Its been a long time now since I've worked full-time at a church. I remember my first "real" job after working more than 12 years full time in a church setting. It was eye-opening. I had to be at work at a certain time, take my breaks at certain times (even the idea of taking a "break" was weird) eat lunch at a set time and go home at a specific time. I wasn't used to it! I'll admit, I had forgotten how good I had it working at the church when I showed sometime in the morning, ate when and where I wanted to and went home when I was done with whatever I was doing that day.
The thing that I noticed the biggest change in though, was my coworkers. Everyone I worked with at the church went to church! (that might sound like a Captain Obvious statement, but you forget obvious things like that when you're around it all the time) Suddenly I was working with a lot of people that we in the church world categorized as "unchurched" - people that a lot of articles and resources spent a lot of time wondering how to engage. Well, I found a way to engage with them. Be around them 8 hours a day!
Currently, I'm working at Dominos Pizza. For the last 8 weeks or so, I've been delivering pizzas all over town. In a week or so, I'll be starting a new job at a place called Eaton doing exactly I don't know what yet. When I start at places like this, I don't go around telling everyone that I'm a priest. It's not like I wear my collar on the job.
[caption id="attachment_1050" align="alignleft" width="265"]
The Body of.. I mean, Here's your Cinnamon Twists![/caption]
I want them to get to know me as me before whatever preconceived notions about how a priest should deliver pizzas enter their heads. About two weeks after I started, one of the managers said he noticed on my application that I went to seminary. I casually mentioned that, yeah, I did and that I was a priest. I knew it wouldn't be long before everyone knew, and sure enough, the word spread. It was refreshing to see, though that most of my co-workers were pretty chill about it. Some were a little startled, but I got mostly positive comments. One guy told me he loved that I was a "preacher, but still listened to heavy metal" (I had just asked him if he'd heard a Five Finger Death Punch song that I'd just discovered and loved) The response I get the most frequently though when I tell people that I'm an Anglican priest is "What is Anglican?"
There are at least 7 Anglican or Episcopal Churches in a fifteen mile radius from downtown Denison. That sounds like a pretty high number, and a few of those churches are pretty large, but somehow, nearly everyone I meet doesn't know what an Episcopal or Anglican church is. I almost always give them the same answer. "Its not the most correct history, but its what most people remember... when King Henry the VIII wanted a divorce and the Pope wouldn't give him one, he said "fine" and started his own church - The Church of England... thats where we come from". Again, thats a very simplistic origin story, but most people know it and can connect to it. Then, they 
want to know what we "believe" and how "Catholic" are we. (this latter question sometimes seems to come across as a suspicious one - many around here aren't sure about "those Catholics") I try to tell them that Anglicanism is often referred to as the via media, the “middle way,” between Protestantism and Catholicism. Like Protestants, we understand Scripture to be the authority for our teaching and preaching. Like Catholics, we embrace the traditions of worship from the ancient Church. I don't often use those exact words, but the "somewhere between Catholic and Protestant" vibe is the key.
One of the difficulties in explaining what we're like is that we aren't all alike. I can tell you what our church is like - laid back, contemporary in style, yet traditional in our roots - but there's an Anglican church a few blocks away from us that is anything but. They are traditional through and through - more "Anglo-Catholic", even using a prayer book from 1928, rather than the one the '78 book that many (maybe even most?) still use. The Anglican church one town over uses the new Anglican prayer book for their services, but they are "AngliCostal" - the priest there coming from a Pentecostal background. The Episcopal churches in the area are also varied in their approaches to worship.
Well, like I mentioned, we're laid back. I wear jeans and tennis shoes more often than not. I always wear my "priest shirt" with the collar and I usually vest in an alb, but not always.
[caption id="attachment_1031" align="alignright" width="194"]
Without Alb[/caption]
We are traditional in our worship as well. We follow the Revised Common Lectionary (which is basically an outline of scripture readings that are set out over a three year period) and we have communion every week. We have an open communion, open to everyone, regardless of what denominational background you come from (or currently belong to or even if you have no church background)
We stream all of our services on Facebook and we get more people watching on Facebook than show up at the services sometimes. Partially because we meet at 8am on Sundays. (ITS NOT THAT EARLY!) We share our worship space with another church, so we meet early. If we had enough people (even 5 or so) that wanted to meet on Sunday evenings, I'd be down with that, too.
People can get hung up on labels. "Anglican" is more than a label for many, myself included, but don't let the unfamiliar sound of it prevent you from trying us out. If you never try it, you won't know. Try us out online first if you like. We stream live every week (barring technical difficulties) and most weeks I leave the service up a few days afterwards for those who may have missed it on Sunday. Although its not our whole service, you can check out our sermons online on our website or this blog (I'm moving the sermons here this week a little at a time. Most of them have a video and the text written out of what I said (or meant to say). Decide for yourself if it looks like a place you could become a part of.
