🛡️ Why I'm Fond of the Episcopal Church

After attending two Episcopal churches during the first #52in52, I found a certain fondness for the denomination. Maybe it was the liturgy. Maybe it was open communion. Maybe it was the bright, eye-popping red doors. This week, wanted to go back and re-experience the Episcopalian liturgy again.

Few observations:

1) Episcopal churches are like a bridge between traditional Roman Catholic meeting evangelical Protestant. During prayers, some people pulled out kneelers to pray (ala Catholicism), others prayed standing the Protestant way.

2) Dislike saying it, but the denomination isn't getting younger. Out of the 25 people in attendance, I was the second youngest.

3) Time durations are incredibly short. Sermon was only five minutes, service lasted 35.

4) Mindbender. Despite being over 125 years old, this cathedral was designed to tell Christ's ministry. First thing you notice is a baptismal font. As you walk in, the sanctuary is flanked by 5' statues of the 12 Apostles (cost of $96 each in the 1890's) and gargoyle-like angel heads. The walls also contain murals of key points of Christ's ministry. At the high altar is the cross to symbolize His death, but behind that are stained glass windows to illustrate His Ascension. So cool.

5) So weird. I went up for the Eucharist/Communion, and there wasn't enough space, so waited for a moment. When the first group moved out, I found a spot to kneel at. The deacon gave me the bread, but never received a chalice or offer of wine. I was at the end, so when everyone else near me walked away, so did I. Thought maybe the chalice of wine would be separate, but never happened. So confused to receive half of Communion. Never had that happen before.

6) After service, a gentleman named Brian noticed my interest with the statues of the 12 Apostles. As I learned, he was responsible for much of the upkeep of the building, and essentially gave a spontaneous tour and history of the cathedral. I was fascinated, yet also concerned that cathedrals like this are so underused in today's world. There's soooooo much history and beauty inside these walls.

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⛪ Seven years after completing 52 Churches in 52 Weeks, this video series chronicles the spiritual experiment for a second time. If you'd like to see what happens next, SUBSCRIBE and hit NOTIFICATIONS to see what happens each week.

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▶️ Timestamps:
0:00 Fondness of Episcopal Church
2:55 Sights and Kyrie chant
4:04 Cathedral Preaches By Its Architecture
5:09 Red Doors
6:06 Building Walks You Through Christ's Ministry
9:41 Bridge Between Catholic and Protestant
11:04 Short Service
12:04 Communion Hiccup
13:30 Story of How Episcopal Church Started
15:10 Outro

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🎵 Background Music:
Artist - lukrembo
Track - "rainy day"
Listen on YouTube:    • (no copyright music) lofi type beat “...  

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  / 52churchesin52weeks  

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📚 Read "52 Churches in 52 Weeks" by David Boice on Amazon:
https://amzn.to/3DKry4q

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