Worship, Teach, Learn, and Grow…
The Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement.
We are a small gathered community seeking a way of life that is
the Way of Jesus, the Way of Love.
We desire a church that is…
no longer centered on empire and establishment,
no longer fixated on preserving institutions,
no longer shoring up white supremacy or anything else that hurts or harms any child of God.
Worship
Episcopal Worship is liturgical, which means we have a set of scripts that organize our time of gathered prayer. Across the church these scripts are used in a variety of settings with all types of accessories. Sometimes we gather in ancient cathedrals as choirs chant, incense billows, candles flicker, and bells ring out in the distance as the eucharistic prayers are said and other times we gather in a simple clapboard building with a few guitars, some praise music, and a sermon in the context of morning prayer and anything in-between.
At the ECM@UofA our regular worship is outdoors, usually gathering with a cup of tea, cold or hot depending on the season, and a light snack. When we are ready we sing, pray, read and reflect on the Gospel, and then share in the eucharistic prayer.
We would love to have you join us on the lawn just south of Main Gate any Sunday during the Fall and Spring terms.
Teach
You have something to teach us. When we gather for worship, bible study, summits, and retreats you are bringing a teaching voice into those spaces. We never end a sermon without asking for feedback… the caveat of that is when you give a sermon in our space one has to be prepared for feedback. The respect we foster in our community values the dignity of every human being, we place authority on the gathered community and not one individual.
Christianity has a long bad habit of limiting who is allowed to teach, preach, and lead amidst our gatherings. The non-discrimination canons of the Episcopal Church call us to value all individuals across the grate diversity of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, marital or family status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disabilities or age. You are called to be a change agent amidst our gatherings, the gatherings of the Episcopal church, and the world.
Learn
Our call to teach brings with it a call to learn. The same Bible story that has empowered one person throughout their life could have been used as a tool to abuse another. Someone’s favorite theologian may make another doubt their faith. The faith resources helping one person reconstruct their faith may be the same resources that you are looking to deconstruct. We are called to learn from each other amidst these tensions.
Our tendency is to find the faction that generally agrees with us and adhere to that group. In the Episcopal Church, the greater Anglican Communion, and the world at large this type of partisanship creates long standing silos of thinking. We are not looking for some great compromise, slicing away at beloved specialities within each group, but for how we can mutually affirm each other and learn amidst our strengths and weaknesses. In our journey of faith there is always more to learn, things to unlearn, and a greater mystery of the divine to encounter.
Grow
Our hope is that you grow deeper in your life of faith. What that looks like is up to you and where God is calling you next. This can mean finally coming to peace with the religious trauma you have experienced and being able to walk away from organized religion without regret or it could mean discovering a call to ordained ministry in our church… some people even experience both while most people find themselves someplace else entirely. More than living into some ideal expectation of an Episcopalian or Christian we want to help you find a resilient space where you are grounded, centered, and ready to encounter the Love of God, the Love of Self, and the Love of Others that will nourish you amidst the adversity and triumphs we experience in life. In the midst of the highest heavens, God is with you, and in the midst of the lowest depths, God is with you… being able to find yourself and find God when things are up or things are down is what we strive to help each other do.