I am moving my ordination from the Church of the Nazarene (‘Nazarenes’) to the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire (ECNH), which is a diocese of the ‘Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America’, more simply and commonly called The Episcopal Church (TEC). In turn the TEC is a part of the Anglican Communion – of which the Church of England is usually thought of as the ‘mother church’.
As such I am moving between ‘cousins’ or perhaps ‘cousins once removed’. While the Nazarenes were formed in 1908 by people from many different denominations, all united by the idea of personal holiness, they predominantly grew out of the Methodist church. In turn the Methodist church developed out of the Anglican church. So, in terms of ecclesial lineage, the Nazarenes are a granddaughter of the Anglican church. I like to remind Nazarenes that our spiritual hero, John Wesley was an Anglican clergyman all his adult life, and always hoped that Methodism would remain a part of the Anglican church.
This article seeks to communicate to you, dear friend, why I am making the move, in case you are interested to know. My move is the result of a two-year process of action, following a ten-year process of prayer and consideration. It is the result of a pull, and a push and a desire to be plain, simple, and authentic before The Lord.
Pull:
I love the Anglican church. I always have. It is my home church. I was baptized (christened) as an Anglican toddler. I was confirmed as an Anglican at age 12 (by my own choice and initiative) while at boarding school. I got ‘saved’ in an Anglican church when I was 15, following a life-changing visit to a charismatic house church. My family of origin were Anglicans, my mother and father having converted to Anglicanism as adults. (My father’s family were Methodists and my mother’s family were British Baptists.) There is the pull of returning to my home faith-tradition. Perhaps at age 60 I am at a life-stage where I want to pass on to my grandchildren the faith that shaped me, not just the faith but the tradition that brings it to life. Perhaps it is my life-stage that has moved to focus on my final years, and I want to re-ground myself in a Christian tradition that most fully brings me peace.
The Anglican church is more deeply a sacramental church than the Nazarenes, or indeed most any hue of methodism. The Eucharist (Holy Communion / Lord’s supper) is deeply significant to me. It means as much as the Holy Bible to me. In both Eucharist and Bible, I encounter God explicitly. Nazarenes are also sacramental, but not with anything like the same focus. Indeed, most American Nazarene churches only celebrate Holy Communion once a month, and some only once a year! The vows of my baptism are the bedrock of my identity and practice as a Christian. Anglicans emphasize this much more than Nazarenes. And while I am thoroughly protestant, for me, marriage and ordination are so sacramental, that they are close to being sacraments.
I love the musical tradition of the Nazarenes. I will always sing ‘Holiness Unto the Lord’ with gusto! I deeply love the contemporary Christian worship scene, yet the great hymns of my childhood shaped my faith as much or more than any preaching, and I long to sing them. ‘My Song is Love Unknown’ is really my life anthem – especially the first and last verses.
I love liturgy. For many Nazarenes, especially those recovering from Catholic roots or experience, liturgy connotes a dead religiosity and superstition, opposed to a living faith. I understand that view and respect it. Yet that is not my situation. For me, liturgy can be and should be, deeply life giving and brimming with an authentic, energetic faith. Liturgy invites my intellect, my emotions and my physical body into worship. I open my palms in thanksgiving and need when I pray the Lord’s Prayer. I kneel to receive Eucharist, so my body acknowledges the reign of God over me. I cross myself when I am reminded of my first identity as belonging to The Lord Jesus Christ. The creeds of the church connect me to the billions of Christians alive today and who encourage me on from heaven. The liturgy connects me to the great church.
History: The Nazarene church has a short history, and it is very American-centric. The Anglican Communion is centered in England and yet is not so shaped by its center, having a more truly global character. More than this, Anglicanism understands itself as standing in the main sweep of the 2000-year history of the church, and I want to stand there, and feel the connection to the global movement that is the Jesus Movement – The Church (with capital letters). I want my faith to be both catholic (small –‘c’ meaning universal) and orthodox (small ‘o’ meaning rightly-believing) and protestant (small ‘p’ meaning true to the scriptural teaching of Christ to His apostles). I want to know that my ordination is in the apostolic line (albeit recovered from medieval corruption by the reformation) not just the presbytery (that is the eldership of the church, devoid of the continuity of bishops, as is the Nazarene way). I want to connected to the deep history of the church, in all its big-tent breadth, diversity and inclusiveness.
Inclusivity: I understand my New Testament Christian faith to be inclusive. God’s redemptive, restoring, reconciling love portrayed by The Lord Jesus Christ, reached out to tax-collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, gentiles, lepers, the sick and disabled, the divorced and adulterous, even the dead! He promoted women, divorced women, to positions of leadership in the church. The Holy Spirit directed the apostle Philip to evangelize, baptize and bless a black eunuch. At what point did we need to invent a holiness-code that declares that Christ’s love cannot accept people who have a different sexual orientation to most people? I love that the ECNH truly welcomes all people. They do not ignore obvious sin, yet they do not exclude people from full acceptance into the church. I understand this is a divisive issue. Yet for me it is simple: I trust the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts of others just as it is working in my own heart. It is His job to convict people of their sin, and my job to pastor them in such growth, and to love them.
In summary, the pull of the ECNH is about my home roots, tradition, liturgy, inclusiveness, sacramentality, and historical standing. That is a lot.