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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The tension of being in-between

As much as I make fun of Episcopalians who invoke via media in solemn tones, sometimes it's apt. However, I think that often times modern Episcopalians - with the exception of the very low church evangelicals - are often between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics, especially when it comes to spirituality and worship practices. I know I feel that way.

This was brought home to me this Sunday at the altar rail. I was kneeling beside a couple and their delightful toddler son who is the cutest, happiest baby in the universe. (He also loves church because his parents have been wonderful in that regard - I watched them lighting candles at the Virgin icon as he climbed onto the kneeler and gestured towards the icon and flowers. He especially loves the music). The priest asked if the child was receiving the Eucharist or a blessing, and in this case it was a blessing. I have also seen babies and toddlers receive a drop of wine from the priest's finger after baptism. The official stance is that all baptized Christians are welcome to partake, but that it's up to the parents as to whether their babies should partake. In some parishes, like the one my husband is called to, the children wait until they are about 7 to do a Western-style first communion in white dresses etc (though I rarely see this). In this case, it seems that some parents feel an Eastern tug towards the idea that babies in a family are seated at the table and eat with the family, and so should infants in Christ. Others feel the Western tug towards having at least a cursory intellectual understanding of the Eucharist before partaking. There's no animosity on this issue, but there's no standard approach either.

Our liturgical calendar matches the West, as do most of our Lenten practices (I get woozy just looking at the Orthodox fasting schedule. They're made of sterner stuff for sure). This makes sense - we split off the Western church, not the Eastern one. However, more and more I see theological and spiritual practices that look more Eastern. Moreover, the Episcopal attitude towards sacraments is much more Eastern - they are "mysteries," and while one can say many things, perhaps the best response is simply participation and wonder. Most Episcopal theologians these days hearken to the pre-Augustinian theology of atonement: that is, they are discovering that not all Christians believe in the theology of satisfaction atonement that Protestants - and to some degree Western Catholics - believe. This enormous paradigm shift was one of the greatest turning points in my own faith journey, and if I had been forced to believe in Augustinian atonement theology I'm not sure I could even be a Christian.

This really came home to me when I was doing a fun and intellectually thrilling exercise of writing up a daily prayer liturgy based loosely on the Liturgy of Hours. What I say next may sound offensive, but I truly don't mean it to be: the Eastern Orthodox version captured the beauty of prayer in a way which the Catholic one simply did not. I also found more of a kinship, a similarity in language, style, even cadence with the Book of Common Prayer; it seemed like an old friend but in grander, deeper style. When reading the Roman Catholic Liturgy of the House I felt like an outsider looking in, saying another's words; when reading the Eastern liturgy, it felt like home.

At the same time, we do technically have more kinship with the Roman Catholic church simply because of our history (though perhaps more latent animosity as well, which I pray will get better in my life-time). Culturally, we share the same Christmas and Easter, the same Ash Wednesday, the same All Saints' Day. We both stop saying Alleluia and offer Stations of the Cross on Fridays during Lent; we both consider all Sundays a feast day and let our penances lapse. And yet, when I need to pray silently on the Metro I find myself thinking Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner....




9 comments:

  1. Amen, Alleluia!

    I came back to visit after you left a comment on my blog (I responded on my blog) -- this is a great post!

    First, it's pretty impressive that you're writing (or cobbling together) your own Liturgy of the Hours. Where did you find an Eastern Orthodox prayer book?

    Second, one of these days I will write about how my church (Episcopal) and a Catholic Community is working more and more together. We'd do more except for the different theologies on the Eucharist -- and we'd love to do that together too, except for that roadblock.

    Third, pre-Augustinian theory of atonement? Me wantses some. I've been searching for an alternative that fits with the whole God is love ...

    Fourth, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner" was my first successful meditation method that I actually felt like I was in the Presence of God. I pray it on Anglican prayer beads these days and also call on it in moments of stress.

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    1. The whole writing a liturgy thing was because I felt bored with the one I was doing but my concentration made it hard to do completely off the cuff prayers, so I had the notion of writing some. Lots of fun, actually.

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  2. And I thought I knew a little about Protestant vs Catholic theology! Then you said, " Augustinian atonement theology, " and I had to go and do some reading. I am not 100% sure what you are exactly saying you would have a hard time believing, but as I understood it, is it either, 1. God "punished " Christ on the cross as payment for sin, or 2. (the Augustinian idea) Christ offered himself up out of love for us as the all encompassing sacrifice for sin?

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    1. Well, to give Augustine his due, most Protestant churches take the interpretation of Augustine's atonement theology as delivered by Alselm. I think Augustine was leaning more towards number 2, but Anselm tweaked the theory so that the reason Christ was the sacrifice for sin is because God's holiness demands punishment for sin. The closer you get to Calvinism the more extreme it gets, since 16th century Protestant theologians took that and ran with it. The sort of evangelism you see on the road signs and billboards, or hear at revival services, is steeped in this idea of man is a sinner, God is holy and cannot look at sin, sins must be punished, and because God loves humans, He sent His Son to die in our place and to accept the punishment. There's a hymn that says "On the cross Your wrath was satisfied." I need to write a post about this because it's too complex for a comment....

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    2. Understood. I would be interested in further reading on the subject. The verse that came to mind as I read the differing views is "for this reason the Father loves Me, because lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father." From John 10

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    3. It's by far the most complex thing I've had to deal with in my faith journey. The turning point was reading George MacDonald's unspoken sermon titled "Justice." It's dense, but I recommend it. MacDonald was a Calvinist preacher who got kicked out of his church because of his ideas, or more accurately because he refused to succumb to their demands that he shape up and say what was expected. He's also my favorite children's literature author - he wrote At the Back of the North Wind and The Princess and the Goblin and was a huge influence on CS Lewis and other children's/ fantasy writers. In fact, Lewis made him the guide to heaven in The Great Divorce. Sorry, geek-out moment.... Anyway, I recommend reading the sermon, although it may not jive with Catholic theology; I don't know enough to be able to say.

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    4. My buddy CS! I heart him!

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  3. This is way lamer than the rest of your comments here, but - very interesting, Caroline! I think you'd find a lot of Catholics who are drawn to an Eastern spirituality and liturgical style. One of the priests at my college was Byzantine Rite and his masses were the most beautiful I attended there. I've heard others have the same reaction to their exposure to Byzantine or indeed Orthodox liturgy.

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    1. Soon after we moved up here, I visited a tiny Syrian Orthodox church on a whim one Sunday before I'd found a parish. It was like stepping back into Jesus' time, and for once I felt like Western/ American Christians should, as if this religion is really NOT about America and our cultural norms, that it's different, that it should sometimes be too different for comfort, that it is fundamentally Jewish and Eastern.

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