I suppose I should come clean on this one. After about 30 years as a semi-faithful member of the church here in Mansfield, I'm now attending St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Ashland quite regularly. No, I'm not a member there yet. That takes a class and being received by the bishop.
One friend asked what pushed me over the edge. I think I'll keep that one to myself (or perhaps for later); I'd rather talk about my history.
Before Mansfield, almost all of my church experience was very "high church." On the East Coast, even the Presbyterians (my original home) are fairly formal and liturgical. There's very little sense of "God, my best buddy" and even today, people who worship on Sunday morning are very unlikely to rate the event on its "fun quotient." In a sense, the Washington National Cathedral has been a second home since I was a boy (and yes, it's Episcopalian). In college, my spiritual home was Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, an organization with strong Church of England roots, and I often attended a Lutheran church near campus. Seminary was a conservative Presbyterian seminary, where the essential question was "what's true?" not "what feels good?" or "what promotes Americanism?" or "what safeguards my consumerist lifestyle?" During those years, I was part of a church that was deeply involved in community service, in study, and in worship. Yes, we did sing Bach chorales and had a small pipe organ in our storefront church.
All of this helps to explain why a return to a more formal, more liturgical church that's deeply rooted in church history just feels right. I recently took a personal inventory and realized that almost all of the spiritually important moments in my life were somehow Episcopalian. Maybe (if someone asks me to narrate them) I'll say more some day.
Anyhow, I think I should avoid negativism here. But I feel I should begin explaining myself a bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment