A newsletter message written for St. David's Episcopal Church, Kinnlon, NJ
One of the longest-running jokes about the differences
between the Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Church says, simply, that
the Episcopal branch of the catholic faith is “Catholic Lite”. This came to mind again, last month, as I was
preparing to mark our recognition of new members in the liturgy.
Growing up in the United Methodist Church, there was a time
at the end of every Sunday service when people would be invited to join the
church, and to proclaim a commitment to membership. In that liturgical act, new members would be
asked to pledge to support the church with their “prayers, presence, gifts, and
service”. I thought about that as I was
planning to celebrate our own new members: what does membership mean in the
Episcopal Church?
As a reminder, for the liturgy, this is what I came up with:
“in the Episcopal Church we take our faith and our membership in the church
seriously:
·
We pledge to engage with ideas and to continue
searching for the truth of Christ in the world around us.
·
We pledge to ask questions that bring us and
this community closer to God.
·
We pledge to support one another through times
of need, crisis, and troubled faith.
·
We pledge to pray for the church and for one
another, to attend worship services whenever possible, and to give generously
to the church of our resources of time, talent, and treasure.
·
We pledge to work with and through the church to
be Christ’s hands and feet in the world.”
It wasn’t intentional, but I noticed afterwards that this
5-point pledge mirrors, somewhat, the five pledges we make in our baptismal
covenant:
·
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and
fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
·
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and,
whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
·
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good
News of God in Christ?
·
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons,
loving your neighbor as yourself?
·
Will you strive for justice and peace among all
people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
It’s worth asking: what does it mean to you to be a member of the Episcopal Church, and of St. David’s, in
particular? These are two ways of
expressing what it means to be a member of the church, but you also are likely
to have reasons of your own, and ways of expressing this commitment that are
unique to you.
For most of us, I don’t think it’s “Lite” - Catholic, or
otherwise! We take our faith, and our
relationships with one another seriously.
For new members, the feeling is fresh.
But we all should take some time to consider what the church means to
us, and how we share that meaning with each other, and with the world.
Blessings, Jon+
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