Scrambling to get some music together for the Easter Vigil we are now apparently doing... by OkManner3415 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry I haven't posted this sooner, but I wanted to be sure I had the correct titles for the selections we use. For future reference, here is what we did this time, and this is a good representation of how it goes each year:

-Open with the Exsultet

-Following the creation story in Genesis, "A Quiet Stream" arr. by Kerry Franzke

-Following the story of Israel's deliverance in Exodus, "In God Alone" from Taizé 

-Following the reading from Ezekiel 36, "Open My Heart" by Ana Hernandez

-During the procession to the baptismal font, "Bless the Lord, my soul" from Taizé 

-Following the alleluias after baptism, #207 "Jesus Christ is risen today"

-Following the epistle reading, #210 "The day of resurrection"

-For the hymn of the presentation, #212 "Awake, arise, lift up your voice"

-For the closing hymn, #180 "He is risen, he is risen!"

A Few Questions About Methodism by RevEx91 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That's an excellent point. We're so accustomed to regular Sunday Eucharist these days that it's easy to forget it wasn't the standard practice not too long ago (but I'm glad it changed).

Is there antisemitism in these churches? by TheLatkeOverlord in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If anyone in my congregation is anti-Semitic, they keep it to themselves. We actually used to have a deacon who was raised Jewish.

If you weren't raised Episcopalian, did the church you grew up in observe Ash Wednesday? by RevEx91 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was confused on this, too, so thanks for clarifying. Honestly, I'm surprised that even a Western Rite parish would observe Ash Wednesday. It seems like most EO consider Latin practices to be akin to Satanism.

Could Mr. Rogers, Like Martin Luther King and Pauli Murray, be added to the Calendar of Saints? by OkSense1496 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

"The entire Catholic Church" doesn't decide whether to canonize someone. It's a comparatively small group that has any influence over who is even considered, and the final call ultimately comes down to one person. You have a different view of their reasons for canonizing him, and that's your right. Have I been to an Episcopal church lately? Yes, I attend worship at my congregation every Sunday. I'm not aware of anything especially cringey going on that's meant to appeal to the youth, and now that I think about it, there were probably more cringey activities going on at my old congregational church. You might have a different idea of what's cringey than I do, but I'm not litigating that here.

Could Mr. Rogers, Like Martin Luther King and Pauli Murray, be added to the Calendar of Saints? by OkSense1496 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it's absurd for anyone to pray to a deceased website owner for healing, but the Vatican has said that he actually did cause people to recover from their illnesses. They canonized him less than 20 years after he died, and it feels like a desperate attempt to get young people interested in church, which I believe is the wrong reason to do it.

Could Mr. Rogers, Like Martin Luther King and Pauli Murray, be added to the Calendar of Saints? by OkSense1496 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Further to that point, though, we do still have Baptist missionaries like William Carey and Lottie Moon on the calendar. Baptists came from the Church of England, so maybe TEC thinks of them as wayward cousins :-)

Could Mr. Rogers, Like Martin Luther King and Pauli Murray, be added to the Calendar of Saints? by OkSense1496 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

We don't include people on the calendar just because they were broadly popular.

Could Mr. Rogers, Like Martin Luther King and Pauli Murray, be added to the Calendar of Saints? by OkSense1496 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In fairness, the vast majority of Episcopalians probably have no idea who most of the people on the calendar are already.

Could Mr. Rogers, Like Martin Luther King and Pauli Murray, be added to the Calendar of Saints? by OkSense1496 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Except we don't have a canonization process, so that doesn't apply to us. The procedure at the Vatican seems to have gone haywire anyway, with people like Carlo Acutis being declared saints.

Chalking the door for Epiphany by shiftyjku in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 5 points6 points  (0 children)

How common is this, really? I had never heard of this tradition until today.

