The Episcopal Church ... You’re Welcome!

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.  Matthew 22: 37-40

Here you will find links to everything Episcopal, including the home pages of:

• the Anglican Communion
• the Church of England
• the Episcopal Church, USA
• an index of congregational web sites
• Church Publishing Inc. (the publishing arm of the Church)

Looking for a verse from Scripture?  Perhaps a particular translation?

• Links to all the versions of the Book of Common Prayer
• The Bible Browser
• The Bible Gateway
• All-in-One Biblical Resources
• Compare excerpts from over a hundred versions of the Bible

What do we mean when we say that Christians are a people of the Way (that’s what the early Christians called themselves—the followers of the Way)?  That we must pass through the Cross?

We forgive because we are forgiven, by the One who has gone before us.  Forgiveness passes through him and then through us, like a stream of flowing water.  Can atheists forgive?  Of course, it’s just that forgiveness is uniquely central to the Christian theology.  Other religions have love and justice; and I’m sure that all people forgive.  But without forgiveness, there is no Christian faith.

We all have our favorite houses of worship, church organizations or religious web sites.  Here are some links to mine:

• St. Paul's, London
• The Mystery Worshipper
• Saint Cards, truly unusual icons
• Whosoever, an online magazine for GLBT Christians
• Worship That Works, selected sermons
• James Kiefer's Christian Biographies

I’ve recently become more aware of the deep differences of opinion of Anglo-Catholics on one side and “low church” Protestants on the other.  Besides the obvious differences of crossing oneself, there is the more important issue of the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the parishioner.

So if you don’t want to deal with the issue of same-sex unions, perhaps you’d like to express your feelings on the subject of Morning Prayer?  Someone that I work with came to a worship service at Grace Church and was pleased to find her favorite hymns, incredible music and a fine sermon.  She is originally from the South and says,

We did not bow our heads when the cross came down the aisle, and we did not cross ourselves.  Our bishops did not wear mitres, and our clergy only wore collars when necessary.  If I saw someone with a collar on, and I did not know him, I knew he was RC, because I knew all the Episcopal clergy.  There were five in Mobile at that time.

Needless to say, we thought incense was for the Roman Catholics.  During World War II, our rector left to take a call, and we were unable to get a new one because so many had gone into military service.  My father was the lay reader for over a year and held the services and read a lay reader’s sermon every week, except when someone would come for Communion.

So, you see I am truly “low church.”  My grandfather was an Episcopal minister, as was my husband, and my brother-in-law is, too.  So, I am not a new radical.  I felt so much at home at Grace with the wonderful hymns, the beautiful church, and the liturgy.

Episcopal churches often have red doors.  Check the April 2001 edition of TVOD; Saint Thomas, Long Beach also has a suggestion.

What is the history of the hymn tune Aberystwyth?  Check out the August 16, 2000 entry of the Diary pages.

How come the reading of the Gospel falls in the middle of the service?  The August 30, 2000 entry has the answer to that.

Go to a page about what to expect at an Episcopal church.

Need help with Evangelism?  Liturgy?  Publicity?  Publishing?  Theology?
Contact us regarding Ambrose-Anthony, Ltd.

I was raised a Roman Catholic, but by my early 20s I was heavily “lapsed.”  When I was in my late 20s, I met John Hood through my business.  I was living in Boston at the time, but raised in NJ, so whenever I was in the area we would get together.  It wasn’t long, though, before drinks and dinner led to the traditional Anglican invitation, “Would you like to go to church?”  So my very first Anglican experience was Christmas eve at St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square.  It was so Anglo-Catholic that I didn’t even notice the difference from my own church!

Then David Littler, his friend, invited me to Evening Prayer one day at St. Luke in the Fields and thus began a long association with the Episcopal Church that got cemented in the year I spent in Laguna Beach almost ten years ago and when I returned to New Jersey in 1995.  John had died a few years back and David had moved to LA.

But within the year, I was serving on the vestry of Trinity Church, Cranford and was writer and producer of its twelve-page newsletter (yes, quite ambitious).  Do you know the whole story of +Joe Morris Doss and his trials and tribulations in the Diocese of New Jersey?  Many churches were refusing to send in their pledges to the Diocese in an attempt to destabilize the Bishop by destroying his budget.  It worked quite well as I recall.

Being in a liberal parish, we wanted to make an opposite statement.  At one vestry meeting, I asked what we might possibly do to help out.  By that, I meant could we help in supplying perhaps some office assistance (answering phones, making photocopies, etc.).  Not could we do anything major.  Well.  Having seen our newsletter, Bishop Doss asked if we could produce Ecclesia for him.  As opposed to Via Media (the wrapper of Episcopal Life that dealt with the diocese), Ecclesia was the Bishop’s personal newsletter to clergy and lay leaders of the diocese.  Naturally, that was one of the first things to go in the budget.  And of course we said, “sure.”

