I grew up Baptist, became pretty Reformed Baptist in my twenties, and spent the last few years at a Presbyterian church where my wife worked. When she lost that job, it coincided with a feeling that we were done with more mainstream evangelical types of worship -- the bright lights, 3 songs (with the chorus repeated 4 times), and a sermon that felt like a TED Talk. We stumbled upon an Anglican church in our area and we immediately fell in love with it.
And it's funny, because I realize a lot of what I now love about the liturgical service and weekly focus on the Eucharist are things that, as a Baptist, I would have raised my eyebrow at because it felt "too Catholic" (even though the theology itself is very Protestant). I've found it helpful to stand and repeat our confessions and prayers corporately, to pray prayers that were written hundreds of years ago, and to center the service around the Lord's Table, with the sermon an important but not central component of our service. A few weeks ago, I told my wife that I was surprised to actually feel the Lord's presence; growing up Baptist, we were discouraged from having any true spiritual experiences, and my Reformed brothers and sisters seemed too eager to answer every question instead of realizing that sometimes God wants us to sit in the mystery.
I think a lot of what I love about our service is because it's found a way to maintain unity among different denominations and traditions better than anywhere else I've found. Theologically, it's very protestant. But it's also very spirit-centric and focused on living out the Gospel and loving others. And its worship is often very liturgical, pulling from a lot of traditions still associated with Catholicism. I really love it. It's not perfect, but I think it does allow a unity among different practices that I haven't found elsewhere.
I grew up Baptist, became pretty Reformed Baptist in my twenties, and spent the last few years at a Presbyterian church where my wife worked. When she lost that job, it coincided with a feeling that we were done with more mainstream evangelical types of worship -- the bright lights, 3 songs (with the chorus repeated 4 times), and a sermon that felt like a TED Talk. We stumbled upon an Anglican church in our area and we immediately fell in love with it.
And it's funny, because I realize a lot of what I now love about the liturgical service and weekly focus on the Eucharist are things that, as a Baptist, I would have raised my eyebrow at because it felt "too Catholic" (even though the theology itself is very Protestant). I've found it helpful to stand and repeat our confessions and prayers corporately, to pray prayers that were written hundreds of years ago, and to center the service around the Lord's Table, with the sermon an important but not central component of our service. A few weeks ago, I told my wife that I was surprised to actually feel the Lord's presence; growing up Baptist, we were discouraged from having any true spiritual experiences, and my Reformed brothers and sisters seemed too eager to answer every question instead of realizing that sometimes God wants us to sit in the mystery.
I think a lot of what I love about our service is because it's found a way to maintain unity among different denominations and traditions better than anywhere else I've found. Theologically, it's very protestant. But it's also very spirit-centric and focused on living out the Gospel and loving others. And its worship is often very liturgical, pulling from a lot of traditions still associated with Catholicism. I really love it. It's not perfect, but I think it does allow a unity among different practices that I haven't found elsewhere.
Okay, but what about Bubble Tea?
-Tyler Clark