Today is the Feast of the Baptism and also a day to honour who we are as Anglicans. Water has been used ritually in the Judaeo-Christian realm for millenia. Jewish priests sprinkled conrgregations with holy water as a reminder of becoming a People through the crossing of the Red Sea, just as Christian priests today sprinkle congregants with holy water as a reminder of entering the Church through the sacrament of baptism. Water rituals were, and sometimes still are, used in Jewish practice for ritual purifications and in conversions to Judaism. John the Baptiser deployed water baptism for a public witness to one's repentance from sin in preparation for coming of the Messiah.
Baptism in the Christian context makes one a member of the Church, a second family of supportive and loving brothers and sisters. From the beginning, baptism has been the gateway sacrament which must logically be received before any other sacrament may be received. The promises of baptism are affirmed by the individual in the sacrament of confirmation in which one receives "marching orders" from the bishop.
Catholic Christianity, through the work of the Holy Spirit, emerged from the competition of several different iterations of the faith vying for ascendancy. When we speak of Catholic Faith, we mean that same faith coming down to us from the apostles, reflected in scripture, clarified by the seven true ecumenical councils, and summed up in the creeds. Catholic faith continues alive in the three great traditions: the Roman, Orthodox, and Anglican Communions. As Anglicans, Episcopalians are part of an eighty-million member federation of national churches round the world, the largest religious body in the English-speaking world. Our Communion was born in the Anglican Reformation, from which the church in England emerged both Catholic and reformed, changing only those things that needed to be repaired, and allowing for theological and liturgical freedom. When there were some excesses, we corrected through the Oxford Movement and went forward. We can compare that to the Continental Reformation in which protestants adopted all new forms of church government, rejected most or all of the sacraments, terminated the ancient orders of ministry in order to create new ones, and radically reinvented worship and discipline. We Anglicans, on the other hand, refused to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
Additionally, Anglicans came to embrace what is often called the Three-Legged Stool, in which we understand God's revelation to be received through Tradition, Scripture and Reason which includes the lived experience of our communities of faith. Each leg of the stool informs and strengthens the others. This means that Anglicans can respond with greater flexibility and faithfulness. Let me give two examples: In the last century, we concluded that the exclusion of women from Priesthood was the result of cultural conditioning reflected both in Church tradition and in the Bible. By reason,we reached the conclusion that there was no theological barrier to such ordinations and we reformed our practice. In very recent times, we concluded that discrimination against homosexual persons was the result of pre-scientific ignorance reflected both in Church tradition and in scripture. In the light of scholarship, which tells us that all people are born with a primary sexual signature and do not choose sexual orientation, and in light of Christ's radical acceptance of others and God's love for all, we embraced not only equality in church life for gay people in our churches but also marriage equality.
Finally, in the American iteration of Anglicanism, we incorporated some democratic elements into the governance of the church. For example, we have bicameral legislative bodies. And, so, while bishops in the apostolic succession still govern (and we are therefore Catholic in governance), they cannot make decisions unilaterally, because clergy and lay representatives also have a vote (thus we are also reformed in governance).
Episcopalians then, within the Anglican universe, are a unique way to be Christian in a modern and rapidly-changing world whilst remaining faithful to our ancient Catholic roots and heritage.
No comments:
Post a Comment