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Who are the Episcopalians?
The Scriptures and the Gospels, the Apostolic Church, and the early Church Fathers are the foundation of the Anglican faith and worship in the 38 self-governing churches ( Including the Episcopal Church of the USA ) that make up the Anglican Communion. The basic tenets of being an Anglican are:


Anglicans uphold the catholic and apostolic faith. Following the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Churches are committed to the proclamation of the good news of the Gospel to the whole creation. In practice this is based on the revelations contained in Holy Scripture and the catholic creeds, and is interpreted in light of Christian tradition, scholarship, reason, and experience.

The above is what might be called a definition of Episcopalianism.  Below is a more exploratory view with an eye to developing an understanding of the church, the church's history, and some of the practices of the church.


Who, or what are the Episcopalians?

    In recent articles in our church newsletter, The Communicator, our pastoral leader, Larry Parrish, has been writing about the nature of The Episcopal Church. He is a new Episcopalian himself, having come to us after 31 years as a United Methodist  pastor. He is currently seeking ordination in the Episcopal Church. His ministry with us is bi-vocational, as he is currently serving on full time orders with the Kansas National Guard as the full time Support Chaplain for Kansas. His ministry there is focused on families of soldiers and soldiers that have returned from deployment. These articles are written to help him clarify in his own mind the uniqueness and strengths of the Episcopal Church. They are not intended to be the official viewpoint of the Episcopal Church, but, hopefully, they are not in disagreement with it either!

Fact:  The Episcopal Church's beginnings go back to a king who wanted his marriage annulled.

The Story: Our roots lie in the Church of England, or the Anglican Church.    King Henry VIII of England wanted a male heir to his throne. It was 1532, and in his previous nineteen years of marriage to Catherine of Aragorn, ( Who was the widow of his brother.) their only surviving child was female. After unsucessfull political manuverings to gain an anullment of his marriage to Catherine, so that he could marry someone else ( Ann Boleyn ), he finally bullied the English Church and Parliament into declaring himself, not the Pope, as the supreme head of the Church in 1543. The ties with Rome were broken, and the Church of England was born. Ironically, Henry VIII had once been given the title of "Defender of the Faith" by Rome, because of a treatise written repudiating Martin Luther's criticisms of the church.


The rest of the story:      Henry VIII didn't begin the Anglican tradition. Our roots go back to the ancient Church. His break with Rome gave church leadership in England a chance to institute needed reforms. As James E. Griffiss tells in " The Anglican Vision" ,"...the reformed Church of England, far from departing from the catholic tradition, was simply returning to the pure doctrine and practice of the ancient Catholic Church, the church of the apostolic fathers, before Rome had gained power and authority. It is doubtfull that any save the most extreme thought of themselves as starting a new church... They simply wanted to purify and reform the tradition." (P 23)

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR US?   The church exists because of God, not human agency. God can use even sordid circumstances and lust for control to build His Church. We are called to be faithful to the principles of Scripture and Christian tradition, but the outcome isn't up to us! As Episcopalians we stand in a tradition that is founded deeply in Catholic roots and practice, but is fed with the richness of Reformation principles of  Scriptural authority, accessibility of the Faith to all, and reliance in the grace of God through Christ, Empowered by the Holy Spirit. Henry VIII isn't our founder, Jesus is!
 

FACT:  Episcopalians kneel to pray.  (And  sometimes stand.)


The  Story:  In  1534, the English Catholic Church broke ties with Rome, ( see the first  paragraph. ) however it remained Catholic. As mentioned in the last article, it retained the doctrine and practices  of the ancient catholic church, while incorporating some of the newly evolving principles of the Reformation. Although the leadership of the English Church at that time would begin to tinker, rather effectively, with the Catholic liturgy ( the order and principles of worship ) , it basicly retained all the character of Catholic worship. The stained glass windows of the churches remained, along with the altar, a central cross, candles, incense, and symbols of the faith. The practice of kneeling to pray was retained , along with an order of worship that included praise, confession, and intercessory prayer for others. In short, catholic worship is PRAYER from start to finish. In fact, the centerpiece of our worship, in addition to the Bible, is The Book of Common Prayer  . ( More on the BCP in a future article in this series. )

What does it mean for us?  Unlike worship in many traditions of the Christian faith, Anglican / Episcopal worship will not allow us to be spectators. We put our whole selves in worship, we get our bodies and senses involvesd. We kneel to pray, we stand to praise and to sing, we are immersed in color and symbols, the sound of the sanctus bell, and the taste of wine. On certain occasions, when incense is used, we even get our sense of smell involved! This whole body worship style is transformative. We are more likely to incorporate the words we hear and say, and the faith and practice we affirm, into the fiber of our lives when our bodies are " in sync" with what we are hearing, saying, and affirming! For instance, we exibit proper respect for and proper openness to God when we put  our bodies in a kneeling posture, both approaching Him and letting Him approach us in prayer. We Episcopalians kneel, stand, see, listen, taste, and smell in worship, and in doing so we experience the presence of God!  


Fact: Episcopalians organize their public worship and private prayer around The Book of Common Prayer.

