The Episcopal Church is part of the Angican Communion,
a worldwide body of Anglicans. (Anglican just means "of England," since we all find our church origins in the English Reformation.)
The Anglican Communion recognizes Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams as the head of the Anglican Church, but his leadership
is spiritual as a "first bishop among equals." He has no governing power.
Like all Anglican churches, the
Episcopal Church is distinguished by the following characteristics:
Protestant, Yet Catholic
Anglicanism stands squarely in the Reformed tradition, yet considers
itself just as directly descended from the Early Church as the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches. Episcopalians
celebrate the “Mass” in ways similar to the Roman Catholic tradition, yet do not recognize a single authority,
such as the Pope of Rome. From the Greek, the word “Catholic” just
means “universal.”
Worship
in one’s first language
Episcopalians believe that Christians should be able to worship God and
read the Bible in their first language, which for most Episcopalians, is English, rather than Latin or Greek, the two earlier,
“official” languages of Christianity. Yet the Book of Common Prayer has been translated into many languages, so
that those Episcopalians who do not speak English can still worship God in their native tongue. Some churches have taken this
belief even further than worship in English, to worship in the style of the community. For example, in the South Bronx, NY,
there is a “hip hop mass.” We believe God comes to us in many different ways, not
only in “thees and “thys” (those some folks do prefer that language).
The
Book of Common Prayer
Unique to Anglicanism is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of worship services
that all worshipers in an Anglican church follow. It’s called “common prayer” because we all pray it together,
around the world. The first Book of Common Prayer was compiled in English by Thomas Cranmer in the 16th Century, and since
then has undergone many revisions for different times and places. Many other worship resources and prayers exist to enrich
our worship, but the Book of Common Prayer is the authority that governs our worship. The prayer book explains Christianity,
describes the main beliefs of the Church, outlines the requirements for the sacraments, and in general serves as the main
guidelines of the Episcopal life.
Scripture,
Tradition, and Reason
The Anglican approach to reading and interpreting the Bible was first articulated by
Richard Hooker, also in the 16th Century. While Christians universally acknowledge the Bible (or the Holy Scriptures) as the
Word of God and completely sufficient to our reconciliation to God, what the Bible says must always speak to us in our own
time and place. The Church, as a worshiping body of faithful people, has for two thousand years amassed experience of God
and of loving Jesus, and what they have said to us through the centuries about the Bible is critical to our understanding
it in our own context. The traditions of the Church in interpreting Scripture connect all generations of believers together
and give us a starting point for our own understanding.
Episcopalians
believe that every Christian must build an understanding and relationship with God’s Word in the Bible, and to do that,
God has given us intelligence and our own experience, which we refer to as “Reason.” Based on the text of the
Bible itself, and what Christians have taught us about it through the ages, we then must sort out our own understanding of
it as it relates to our own lives.
