There are many reasons that I’m so very thankful to be an Episcopalian. We are not a so-called ‘confessional church.’ That is, we don’t swear to a common dogmatic belief system. It is at the heart of our ethos that theology is speculative. We recognize that spirituality isn’t a source for easy answers, but rather a milieu within which we may engage the compelling questions of life. In our tradition we don’t offer the promise of certainty, but embrace nuance and ambiguity as a fertile field of meaning and discovery. We say or sing our creed, but we know that these are mere first words generated from our history; that God is revealing Godself still within our imaginative practice of the faith. But having said all that, the most important thing to me about our church is our liturgy, our prayers and our praise. It’s why I’m an Episcopalian. It’s why I’m a priest. Our Book of Common Prayer and our Hymnal are treasures that, if we can be defined, define us.
The word liturgy literally means, “the work of the people.” We don’t ‘do church’ to people who come here. We invite them to join us in acting out in dramatic fashion our deepest longings; our hope; our gratitude… and we remember in sacred scripture the wisdom of the great sages of our venerable tradition who came before us, who spoke of God’s love of God’s people, and how it is that God is with us. The one in whom we look to know God is Jesus of Nazareth, not just as an historical figure, but as a present reality. Resurrection is the mystery we seek to know and to practice. Put this way our faith requires creativity, and beauty is its language. Our tradition values beauty in worship, because beauty informs and transforms, and it is where mystery is encountered. And our liturgy at its heart is a collaborative process. It is not a show put on by clergy, but an expression of the community gathered.
Our ministry fair occurs Sunday September 9. It is an opportunity for you to sign up to do the work of the church; to be liturgists. We need people to prepare the altar for the Eucharist; we need people to arrange flowers; we need acolytes and chalice bearers to assist with the administration of the sacraments; we need people to take the bread and wine to the infirm and shut-in; we need ushers; we need readers, intercessors, and singers. It is your work that defines us, and know that the life of this community named All Saints will be enriched and deepened by your work… and I promise your own spiritual life will be enriched and deepened as well.
We are known at All Saints for our beautiful liturgy. Please help us to continue to make it so.
