Anglican Options in America

Discussion in 'Navigating Through Church Life' started by Ide, Aug 4, 2017.

  1. PotterMcKinney

    PotterMcKinney Active Member Typist Anglican

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    As an aside to this, I will say that the situation in TEC is improving from my POV. Obviously it isn't what you're looking for, but I find that as more youthful elements take over, it will actually stabilize into something more widely respectable (or perhaps nobody will respect it, but it will be in a general sense "respectable").
     
  2. PotterMcKinney

    PotterMcKinney Active Member Typist Anglican

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    I use a rosary and am progressive on issues I dare not name, but otherwise this is essentially why I became a Christian and an Anglican. These things make more sense than the Christianity I knew, that abhorred rituals and dressiness, let alone a high view of the sacraments and a moral standard outside of cultural tastes. Christianity is the counter-culture to Christian culture.
     
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  3. Ide

    Ide Well-Known Member

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    Yes, I agree on the distinction between High Church and Anglo Catholic, I could have been more clear. I think that you are correct about finding a high view of the Christian faith as being attractive to younger adults. I believe this has to do with the modern Western educational system and culture which truly enjoys deconstructionism, bitter irony and over simplifying situations. Many children have limited foundation in a classical Western education and are given no moral or ethical guidance by our society. Having mystery and resting with profound struggles seems difficult for many people. In fact, just finding a place of tradition and a high minded culture seems to be something you have to search for, which is discouraging.

    As a teen in the 1990's many of the youth Christian culture brands- Christian rock, Christian Tshirts were just about the lamest things ever created. They thought it was supposed to resonate with young people, but to do that you need to be rebellious and transgressive... which was literally the opposite of what the sermons were about- don't have sex! don't do drugs! stay in school! so it was very confusing and silly. You can't really be an edgy Christian when trying to co-opt the market version of the cool kids.


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    The push to capture the young adult market will lead churches by the nose because young people have no idea what they are doing. But that is what it means to be young! We need strong institutions and traditions which will continue to give wisdom and good guidance to people at all stages of life and not bend to the will of each social movement that comes about. Our culture makes everything so intense RIGHT NOW but this is just a fleeting moment and you can't base long term wisdom on whims of youth. The Christian faith doesn't need to work to be relevant, it is always relevant because it is true.
     
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  4. Ide

    Ide Well-Known Member

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    Last Sunday we visited an independent Anglican church. They used the 1979 BCP and I attended a Saturday afternoon mass. The church service was just fine. My husband really seems to enjoy the sermons as he said he doesn't seem to find many other places in our society giving moral guidance and reflection. For me, the Eucharist is paramount so it is a good balance on these perspectives.

    I was left wondering how common these breakaway churches are in the Anglican sphere? It seemed that this independent church was simply acting as an Episcopal church, but functioning on its own. I didn't get a chance to speak with a parishioner on the exact reason for the split, but someone mentioned that they had all previously left the same Episcopal church. I would attend again, but I am a bit wary of joining a church that split and remains on its own over possible personality reasons. Am I too overly cautious about this? I am unfamiliar with the many dimensions of church politics, so I'm confused with all these different alignments in the Anglican world. I think this church is part of the IOCC.

    I really would like to find a home church and will keep praying about it. I've thought of meeting with the ACNA parish priest to get further guidance, but I don't know if I would be a good fit for the parish as they seem more evangelical and low church than I am used to. I don't want to go if I am not a good fit for them. I am grateful for all the advice I've gotten so far- the search continues.
     
  5. Aidan

    Aidan Well-Known Member

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    Young people certainly don't want guitars, drums and clerics "getting down with the kids" in church. Authenticity is always appreciated
     
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  6. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

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    http://anglicansonline.org/communion/nic.html
    That link will give you a blurry picture of how confusing the independent Anglican/Old Catholic scene is, and it is not even a complete picture. The good news is, some of these groups are talking to each other and some of the jurisdictional overlap is going to clear up in the next few years. Some of these groups are also extremely small and will be defunct in time.
     
  7. Ide

    Ide Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for this list. It's very helpful. As someone rather new to all this, it's rather overwhelming trying to figure out who's who and what's what in the Anglican family.
     
  8. Ide

    Ide Well-Known Member

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    My husband and I returned to the ACNA parish today to join the contemporary service. I typically do not care for contemporary music / approaches to services, but this was fairly good. It kept the structure of the liturgy with the music being contemporary and the priest less formal. The priest gave a short lesson after each reading instead of one longer sermon, which was a good approach to both cover and link all the reading together and make them applicable.

    The parishioners seem very welcoming and sincere- a few churches I have been to have been outright hostile or indifferent, so that is a nice change. It is a small community, so there is no escape from meeting others! The priest made us feel very welcome and asked if he could meet with us for lunch about making it a church home or answer any questions we have. I think I will meet with him to get a better idea of the parish and see if it may be a good fit.
     
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