Monday, February 12, 2007
Hell frozen over part 2...
I made it through another Episcopal service. The big problem that I'm struggling with is that every creed, song, prayer, gold and silver ornament, and every action seems like a call for allegience to the beliefs of imperialized religion. I feel like the entire service is centered around this notion of gathering up the community and pledging unanimous support for doctrines created during the domestication of the gospel by the Roman Empire. Every prayer has the word trinity or virgin birth nestled in its language. I've been told to cross my fingers behind my back or think only on the metaphorical nature of the language, but this is just too much. I don't want to be constantly reminded about what I've grown to dislike about Christianity. I'm tired of being mad at church and this just forces me to stare the most ugly aspects of Christianity in the face every Sunday. I went there looking for freedom from these system of beliefs and instead they seem to throw those very beliefs up in my face with every word.
I'm completely baffled by this paradox. The Christian churches that have the most open theological views have tied their worship to the most blatant use of closed theological language and ritual. On the other hand, the protestant churches that worked so hard to strip away the creeds and formalized pledges to doctrines are now strictly enforcing their conservative doctrines on their members behind the scenes. What the hell is going on? Somebody explain this to me. One group is celebrating the language they don't believe and the other group is going to great lengths to not publicly say what they do believe. Is this some big cosmic joke designed to drive me to the point of saying "screw you guys, I'm going home"?
10 comments:
Mike,
I guess you need to look elsewhere! I'd recommend the Disciples (my tradition), which I think would fit you well, but I'm not sure of the congregations in your community. If you can find Cherry Log, GA, there's a church called Cherry Log Christian Church, which was founded by Fred Craddock, one of the leading teachers of preachers around. He's given over leadership to a much younger pastor -- but you might find it interesting!
http://www.clccdoc.org/index.htm
If there's a UCC church around, you might find it interesting.
As you can see, I'm trying to venture out and my posts here are probably misrepresenting my sincere desire to give church a fair chance. I've been working hard to fit in a variety of traditions for the last 12 years. Overall I've enjoyed what I learned if most of the lessons have actually been learning how NOT to do church.
Cherry Log is a 3 hour drive so that isn't an option. I did attempt to contact a Disciples pastor in a local church via email 2 years ago but he didn't respond. I didn't dig hard enough in that area, but I'm always open to try. My wife has been reluctant to try the UU church (I've been a little freaked out by it too). It is likely that that is where my views might find the best fit.
I also can't shake the idea that I have some "sense of call" to be part of a re-education process from within the Evangelical church, but that process is painful and has left me tired. People have been killed attempting to re-educate Christians and that is NOT metaphorical.
My gut tells me that where ever I wind up I'll be stretching the boundaries. I think the idea of "fitting" is unrealistic.
Here's a sermon from this past Sunday I think you'll find less frustrating. I know I did.
http://christ-community.net/MP3/sermon02_11_07.mp3
I'm surprised that you managed to make it to a second Episcopal service. I had the exact same reaction that you did the first time I went to one, and I was so appalled I never went back (and it was an Episcopal church that had all sorts of amazingly progressive ideas in its newsletter). When I saw the affirmation of a creed in the program, I turned to my girlfriend and whisperred "No...!" In lieu of crossing my fingers, I just refused to say the creed. I vowed never to go to an Episcopal church again that followed the Book of Common prayer for its service. The disconnect between progressive theology and traditional worship was something I couldn't deal with.
However, that being said, there are other possibilities within the Episcopal church. Depending on where you live, some Episcopal churches have different kinds of services that don't follow the Book of Common Prayer on Sunday nights. In my region of the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, there are some that advertise on their web sites novel worship forms for Sunday evenings. A church in SF, St. Marys, that has something called "St. Mary's Unplugged" on Sundays at 5 (see this; in Menlo Park, there is this; and there are others as well. I haven't been to either of those, but they seem interesting and I might visit them; I get the impression that this might not be that uncommon and might be worth checking out. Most interesting to me is St. Gregory's in San Francisco, which I have visited. They have come up with an entirely new kind of worship (with the approval of the Bishop, apparently) that has no recitation of creeds and which is highly participatory and very progressive.
I am personally more closely associated with the UCC, but I like you am attracted to the progressive theology of some Episcopalians and that is why I've been researching this.
Sorry about posting those two messages that I had to delete. The links were screwed up some how. I do like the UCC quite a bit as a progressive denomination, but not all individual congregations are progressive, so it depends on which one you visit (each church in the UCC has a great deal of autonomy). I attend one that is affiliated with the Center for Progressive Christianity.
MS, Thanks for the comments. I really appreciate the input and it is good to know others are involved in the same type of search. It is too bad that I'm not in San Francisco. Actual that my favorite city! My wife and I visit there every couple of years because we love it so much (and because I'm a huge Raiders fan so go in the fall and take in a game in oakland). It is very likely that i'll be there before the end of 2007. Maybe I will take in one of the services before heading across the bay.
Mike,
I think you'll find the UCC's a close fit -- though as MS said it depends on the congregation. The same is true of the Disciples. There are progressive ones in Georgia, but maybe not in your community. Keep searching!
Post a Comment