previous

In Which I Do Go On
August 17, 2006 - 12:15 p.m.

next

There are times when I think it'd be easier to join the United Church of Canada...they're far more liberal, they accept just about anyone (you know, like Jesus did) and they don't bother with all that liturgical, smells and bells nonsense.

Oops. Not so fast.

See, I'm an Anglican at heart. I was an Anglican before I became an Anglican, if that makes sense. I find God in majesty and dignity and beauty, in the wordless words of music and rhythm and action. As an atheist I felt an indefinable rush when I encountered something that transcended my understanding, something I now acknowledge as an experience of God. The liturgy, from its small details to its overall shape, speaks to me more eloquently than a passionate preacher or a book of the Bible. A sermon can explain theology and the Bible records humanity's interaction with God, but only in the liturgy do I come face-to-face with the divine.

I've come to appreciate over the last few years that this encounter, an experience that goes beyond and runs beneath emotion, is the difference between catholics and protestants. (Note the lack of capitalization...I don't think that all member of the Roman Catholic Church are catholics, nor do I believe that all members of "Protestant" churches are protestants. I certainly claim both labels for myself, as does any self-respecting Anglican.) As I was saying...I think that catholics experience God in the world, as a real and gritty part of life. The catholic's theology rests heavily on the creation and incarnation, the immanent God. The protestant urge is to define, to know, to understand. Their theology is based on revelation, the transcendent God. For protestants, God can't be found in the liturgy because that can't be nailed down and defined in scientific terms.

OK, so I'm biased here. So what's new?

One of my deepest frustrations in talking to "low-church" Anglicans, not to mention non-Anglican evangelicals, is their misunderstanding of the nature of Anglo-catholic worship. Really, I think Roman Catholics are more able (and willing) to accept the differences between themselves and Anglicans than Anglicans are able to accept differences within our own church. So in talking with the more evangelical elements, I get the distinct impression that they don't "get" high-church liturgy. They think it's a "show," something false that gets between the congregation and God. It's almost as if, because they don't understand it (and I mean understand it in the gut, not the head), it must be wrong. They can't (or won't) see that the message can be communicated by way of liturgical action as well as word.

After all, the Word became flesh. That means that a body can tell a story as well as a book.

Anyhow, it's not just the liturgy that draws me to Anglicanism. I also appreciate, even need, Anglicanism's connection to the historic church. Part of the lectionary for today's Morning Prayer was the story of Stephen and company's ordination to the diaconate, Acts 6:1-6. Verse six says, "They had these men stand before the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them." That is still done at ordinations, and it is done by bishops who can trace that laying of hands back to the apostles - an unbroken line. It's called the Historic Episcopate and it's part of the bedrock of catholicism, which includes Anglicans.

On top of all that, I guess I even like the disagreements. As difficult as it often is, I appreciate that Anglicans can (usually, at least formerly) worship together when we disagree about some aspects of faith or doctrine. The congregation of All Saints' Cathedral, in Milwaukee, is radically diverse. In one pew you can find someone who thinks women ought not be ordained and that the 1979 BCP should be thrown out, sitting beside someone who supports V. Gene Robinson and thinks that the 1979 book didn't go far enough toward inclusive language. They'll never agree about these, or perhaps any, subjects...but when the bell rings they stand and worship together. That's partly due to some excellent leadership (both lay and ordained) in that parish, and partly due to the fact that Anglicans (usually, at least formerly) don't feel the need to beat one another into agreement on every point.

It's not easy. Sometimes I have difficulty accepting the differences, and I do refuse to accept people who go beyond disagreement and into outright hostility. I can pray with someone who doesn't think women or homosexuals should be ordained. I cannot pray with someone who thinks that women and homosexuals are just above dogs. Those people are not worshipping the God I worship.

Well...that sure went far and wide. Welcome to a slice of my mind, the part where I keep my summarized theology and my raison d'être. Please excuse the jumbled thoughts...it's messy in my mind, and sometimes I need to empty it out.

|