The work continued past +Joe’s “sabbatical” with me continuing the newsletter.  In one of those very weird situations, I actually put it out (it was monthly) for two months with no bishop whatsoever, just the Standing Committee!  Then +Herb Donovan came in for a few months before +David Joslin came down from Central New York.

I moved to NYC almost five years ago, but continued to attend Cranford whenever possible and continued ties to the diocese until January 2000 when my workload became too great and I had to give up the newsletter.  May I humbly say that it’s a much less grand one than when I produced it?

I really have no church affiliation in Manhattan, although I live in the East Village.  Instead, I’ve become the itinerant congregant, spending a bit of time here, a bit of time there.  But I have always enjoyed Smokey Mary’s when I’ve had the opportunity to attend.  Otherwise, I attend Church of the Ascension every other week, filling in with Saint Thomas, Saint Bartholomew and others.

I live within sight of two spires.  Both belong to Episcopal churches.  The spire on the left side of the page belongs to St. Mark in the Bowery, established around the time of the War of Independence.  The one on the right is Grace Church on Broadway, designed by James Renwick in the late 1800s and of historical and architectural significance.  Years ago, I would have been able to see the churches as well, but buildings have grown up around them.  But then, my building would not have been here either.

I live within sight of two spires.  The one on the left is simple and stately, a spire of the people; the one on the right is florid and flagrant, a spire of success and status.  But typical of the paradox which is the Episcopal church, St. Mark’s is more “high church” and Grace is definitely “low church” being the only one in Manhattan where Morning Prayer is still the principal service on most Sunday mornings.  On the other hand, at St. Mark’s one is more likely to have to grab a folding chair to sit on while the pews at Grace are still the original stalls.  The liturgy at St. Mark’s is very Anglo-Catholic with a regular healing service on Wednesdays; Grace is predominately Rite I and where the congregation rarely makes the sign of the cross.

I live within sight of two spires, literally on the via media, on the corner of Third Avenue, halfway between the two churches.

I live within sight of two spires, representing the two poles of the Church and perhaps my own experiences and feelings as well.  At Grace is the soaring space; as one person told me, “it’s as close to St. Paul’s in London as I’ve seen here.”  St. Mark’s looks more like a New England church; since a fire years ago and, now that it’s used more often by Dance Space, the interior is open and bright without any pews.  Grace is “dressed” more like me on Sunday mornings.  St. Mark’s looks more like me in my regular East Village garb.

I live within sight of two spires and it reminds me of the Church itself.

Many of you know of my love of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, ever since singing it with the Trinity, Cranford choir many years ago.  Ever since, I’ve said that I want it sung at my own funeral.  But I also want the liturgy from the BCP, the Burial of the Dead, Rite II.

Hopefully, before I do pass this mortal coil, I will have figured a way to blend them together.  As I do, I will post the results here on this site.  If you have any suggestions, I would appreciate hearing from you.

As a man of integrity, there are some things I feel strongly about that do not always fit the official stance of the church or perhaps do not have unanimous acceptance.  The ordination and equality of women as well as the rights of gay people to marry without question of sexuality would certainly be high up on my list.

Over the next few months, I would like to start a multi-level dialogue and these and other subjects. Please send your comments directly to me and I will develop a separate page for them.  Please specify whether or not you would like to remain anonymous.

And since we are rocking the boat here, let us start right off with a controversial proposal.  This one was suggested to me by my partner, Bryan.  A Roman Catholic, he currently refuses to accept the sacraments until the playing field is equal to all human beings, not only for marriage but also the Eucharist and more.

Here is his suggestion:  All clergy should refrain from officiating at any marriage ceremony until all persons have the right to the sacrament.  As a side note, he points out that the government should be in charge of civil unions and churches should concern themselves with a sacramental blessing.  It would make the lines clearer.

In the Episcopal Church, it is my feeling that the via media is failing us on this particular issue.  I personally know gay couples who have been married by their rector in front of their congregations with no change in the wording of the service whatsoever.  Others are bending the rules by having elaborate liturgical devices for their ceremonies in Vermont.  The rationale for this one is particularly specious to me as most heterosexual couples are writing their own services anyway.  As it currently stands, a heterosexual couple can appear before a priest that they’ve never met, design their own ceremony and be done before sunset.

What do you think?

Regarding the image of the cross shown in Followers of the Way, Jae Williams, (Special Collections Librarian & Curator, Arts of the Book Collection of the Yale University Library), wrote me to say that,

In an item entitled “Fritz Eichenberg: A Portfolio of Eight Prints from Drawings Appearing in The Catholic Worker” that is a part of our Eichenberg collection, the printed image appears.  It is entitled The Manual Laborers’ Cross.  There are no dates on this work.  However, another print in our collection calls the work The Labor Cross and carries the date of 1954.

Take me back home, please