The thirtieth of January, Sunday morning, Christ Episcopal Church officially launched its Epiphany Envisioning Service (EES). A couple of weeks back I wrote an article looking forward to the new service but having attended, I thought I’d offer a hindsight view of the event.
Envisioning is a contemporary service that features modern Christian worship music, (lead by musicians playing guitar, violin and bongo drums), a shorter somewhat simpler liturgy, (currently one borrowed from the Anglican Church of Kenya), and a greater focus on the homily or the teaching.
The first service was well attended by adults and youth alike, from within and without the church. I didn’t get any kind of head count, and I’m generally not very good at judging crowds but I’d guess that there was at least a hundred twenty people or so presented.
Personally, I’ve been a practicing Episcopalian for around ten years now. Prior to that, I grew up around a variety of evangelical and non-denominational churches.
I searched around for some years before deciding on a church to serve as my home for the remainder of my adult life. I chose the Episcopal Church for a lot of reasons, but a central one was the belief in the importance of taking the Eucharist (or communion), on a regular basis.
Over the past few years I have become used to our traditions, liturgies and order of service. But this morning I saw two familiar modes of worship combined in a way I had never seen before.
It was a blending of my past and present. In terms of the music and general flavor, I felt almost like I was witnessing a slightly more conservative Vineyard service, (at least a Tyler Vineyard service, which I’m told is less charismatic when compared to other Vineyard Congregations).
Also present however were the Anglo- Catholic traditions that are so important and meaningful to those who’ve grown up in more orthodox churches. For me, it was almost like I’d come full circle, only infinitely richer for having found a church where I can connect with Christ through the Eucharist. And this is really the strength of the Envisioning service. Its purpose is not to dispose of the ancient and familiar modes of worship, but to make them approachable to those who’ve never really experienced them; or for those who have, to let them re-connect in a new way. I look forward to seeing this ministry grow. I believe the EES will be a genuine blessing to our community. For more information on the Epiphany service or on Christ Church, visit their webpage at http://www.christchurchtyler.org/welcome.htm or call the church office at (903) 597-9854.
Our society has become more and more transient. Fewer people today actually live or stay in the town in which they were born or grew up. In my parent’s generation, men worked for a single company their entire lives in the hopes of retiring and “getting the gold watch.” Today no one seems to work for the same company for much more than five to ten years before deciding it’s time to advance their career elsewhere. The internet, smart phones, lap top computers, ipads and innumerable other technologies have added to our increased mobility. We are a society more on the go than ever before. This mobility (which is both good and bad I think) has even impacted our religious life. It used to be that parishioners were generally life- long members of a particular church. Members were baptized, married and had their children baptized in the same communities. Historically church records have recorded the stories of families for generations. Unfortunately this too is changing. Today people change churches like they do jobs. The effect is often that newer younger churches offer a watered down message in favor of increased music or greater media content. Unfortunately, age old traditions, and important doctrines are often lost to younger Christians. Overall the church (meaning the church universal encompassing all denominations) has done a poor job teaching younger Christians the faith.