Reading this has reminded me of why I loved my church in high school. I know that there were definitely differences of opinion on a lot of issues, but everyone could still worship together. I love being able to go to my grandparents’ church and understand what was going on even though I maybe attended there once or twice a year when I’d go visit them. Heck, things were a piece of cake for me when I was in Canada because I could walk into an Anglican church and feel at home. I agree with Chris that it is wonderful to know that on 6 of 7 continents, people are saying the same words as me and have for hundreds of years.

I also agree that the church needs the conservatives to stay in and keep the liberals on their toes. The “via media” doesn’t work if things are only one-sided. This means that those who are opposed to Bishop Robinson might want to stay put and make sure that their viewpoint is known. (Having said that, I do not condemn those who leave over this because they disagree with the actions of the General Assembly in Minneapolis.)

I love that being Episcopalian (or Lutheran for that matter) means that “Christ died to take away my sins, not my mind.” I’m leery of any religious tradition that asks members to divorce their intellect from their faith and to blindly conform. I love that the Church of England produced such thinkers as C. S. Lewis and Charles Williams. As for John Shelby Spong, well… every church has its mistakes.

I also totally agree with Chris’ take on why hymns are so cool:

I have yet to be moved by any praise song as much as ??Let all mortal flesh keep silence??, my favorite hymn, moves me. That hymn always weirds me out, in the good way. Singing about the ??six winged seraphs?? reminds me of the utter strangeness and power of God. That??s praise. ??Praise?? songs, on the other hand, in addition to being bland folk or folk rock (I did not go to church to hear rehashed Eagles), always have that ??sunny, buddy Christian?? feel that I so despise.

While I can deal with some of the praise and worship music out there (I kind of have to as a pastor-to-be because there are some people who can only be reached through it), most of the songs don’t do for me what “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence”, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” (the Lutheran fight song), or “Thy Strong Word” do. The folk services really struck me as Peter, Paul and Mary breeding with the BCP, though I did find the one done for Ann’s funeral to be comforting. (Ann was the wife of our former rector who died of bone cancer last December.)

I also enjoyed the formality of the ‘Piscopalians (and enjoy the formality of Jon’s current parish) because I think that one should dress up for Sunday worship. I don’t mind tossing on a dress for church (though I have to remind myself that the choir robe increases the temperature by 50 degrees so I need to be judicious about what’s under my robe) and I’m starting to be appalled at the people who come to worship dressed as they would to do yardwork. (And yes, I’m saying this as someone who wore jeans to church throughout high school and part of college.)

Don’t misunderstand me — I’m not forsaking Lutheranism (mostly because no other church claims its teachings “[to be] most certainly true”). I’m just a little nostalgic for my past. And for those who ask why I don’t just go back, we’re moving to a state where Lutherans are denser than anywhere else. The nearest ECUSA parish is about 50+ miles away.