St. Stephen’s is an Episcopal Church, which is part of the Anglican Communion. As Anglicans, our style of Christian spirituality and temperament is unique. Anglican spirituality is best outlines in the writings of John Westerhoff:
Anglican Spirituality
Liturgical/Biblical: Anglican/Episcopal spirituality is rooted in communal daily prayer (Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayers, Evening Prayer, Compline) as laid out in The Book of Common Prayer. Thus, our way of praying tends to have more formality and structure and is shaped by the Scriptures, the divine reading of Scripture and the prayerful meditation on the psalms.
Communal: For Episcopalians, communal prayer comes before and shapes personal prayer. Prayer is seen as an activity that connects us to God, to each other, to include the living to the dead. Communal prayer is a part of daily, weekly and yearly rhythms and both surrounds and informs community gatherings and meetings in which decisions are made.
Sacramental: Episcopalians see the world, itself, as sacramental, that is, capable of mediating the grace of God. Anglicans also emphasize the two primary sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist as well as offer the other sacramental rites of confirmation, holy matrimony, reconciliation, unction, and ordination.
Eucharistic (A Life Centered in the Holy Eucharist): Everything we do at St. Stephen’s is centered squarely in what we do at the Altar. All our ministries and outreach begin and emanate out from our celebration of the Holy Eucharist. We at St. Stephen’s believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Bread and Wine of the Eucharist.
Incarnational: Episcopalians emphasize the incarnation, God’s entry into human life and history. Accordingly, we have an earthy spirituality that affirms the goodness of life and the created world and believes that the extraordinary is to be found in the ordinary.
Mystical: Episcopalians experience union with God as happening over time, bit by bit through a journey aided by spiritual discipline and prayer. Such a belief is consistent with the description of spiritual progress found in the mystics.
Anglican
Comprehensive: We believe the truth is to be found in the tension between counter-opposites. We affirm both the sacred and secular, both the material and the non-material, both the mind and the heart, both the transcendence and the intimate closeness of God.
Ambiguous: We are not “black and white” thinkers, but instead affirm the ambiguity of experience and the value of learning to tolerate and embrace complexity and ambiguity in many aspects of human life and in the spiritual journey.
Open-minded: We are people of a questioning faith. We search for wisdom in many places and encourage people to listen to each other and to bring their honest questions to their spiritual life.
Intuitive: We are at home in the world of image, symbol, myth, ritual, and the arts. Very few Anglicans write systematic theologies. Instead we are writers, poets, pastors, and musicians.
Aesthetic: We believe that beauty is the doorway to truth and goodness and that beauty is a doorway to God.
Moderate: We avoid extremes, believing that a godly life is one that is disciplined, balanced and temperate.
Naturalistic: We have a reverence for nature and its rhythms. Anglicans believe in working to protect the natural world and its creatures.
Political: We believe that Christian life has political implications and that civic life is both a legitimate and important place for Christian’s apostolate to be expressed.
Liturgical
The Beauty and Reverence of Worship: We worship God in the beauty of holiness. We use candles, water, color, banners, music, flowers, incense (at our Wednesday evening Mass), etc. as an expression of our piety. Such ceremonial is done to honor God, and it is understood to be prayer made visible.
The Sacramental Life of Stewardship and Discipleship: As Anglican Christians we believe that sacraments are outward and visible signs of God’s inward grace. In our very lives we too are meant to be Sacraments to God. We seek to live our lives faithfully to God’s plan for us, being good stewards of everything God has entrusted to us already, and visible signs in this world of God’s love and grace.
Justice and the Care of All People: Our devotion and worship is useless if we are not engaged with the struggles of our world. Because of our high view of the dignity and worth of every human being, and because God and God’s love resides in every person, it is imperative that we seek wholeness for the entire creation. The beauty of holiness must lead to a passion for justice and pastoral care.
