As promised this morning in Adult Forum, here is my dream
for Incarnate Word, a congregation trusting and following Christ who makes all
things new. The following is an
excerpt from The Practicing Congregation, by Diana Butler Bass.
“Church of the Epiphany, an Episcopal congregation three
blocks from the White House in downtown Washington, D.C., was founded as a
‘city mission’ in 1842. Throughout
its long history, Epiphany has embodied the flow of American mainline history –
antebellum volunteerism and reformism, tensions and divisions around the Civil
War, the Social Gospel, establishment triumphalism, God-and-country fervor,
missionary ecumenism, travail around civil rights and Vietnam, the impact of
feminist and gay rights movements, and, eventually, decline. By 1992, 150 years after its founding,
not many people remained in the decaying old urban building and a dwindling
endowment paid the bills. There
was talk around the diocese of closing it or combining it with another parish.
Ten years later, at the church’s 160th
anniversary, no one even whispered of closing Epiphany. Although not a big church – and
certainly not a prestigious one – Epiphany bustles with new vitality. During the week, the church offers
concerts, daily Eucharist, labyrinth walks, and adult spirituality courses for
downtown workers. On Sundays, the
8:00 am service welcomes two hundred homeless guests to both Eucharist and
breakfast. The more traditional
11:00 am service no longer comprises Washington’s political elite and genteel
aristocrats. Gone are the
white-gloved acolytes and massive paid choir. Rather, a congregation of incredible diversity with multiple
races, ethnicities, classes, generations, and sexual orientations now inhabits
its pews. Their bills are paid
through surprisingly generous congregational stewardship (the typical pledge at
Epiphany is nearly twice the national average). They sing their songs to God guided by Taize music, gospel
songs and spirituals, Bach cantatas, Native American and African chants, and
Anglican hymns…
The old language has a new accent. The privatized piety of old-style Protestant liberalism has
been supplanted by a new sense of spiritual vitality and expressive faith. People these days practice healing
prayer, hospitality, silence, discernment, stewardship, and peacemaking; they
attend retreats, quiet days, spirituality workshops, and Bible studies.
Down the long, hard slide from the pinnacle of establishment
prominence, Epiphany has discovered that cultural marginalization, peeling
paint, urban funkiness, global diversity, homeless congregants, and healing
prayer are gifts from a generous God” (Diana Butler Bass).
Could this be Incarnate Word? Let’s journey together and find out.
Peace and Love,
Pastor Doug
