What do Episcopalians stand for?
Canon Scott Hayashi, to be consecrated the 11th bishop of Utah today, warned Episcopalians in the region to be careful not to fall into the trap of allowing themselves to be defined by who they are not.
"The first time the Rev. Scott Hayashi served Utah’s Episcopal Church, he was puzzled by some parishioners’ tendency to define themselves by what they weren’t: Mormons.He even remembers pointing out the silliness in a sermon at Ogden’s Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, where he was rector from 1989 to 1998.
‘I asked, ‘Does this mean if the LDS people are against gambling, we should be for it? If the LDS people have the Mormon diet and believe whole grains, moderation in eating and getting exercise is what you should do, that means we should eat all high-fat foods and not exercise? If the LDS people are against smoking, that means we should all be smoking like chimneys? Does this make any sense?’ ’
The next bishop for Utah’s 5,200 Episcopalians now frames the question this way: ‘Shouldn’t we have an identity that is formed on the positive, as opposed to being against something?’"
From here.
The new bishop makes a very good point, but he doesn't, in the article above at least, answer his own question. What does define the Episcopal Church. What do we positively stand for in our denomination?
(If you'd like more details about the service taking place in Salt Lake City this morning, you can read about them here. There's a lovely invitation to the community to pop into the event if they'd like.)
The Via Media. The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral. The Book of Common Prayer. Elizabeth I's "Not making windows into souls" and (re the Eucharist) "I but do partake it". And specifically to TEC (beside the '79 BCP, and from it), the Baptismal Covenant's "respect the dignity of every human being." Equality in holy orders (canonically, if not yet fully in practice).
That's my short list---thank God for TEC! :-D
JC Fisher
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November 6, 2010 4:19 PM
As someone who grew up a "Not" in Utah, I totally get where Scott is coming from.
Everything in religion there is defined by what you don't believe, or what you don't do. You define yourself as "not" LDS, rather than as "an Episcopalian," or "a Congregationalist," or "a Methodist," because it's easier than explaining what all of those strands in the fabric of Christianity are.
It's a very binary system, Utah, with a strongly us/them divide.
It's true that the message of what Episcopalians are, and what we stand for, needs to be put out there in positive terms rather than by defining ourselves by what we are not.
I also commend Bishop Scott for preparing himself for his episcopacy with a traditional sweat-lodge ceremony a few days ago - reaching out to Native American Episcopalians in Utah is described as "huge" for them in one of the later pages of the article.
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November 6, 2010 7:14 PM
Having been priest and pastor in Utah for thirty years I might suggest that things are less "binary" these days. As so often happens much of the openness is happening not at the upper levels of institutions but at community dinners and joint outreach activities. There are also signs of questioning and a seeking of new directions, as witnessed, for example, by the several Mormon feminist blogs (really!).
+Scott (perhaps contrary to his own perception) was elected because he is a Westerner, he knows Utah, and his ministry in Chicago (deeply scrutinized by a number of people) exhibited the kind of episcopal leadership this diocese needs at this time. His core message has been consistent: God loves us whether we know it or like it or not; and those of us who have experienced that love must be sharing it in word and deed.
Peter J. Van Hook
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November 6, 2010 9:29 PM
Please see the article at the Salt Lake Tribune:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50622187-76/bishop-hayashi-church-episcopal.html.csp
Bp. Montgomery's comments about +Scott's sumo action figures was both funnier and more poignant than the article might indicate.
Peter J. Van Hook
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November 6, 2010 9:33 PM
What I admire about what the Episcopal Church stands for is its pursuit of a "via media" in bringing "things both new and old" out of the treasure chest of God's kingdom (Matthew 13:52), and its willingness to risk being Christlike toward all, even sitting and dining with harlots, tax collectors and "sinners," and shielding an adulterous woman from being stoned to death, even when such a stance isn't popular and brings such grief upon it.
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November 7, 2010 4:57 PM