ABOUT US

If you have never been to an Episcopal Church before, chances are you may feel rather confused and even lost when you worship with us. Here are a few things you might see:

• People kneeling here, kneeling there, kneeling everywhere….or not.
• People reading out of this book, singing out of that book…or this other book…or not.
• People crossing themselves on their forehead, on their lips, on their chest…or not.
• People bowing their heads here, bowing their bodies there, genuflecting everywhere…or not.
• Incense…or not…bells…or not… colorful robes…or not.
• Chanting…or not…wafers…or not…bread…or not.
• Coffee hour…ALWAYS!!!

So, what’s up? It may feel like an organized mess – orderly in the overall flow of the service, but unorganized in individual worship styles. Why is this? A couple of thoughts:

1. Episcopalians are Anglicans, as in, from England (not fly fisher folk). The Episcopal Church is the Anglican Church in the United States with roots in the Church of England dating back to the 16th century, which has roots in the Roman Catholic Church dating back to, well, the 1stcentury. (Cool, huh?) Because of this, the liturgy (the flow of the service) is steeped in tradition, which gives it a formal (some would say stuffy, though we vehemently disagree) feel. That’s because Episcopalians/Anglicans take our roots (vernacular for tradition) very seriously. Hence the “organized” in organized mess. 
   
   
2. Episcopalians are Protestants, as in those church folk who protested against the authority of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century and ended up breaking away from said church. Other Protestant churches include the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Reformed Churches, the Baptists, the Quakers, the Methodists, and others. 
   
   
3. Since The Episcopal Church is Catholic in form, bringing a reverence for and rootedness in the ancient tradition (see above) and Protestant in theology (see above, but not as far above as the other “see above”), many people join the Episcopal Church from other traditions, both Catholic and Protestant. For this reason, Anglicanism is often called the via media (that’s Latin for “middle way”). In fact, 70% of Episcopalians were raised in another tradition. This explains the “mess” in organized mess. People worship in ways that are comfortable to them, and Episcopalians are cool with that because they are proud of their reputation for accepting people where they are at (a dangling participle….sorry), for their openness, and for not being given to extremes (and let’s face it, the truth rarely lay in the extremes). It’s all part of that via media thing. 
   
   
4. As for the coffee, well, behind Baptism and Holy Communion, coffee is unofficially considered the third sacrament* of the church (unless you’re one of those Anglicans that believes there are 7 sacraments – that via media thing again), then coffee would be considered the eighth sacrament, but you probably already figured that out.

*A sacrament is an outward sign of an inward reality. Baptism washes us clean of our sin (all that separates us from God) and brings us into the church, the community of baptized people. Forgiveness and new life are the inward realities; water is the outward sign. Holy Communion feeds us with the presence of Christ and strengthens us for our faith journey. The inward reality is Christ’s presence within; the outward sign is bread and wine. Coffee keeps us awake and alert during some of those long liturgies. The inward reality is alertness; caffeine is the outward sign.

A few other odds and ends (mostly odds):

• Episcopalians are a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, a loosely affiliated confederation of all independent Anglican Churches in the world who are in communion with each other (that means that as an Episcopalian, we can worship with Anglicans anywhere in the world, and that our bishops, priests, and deacons are all recognized everywhere [bishops, prie…WHA?...see below…RIGHT below…well, after the next sentence]). The Anglican Communion is the 3rd largest Christian “church” (it’s actually a collection of autonomous churches) in the world, behind the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox Churches (that’s for another conversation).

• Okay. Bishops, prie…WHA? Episcopalian means “episcopal,” which comes from the Greek word “episcopos” meaning “overseer” and often translated “bishop” in the Bible. When we call ourselves the Episcopal Church, therefore, we are describing our form of government, which is hierarchical (top down, though that’s not totally true in the Episcopal Church because both clergy and lay [not the potato chip, but non-clergy] people govern and make decisions for the church). There are three types of ministers in the Episcopal Church. Bishops oversee groupings of congregations in a geographical area called a “diocese.” Church of Our Savior is part of the Diocese of Nebraska, which is the whole state….big geography, little diocese (only 57 congregations). Technically, the bishop is the rector (or priest) of each congregation, but since he or she (we have male and female bishops, priests, and deacons) can’t be in all 57 congregations at once (well, at least until we perfect transporter technology, or figure out how to create a Time Turner), priests pastor congregations in the bishop’s stead. Deacons are ministers whose work is centered in the proclamation of God’s word and serving people. Not every congregation has a deacon.

Episcopalians are people of the book…well, people of two books, actually…the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. The Bible is a collection of historical writings of various kinds that describe God’s movement and action in human history. We believe that God still speaks to us through this book, so we call the Bible God’s word. But we also believe that God’s word is ever growing and changing as our culture develops. Therefore, we do not interpret the Bible literally (shellfish is great, but the Bible says it’s an unclean food, not to be eaten), but interpret it using both tradition (what dudes and dudettes from the past said about things) and reason (God gave us brains, after all, and we don’t need to check them at the door when we come to church. In fact, in keeping with the historic Anglican recognition of the authority of scripture, tradition, and reason, we welcome and respect diverse views, independent thinking, and thoughtful discussion as essential to how we come to know and serve God together).

The other book is the Book of Common Prayer. In that book are all the prayers we pray as Episcopalians. Having a common prayer book connects us to others across the church and the world. But it also connects us to the tradition (many prayers are really, really old…I mean REALLY old…older than dirt, almost). And we already talked about the importance of tradition to Episcopalians (see above…way, WAY above…like almost to the beginning).

Okay, hopefully, you have gotten a bit of a taste who we are and what we are about. If you’re curious to know more, just ask. We would love to tell you all about us! But the best way to learn about us is to hang out with us for a while. Experience how we pray together….that shows you who we are as people of faith. And always remember,

ALL are welcome here!