Who's your daddy? Henry VIII, actually

I am becoming an Episcopal.  I am very excited about this, for myriad reasons.   My choice words—I am becoming—are intentional as I’m in Episcopalian training (Anglicanism 101) right now. Yes boys and girls –it’s THAT easy, a mere 8 week class!  I have been attending St. Bartholomew’s, an Anglican church, for three years now and the liturgy coupled with community, service, mission, heart and theology has become the perfect brew of an active and contemplative spiritual reality for me. A brief history: The Episcopal Church is the American version of the Anglican Church worldwide.  The Anglican Church is synonymous with The Church of England.  When we had that little scrimmage with England in 1776 we stopped calling ourselves proper Anglicans –being that we didn’t acquiesce to the Queen any longer—and picked up the term Episcopal in the USA.  So we are part of the larger Anglican Church (world wide) but are Episcopal by virtue of being Americans.  And there is a large continuum in the American Episcopal Church as well, as we all know: from a transcendent to an immanent Godhead; a communal to an individual perspective of faith; and a firm to an open interpretation of gospel truths.  St. B’s may be the goodie-two-shoes in the larger family, but I’ll take it. And I’ll take the mavericks and the rebel rousers as well.  We’re just one big happy, messy family of which I’m proud to be a part.

As a bonus, I’m learning all kinds of fascinating and scandalous church history.  Did you know that the forefather of the Anglican tradition is….Henry VIII?  Yes my friends, not the tormented and grace-centric Luther, or Paul’s lineage  (The Pope), or even Constantine but the gregarious playboy Henry VIII.  Apparently he needed a profession of faith a little more chill than Catholicism so he could divorce his non-male-producing first wife. My church was founded on a man who wanted a license to get a divorce.  Awesome. And humbling.  Even so, like many of God’s curious redemptions, a beautiful creed was drawn from this powerful soap opera and said creed has marked my heart to God’s heart in a really profound and beautifully mysterious way. 

Because I’m not feeling particularly spiritual or sentimental right now I’ll leave you with this billboard that I saw.  I posted it about a year ago but it’s worth re-posting, especially in light of our spiritual powerhouse, Henry the VIII and his -yes, count them- six wives.