My Journey of Faith (with Janet Steele)

by Janet Steele

I was raised in a household which pretty much practiced cultural Christianity.  My dad was a lapsed Methodist and my mom was a lapsed Roman Catholic.  Dad did take my brother and me to church occasionally when we were kids.  We were baptized in the Methodist church.  As we grew older we pretty much stopped going to church.  The quiet voice of God, however, was still present in my life even though it did not result in formal church membership.  Once when I was about 11 or 12 years old I attended the Episcopal Church of the Holy Faith in Santa Fe.  I was intrigued that the service was so very much like the Catholic mass I had attended with my mother's family when I was six. I really loved the beauty of these services even though I had no clue about what was happening in either. I think some seeds were sown at these two services.  Time passed, I graduated from high school and went to UNM.  In 1967 when I was a senior the Episcopal campus priest from Canterbury spoke at a sorority talk.  He was saying all kinds of things which piqued my interest. So I took him up on his offer to meet the next day.  That started my journey in the Episcopal church.  I was drawn to the intellectual understanding of Christianity that I heard preached. I liked that there was no set of rules or doctrine that had to be firmly believed and practiced.  I loved the liturgy and the changing seasons.  I liked that I could be and was accepted for who I was and what I believed.  I joined up!

I have stayed an Episcopalian for many of the same reasons that I joined.  I have come to have a much deeper and comprehensive understanding of the theology of both the Episcopal church and the wider church.  I have added a non intellectual understanding as well.  As I get older the contemplative side of our faith speaks more and more to me.  The Episcopal church is broad enough to include these experiences as well as the intellectual understanding of the faith.  The church is broad enough to include all kinds of understandings and doctrines.  We are left to figure it out for ourselves so that it makes good sense to us.  I love the liturgy more now than ever.  I love that the order of liturgy stays the same and gives us a framework which is present each time we do the Eucharist.  The words themselves and the music and the decorations and the place and the people may change but the order stays the same.  The meaning and intent stay the same.  This has allowed me to comfortably travel and live in different places and be a member of a church that stays the course.  I have grown to value and love the practice of inclusion in the church.  I was accepted the way I was...and I believe in accepting others where they are.  I am extremely happy that the Episcopal church offers the love of Christ to everyone even at the cost of losing members who could not bring themselves to include everyone in the full life and membership of the church.  I cannot see leaving the Episcopal church as part of my future.