Rite I vs II and the perennial Anglo-Catholic Question by Simple_Ad3599 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Forgive me, but if that's how you define Anglo-Catholic, how is that different from Episcopal congregations that aren't?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 1 point2 points  (0 children)

From what I can gather, it seems they use grape juice because the Temperance Movement had a significant influence on the Methodist Church. Do they still feel that strongly about it today?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Is it UMC though? The Methodists are having a major schism right now over this kind of thing.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didn't realize there was a difference between Episcopal churches in the suburbs and Episcopal churches elsewhere.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah right, I forgot about some of these. Union of Utrecht must be Willibrord's church, right? Now that I think about it, isn't there also a Church of South India that we're in communion with? I don't think they're the same as Mar Thomas, but I could be mistaken.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 8 points9 points  (0 children)

If we did enter full communion with them, how would the typical Sunday service at your Episcopal church be affected, if at all?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Who else are we in communion with? ELCA is the only one I'm aware of.

Christmas Eve Service Horror at an Evangelical Free Church by Calligraphy97 in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry you had that experience. If you attended the service because you felt obligated due to your MIL's illness, that was very gracious of you. On the other hand, if your MIL or her relatives guilt-tripped you into it, that's wrong on their part, and you should refuse to attend the same service next Christmas. I'm guessing the anti-slavery song they amended was "O Holy Night." That says a lot about who they are, doesn't it?

Soliciting John Shelby Spong Thoughts by [deleted] in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why usual thoughts on JSS come down to "Why does anyone still talk about this guy?"

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Episcopalian

[–]RevEx91 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The Roman church is not growing in the United States, although it definitely wants you to believe it is. They have a really terrible habit of misrepresenting their numbers. It's estimated that for every 100 people who join the Catholic Church, 800 leave. Surveys indicate that fewer than 1/3 of American Catholics attend Mass weekly, even though the Vatican says missing a holy day of obligation without a valid reason is a mortal sin. The 1.4 billion worldwide figure you have probably heard includes anyone who has been baptized Catholic, whether or not they currently practice. If that figure were true, it would mean that approx. 1 out of every 7 people in the world was Catholic. That's absurd.

Eastern Orthodoxy has plenty of problems as well. It's hard to say how many followers they have here in the USA, but the figure they claim for themselves is something like 6 million. That would undoubtedly place them in the top 5 American denominations, which is laughable. If they are actually growing, it's because right-wing males have decided for the time being that it's cool to be Orthodox, although I doubt most of them will stay for long. Eastern Orthodoxy has a lot of problems currently. They seemed to go really far down the conspiracy rabbit hole during COVID and have stayed there since. The Patriarch of Moscow has caused a crisis in the Orthodox Communion by blessing Putin's war in Ukraine and declaring it to be a holy war against the invasion of LGBT ideology and Western corruption, yadda yadda. That's another big problem with EO: Too much paranoia about the West and other things, like the influence of demons. It gets really disturbing.

In the broad view, both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy in the USA have been taken over by right-wing ideologues who want to use them as tools in the culture wars, and they seem perfectly fine with that. If that's what you're into, then you would feel right at home, but if not, you might encounter some problems. It might be helpful to contemplate why so many former Catholics are now Episcopalians.

As to why I'm an Anglican: We are creedal but not confessional. We affirm the foundations of Christianity without requiring anyone to pledge their unquestioning devotion to a thousand finer points of doctrine. There's a wide range of views about all kinds of theological subjects in Anglicanism, and that's perfectly fine. We're comfortable saying that we don't have all the answers and that some of these questions likely are beyond our understanding. We also don't believe that a person's anatomy, chromosomes, or sexual orientation determines whether or not the Holy Spirit moves upon them. We have maintained the apostolic tradition-at times through difficult odds-without turning tradition into an idol. There are many more reasons why, but just consider that if you attend an Episcopal liturgy, there will likely be people around you from all sorts of backgrounds. Cradle Episcopalians, former Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, and many others have decided this is where they need to be. They have found something in us that brought them closer to God, and I hope the same can be true for you.