Monday, April 7, 2014

On loving the Episcopal Church

Here's a great blog by a former Roman Catholic, now an Episcopal priest, on why he is Episcopalian.  One short excerpt:
I had been a fairly aggressive atheist after years of wrestling with losses from my childhood and I needed a place to be angry, to question, and to hear the constant, loving voice of God calling me home. All my discomforts and hopes in the Episcopal Church now are rooted in my fervent hope that we can hold onto its essential character so it can continue to be a place for so many others to call home. 
I came to the Episcopal Church not because I wanted something easy or something light but because I found something heavy – something dense with promise and potential. I love the Episcopal Church because it offers a place to be a disciple. It is a place to be grounded yet given the freedom to hope for more. It is a place to be whole and a place to gather the broken. It is a place to be fed and a place to feed. It is a place to be faithful and to wrestle with doubt. It is a place for those who long for a home and those who yearn to search and seek. It is a place that is home and a place that I hope to welcome many more to in the coming years and decades.
BP sang out, "yes exactly!"  when she read this.


3 comments:

Tom Sramek, Jr. said...

After reading this, I thought of the line "The Episcopal Church is dense--like fruitcake. Some people love it, others have problems with some of the fruits and nuts in it, but it has staying power--and is awful if poorly done." Not sure where I am going with this, though....

8thday said...

I had a great deal of respect for the Episcopal Church, especially their position on many social justice issues. But after reading this piece:

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/faith_and_terror/trinity_wall_street_guns_and_w.html

it has me wondering what they really stand for.

When a church has "considerable resources" and are investing it in Walmart, it doesn't exactly send a message of social conscience or convey the mission of Christ.

IT said...

Trinity WS is hardly your typical Epsicopal Church.