"God loves you!" We, the Episcopal
Church, welcome and invite you to share in this proclamation of the Good
News of Jesus Christ and to become a member of our Christian community.
The Episcopal Church has a unique place in the spectrum of Christian
experience. Our worship is rooted in scripture, with vibrant expression
of prayer, music, sacrament, and word. Episcopalians have long stood for
service to the wider community, and we express our faith in outreach and
social concern; we attempt to "walk the talk" of Jesus' teachings. We
are known for asking good questions, rather than necessarily providing
pat answers for complex issues. And we are known for our inclusiveness,
recognizing that Christ's banquet is large enough to include every
person. Some words which describe Episcopalian values:
- Open-minded, and willing to live with ambiguity, knowing that
truth is discerned by many paths.
- Searching, questioning, and using reason to explore new insights
and possibilities.
- Intuitive, affirming the metaphorical, paradoxical, and
symbolic.
- Aesthetic, understanding that truth, goodness, and beauty are
inter-related.
- Moderate, holding the "middle ground" between extremes.
- Naturalistic, delighting in the rhythms of life grounded in
Creation.
- Historical, valuing tradition and experience in understanding
the present.
- Political, appreciating civic virtues and affirmation of free,
peaceful, and public debate and discourse, and the role of the
church in influencing social, political, and economic life.
Our Beliefs
We believe in a loving God – Creator,
Redeemer, and Sustainer – who created
the universe, who through Jesus Christ redeems us from sin and
death, and who sustains us through love and grace. We promise to
follow Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. We believe the mission
of our church is the restoration of all people to unity with God and
each other in Christ. The cornerstones of our faith are scripture,
tradition, reason, and experience. Scripture
Scripture is the word of God contained in the Old and New
Testaments of the Bible. The Old Testament recounts the story of
God's love for the world from Creation until the time of Jesus. The
New Testament contains Jesus' teachings, the accounts of his life as
told by his followers, and the beginning of the early Christian
church. Scripture is the ground of our faith and is read in public
worship services and daily devotions. We are not biblical
"literalists." That is, we study scripture in the context of
history, and seek to interpret God's word in scripture for our own
day. We have a willingness to live with diverse and changing
interpretations of scripture, rather than attributing scripture with
infallible certainty and binding prescriptions for all time and
circumstance. Tradition
Tradition is the embodiment of our experience as Christians
throughout the centuries, shaped by the Bible, historic creeds,
sacraments, and the ministry carried out by Christ's disciples.
Tradition is expressed with many voices, including worship styles,
languages, cultures, architecture, and music. Our tradition
encourages this diversity. We seek to value each person's life and
story, and invite each person to share in our Christian community.
Reason
We believe that our God-given ability to think critically and
take responsibility for our actions is a vital part of our Christian
faith. Reason, as a complement to scripture and tradition, leads us
to seek answers to our own questions. Human reason is set in the
context of our relationship with God, and God's call to us to live
full and healthy lives. Experience
We experience God's love and our spiritual journey in the context
of community – both within the church
and in the world-at-large. Our daily living experience also shapes
our questions, and nurtures our quest for a closer relationship with
God and Jesus Christ. |
