Our Understanding of Authority
Like every other Christian tradition, Episcopalians affirm that Jesus Christ is Lord. The faith of the Church is articulated in its Creeds. An Outline of the Faith, or Catechism, is found in the Book of Common Prayer. One of the distinctly Anglican approaches to the Christian Faith is our understanding of authority. We understand authority as comprised of three interrelated and dependent sources: Scripture, tradition and reason.
|
|
|
We, at Christ Church, believe that Faith is a verb:
While salvation is not based on what you do, we still believe strongly that faith and faithfulness are one and the same. We strive to connect Sunday worship with Weekday realities through our educational programs and our service ministries, such as Habitat for Humanity, The Western Reserve Community Center, Open M, and many others.
|
|
|
All Baptized Persons may receive Holy Eucharist (Communion)
The Episcopal Church recognizes as Christians all persons who have been baptized with water in the name of the Holy Trinity. By virtue of their baptism, they are members of the universal Church. All baptized persons are invited and encouraged to receive the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at the altar of Christ Church.
|
|
|
|
 |
Scripture, Tradition and Reason
As the Catechism explains it, the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God because God inspired their human authors and still speaks to us through them today. We believe the Bible contains all things necessary for salvation. But we also believe the Bible is open to interpretation by the Church. We take the Bible very seriously, but not necessarily literally.
By Tradition we mean the experience of the universal (Catholic) Church of the past 2000 years of God and his loving work in Jesus. What the Church has said to us through the centuries about the Bible is critical to our understanding it in our own time.
By Reason we mean the on-going work of the whole Church to come to understandings and conclusions about the interpretation of scripture, the meaning of the faith, and its implication for our everyday lives. This work is carried out through study, conversation and conventions (both locally and nationally) of the whole Church.
The implications of this understanding of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason are profound.
While maintaining that the Scriptures provide us with a unifying plumb line, Anglicans are willing to live with diverse and changing interpretations, rather than infallible certainty and binding prescriptions for all times.
|
|
|
|
