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The word Episcopal comes from the Greek word, episkopos, and it simply means bishop or overseer. So the short answer is: the Episcopal Church is a part of the family of God that is set up around bishops. We began as a part of the Church of England. When the Colonies won their independence from England, we became the Protestant Episcopal Church, USA in 1789... and are still a part of the Anglican Communion, with seventy million members circling the globe. That makes us a part of the third largest segment of the Christian Church. And while we began as a part of the Church of England, which dates back to the Protestant Reformation, a typical Anglican today is from a third world country (probably Africa or South America) and doesn't look Anglo-Saxon. What unites such a diverse group is that we worship together. We celebrate the mystery of encountering God in worship and our shared life. Churches in the Anglican communion share the traditional faith of Christian Churches through the ages, rooted in the form of the early Church. There's a similar feel to Anglican worship, whatever culture or language it expresses itself through. But what does that mean here in South Georgia? (or for that matter, anywhere else?) It means that we're not a part of God's family that expects every person to agree on every thing. We aren't joined by some rigid set of agreed statements about what we believe. We are people who worship together... live together... seeking to discover what it means to follow the path Jesus set. Some of us wear a Tee Shirt that says one of the things we like about the Episcopal Church is, "you don't have to check your brain at the door It's OK to have very different positions on the uncertain things of life... (and the truth is, much in our world is important, but still uncertain) but we are completely agreed about the Certain Things:. God loves the entire world... all He created... We have been forgiven... restored to our Father's Kingdom, and invited to share in our Father's work of reconciling all of creation. That's heady stuff, and we're not very suited for it. Furthermore, we are called, not to judge each other, but to love each other... and to (in the words of our Baptismal Creed) seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves. That's one of five intentions we undertake at our baptism, or confirmation. We remind ourselves of our promise several times a year (like at Easter, and Pentecost, and whenever someone else is baptized.) We remember that God looked at creation (at least according to the Book of Genesis) and pronounced it Good. He even looked at humankind, and pronounced it Very Good. We remember that God didn't just love us individually, but loved the World... every creature... every person... the whole world. We remember that God didn't send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved. A fancy theological term that describes most of us is that we believe in the Incarnation. A simple, South Georgia way of saying that is, we see God's love best in the way God shows himself in this world... and especially we see God best in the life and death and life of Jesus. If you need someone to tell you what you need to believe, we're probably not the part of God's family you need to be a part of. If - on the other hand - you're looking for a faith community that allows you to be yourself... to struggle... to be certain that God loves you, but uncertain about how you live that out... If, in plain English (or German, or Spanish, or Southern... or whatever) you need to find a place where you learn to live out what it means to live in God's Kingdom, we might be the part of God's family where you belong. |
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Worship on the Water |
