It was great to be with the Primus, the Most Rev Mark Strange this morning in St Mary’s in which he talked about authority and what he’s been discovering since being elected as Primus.
Here’s his sermon:
Here’s the forum conversation we had after the service in which we talked about he Anglican Communion, the Scottish Episcopal Church, how we relate to the Church of Scotland and other churches in Scotland and lots more:
Here’s the Q and A with questions from the congregation:
The dear Scottish bishops who consecrated Samuel Seabury have my gratitude forever, and our Prayer Book is greatly enriched by the inclusion of the Epiclesis from the Scottish Rite.
And the heritage was passed on as my home church, the la Iglasia Anglicana de Mexico, being a daughter of TEC basically uses the Spanish language TEC prayerbook (with epiclesis), apropriately modified, as our church’s liturgy.
I think that the US church was not trying to be THE Episcopal Church, but, the generic Episcopal Church in the short name, as opposed to the Protestant Episocopal Church of the United States of America, which is the legal title. And TEC was trying to represent the church’s full constituency, which is not as a national Anglican church, as is the Anglican Church of Canada, or a regional Anglican church, as is la Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America, but a multinational church with dioceses in many countries. I’m sure that you would squirm a bit to be called the Scotland-based Episcopal Church. It’s not cool or comfortable to say.
Are there Scottish Episcopal churches that aren’t technically part of Scotland geo-politically?
There are no Scottish Episcopal Churches that are not in Scotland. (Though I’d dearly love to invade a well known local provincial neighbour).
It may be a bit squirmy to refer to it as the US-based Episcopal Church but it is quite hard to simply use The Episcopal Church on a blog read in Scotland. That name just doesn’t make any sense here as it is what many people here would call the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Unfortunately, the Protestant Episcopal Church’s renaming of itself which was for good reason to avoid being seen as US-centric and imperial reads rather badly over here.
Since I don’t much understand the relationship of all the tiny islands around Great Britain and Ireland I wasn’t sure.
Too bad we aren’t in the day when it was just the Church.
Thank you, Father Kelvin, for this reminder of an historic event of some special note. In the present climate of unrest in the Anglican world, it is good to note that Scotland and the U.S.A. have a precious link through their shared episcopal provenance that is not directly originated (by their own default) by the mother Church of England. This spirit of independence emphasizes the infinite variety of our shared Anglican reformed catholicity. A Unity in Diversity!
Thank you, Kelvin, for remembering us. May the bonds of affection always flow both ways.
Those reading this thread might enjoy seeing the full de Rosen mural from which Kelvin took the detail above, which is on the north wall of the Nave in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brycewgarner/8964371666/
Y’all come visit.
Thank you Thank you. That point in the Eucharist is the most important for me as a priest – I feel like I am standing in the center of time — all before and all after flowing through those of us gathered at that moment.
The Scottish Episcopal Church did not invent the epiclesis, but adopted it from various ancient Eastern rites. So both the Scottish and American Churches could be said to be more in touch with the liturgical roots of eucharistic worship than those churches who use variants of the Reformation prayer-books.
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