Walk in Love: Episcopal Beliefs and Practices

by Scott Gunn

"Be what you see; receive what you are." We see Jesus Christ, and we receive his body, because the church—the gathered community—is the Body of Christ.

Anglican Christians, along with many other Christians, see a great gift in using prayers that reflect our global and ancient church. Our prayers are rooted not just in our own preferences but also in the wider church. Thus, when we pray, we are taking part in a tradition that is bigger than ourselves. Our prayers are united with those of Christians through time and space.

The people of God assemble for prayer and praise. The gathering itself can be seen as a symbol of the eucharist. Just as many grains are kneaded together into one loaf of bread, so too are many individuals knit together into the one Body of Christ.

Next the leader greets the people. "The Lord be with you." This comes from the book of Ruth (2:4) when a man named Boaz greets people with these words.

Sermons are not just Bible studies in which we scrutinize the scriptures with critical eyes, though the sermons may take us deeply into scripture. Sermons are not merely essays on what is happening in the world, though no good preacher will ignore the world outside the church. Rather sermons are meant to draw us into the sweeping narrative of God's love found in the scriptures and to help us find our place in that grand story.

This kind of confession is often called the general confession, as it is said by all people, covering all our sins. Some people will want to avail themselves of what is sometimes called private confession—where one confesses privately to a priest—outside of the liturgy.

When we pass the peace, we should make a special point first to share peace with those from whom we are estranged. A second priority is strangers or guests. Only then should we greet friends, because we have no need for reconciliation with them. In other words, the Passing of the Peace is for reconciliation, not for catching up with our buddies.

precisely the moment when all should be reconciled, we divide into insiders and outsiders and neglect our guests. In our world of estrangement and division, we need every bit of practice at reconciliation and unity we can muster.

According to the prayer book, the Lord's Prayer is always said at every public service of the church. In saying this prayer, we are not merely repeating a prayer by rote, but we are praying as Christ taught us—for the things he taught us to pray for.

Those baptized as adults have already made a deliberate decision to commit to Christ, so confirmation is a reaffirmation of faith and a commitment to the Episcopal Church. Those baptized as infants had parents and godparents who made big, important vows and promises on their behalf. As teenagers or adults, they are given the opportunity to decide if they want to make those big, important vows and promises to God for themselves.

Christian, loving God very much, ought to want to stand up and make vows and promises to God in front of family and friends. Confirmation is one way that we, as mature Christians, commit to a life of faith. It

Christian marriage is not merely a contract; it is also a covenant: a sacred promise that involves not only the two people being married but also God and the gathered community, a union that both echoes and reflects the union between Christ and the church.

The sacrament of marriage does not take place at a wedding, it begins at a wedding. The sacrament of marriage is enacted in the ongoing relationship—when a couple wrong one another, and then forgive; when a couple choose to take in a stranger and offer hospitality; when a couple show forth God's love by loving one another "for better for worse."

The service is just the beginning; the sacrament will be lived out in ways large and small in the coming days and months and years.

As Christians, we strive to live this ministry of healing and reconciliation by offering prayers, forgiveness, and compassion to one another. Two sacramental rites in the Episcopal Church—reconciliation of a penitent and unction of the sick—serve as outward signs of our participation in and experience of God's reconciliation and healing.

Embedded in the rites of the church is an awareness that we will never perfectly execute our desires—that is, we want to be good and kind, but we sometimes fail.

Even in the midst of dedicating ourselves to God, we recognize that we are going to fail in the promises that we make. And when we inevitability fail or flounder, we vow to take action, to repent and return to the Lord.

Reconciliation of a Penitent is not the only way to confess our sins and be forgiven, and as long as we are confessing and seeking forgiveness in other ways, we don't have to participate in the rite of reconciliation.

"five-finger formula for real apologies."

Instead of just mumbling "I'm sorry," a real apology includes naming clearly what you did, reflecting on why it was wrong, promising to change the behavior in the future, trying to make amends, and actively asking for forgiveness.

Saying these things out loud can be scary; we would rather avoid our sins than face them head-on. But there is also great power in shining the light of truth into the dark places of our lives. Shame feeds on silence and secrecy. When we enumerate our sins aloud and ask specifically for forgiveness, we can set down the weight of sin and shame that we've been carrying and allow God to take away those burdens.

A priest would presumably withhold absolution until true repentance, including taking responsibility for one's actions, had been made.

as is clear from the passage from James, anointing is not reserved exclusively for the deathbed; it is for any time of sickness. Thus The Book of Common Prayer contains two different rites that both contain elements of unction—one for all the sick and one especially for the time of death.

