We have begun our Inquirers’ Class at All Saints. It is designed for folks who want to know more about the Episcopal Church, and for people who just want to continue to learn about the faith. It also serves as preparation for Confirmation, the “official” means of joining the Episcopal Church as a Communicant. (It’s not too late to show up) We have a great group. It is diverse denominationally, ethnically, age-wise. We range from age sixteen to seventy plus. We have a meal together, which we all share in providing, and then we have teaching and conversation. I am amazed from year to year at the passion and hunger for meaning in the life of the Spirit that these pilgrims bring to All Saints. Many find meaning outside the church, but for these gathered they want meaning in the context of the religious tradition handed down through the generations as flawed as it certainly is. Their questions poignant. They want honesty, not institutional spin. Some have anger towards the church that they feel has abdicated its prophetic responsibility…I love this class.
It gives me hope that while mainstream institutional religion is being called into question, that the Episcopal Church still has a vibrant relevancy (not without our flaws). We expect doubt….We want challenge…We teach a critical and contextual engagement with scripture….We expect new knowledge…the old adage in the Episcopal Church still obtains: “In the Episcopal Church one doesn’t have to check their brains at the door”….We don’t have a weighty dogmatic magisterium to tell us what to believe or think…Our journey as a people of faith, descended from the ancient church, let us hasten to say, is one of discovery not an assent to a rigid doctrine or confession; our faith is evolving, being transformed, able to improvise among the exponential changes taking place in our culture and in the world. Our faith is one of seeking a maturity so that we may live artfully for the good of the whole…and that is not just a pill we swallow, a one time initiation into a done deal, but a lifetime of study and service…I’m biased of course…but I can’t imagine any other life.
Pray for these pilgrims as they seek a deeper knowledge of God…pray for them as they seek to make meaning in their lives…They have come to us in earnest to find a place in which they can worship with integrity apropos of their lives in the world. This is no small thing… no small thing for any of us who are yet on the road to Jerusalem…the place where the joy of heaven intersects with the beauty of earth….If one wants easy answers about how it is we should live…this church is not for you…but if it is enlightened discovery and honest engagement with our exponentially changing and complex world…then we’re working at it…come join the work.
