Information About and For Episcopalians
- Did you know that the Anglican Communion
(Episcopalians) is headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury? The worldwide communion
of Anglican churches comprises 22 provinces in 548 dioceses with nearly 70,000,000
members across all continents. Each of the 36 churches making up the Anglican
Communion use various versions of The Book of Common Prayer in their
daily and weekly worship services. The Eucharist is the central worship experience
for the congregations of these 36 churches.
Episcopalians as a part of the
Anglican Communion (the worldwide consortium of sister churches) are a people
of the "book." Christians are a people of the book, that is, the Bible. The
Bible is the first and foremost standard for theology and liturgy. Anglicans
are a people of the book in a double sense because our liturgy (a compound word
which comes from Greek meaning literally "people's work") is made of up of phrases
and sentences of Scripture woven together for public worship. It's ironic that
many Protestants would say that they use the Bible more than Episcopalians,
but it is not true on Sunday mornings! As much as 80% of our liturgy
is from the Scripture. The point is that we Anglicans have very rich resources-the
Bible and the Prayer Book to guide our spiritual lives and to keep us pointed
toward God. But like all resources we must be good stewards of the gifts that
have been given to us. Daily prayer and Bible study are a solid diet of spiritual
food for spiritual health (see Prayer Book on page 974 for a list of daily readings).
Borrowed from the "The Grapevine"; Newsletter of St. John's Episcopal, Ocean
Springs, MS.