I’ve seen this A LOT. That Anglicanism/Episcopalianism only exists because King Henry wanted a divorce and the Roman Catholic Church refused him.
I mean… is this entirely wrong? It makes me feel icky. King Henry was such a bad person.
I was blessed to be confirmed by Bishop Harmon this last Sunday. My mom even came, which meant a lot to me since she is still at the Fundie church I was raised in.
I know clergy are required to pray the Daily Office and have been wondering if any choose to fulfil that obligation by having simple, routine, public services?
I ask this because I am a postulant who is rather bad at praying the Daily Office consistently unless I have a public obligation to remind me. I cantor for my parish’s sung compline twice a week and my parish has lay-led Evening Prayer on days with no Compline that I’ve been getting better at going to. There are no regular Morning Prayers and there’s only one noonday service a week.
I led daily noonday prayer during Lent at the Parish House and that went quite well.
I have a monastic streak and strong call to offer public worship as much as possible. When I’ve floated this idea to other clergy, the main roadblocks I’ve found are a lack of energy to conduct public worship on their part and a dismissiveness because the services wouldn’t be well attended.
I’m not proposing a solemn High Mass with full choir and orchestra, but rather unadorned services straight from the BCP on days when the clergy are “in the office”. It should also be noted that the church is opened daily by the Sexton so I’m leaving the chore of locking/unlocking out of this equation. Heck this doesn’t even need to be in a church but could be offered in a parish conference room if that worked better for people.
Are there clergy who have tried this or has anyone had experience with offering Daily Offices? I recognise it’s not always possible due to different circumstances, but would be curious to hear thoughts and stories!
I think this probably immediately reveals a lot about me but I suppose a personal altar is as much a corner of the heart as it is of the house.
The prevailing doctrine about the nature of Christ in Western churches is that Jesus is both fully God and fully man. I believe this to be true, but I find it very confusing. What are some Episcopalian perspectives on this doctrine?
I'm curious about how common it is for the Filioque to still be included in the TEC's recitation of the Nicene Creed. I know there was a resolution (I think in the 90s) that stated the Church's intent to remove it in the next revision of the Book of Common Prayer and that some have started to remove it before that happens. I just want to know what the status of that practice is across the denomination.
(I should note that I generally support the move even though I'm sympathetic to the theology behind the Filioque because I support sticking to the original as it provides a better opportunity for unity with the Eastern Church as well as it being what was decided by an ecumenical council rather than a non-ecumenical addition. I think you can still believe the theology without thinking it needs to be in the Creed.)
As somebody who grew up around, quite frankly, horrible and misguided theological/scriptural teachings, Rowan Williams has been a tremendous help in giving me a strong foundation on scripture and spirituality.
Any recommendations for other theologians to check out?
So I'll admit this has a personal dimension - it's my first Mother's Day as a priest, and I admit I'm getting sentimental about being able to call myself Mother.
But, I also recognize that it's a super fraught holiday that is both "totally secular and doesn't belong in church" and "historically a lot of mothers take it very seriously and will be hurt if it's not mentioned in church" and "people have very mixed experiences of their own mothers, possibly difficulties with infertility, and other traumas that make Mother's Day really hard" -- all mixed together in pretty much every congregation. Being sensitive to all of it is certainly a pastoral challenge!
I've seen a few different strategies - how are you personally handling it?
I want to know what TEC has to say, if anything, on suicide. Is it a sin, does it condemn one to Hell, etc. Y'know. Is there any reason to not do it.
I know the verses in the Bible about suicide, but from what I can tell it never really says it's good or bad. Heard a couple of folks call suicide murder, and murder is a sin. But I don't see it that way.
Appreciate the insight in advance. Peace be with you all.
Hello, I am a sort of newcomer to TEC: baptized as infant and raised irreligious, beginning/returning at 25, due to impairing illness and big life changes, been attending since February. I just had a pretty strange, uncomfortable experience with a "healing ministry" person today that does not seem to line up with our beliefs (and deigns to be offensive) and looking for advice on how to approach this.
Essentially, today I asked my rector and deacon for help managing and their awareness of me during liturgy because of experiencing nerve issues and numbness, I am afraid of dropping bcp in liturgy etc. I asked if they could help me connect with friendly folks there and just get involved somehow to help my situation. It was recommended to me to meet with "healing ministry" person who could help me feel a little more at peace with my situation.
During this meeting with healing minstry person, they laid hands upon me, claimed to be able to (and presented as if they were) speaking in tongues. Specifically, they prayed "that any curses laid upon [me] or previous generations be removed," and that I "be freed from sin and forgiveness in order to be healed." No one told me this was to happen, just that this person could help orient my prayer life.
This is alarming and concerning to me, and I feel the real need to ask my rector and deacon precisely what occurred and get an explanation. I have long held my beliefs but just now have begun a faith journey with others and have never once thought of these kinds of gifts or considered their presence in our shared faith.
I am specifically quite frightened given that John 9:1-12 has been explained to me in general terms that human illness IS NOT anyone's fault, and someone praying that something I or others have done is to blame for a heritable incurable illness is hurtful. I also have done some heavy literary work with some disability theology texts in a BA-setting and find this claim or idea that my illness is a result of a curse or my sin really hard to swallow given scripture (and also this parish's kind welcome of me thus far). Am I just plain wrong?
