Preaching Assignment #6(ish)

Here's My Latest Preaching Assignment

Brief Sermon Report (5%):
Visit 1 church on the day of their main service; choose a church that is different from your own tradition. Prepare a two-page report offering three commendations (page 1) and three recommendations (page 2) for the preacher. Due October 30th.

Consequently, this morning I forced myself to get up at 7 (after going to bed at 2:30am) to get myself to the 8am celebration of Holy Eucharist at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. James.
Interestingly enough, the Episcopalian Eucharist is VERY similar to a Catholic Mass, albeit with some rather stilted English (ye, makest, Thine, etc) and some additional pious confessions of our sinfulness. I felt very much at home as the practices and prayers are almost identical to my own as a Catholic. This was my first time attending an Episcopal service.

The reason I chose to go to the Episcopal Cathedral is that - well, it was one of the only services I could find that I could actually attend. I had already made plans to go to Divine Liturgy at 10am as I normally do each week with my friends, and had forgotten about this assignment until very late last night when I checked my email and some friends were emailing about going to Granger Community Church today to complete this assignment. Rather than calling off my normal plans at the last minute, I figured I had to find another way to squeeze in a non-Catholic service before Divine Liturgy; the earliest one I could find that I knew would be over before Divine Liturgy- was St. James'.

Also, St. James Cathedral happens to be the site of St. Margaret's House - the day center for women and children where I worked this summer. Over the summer I had met the bishop / rector of the Cathedral, and he had jokingly suggested that if I ever wanted to be ordained, they would be glad to welcome me into their diocese... to which I politely replied, "Thank you for the invitation, although I do not feel called to the ordained ministry..." (not even going into they very small detail about me never wanting to leave the Catholic Church). Anyway, at that point he had invited me to join them for worship sometime and so I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to take him up on his offer.

The homily for the day was interesting; but that's not what I want to write about.

What was even more striking to me was the open invitation to all to receive Holy Communion. For Episcopalians, as long as you are a baptized Christian, you are welcome to receive Communion in their church, regardless of what denomination you are a member. Obviously as a Catholic, my own discipline and beliefs barr intercommunion with those ecclesial communions with which we are not fully united. It was a rather strange feeling to be the only person in the entire church (very small community) which did not go up to receive Communion. I wondered if it offended them that I abstained, given their intentional open-door policy on Eucharist, or seemed like I was rejecting their hospitality, or whether they might have realized I was a Catholic and thought that I was looking down on their celebration as "invalid" - and therefore, frivilous to partake in.

This moment was a stark reminder of the divisions in the Body of Christ. It was a sad moment for me - and reminded me that there is still much work to be done in the field of ecumenical dialogue. At the same time, it was also a reminder that open-door policies on the Eucharist do not necessarily in and of themselves create union among different ecclesial bodies. While their openness and hospitality is a nice gesture, by itself it cannot create the unity it strives to attain.

At the same time, there is hope! I don't know if you follow Vatican news (ZENIT.org), but it seems as if there is a great deal of progress that is being made in ecumenism! First, there are a great number of Anglicans who are currently seeking communion with Rome - mostly those who feel that their own ecclesial bodies are betraying the tradition by admitting both openly homosexual persons and women to the ordained ministry. Rome is planning to admit them into full communion while allowing them to maintain their form of liturgy and prayers, almost as if forming an Anglican Rite within the Catholic Church.

http://www.zenit.org/article-27295?l=english

Even more exciting - is that there have been great strides made recently toward reunion between East and West - Orthodoxy and Catholicism! This is HUGE! I personally believe that JPII, whose great prayer and hope it was to see this in his lifetime, is now pulling some major strings up in heaven and helping push things forward in a way that he was unable to do during his life here on earth.

http://www.zenit.org/article-27299?l=english

That's all folks, TTFN.