Walk in Love: Episcopal Beliefs and Practices

by Scott Gunn

if I want to be restored to unity with God and with others, I have to be serious about it. There is nothing easy about this restoration.

We must not neglect to gather. There can be no solitary Christians. And why do we gather? To provoke one another to love and good deeds.

Our task as Christians is to provoke one another—not to always be nice to one another. While it seems counterintuitive, this notion of the provocative church makes sense. We expect our close friends to tell us the truth, even when we're not sure we want to hear it. It follows then that we who are beloved in Christ are meant to be close to one another, to speak words of love and truth to one another at all times.

If we are "nice" to one another, we will never risk conflict or say something that might be received with difficulty, but that's not the Christian way. Jesus wasn't nice; he spoke the truth. That is our role as the church too.

When we gather as Christians, our task is to provoke one another to be better followers of Jesus, to be more Christ-like. The words of our liturgy provoke us. Good preaching and good teaching will do that too. And so too must we provoke one another. This is the fundamental point of

The church is not like other secular, voluntary organizations. It has a sacred charter and is part of God's saving work for all people. The church is not one activity choice among many, something to do when it makes us feel good or is convenient. Rather, the church is the central way we encounter God and God's people, and its purpose is to encourage and provoke us to be more Christ-like. The church is a great gift to us and the world, and it is our task to share that gift with those around us.

Members are expected, as a normal practice, to work, pray, and give to support God's work.

on the one hand, the church is quite open, saying that lots of people have voting interest in the congregation's affairs. On the other hand, there is a standard of discipleship at work; one cannot simply pay dues and be considered a member in good standing.

While most of us will spend the majority of our time in local congregations, it is worth noting the vast church that lies beyond our community.

Followers of Jesus Christ are set apart from the world. We believe that we are sanctified by God, and we are made holy by the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

The church does not make Saints; the church merely recognizes people whom God has made Saints.

This is a reminder that we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. not as a civic leader, but as a Saint whose life and words fearlessly proclaimed the witness of Jesus Christ. We observe Saints on the date of their death as a reminder that, for Christians, death is not an end but a new beginning of eternal life with God.

Saints are not simply figures embedded in the past that we read about in history books; they are meant as companions who, through time and space, journey with us and spur us on to love and good deeds.

Saints are special, not because of the good that they did but because of the way that they proclaimed, not only with their lips but also in their lives, the God who is made known in Jesus Christ. They are notable, not for themselves, but for the power of God working in them.

As Christians, we believe that baptism is forever, indelible, and ties us to God and to one another in a way that defies time and space. Just as we are tied to our earthly family through blood and birth, so we are tied to our Christian family through baptism and new birth.

We are preoccupied with occupation, and we fail to ask people of all ages: "Who are you? Who do you hope to be? Who is God calling you to be?" These are questions, not of occupation, but of vocation.

"The place that God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

You are called by and through the things that you love, the things that bring you joy, the things that uniquely define you. God created each of us with unique gifts, skills, passions, and talents. God's call is for us to be more truly ourselves, not for us to try to be someone else.

What are you doing when you feel most alive? What actions or activities bring you deep joy? When do you feel most fully yourself? These are questions of vocation, of calling.

We are not called to serve ourselves alone but instead to do our work "in truth and beauty and for the common good."

The wonder of God is that God made us to feel deep gladness and made the world with places of deep hunger so that, if we are listening to our lives, we slide into our unique niches in the world.

At its core, the Holy Trinity reveals that our God is a God of relationship. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in a beautiful, careful, and timeless dance. The Holy Trinity reveals to us that God is unity, diversity, and majesty. The Holy Trinity keeps us from making the mistake of reducing God to something comprehensible, to a God that our brains can hold.

First, our culture prizes individualism and the idea that each of us is responsible for ourselves alone—others can solve their own problems.

Just as it is true that no one can live the fullness of a Christian life apart from Christian community, it is also true that when we sin, our sins go beyond our own individual life. Choices that we make impact the climate elsewhere. Using more electricity than we need might mean that a coal-fired plant somewhere is belching dangerous gas into the atmosphere. Buying new electronics more often than we need them results in the double destruction of the earth to mine elements for computer chips and the dumping of toxic chemicals as our machines are discarded. All of this takes place out of our sight, but we are still responsible.

But to see Jesus only as one who entered into our history for a time is to glimpse only a tiny part of God the Son, Jesus Christ. This is why it's important for us to think about the theology of incarnation.

Even before Jesus' love was revealed to us in Bethlehem, he was God. But in the incarnation, God did something extraordinary.

if we cannot see Christ, behold Christ, in the poor and marginalized, we will not behold him in our liturgy or sacraments.

It is a powerful reminder that we should especially look for God among the vulnerable, the weary, the traveler, the unexpected. God can come near in the person who may seem to be of dubious circumstances.

If someone suggests that the church shouldn't do something because it's unseemly or messy, we might do well to recall the reality that God didn't enter the world in a neat and tidy way.

There is no question that, in the person of the Holy Spirit, God is powerfully present in the midst of humanity but in a new and different way than God was present in the person of Jesus Christ.

those in the Episcopal Church, who often value order and propriety, this idea of an indecorous Holy Spirit can seem upsetting and undesirable.

Disciples of Jesus, who receive the Holy Spirit that God promised, should stand out from the crowd. Through the presence of the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to live lives that show forth to the world these fruits, this love and joy and generosity.

To say it another way, a life empowered by the Holy Spirit is a gift, not a goal.

When we look for people who carry out ministries in our churches, we should be looking for spiritual gifts, not just for willing volunteers.

evangelism doesn't and shouldn't mean that, and it is time that we reclaim the word and live out its meaning of bringing good news.

Evangelism is sharing the good news, no more and no less. But that raises an important question. What is the good news? When we talk about the Good News of God in Jesus Christ, we might talk about our redemption, about being freed from death, our liberation from sin, or any number of other aspects of Jesus' life and ministry. Another way to talk about good news is to share what Jesus is doing in our own lives. Either way, if we're going to practice evangelism, to tell others the good news, then we have to know it ourselves: We have to know our story.

Now that we have a sense of what the Good News of God in Christ is for us and for the world, it's time to start sharing it. Of course, that is easier said than done.

When we find a new restaurant, we often tell people how great it is. We tell people about bargains or beautiful parks or movies we enjoyed. We find it easy to share good news about things that are trivial, but we find it difficult to share the all-important Good News of God in Christ.

We don't tell the story of God's love in our lives merely to fill our pews or prop up struggling churches.

We practice evangelism because we want to share our joy, to share God's love.

It is not our task to convert people, and it certainly isn't our job to coerce people away from another faith or convince them that we are right and they are wrong. Our only work is proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ; what happens after that is up to the Holy Spirit.

Maybe we should stop worrying about offending people and simply share our faith. Perhaps these are opportunities to build deep connections. And if we mess up and say the wrong thing, we can always apologize.