What would you do with this situation? I do not know enough to form an opinion on this other than it felt wrong. Am I missing some big Episcopalian memo on gifts like this? How would I ask for clarification on this? Is there a constructive way to ask for scriptural explanation and/or communicate that I am at odds with what was said? This church has been exceedingly welcoming to me and stated all are welcome, so I want to ascertain if this is the whole parish's view on disability and illness or one person, and if they know that this one moment does not feel like it lines up.
Thank you all in advance for your advice and thoughts on this
My Parish, St Mary Magdalene Equal to the Apostles, just moved from Denver to a more permanent location in Golden. St John Chrysostom in Golden was very generous in allowing us to build a permanent Eastern Style Chapel in their Church.
At our prior location we moved our icons in and out of storage each week for the Divine Liturgy or Mass, now they have a permanent place!
I only recently started attending an Episcopal church and something that confuses me is that during service the Minister states that we are part of “one holy apostolic Catholic church” this confuses me a bit because I thought the Anglican/Episcopal church is splinter branch from the RCC and thus we are not Catholics despite many similar practices and traditions.
Hi guys! I know this has been asked before but I would like to ask it in a specific context.
I recently converted (within the last 2 weeks) and am currently in a 3+ year monogamous and cohabited relationship with my wonderful girlfriend. we have regularly been having sex throughout this time and it’s sometime that makes me feel closer to her in a variety of ways. I plan on proposing to her within the next 1-2 years. I am torn on if I should ask her for us to stop having sex until we are wed. Obviously this isn’t something i WANT to do but I am wrestling with it.
I spoke with my pastor and he said that it was not nessasarily but I understand it’s a nuisances issue, with multiple opinions and I would love to hear some arguments for and against.
Thank you!
Hello everyone,
I am a former atheist, now identifying as agnostic because, to be frank, I don’t know if I believe in God anymore. I used to be very convicted in belief (or lack thereof) in atheism, but now I can no longer say that I hold that same level of conviction. I would describe myself more as a skeptic who is spiritually searching.
I have been attending an Episcopal church in my area for the past month. I have met privately with the reverend, attended their foundations classes to learn more about the Episcopal Church itself, and have been learning more about theology. I absolutely love the church. I love how welcoming it has been, how friendly everyone is, attending Sunday services, and the liturgical practice.
That said, it is all very new to me. Before I became an atheist, I was raised Christian and attended Churches of Christ as a kid. I was baptized around age 12 or 13, when I first started doubting and thought baptism might bring me closer to my faith. Ultimately, I ended up completely losing faith and renouncing it altogether. I became certain that there was no God. I believed that as firmly as I believe the Earth is round and revolves around the sun.
Now, however, I have been re-exploring those beliefs, and I have started to feel a pull back toward faith. But I still have many theological questions, and I have been trying to reconcile the questions I was originally unable to answer through Christianity, which helped lead me to atheism.
That change in belief made me re-evaluate questions like: What is the meaning of life? What happens when we die? I found answers through science and philosophy, and I built a lot of my worldview around existentialism. At the time, the Christian answers I received did not satisfy me, and even now I am having to revisit and wrestle with those answers.
I struggle with believing in core principles like the resurrection. I struggle with how literally to take the Bible, and when. I don’t feel comfortable using the label “Christian” to describe myself because there are parts of the Nicene Creed that I cannot honestly say I believe. I feel a pull toward faith again, and I feel inclined to believe, but I am still very uncertain and unconvinced.
I’ve spoken with my reverend about this, and he has recommended some books. Currently, I am reading Making Sense of the Bible by Adam Hamilton. But I wanted to reach out here to ask whether any of you have had an experience similar to mine, and what helped you.
What advice or recommendations do you have for someone in my position? What resources, communities, or books are out there that might help me with this?
Attention: I originally wrote this all out in one long stream of consciousness, then ran it through ChatGPT to clean up and organize my thoughts. Apologies if this comes off as AI. I am a real human, I promise.
Open ended question. From a former Roman Catholic, turned Anglo Catholic, who started attending Episcopal services last year and became a member of their parish.
I am looking for an Anglo-Catholic parish in the Pittsburgh area. Any recommendations you have would be great. I wanna bring my love of the Eucharist, saints and Mary with me if I'm thinking about swapping denominations.
I'm also really curious how TEC justifies the "big tent" approach to theology. If one member is believing in transubstantiation and the other sees the Eucharist as a symbol, which one is it?
Any other categories I’m missing?
Hi all, my daughter is attending summer camp for the first time at our diocese’s camp this summer. I was a camp counselor for several years at a different diocese camp, but I’ve never been a camper at any camp. It’s a very stereotypical camp setup (old school cabins with bunk beds and no AC, showers in another building, food in a community mess hall, set in the woods, etc). She’s a kind and smart girl, and excited to go. We’ve been to this camp several times for parish retreats so thankfully she is already familiar with the property.
Any advice on what to pack (beyond the list I’m sure they will send) or what to teach her (we’ve already covered ponytails) would be very appreciated!