Mixing Denominations
Katherine and I have been going to St. Luke the Physician Episcopal Church just around the corner from our home on Thursday nights. They have a small Eucharistic and healing service there. Usually, there are about 8 people, or so. Father Bob is a real down-to-earth kind of guy and the others are pretty folksy too. We really like it. Why is a presbyerian minister and his wife going to an Episcopal church for services?
1. We love the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer. The PCA churches in Miami have very low liturgy. Many of the services we've attended (we've been to all the PCA churches here) have had horribly planned liturgy. I almost get the impression the service was thrown together with things added or taken away more on the basis of time constraints than any flow to the service. The Book of Common Prayer contains beautiful liturgy, and it is easy to use. We love it.
2. We love the Lord's Supper. None of the PCA churches offer the Lord's Supper weekly. In fact, we've been to church every week, and have only had communion once in the 10 weeks we've been here. What's that about? Do we believe in the grace of God or not? Do we believe in our Confessions or not? The benefits of redemption are communicated to us in the "Word [preaching], sacraments and prayer."
3. We love to be with non-presbyterian Christians. It is good to associate with, and to love, and to learn from people who are different from us. The theology is a little different at the Episcopal church, and that is good for us, and our presence is probably good for them, too. It's good to mix things up. If we stay with people who are just like us, they will probably keep affirming our worldview, and we'll never be able to see where we should change to become more like Christ. So, for those of us who are sure that we are still sinners, we should associate with people who are not like us. Not always fun, but always rewarding.
1. We love the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer. The PCA churches in Miami have very low liturgy. Many of the services we've attended (we've been to all the PCA churches here) have had horribly planned liturgy. I almost get the impression the service was thrown together with things added or taken away more on the basis of time constraints than any flow to the service. The Book of Common Prayer contains beautiful liturgy, and it is easy to use. We love it.
2. We love the Lord's Supper. None of the PCA churches offer the Lord's Supper weekly. In fact, we've been to church every week, and have only had communion once in the 10 weeks we've been here. What's that about? Do we believe in the grace of God or not? Do we believe in our Confessions or not? The benefits of redemption are communicated to us in the "Word [preaching], sacraments and prayer."
3. We love to be with non-presbyterian Christians. It is good to associate with, and to love, and to learn from people who are different from us. The theology is a little different at the Episcopal church, and that is good for us, and our presence is probably good for them, too. It's good to mix things up. If we stay with people who are just like us, they will probably keep affirming our worldview, and we'll never be able to see where we should change to become more like Christ. So, for those of us who are sure that we are still sinners, we should associate with people who are not like us. Not always fun, but always rewarding.
posted by William Sofield at 7:56 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home