You might be an Episcopalian . . .

In this time of debate in the Episcopal Church I have been left wondering what sound keep us together as an Anglican Communion. Is there something other than our shared history, something other than once being English colonies, that binds us together as a world wide communion. Maybe where we have come in our journey of faith calls us to split, to follow our different calls to serve as God's presence in the world. A lot will be revealed in the communion weeks as the Bishops of the World Wide Anglican Communion gather for the Lambeth Conference. While we wait to see what happens at Lambeth, you might be wondering if you are indeed an Episcopalians.

These are not original, but taken from the Facebook group You might be an Episcopalian . . .

Well, you might be an Episcopalian . . .

. . . when you watch Star Wars and they say "May the force be with you", you automatically reply "And also with you".

. . .if the only good reason to raise your hand during a hymn is to question the organist's re-harmonization.

. . . if you know the saying, "Where two or three are gathered, there's a fifth."

. . . if someone says, "Let us pray" and you automatically hit your knees.

. . . if you recognize your neighbor, or rector, in the local liquor store and go over to greet him/her.

. . . if you have totally memorized Rite I, Rite II and the first three episodes of The Vicar of Dibley.

. . . if you know the difference between a surplice and a cotta - and the appropriate use of each.

. . . if hearing people pray in the language of "jesuswejus" makes you want to scream.

. . . if words like: "vouchsafe", "oblation", "supplications", "succor", "bewail", "wherefore", "dost" and "very" (in its archaic sense) are familiar to you even if you don't have a clue that they mean.

. . .if your groomsmen at your wedding whisper "with God's help" to you during your vows after you say "I will".

. . . the sight of a woman in a clerical collar doesn't make you cringe.

. . . if you can rattle off such tongue twisters like: ". . . who made there by his one oblation of himself once offered a full and perfect sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the world" and "Wherefore, O, Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy people, do celebrate and make here, with these gifts which we offer unto thee, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make . . ." without missing a beat.

. . .if you think that the Bible is a holy book because it quotes the Book of Common Prayer so well.

. . . if while looking for a can opener in the church kitchen, all you can find are four corkscrews.

. . . if your choir director suggests discussing something over a beer after choir rehearsal.

. . . if you catch yourself genuflecting or bowing as you enter a row of seats in a theater.

. . . you visit any Protestant church, and when you get seated you say, "where are the kneelers?"

. . . or, "where is the altar?!"

. . . if you can pronounce "innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same."

. . . if the word "Sewanee" puts a lump in your throat.

. . . if you know the best way to quiet a room full of them: "The Lord be with you!"

. . . if you ever find yourself saying, "Oh, but we've never done it that way before."

. . . if, when visiting a Catholic Church, you are the only Ah-men amongst a sea of A-mens.

. . . if your covered dish for the potluck dinner is escargot in puff shells.

. . .if you know that a primate isn't just a monkey.

. . . if you know that a sursum corda is not a surgical procedure.

. . . if you don't think Agnus Dei is a woman.

. . . if your picnic basket has sterling knives and forks (entree, fish, salad and cake).

. . .you know how to finish the phrase "and I will raaaaise them up, and I will raaaaise them up..."

. . . if you know that the nave is not a playing card.

. . . if your friend said "I'm truly sorry. . ." and you replied, "and you humbly repent?"

. . .if you consider a sticker on your car to be an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.

. . .if you know that "humble access" has nothing to do with a security clearance.

. . . if while watching the movie "The Madness of King George" you're able to recite with the King, when he undergoes "surgery," the Collect for Purity.

. . . if you know that the Senior Warden and the Junior Warden are not positions in the local prison.

. . . if you think the most serious breach of propriety one can commit is failure to chill the salad forks.

. . . if you not only talk about God, but God is placed in the palm of your hand.

And finally,

. . . if you reach a point when you're not sure about anything theologically but you still feel completely at home at the altar rail and somehow know you're meeting God there, even though you can't begin to understand how.


I think I might just be an Episcopalian. What about you?