A NEW LETTER TO THIS EDITOR
I received a wonderful new letter to the editor today. The author did not know it, but today is my birthday, so I am regarding this letter as an unexpected and most welcomed gift. It is a gift for you too; and I am happy to share it with you:
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Church buildings are symbols of our trust in God. They are more than just bricks and mortar. They are prayers written in stone that give voice to our deepest desire to offer our best to God. The walls (and floors and windows and doors and halls and classrooms and towers and pews and kneelers and much else besides) are saturated with prayer. When we come together in church buildings as the people of God, we bring with us all of our joys, all of our pains, all of our doubts and fears, all of our hopes and longings. And we offer all of these things to God in the hope that our lives will be transformed by him
And while it is true that the church is not the building (it is the people), it is nonetheless true that by the church being the church in a certain place, in a sense the buildings in which the church meets absorb the church's prayers and come to symbolize the existence of the people of God.
Is it any wonder then that there is such a strong feeling of attachment to our houses of worship? Our church buildings are the places where we have praised God with songs of joy and sought solace with floods of tears. Our church buildings are the places where we mark the most momentous occasions of our lives: baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial (to name but a few). For many of us, our church buildings are the places where we first came to know the grace of God in our lives, first heard the message of salvation, and first learned to seek God. As faithful Christians on both sides of this schism can attest, such places are not and should not be set aside lightly.
It is understandable, then, that our church buildings have become focal points for all of our anxiety over what it means to be the church. Sadly, the argument over what it means to be the church has devolved to an exercise of mudslinging where accusations of heresy, apostasy, and betrayal are spoken with such bitterness that it's a wonder any of us can in the next breath turn our hearts and minds to the worship of God.
And so, to our brothers and sisters who have been told that they must choose between their buildings and true religion, I offer the following:
You may have come to believe the half-truths, exaggerations, and in some cases flat out lies that you have heard about the Episcopal Church. You may have come to believe that the Episcopal Church has abandoned the Christian faith and replaced it with a kind of syncretistic unitarianism. But this is simply not true. We believe in one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is still Lord, and we hope by his cross and passion to be brought to the glory of his resurrection.
Reread your Book of Common Prayer and find exactly what in its pages represents a departure from orthodox faith. Pray the Daily Office, recite the creeds, take part in the eucharist, and rediscover the heritage---your heritage---that some say we have abandoned. You will find that the rhetoric does not stand up to scrutiny. Our common prayer is all the evidence needed.
If what you have been led to believe about the evils of the Episcopal Church is true, and should you abandon your church buildings, then you will come to see your church buildings either as empty shells or as symbols of a false religion. And if that is the case, then I whole heartedly agree that such buildings deserve nothing more than to be razed to the ground and replaced with structures more befitting the decadent, consumerist culture against which the church of Jesus Christ has ever borne witness. But if what you have been led to believe is not true, then your church buildings will remain as they ever have been: houses of prayer and places where you can still encounter the living God.
My guess if that you intuitively appreciate that fact that your buildings are symbols of your love for God. My guess if that the real reason you fought for those buildings is that you feel closer to God when you are gathered in them, and you don't want to lose that sense of closeness. My guess is that your fear is rooted in the idea that your buildings will lose their sense of being sacred places.
If my guesses are correct, then I hope that you will consider the reality that the church buildings you call home are still very much your home, and that the prayers and tears which have sanctified those spaces sanctify them still and will go on sanctifying them as long as there is a community of the faithful gathering in them. The only way your church buildings will lose their holiness is if you abandon them.
So if you are an Anglican who feels comfortable worshipping according to the rites found in the Book of Common Prayer, then the message is clear: stay where you are. Continue to make those places holy. Keep saying your prayers and singing your songs and reading your Bible and praising God. That is what the Episcopal Church wants you to do.
Pax,
[the Rev.] Rob Donehue
________________________________________
Bravo! Bravo! Thank you very much to the Rev. Mr. Rob Donehue for those eloquent remarks.
Please send me your thoughts if you would like to have a letter to this editor posted on this blog. We need to hear your voice too. I welcome one and all:
ronaldcaldwell1210@gmail.com
And while it is true that the church is not the building (it is the people), it is nonetheless true that by the church being the church in a certain place, in a sense the buildings in which the church meets absorb the church's prayers and come to symbolize the existence of the people of God.
Is it any wonder then that there is such a strong feeling of attachment to our houses of worship? Our church buildings are the places where we have praised God with songs of joy and sought solace with floods of tears. Our church buildings are the places where we mark the most momentous occasions of our lives: baptism, confirmation, marriage, and burial (to name but a few). For many of us, our church buildings are the places where we first came to know the grace of God in our lives, first heard the message of salvation, and first learned to seek God. As faithful Christians on both sides of this schism can attest, such places are not and should not be set aside lightly.
It is understandable, then, that our church buildings have become focal points for all of our anxiety over what it means to be the church. Sadly, the argument over what it means to be the church has devolved to an exercise of mudslinging where accusations of heresy, apostasy, and betrayal are spoken with such bitterness that it's a wonder any of us can in the next breath turn our hearts and minds to the worship of God.
And so, to our brothers and sisters who have been told that they must choose between their buildings and true religion, I offer the following:
You may have come to believe the half-truths, exaggerations, and in some cases flat out lies that you have heard about the Episcopal Church. You may have come to believe that the Episcopal Church has abandoned the Christian faith and replaced it with a kind of syncretistic unitarianism. But this is simply not true. We believe in one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is still Lord, and we hope by his cross and passion to be brought to the glory of his resurrection.
Reread your Book of Common Prayer and find exactly what in its pages represents a departure from orthodox faith. Pray the Daily Office, recite the creeds, take part in the eucharist, and rediscover the heritage---your heritage---that some say we have abandoned. You will find that the rhetoric does not stand up to scrutiny. Our common prayer is all the evidence needed.
If what you have been led to believe about the evils of the Episcopal Church is true, and should you abandon your church buildings, then you will come to see your church buildings either as empty shells or as symbols of a false religion. And if that is the case, then I whole heartedly agree that such buildings deserve nothing more than to be razed to the ground and replaced with structures more befitting the decadent, consumerist culture against which the church of Jesus Christ has ever borne witness. But if what you have been led to believe is not true, then your church buildings will remain as they ever have been: houses of prayer and places where you can still encounter the living God.
My guess if that you intuitively appreciate that fact that your buildings are symbols of your love for God. My guess if that the real reason you fought for those buildings is that you feel closer to God when you are gathered in them, and you don't want to lose that sense of closeness. My guess is that your fear is rooted in the idea that your buildings will lose their sense of being sacred places.
If my guesses are correct, then I hope that you will consider the reality that the church buildings you call home are still very much your home, and that the prayers and tears which have sanctified those spaces sanctify them still and will go on sanctifying them as long as there is a community of the faithful gathering in them. The only way your church buildings will lose their holiness is if you abandon them.
So if you are an Anglican who feels comfortable worshipping according to the rites found in the Book of Common Prayer, then the message is clear: stay where you are. Continue to make those places holy. Keep saying your prayers and singing your songs and reading your Bible and praising God. That is what the Episcopal Church wants you to do.
Pax,
[the Rev.] Rob Donehue
________________________________________
Bravo! Bravo! Thank you very much to the Rev. Mr. Rob Donehue for those eloquent remarks.
Please send me your thoughts if you would like to have a letter to this editor posted on this blog. We need to hear your voice too. I welcome one and all:
ronaldcaldwell1210@gmail.com
