a storefront church in my city, with no branding or refined techniques, has
reached more unchurched people, in a decade than we have in a century!
Currently there are churches all through the US and Latin America that have
more people regularly in attendance on Sunday than entire dioceses of our
church!
We are ardent
advocates for refugees and undocumented people, yet have scant
diocesan resources to help these same people adjust to life in a new country,
to help with financial burdens, to do paperwork for legalization or pay for
legal fees.
We speak
of tolerance, have all sorts of patience and even admiration for people
who, within our church, deny the major tenets of the Christian faith, as well as
for those follow other religious traditions. Yet have an undeniable disdain for
other Christians whose faith we deem too primitive, fundamentalist…and now,
heaven help us, evangelical.
We defend
the rights and dignity of every human being, even the right to life
for convicted criminals yet are silent on the killing of unborn humans. Even
worse many clergy vocally defend the right to abort a child at any stage of
development.
We balk
at any change in the liturgy and the form of the sacraments, have a
high regards for a host of Anglican customs yet, without blinking have, by vote,
without regards to most in the Anglican Communion, re-imagined sacramental acts in the church.
I think we have an overdose of education, more skepticism than
is healthy for people of faith and definitely an overarching pride in who we
are, who we feel we are meant to be! This undermines any real attempt at
change!
Perhaps we need a dose of humility! Maybe we need to
teach less, preach less, have less echo chamber seminars and listen more to
others who have succeeded where we are failing! Maybe what God told Solomon after the dedication of the temple, when fire and glory filled the place of worship could also apply to us! There was in that grand occasion, no note of congratulations, no mention of the beauty of the music or the adornment of the temple…but rather a reminder to be humble!
2 Chronicles 7:14 "...If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, then I will hear from heaven..."
Whether the present heirs of the “church
of beauty” can do that, and change the course our church has been on for decades,
remains to be seen. I sure hope the new generation of Episcopalians pause, notice
and remember …If my people humble themselves and pray...!
Blessings
Seraph