THE STORY:  Like other aspects of Anglican tradition, The Book of Common Prayer, as such, came to be in sixteenth century England. Again, like other aspects of the Anglican tradition already written about in previous paragraphs, it has roots which reach deep into Christian history. In fact it has roots which reach deep in biblical history, back to Jewish antiquity, as some of the prayers it contains go back to Jewish worship practice. The Psalms, of which the BCP contains every one, were not only the prayer book of the ancient church, they constituted the prayer book for the Jewish people as well, and functioned as Jesus' prayer book also.The creeds contained in the BCP , and of which one ( either the apostles' creed or the Nicene creed ) is used in every service of worship we have, go back to the very formation and shaping of the early church. The Collects and other prayers come from the crucible of church and world history, and some of them can be identified with certain notables of the faith in those turbulent times. When the English church broke with Rome in 1534, the event coincided with a movement to translate Scripture into the language of the people. Thus the same forces and people that brought us the english Bible brought about the translation and organization of the historic prayers and liturgy into the very first Book of Common Prayer in 1549. These same people and forces added new prayers and reorganized liturgies as well.The BCP went through many changes and challenges, with the most enduring being The Book of Common Prayer of 1662. The King James version of the Bible was first printed in 1611, and the 1662 prayer book shares the same majesty of language and influences on, and by, that momentous translation. As time went on, Anglican communions in countries other than England developed their own versions of The Book of Common Prayer. The American prayer book was developed within the new Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Using heavily from the English prayer book, the first edition was published in 1789. It has gone thru several forms since then, our latest edition that we are using now being published in 1979. In keeping with the tradition to keep the prayer book in " the language of the people," our present BCP has updated the language from earlier times, and has incorporated new findings in liturgical history to make our forms of worship closer to those of the early church. However, its pages still contain 2000 years PLUS of prayer and practice.

FACT: Episcopalians believe in the "Real Presence of Christ" in holy communion. Episcopalians also welcome all baptized christians to "The Lords Table!"


The Story:   As told in the first paragraph, when theChurch of England (Now the Anglican Communion,) split with Rome in the sixteenth century, the split was over wheather or not the Pope was in earthly charge of the church rather than over basic doctrine (core beliefs ) of the historic Christian Church. The doctrine of  the " Real Presence of Christ" in the sharing of wine and bread in Holy Communion in the service of Holy Eucharist was retained, and later passed on to the "American Anglicans" - Episcopalians-  as they evolved as a church in the Anglican Communion within the United States of America. This doctrine of The Real Presence of Christ holds, in common with the ancient church, "...that in the church's  breaking of bread we can encounter Jesus as objective reality not dependent on subjective feeling." (Giles 41) Christ is really present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist (as He promised to be in Scripture) and that those elements are for us "the holy food and drink of new and unending life in him.." (Book of Common Prayer, p.363) Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, Episcopalians and other Anglicans are willing to let this fact be a mystery and do not try  to explain how it works. Also, unlike many Protestant Churches, the Real Presence is not explained away so that the bread and wine of Holy Communion becomes just a sign or symbol of what God is doing or has done once upon a time.  A historic saying in the history of Anglicanism sums up the Anglican attitude about the Real Presence of Christ in Holy Communion. Elisabeth I commented on the controversy of her time concerning the presence of Christ in the eucharistic meal when she said:
"Twas God the word that spake it
He took the bread and brake it;
And what the word did make it;
That I believe and take it." ( Giles and others)


What does it mean for us?
The Holy Eucharist is a sacrament. As a sacrament ( along with Baptism ) it is ".. an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace" and it is also ".. a sure and certain means by which we recieve that grace." (Cathechism, The Book of Common Prayer, 857, see also 859) It is not only a sign of God's grace-- unmerited forgiveness and love for us -- made manifest through His forgiveness, peace, joy, courage, and strength, it is also a means by which that forgiveness and love is acted out in our lives. Through the gift of Himself- His life joining with our lives, He gives us peace, joy, courage, strength, wisdom, and whatever else we need to become full persons. It also means that God is present through this sacrament to give Himself to us, no matter what we feel about it!  No matter how joyful or foul our mood, believing or disbelieving, trusting or skeptical, God is present in Christ through the bread and wine of this sacrament.

Furthermore, Holy Eucharist, in the Anglican tradition, is not just the part that we call Holy Communion -- the blessing, giving and taking of bread and wine -- but the entire service: prayers, reading of Scripture, sermon, everything! It is not only the bread and wine that are changed, we ourselves are changed as we offer to God ".. ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable holy and living sacrifice, " so Christ " may dwell in us and we in Him " (BCP p.336) Richard Hooker, one of the early shapers of the Anglican tradition, wrote: "The purpose of Holy Communion is changing human lives, not bread." (Thompsett, p. 32)

This means that the Anglican view on this does not allow for a vending machine theology, whereby God dispenses his grace to us for our consumption only. Instead, God invites, and wants, our response to his request for relationship. God seeks to make covenant with us, and through the Eucharist we enter "a relationship of mutual love where God's grace meets with our willing cooperation and eager participation." (Giles, p. 64) For this reason, we can pray "Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this table for solace only, and not for strength, for pardon only, and not for renewal. Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name." (From Eucharistic prayer C, BCP, p. 372)

Because Christ is present in the Holy Eucharist, and it is both sign and means of His grace, it is, therefor, the Lord's table, and open to all baptized Christians.  This is a fairly new concept in the  Episcopal Church, about which there is still some disagreement, but it has become fairly widespread practice at the discretion of the Diocesan Bishops. We can invite others outside our church to join us for worship, knowing that they too will be able to recieve strength for living and serving through the recieving  of the Real Presence of Christ.


Sources:
Giles, Richard. Always Open, Being an Anglican Today   Crowley Publications, 2004
The New Churche's Teaching Series, Vol. 5  Thompsett, Fredrica  Harris. Living with History   Cowley Publications, 1999
The Book of Common Prayer.  The Church Hymnal Corporation and  The Seabury Press, 1979


More to come:
I will be adding to these articles from time to time. Check back again!  May the peace of the Lord be with you!

                                                                                                            Larry Parrish