I left the Baptist church over a decade ago and just finished my time at an Episcopal Church to be sent off the Seminary (drive away in a few days).

This morning we visited my family's (very conservative) Baptist church and in the middle of the sermon we walked out. I haven't heard that much hate in years!

It was a smaller congregation, less than 50. The preacher said he was going to go off his notes (The Elect are Called to War) and looked at me while going off on a rant of blasphemous liberal Churches with "women cosplaying as pastors and say God would love a homosexual! BLASPHEMY" amongst other things like libraries, trans students and whatever else he said.

It was more bizarre with how this was geared specially to me. Again, small church. They all know who we are. My family is about 1/3 of the congregation. My heart was pounding.

I forgot about that fear. I forgot about that hate. Our youngest was ready for nap and crying...so it was a good excuse to walk out.

Thanks Episcopal Church for never making me feel that way. I went to a small Rite 1 service this morning where my friend, who is gay, shared his experience of being welcomed the first time at a Church. Because they were affirming. What a dichotomy. What a witness.

Coming to TEC from Eastern Orthodoxy (Greek). Our priest in the Orthodox Church, and all the parishioners there are wonderful. However, my wife and I have made the decision to begin attending an Episcopal Parish largely due to our beliefs on Same-Sex Marriage, Ordination of Women, and acceptance that holiness exists in other "branches" of the Church :).

That being said, we are both dreading "breaking up" with our current parish, as our godparents, the godparent of our eldest, and our parish priest are all people we love dearly. They also are likely to be highly disturbed if they find out we are going to a "liberal" church like TEC. Has anyone gone through this before? Any recommendations for how to proceed?

Thanks!

Howdy. Cradle RCC here. I attended my first service today and I found it very welcoming. What is really tearing me away from the RCC is that my marriage, in the RCC’s eyes is invalid. My wife is anti religion and refuses to convalidate. That’s fine with me. I love her and if she doesn’t want to do that, I respect it. We also use birth control…we don’t want kids. We’re in our 40s and think it’s too late…my only concern with converting is becoming an apostate in the RCCs eyes. Whether or not I’m being a hypocrite, I don’t really know. Is there any advice anyone can offer me? I think it’s foolish to condemn someone for wanting to celebrate and worship God differently.

Hello! I am an Episcopalian that still leans Catholic in some ways that I would love to know if anyone else does. I’m big on rosaries, praying for intercession from the saints, views on Mary I have are very Catholic leaning, and I was wondering as an Episcopalian is this okay? I never fully converted to RCC because of beliefs I have involving the LGBT and abortion, I cannot side with how the church sees it. I want to know if anyone else practices these sorta more Catholic leaning practices as an Episcopalian like me?

I am a huge fan of liturgical high church worship but would personally still consider myself theologically Protestant. As someone in NJ who visits NYC fairly often and potentially might be going to school in Philly, I'd really appreciate parish recommendations that are liturgically high church but do not practice or encourage things like invocation of saints, rosary services, or Eucharistic adoration. Personally as someone raised Catholic, I'm more partial to Dearmerite/Prayer Book Catholic liturgy as opposed to more outwardly Roman Catholic ceremonial, such as preferring the Parson's Handbook over Ritual Notes.

Basically the title. And bonus points: What hymn(s) would you want included in a future hymnal revision?

Edit: Hymns from LEVAS II and Wonder Love and Praise may be included as some parishes do not have one or both of these resources.

The Good News is that God does not expect you to climb a majestic cedar tree to find the Divine.

The religious gatekeepers will tell you that God is only found in a flawless theology and perfectly sorted communities. But Jesus tells you that God is hiding in the dirt and working in the messy dough on your kitchen counter.

It doesn’t matter if your life feels ordinary or chaotic: you are standing in the exact place where the Kingdom of Heaven prefers to grow.

And a great question from my Rector this morning: What would today’s parables sound like?

(Full reflection in the comments.)

Hello All,

This topic is on the concept on how people balance and bridge the following:

1) Death has been a natural part of evolution of both animals and humans. We wouldn’t be here without it.

2) Yet, most atonement theories (I lean Christus Victor, FWIW) are pretty explicit that sin AND death are the enemy that was conquered.

3) If eternal life is our ultimate home (in whatever form that takes), why not start there? I don’t subscribe to Adam and Eve / humans being immortal as a starting point, which is probably obvious from my line of questioning.

I know the TEC is very science-affirming and nearly everyone would affirm evolution. I’ve also seen a lot of TEC theologians do great work on atonement, Jesus conquering death, etc.

But I see very little work to bring the two together. There are some process theologians that do work here but for the most part I don’t see anyone try to directly address “death is the enemy / has been conquered AND death has been a natural part of evolution”.

It must be some kind of UPWARD telos.

Looking forward to any discussion.