I'd love to see you here. Until then, Peace Be With You!
The thing that I noticed the biggest change in though, was my coworkers. Everyone I worked with at the church went to church! (that might sound like a Captain Obvious statement, but you forget obvious things like that when you're around it all the time) Suddenly I was working with a lot of people that we in the church world categorized as "unchurched" - people that a lot of articles and resources spent a lot of time wondering how to engage. Well, I found a way to engage with them. Be around them 8 hours a day!
Currently, I'm working at Dominos Pizza. For the last 8 weeks or so, I've been delivering pizzas all over town. In a week or so, I'll be starting a new job at a place called Eaton doing exactly I don't know what yet. When I start at places like this, I don't go around telling everyone that I'm a priest. It's not like I wear my collar on the job.
[caption id="attachment_1050" align="alignleft" width="265"]
The Body of.. I mean, Here's your Cinnamon Twists![/caption]I want them to get to know me as me before whatever preconceived notions about how a priest should deliver pizzas enter their heads. About two weeks after I started, one of the managers said he noticed on my application that I went to seminary. I casually mentioned that, yeah, I did and that I was a priest. I knew it wouldn't be long before everyone knew, and sure enough, the word spread. It was refreshing to see, though that most of my co-workers were pretty chill about it. Some were a little startled, but I got mostly positive comments. One guy told me he loved that I was a "preacher, but still listened to heavy metal" (I had just asked him if he'd heard a Five Finger Death Punch song that I'd just discovered and loved) The response I get the most frequently though when I tell people that I'm an Anglican priest is "What is Anglican?"
What is Anglican?
There are at least 7 Anglican or Episcopal Churches in a fifteen mile radius from downtown Denison. That sounds like a pretty high number, and a few of those churches are pretty large, but somehow, nearly everyone I meet doesn't know what an Episcopal or Anglican church is. I almost always give them the same answer. "Its not the most correct history, but its what most people remember... when King Henry the VIII wanted a divorce and the Pope wouldn't give him one, he said "fine" and started his own church - The Church of England... thats where we come from". Again, thats a very simplistic origin story, but most people know it and can connect to it. Then, they want to know what we "believe" and how "Catholic" are we. (this latter question sometimes seems to come across as a suspicious one - many around here aren't sure about "those Catholics") I try to tell them that Anglicanism is often referred to as the via media, the “middle way,” between Protestantism and Catholicism. Like Protestants, we understand Scripture to be the authority for our teaching and preaching. Like Catholics, we embrace the traditions of worship from the ancient Church. I don't often use those exact words, but the "somewhere between Catholic and Protestant" vibe is the key.All Anglicans Aren't The Same
One of the difficulties in explaining what we're like is that we aren't all alike. I can tell you what our church is like - laid back, contemporary in style, yet traditional in our roots - but there's an Anglican church a few blocks away from us that is anything but. They are traditional through and through - more "Anglo-Catholic", even using a prayer book from 1928, rather than the one the '78 book that many (maybe even most?) still use. The Anglican church one town over uses the new Anglican prayer book for their services, but they are "AngliCostal" - the priest there coming from a Pentecostal background. The Episcopal churches in the area are also varied in their approaches to worship.
What About St Judes?
Well, like I mentioned, we're laid back. I wear jeans and tennis shoes more often than not. I always wear my "priest shirt" with the collar and I usually vest in an alb, but not always.
[caption id="attachment_1031" align="alignright" width="194"]
Without Alb[/caption]
- With Alb
We are traditional in our worship as well. We follow the Revised Common Lectionary (which is basically an outline of scripture readings that are set out over a three year period) and we have communion every week. We have an open communion, open to everyone, regardless of what denominational background you come from (or currently belong to or even if you have no church background)
We stream all of our services on Facebook and we get more people watching on Facebook than show up at the services sometimes. Partially because we meet at 8am on Sundays. (ITS NOT THAT EARLY!) We share our worship space with another church, so we meet early. If we had enough people (even 5 or so) that wanted to meet on Sunday evenings, I'd be down with that, too.
Here's The Thing...
People can get hung up on labels. "Anglican" is more than a label for many, myself included, but don't let the unfamiliar sound of it prevent you from trying us out. If you never try it, you won't know. Try us out online first if you like. We stream live every week (barring technical difficulties) and most weeks I leave the service up a few days afterwards for those who may have missed it on Sunday. Although its not our whole service, you can check out our sermons online on our website or this blog (I'm moving the sermons here this week a little at a time. Most of them have a video and the text written out of what I said (or meant to say). Decide for yourself if it looks like a place you could become a part of.
I'd love to see you here. Until then, Peace Be With You!
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