That old hymn isn’t in the Episcopal Hymnal, and with good reason–we don’t love to tell the story! While other Christian denominations have encouraged their members to share their testimony, we’re not like those sorts of Christians. Episcopalians have always been reluctant to push their faith on others. We’re polite. We don’t want to offend. We want to leave room for others.
The problem is, our silence has been speaking loudly. We appear to have nothing to say, and the assumptions go from there. Meanwhile other Christian voices speak out loud and clear, firmly telling everyone within earshot exactly what they should believe. Their tight grasp on the truth isn’t what we uphold, but what can we say?
“Christians aren’t all like that,” we protest. “We’re not that sort of Christian,” we insist, and that’s a good start. But what sort of Christian are we?
The spiritual journey is about answering that question. It is so easy to say what we are not. Saying what we are takes more effort and risk–that’s because we have to speak about our own experience. This is particularly hard for our brand of Christian faith. We say that we are not like those other Christians. One reason is that with their tight grasp on truth comes a rigid uniformity. Their stories, or testimony, follow the same pattern. In contrast, we aim to uphold the value of a variety of experiences. We are unified in our faith in one God, revealed in Christ, but we have come to that faith, and live out that faith, in a variety of ways. The spiritual journey is your experience of that faith.
In the next few weeks, you are invited to respond to Sunday’s scripture readings by recalling your own experience. How have you known the truth found in this scripture story? How does it remind you of where you have been and what you have learned? These answers make up your spiritual journey, the story of how you have traveled as seeker and follower of Christ. You can answer questions here on the website or in a journal you can get at church. With these answers we can find our voice–we’re not that sort of Christian, but we are this sort: Christians who know about God’s call and presence in their lives.
Our first questions:
When did you first start taking this Christian message seriously? What did you learn from that first encounter and where did that take you?
What difference does it make to you that you are baptized and “marked as Christ’s own forever”? What do you know about the Holy Spirit in your life?
Next Questions:
Does it seem to you that it is a “good and joyful thing” to be a Christian? What makes you happy about following Jesus?
One Response
Love this blog… So true and real.