Articles from October 2015

On a pri­mal lev­el, we have deep needs to be in re­la­tion­ship with one an­oth­er, to feel a sense of be­long­ing with oth­ers, to ex­pe­ri­ence hu­man con­nec­tions, and to find an iden­ti­ty in com­mu­ni­ty, be­yond our­selves. I be­lieve our deep­est yearn­ing, how­ev­er, is to know God and to be known by God – as beloved peo­ple, in beloved com­mu­ni­ty. Un­for­tu­nate­ly, we some­times place our fo­cus on de­tails of what it means to be­long to a church.

The ear­li­est fol­low­ers of Je­sus Christ were called Peo­ple of the Way, iden­ti­fy­ing the “Way,” or prac­tices, through which they were known. They met to­geth­er reg­u­lar­ly to give God thanks and praise, in prayer and song. They learned to­geth­er – hear­ing God’s Word, study­ing scrip­ture, and lis­ten­ing to the wis­dom of el­ders. They took care of one an­oth­er and looked out for peo­ple in need. They feast­ed to­geth­er, again and again, mak­ing room at the ta­ble for oth­ers. The Way was, and still is, about God’s ex­pan­sive love – re­flect­ing, in dai­ly prac­tice, God’s love for us through Christ and our true belonging.

These prac­tices are out­ward signs through which Chris­tians can be known by oth­ers, and which deep­en our re­la­tion­ships with each oth­er. The sacra­ments of bap­tism and com­mu­nion are out­ward signs of the in­ward grace we re­ceive from God; they also re­mind us that we be­long to God and to one an­oth­er in Chris­t­ian community.

Shar­ing in these prac­tices con­nects us in re­la­tion­ships through­out the church. The World Coun­cil of Church­es rec­og­nizes the com­mon ground that most Chris­tians share in bap­tism, eu­charist, and min­istry. The Epis­co­pal Church rec­og­nizes the bap­tism of oth­er Chris­tians and in­vites all who are bap­tized to share in com­mu­nion at Christ’s ta­ble. Through ec­u­meni­cal di­a­logue and un­der­stand­ing, spe­cial re­la­tion­ships have de­vel­oped be­tween many de­nom­i­na­tions. Epis­co­palians have “full com­mu­nion” part­ners, in­clud­ing Luther­ans and Mora­vians, mu­tu­al­ly ac­cept­ing and shar­ing in min­istries, and we re­ceive con­fir­ma­tions of Ro­man Catholics and East­ern Or­tho­dox, among others.

These are out­ward signs that af­firm our uni­ty in the body of Christ. To be­come a mem­ber of a spe­cif­ic church or parish is an out­ward sign that re­flects our com­mit­ment to God and God’s mis­sion through a par­tic­u­lar com­mu­ni­ty of peo­ple. Like the Peo­ple of the Way, we then en­gage in that com­mit­ment through prayer and wor­ship, study, fel­low­ship, and acts of love, jus­tice, and mer­cy – with each oth­er and our neighbors.

If you are not yet a mem­ber – of Grace or of the wider Church – you are in­vit­ed to con­sid­er the out­ward signs that will re­flect your in­ward be­long­ing to God and a de­sire to be in Chris­t­ian prac­tice with oth­ers. This may in­clude trans­fer­ring mem­ber­ship, be­com­ing an Epis­co­palian, and/​or be­ing bap­tized, con­firmed, or re­ceived into the church. Share your yearn­ing to be God’s beloved and we will ex­plore the Way together.

For more in­for­ma­tion on church mem­ber­ship, con­tact The Rev. Twila Smith

The form of our Sun­day morn­ing wor­ship ser­vice comes from a deep tra­di­tion of com­mon prayer. Our pri­ma­ry re­source for this is apt­ly named the Book of Com­mon Prayer, and draws on prac­tices dat­ing back to the 1st cen­tu­ry, while in­clud­ing “lat­er” litur­gi­cal changes of the 4th cen­tu­ry, the emer­gence of An­gli­can­ism and the first Book of Com­mon Prayer (in 1549), and more re­cent up­dates. These it­er­a­tions, over time, along with our reg­u­lar use, and the con­tin­u­al move­ment of the Holy Spir­it, form a live­ly practice!

Our prayer is “com­mon” in that it shapes our com­mon life as mem­bers of a parish and in much wider con­nec­tions through the church. There is an ex­pres­sion that “pray­ing shapes be­liev­ing,” a loose trans­la­tion of the Latin lex oran­di, lex cre­den­di, high­light­ing the deep con­nec­tion be­tween prayer and belief.

An Epis­co­pal un­der­stand­ing of prayer is that it is both in­di­vid­ual and cor­po­rate. (This is true for many oth­er Chris­t­ian de­nom­i­na­tions and re­li­gious faiths, as well.) The Book of Com­mon Prayer em­pha­sizes this un­der­stand­ing with the in­clu­sion of prayer pat­terns for use by in­di­vid­u­als through­out the day, and a va­ri­ety of prayers for var­i­ous oc­ca­sions, as well as forms in­tend­ed for com­mu­ni­ty use (which we of­ten re­fer to as “litur­gies”). Our days, the sea­sons of the year, and the whole of our lives are sanc­ti­fied through prayer as we come be­fore God, rec­og­niz­ing our true mak­er and be­ing open to fur­ther transformation.

There are many types of prayer – of­fer­ing praise and thanks­giv­ing to God, ask­ing God for help with our own needs and those of oth­ers, and con­fess­ing wrong-do­ings and not-do­ings. Prayers may be short and swift: “God, help me,” and long forms we of­ten call “lita­nies.” Words are not re­quired; prayer may be in the form of mu­sic and vi­su­al arts, move­ment and ser­vice, and in the si­lence of our hearts.

Prayer can be a time to come be­fore God with our whole be­ing, our deep long­ings and our im­per­fec­tions, to ask for di­vine pres­ence and help. In prayer, we may ex­press our trust in God and hand over our bur­dens. Through prayer, we may see, hear, and un­der­stand more clear­ly the ways in which God is call­ing us to live our faith, to live into our be­liefs more fully.

Spir­i­tu­al ma­tu­ri­ty comes through prac­tice and is a life-long pur­suit. While there are many prac­tices to guide our prayer, there is no sin­gle, “right” (or wrong) way to pray. How­ev­er, we can­not sim­ply read and learn and talk and write about it, we must do it. And the more we pray, the more it shapes us into the peo­ple God cre­at­ed us to be – in­di­vid­u­al­ly, as a com­mu­ni­ty of faith, and as part of the larg­er body of Christ.

With you in fer­vent prayer – Twila