BLOGGING-THOMAS

The Episcopal Church is both far older and far younger than even most Episcopalians realize.

• We’re older because we are an offshoot of the Christian presence in the British Isles that long preceded the arrival of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and theology. This comes out in our love for Celtic prayer and ritual.

• We’re younger, however, since while other mainline Protestant churches hail back to the 16th century reformation of the Church, the American Episcopal Church is indelibly rooted in the events and outcome of the 18th century revolution that separated American ‘Anglicans’ from their British counterparts in significant ways.

Without July 4th the Episcopal Church just wouldn’t be the same. We have a unique relationship to Independence Day, because the American Revolution broke us apart from The Church of England and made us invent a unique way of being the church that still defines who we are.

The Constitution of the Episcopal Church of 1789 post-dates the Constitution of the United States of America by only two years. In fact, the Church’s governing documents were being hashed out at the same time, and by many of the same people, as our national Constitution. As a result, Episcopalians are organized and governed by a bicameral, or two-house, legislative assembly, General Convention, whose participants all have been elected to their positions – whether as lay people in the House of Deputies or as members of the House of Bishops.

During Revolutionary times, however, the break with the Church of England did not come easily for many church members and clergy, many of whom had been born in the British Isles, and who had prayed for “the Queen” every day of their lives. Because of this, all mention of the 4th of July was avoided in the first Book of Common Prayer.

Yet despite this the Episcopal Church developed over time a distinctly ‘democratic’ spirit about it:

• Membership is egalitarian and inclusive, coming out of our Baptism, even as infants.
• Latitude in belief, whether about doctrine or biblical interpretation or politics, honors the intelligence and dignity of the individual “created in God’s image.”
• The Episcopal Church is a decidedly ‘broad Church’, a Big Tent form of Christianity that thrives on, rather than being threatened by, diversity.

Since our 1928 Book of Common Prayer, Independence Day has been commemorated by The Episcopal Church, marking a defining tie between being an Episcopalian and being an American. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer that the Episcopal Church uses today includes occasional prayers

“For Our Country,”
“For the President of the United States and all in Civil Authority,”
“For Congress or a State Legislature,”
“For Courts of Justice,”
“For Sound Government,” “For Local Government,”
“For an Elections,”
“For those in the Armed Forces of our Country,” and
“For those who suffer for the sake of Conscience.”

This isn’t a ‘nationalistic’, or a ‘liberal’ or a ‘conservative’ thing. It’s about recognizing that without the context of the liberties and responsibilities of political freedom, our denomination would have taken a very different form. Thus our own church foundations are set upon the bedrock of democracy in a special way that is not the case with any other Christian denomination in the United States.

Join us in praying this 4th of July, in the words of our prayer “For the Nation,”

God “you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will.”

And in the words of the collect for “Independence Day,”

“Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace.”

The Episcopal Diocese of Washington elected the Rev. Dr. Mariann Edgar Budde as its first female diocesan bishop on June 18, pending the required consents from a majority of bishops with jurisdiction and standing committees of the Episcopal Church.

Budde, 52, rector of St. John’s, Minneapolis, Minn., was elected on the second ballot out of a field of five nominees. She received 102 votes of 163 cast in the lay order and 137 of 175 cast in the clergy order. An election on that ballot required 82 in the lay order and 88 in the clergy order.

Mariann has been the rector of St. John’s, Minneapolis since 1993, a congregation she has led through significant growth and ministry development. A practitioner of family systems theory, Mariann is particularly interested in how to lead faith communities through the systemic transformation required for growth. She is passionate about congregational health and clergy wellness, the public ministry of the church, and preaching as it informs the spiritual life of both priest and congregation. Since 2001, she has served as a Conference Leader for CREDO, a wellness initiative of the Church Pension Fund.

She and Paul Budde have been married for 25 years. They have two sons, Amos, 23, and Patrick, 20. She cherishes time with her family. Other favorite activities include walking the family dog, riding her bike, reading, watching movies and football games, and attending concerts and plays.