August 22, 2016 (although I started writing this in San Francisco)

 

At first glance, Saint Gregory of Nyssa (SGN), with its colorful artwork, sung liturgy, and open architecture may not feel like an Episcopal Church or service to the average Episcopal Sunday worshiper. What makes any church Episcopal? I’ve been asking myself that question this past month while participating in the life and worship of St. Gregory Church, especially since I’ve talked with many people that described themselves in many ways other than Episcopalian such as Buddhist, Christian, agnostic, un-churched, and non-Christian. Not that one needs to be Episcopalian to attend an Episcopal Church and in fact that is one of the things I love about being in any Episcopal Church—everyone is welcome. But being at St. Gregory did beg the question—what is our identity that shapes our worship and how does that identity create a foundation on which we practice our faith and build our church community? I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t important that St. Gregory defined itself as Episcopal and that we could have churches such as this that are non-denominational and Christian/non-Christian, but I couldn’t formulate a convincing enough argument to justify this position. I believe that identity is really important and it defines the formation of liturgy and gives shape to the community formation. And although I do tend to rebel against authority (working on those authority issues) I believe in the broader Episcopal Church structure and its polity and its belonging to the Anglican Communion as a way of insuring accountability and a way of maintaining identity and a way of helping the broader church and the polity to keep itself in check and help itself grow and change as needed.

 

Yes, as Episcopalians, we all have the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) that is adapted to our culture, but at St. Gregory’s I was hard pressed to find a BCP when I wanted to compare the service to that which is in the BCP. But, when I did, I found that the service at St. Gregory does indeed follow the order of service in the BCP. (I wrote about the service in a previous blog.) The one exception to following the BCP is that the creed is not recited at the Sunday services. When I asked about this, the responses were as varied as the people I asked. Susan, a liturgical leader and vestry member, told me that the Bishop tolerates St. Gregory and gives a special dispensation for the SGN liturgy. Other people were unaware of what the creed is and others, like Susan, said the Bishop agreed that it was OK. In other words, people at SGN think they have special dispensation from the Bishop and in general as Paul told me, “The biggest sin of St. Gregory’s is pride because we think we are so special.”

 

In a conversation with Paul he expressed that a creed says something about who God is and about God’s actions and that a creed was present at SGN but was expressed in many different ways. Paul said, “Every week we say something about who God is and about God’s actions such as the Jewish prayer the Sha’ma Israel or we read a Rumi poem that expresses the same ideas about God. This is our creed and the Eucharistic prayer is a creedal statement because it reiterates what ancient creeds say. The recitation of the creed was not a liturgical act in the beginning of the church; it was inserted at a later date.”

 

 

At first glance a confession of sin does not appear to be present in the SGN liturgy and in my conversations with members it was not a concern. According to Paul, a confession of sin is present in the Lord’s Prayer and in the concluding prayers of the people when SGN prays “For those we have wronged, for our enemies and all who wrong us, let us pray to the Lord; and for forgiveness, generosity, and love among all people everywhere, and for the coming kingdom of peace, let us pray to the Lord.” Paul also emphasized the desire of SGN to teach that sins are already forgiven and we need to learn to forgive others just as much as we seek forgiveness.

 

For the full liturgical scripts of all SGN services see: http://www.saintgregorys.org/worship/resources_section/231/

 

Going back to my original question, “What makes it Episcopalian?” I consulted the Episcopal Church web site (http://www.episcopalchurch.org) and found this description:

 

As Episcopalians, we are followers of Jesus Christ, and both our worship and our mission are in Christ’s name. In Jesus, we find that the nature of God is love, and through baptism, we share in his victory over sin and death.  

(http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/christ-focused)

 

According to the Episcopal Church web site, Episcopalians, among other things, also:

• Commit to a Baptismal Covenant that expresses a statement of faith that is the Apostles’ Creed and adds five questions regarding how we, as Christians, are called to live out our faith (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/baptismal-covenant)
• Believe the Bible is our foundation, understood through tradition and reason, containing all things necessary for salvation. Our worship is filled with Scripture from beginning to end (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/bible)
• Confess who God is through two primary creeds. The web sites states, “We will always have questions, but in the two foundational statements of faith – the Apostles’ Creed used at baptism, and the Nicene Creed used at communion – we join Christians throughout the ages in affirming our faith in the one God who created us, redeemed us, and sanctifies us” (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/creeds)
• Teach about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Episcopalian beliefs in a Catechism found in the back of the Book of Common Prayer (pp. 845-862), that helps expound the foundational truths of the Christian faith (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/catechism)

 

It is important that I share this quote from the Episcopal Church web site about the Catechism: “It is a commentary on the creeds, but is not meant to be a complete statement of belief and practices; rather, it is a point of departure for the teacher” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 844).  This is important because it sets the tone for evolving practice and belief, which is a hallmark of a living church—one that adapts and changes as the culture changes and as the church becomes one of many options in a secular age. The Episcopal Church has a legacy of adaption as evidence in the many versions of the Book of Common Prayer based on location and context, the never-ending adaptations of the Book of Common Prayer, and the acceptance of Bishop-approved changes in liturgy to fit a particular context.

 

In a conversation with Donald Schell, he talked about the ability of the Episcopal Church to adapt to context. Donald said, “In on other church except the Episcopal church could we at St. Gregory done what we have done. The Episcopal tradition has always borrowed from other traditions and adapted practices to make them our own. And in many parts of the world, the Anglican Church dances and sings its liturgy so in the broader picture, this is not unusual.” And Paul says, “By expressing its desire to offer meaningful liturgy, St. Gregory is buying into the ethic of change and adaptation in the Episcopal Church. The genius of the Anglican liturgy is that it borrows from other traditions and most generously from Eastern Christian practices, which is what we do at St. Gregory. Like any Episcopal Church, we pray our way to understanding.”

 

Paul goes on to describe how in the colonial period the colonized were taught a traditional Anglican theology devoid of cultural context. As the African church adapts the Anglican traditions in its own cultural contexts that include local languages, dance, song, and other customs, it creates a liturgy appropriate for its cultural context. In some small way, St. Gregory, with its prevalence of world art and world song sees itself as adapting to the globalized church rather than asking the global church to adapt to Anglican customs.

 

Given all these considerations, I believe that, yes, St. Gregory of Nyssa in St. Francisco is a thriving Episcopal Church practicing under the umbrella of the Anglican Communion. It is definitely on the cutting edge, yet it is still Episcopalian. And yet, despite it being on the cutting edge, it reaches back to the ancient Eastern Church for its tradition of singing and dancing it liturgy and its incorporation of the visual arts especially icons. Paul said that in many ways going back to ancient traditions allows more flexibility because the church was still adapting traditions and was not rigidly following prescribed traditions set out by an institutionalized political-religious system set up by the Roman Empire. In the early church, organizers and participants could follow the teaching of Jesus that called for no racism, classism, sexism, etc. This is the church that St. Gregory’s strives to create—a church rooted in ancient traditions expressed in an Episcopal liturgy and honoring the traditions of world music and dance. This is an Episcopal Church!