When we find ourselves sitting in the doctor's office, getting a diagnosis, or holding the hand of a loved one in a hospital bed, our prayers take on a renewed urgency and importance. These times of sickness and struggle often draw our most desperate prayers.

sometimes we cannot find the words to pray on our own, and we need the ancient prayers of a liturgy to give voice to our faith and fears.

"When the Laying on of Hands or Anointing takes place at a public celebration of the Eucharist, it is desirable that it precede the distribution of Holy Communion and it is recommended that it take place immediately before the exchange of the Peace"

The focus of these prayers is not a last-ditch effort to save a person from death but a way to accompany a person through death. Healing in these prayers is seen not as a bodily deliverance from illness but as salvation and peace.

death is not an enemy to be fought but a force that has already been vanquished by Jesus Christ, who ushers us in to eternal life.

This was not about a hierarchy of importance or holiness but about a differentiation of responsibility. Early gatherings of Christians sought out people with the gifts and skills to serve in certain positions—so that all the different aspects of ministry would receive the attention and care they needed.

The role of the priest is rooted in community; priests work among the people of a particular church.

One of the most frequently repeated words in the services of ordination is "servant." The Episcopal Church is clear that those who are ordained—as bishops, priests, or deacons—are set apart in order to serve the church, not rule over it. They are called to be leaders, but not lords. This is a delicate, and often difficult, balance.

In ordination, we call bishops, priests, and deacons not only to functions with the church's services but also to a way of life that reflects who they are ordained to be.

One of the great gifts of The Book of Common Prayer is that it offers patterns of prayer that anyone, priest or laity, monk or mechanic, nun or nurse, can use. If you adopt the habit of praying throughout the day, you will discover the great gift of this rhythm.

In modern usage, an office is simply another word for a scripted set of prayers and can be used interchangeably with words like service, liturgy, or rite.

The key to the Daily Office, like any discipline, is practice. The more you pray it, the more you learn the rhythm offered by these prayers, appreciating the variety while finding comfort in the things you pray again and again.

Just about any action, taken with intention, directed toward God, can be a kind of prayer. You can pray by walking or by painting or by singing.

The important thing is not how you pray but that you pray and strive to make prayer a part of your daily life.

How we measure time says something fundamental about how we think, what we value, and what we work toward and long for. The way that we measure our time says something about what really matters to us.

In the Christian life, we measure our time not by things we achieve or things we need to do. We measure our time by what God has already done for us in the birth and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Being a Christian is not about being happy all of the time, and it is not always easy. The changing seasons of the church year remind us that there is room for all of our experiences in the Christian journey.

Christmas is a time to worship at the manger throne, to celebrate the newborn Jesus, and to give thanks for the Word made flesh.

In all of these seasons we are focused, not on ourselves, but on the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

They are days of discipline, not in the sense of beating ourselves up, but instead in the true meaning of the word: Discipline is related to the word "disciple" and means to learn or to follow. When we observe the fasts of our church, stepping away from rejoicing to embrace solemnity, we learn something about ourselves and the world. Observing fasts helps us to celebrate our feasts even more deeply. Just as every Sunday is a feast of the Lord's Resurrection, an echo of Easter Day, so too every Friday is a day of special discipline, an echo of Good Friday.

The liturgies of Holy Week are about remembering, not in the sense of thinking about what happened so that we don't forget, but in the sense of re-membering, re-embodying, re-entering into them so that we might live through and experience them anew.

The passion narrative of Palm Sunday is not meant to take the place of the observances in the week to come, especially the three holiest days of the Triduum. Instead, Palm Sunday gives us an overview of what is to come, so that as we continue through the week, we can engage even more deeply with the story.

The liturgical action of washing one another's feet symbolizes that servanthood is something we do for one another—a mutuality where all are served and all are servants.

The liturgies of Holy Week are not simply a checklist, an obligation that Christians are required to fulfill. Instead they are an invitation to walk more closely with Jesus, to enter into the story of salvation in a unique and powerful way. The patterns of prayer are ancient, and in walking this holy path, we join pilgrims from around the world and through time who have also chosen to walk with Jesus.

Observing all of the liturgies of Holy Week is our way of standing with Jesus through both the good and the bad, the highs and the lows of life.

Church funerals are not only for those who give money to the congregation or reserved for those who were very active and attended services frequently. All baptized Christians, regardless of age, denomination, or church attendance records, are properly buried from the church.

The burial service is not a private affair only for the family of the person who has died. It is a service of the church, an opportunity for the Christian community to gather in prayer, both for the person who has died and for the family who is now bereaved.