My Journey to the Episcopal Church (by Susan Patrick)

I came to the Episcopal Church because of a church job.  When I was taking organ lessons in college, I was offered as much practice time as I wanted in exchange for playing two Sunday services each week at a small chapel near the university, the home of the Canterbury Club.  Who could turn that down?  My Presbyterian family was strictly observant:  family devotions, church every week, Wednesday night family suppers at church, Sunday school for all ages, no-frill Sundays ( e. g., no movies or parties etc.).  My father was an elder, and the youth group was active.  Our church was large and dark, and services were traditionally built around a lengthy sermon.  Communion—silent and, as I saw it as a callow teenager, sad—occurred once a quarter:  tiny glasses of grape juice and cubes of bread passed by ushers down each row of pews.  As in many Protestant sects, religion was generally thought of as an individual, personal relationship with God, based at least partly on lists of dos and don’ts.  At the Episcopal chapel, in contrast, students made up the bulk of the congregation, and of course they weren’t forgoing movies and parties on Sunday!  Services were built around the Eucharist, which was part of the fabric of each Mass and was celebrated joyfully.  The focus was on corporate worship, and on discussion and argument rather than on rote learning.  I loved the liturgy and the music—the old Healey Willan stuff included.  Later, I learned how Richard Hooker’s three-legged stool and the via media have informed Anglican theology and history, and I came to believe that God is still speaking to us and acting through us, if only we’d pay attention.  I’m not denigrating my Presbyterian upbringing at all, but the freedom to disagree with other communicants while sharing the Eucharist attracted me and has kept me here.  I’m sure that part of the initial attraction was an excuse for gradually moving away from my family, and that the breakaway from my family’s church was just a part of the culture of the 1960s.  I trust, though, that the Episcopal Church has encouraged me grow into a more mature faith and hope that that process will continue.