Hebrews 2:1 "Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it."
Yesterday, I went to a Vestry Orientation meeting. Lots of interesting information was transmitted; the founding congregation started in 1873, which means we have a 150-year anniversary coming up; our legal entity is a foundation, set up in 1924, and the bylaws say that in the event of dissolution, all assets revert to the Board of Foreign Parishes to be used to reestablish a church in Switzerland as soon as possible (and that, interestingly, the seat of the foundation doesn’t have to be in the canton of Geneva… Zuger Briefchästelichile, anyone?); and that the Episcopal Church requires rectors to have a Masters degree and has its own seminaries with its own theologians and thus – quote from the rector – “there is no room for Biblical fundamentalism in the Episcopal Church.”
Another quote from the rector: “The Episcopal Church loves its prayer book.” This is true; I can attest. I owned a BCP before I owned a Bible. When I read psalms, I find myself thinking, “Oh, hey, that’s from Compline,” instead of reading Compline and thinking, “That’s from the psalms.” Is that the way it should be? Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that the recognition is there at all – but I’m a bit suspect of the directionality.
“Scripture, tradition, and reason” are the pillars of the Episcopal church, but I wonder in what order they actually line up. We are a Church (and at Emmanuel, we are a church) full of intellectuals. At least in the US, there’s very little geographic reason to attend a particular church – you shop around until you find a denomination (and even a congregation) that you like. The types of people who are drawn to the Episcopal church are probably drawn there precisely for the reason part.
That makes sense. Scripture is a commodity; reason is our USP. It’s what lands people in our pews instead of in one of the thirty other churches in their zip code. Anyone can read from the Bible and string together Christian jargon into an uplifting message – we want more academic rigor. We want citations. We want the latest theology from someone with a PhD. We want expertise.
Expertise. Hmm. Seems like we might already have it. Interpretations and seeing scripture through new lenses is good – to a point. Every once in a while, we need to revisit the seminal work in the field so that we do not drift away from it
— MeganPrestonMeyer
Yesterday, I went to a Vestry Orientation meeting. Lots of interesting information was transmitted; the founding congregation started in 1873, which means we have a 150-year anniversary coming up; our legal entity is a foundation, set up in 1924, and the bylaws say that in the event of dissolution, all assets revert to the Board of Foreign Parishes to be used to reestablish a church in Switzerland as soon as possible (and that, interestingly, the seat of the foundation doesn’t have to be in the canton of Geneva… Zuger Briefchästelichile, anyone?); and that the Episcopal Church requires rectors to have a Masters degree and has its own seminaries with its own theologians and thus – quote from the rector – “there is no room for Biblical fundamentalism in the Episcopal Church.”
Another quote from the rector: “The Episcopal Church loves its prayer book.” This is true; I can attest. I owned a BCP before I owned a Bible. When I read psalms, I find myself thinking, “Oh, hey, that’s from Compline,” instead of reading Compline and thinking, “That’s from the psalms.” Is that the way it should be? Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that the recognition is there at all – but I’m a bit suspect of the directionality.
“Scripture, tradition, and reason” are the pillars of the Episcopal church, but I wonder in what order they actually line up. We are a Church (and at Emmanuel, we are a church) full of intellectuals. At least in the US, there’s very little geographic reason to attend a particular church – you shop around until you find a denomination (and even a congregation) that you like. The types of people who are drawn to the Episcopal church are probably drawn there precisely for the reason part.
That makes sense. Scripture is a commodity; reason is our USP. It’s what lands people in our pews instead of in one of the thirty other churches in their zip code. Anyone can read from the Bible and string together Christian jargon into an uplifting message – we want more academic rigor. We want citations. We want the latest theology from someone with a PhD. We want expertise.
Expertise. Hmm. Seems like we might already have it. Interpretations and seeing scripture through new lenses is good – to a point. Every once in a while, we need to revisit the seminal work in the field so that we do not drift away from it
— MeganPrestonMeyer
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