The
United Episcopal Church embraces the
divine truth that Jesus Christ is
Lord and Savior, the Supreme Head of
His Body— the Church. That church is
both Catholic and Apostolic. That
means we are a Sacramental church in
the traditional time honored way. We
believe that the sacraments are “of
the church” in the double sense that
they are “by her” and “for her”.
They are “by the Church”, for she is
the sacrament of Christ’s action at
work in her through the mission of
the Holy Spirit. They are “for the
church” in the sense that the
sacraments make the church, since
they manifest and communicate to
men, above all in the Eucharist, the
mystery of communion with God, who
is love, one in three persons. The
church, forming, as it were, one
mystical person with Christ the
head, acts in the sacraments as an
organically structured priestly
community.
We
profess that the sacraments of the
new law were instituted by Jesus
Christ, our Lord. The sacraments are
“powers that come forth” from the
Body of Christ, which is ever-living
and life-giving. They are actions of
the Holy Spirit at work in his body,
the Church. They are “the
masterworks of God” in the new and
everlasting covenant.
The
Apostolically ordained ministry
(priesthood) guarantees that it is
Christ who acts in the sacrament
through the Holy Spirit for the
Church.
The
saving mission entrusted by the
Father to his incarnate son was
committed to the apostles and
through them to their successors:
they receive the Spirit of Jesus to
act in his name and in his person.
The ordained minister is the
sacramental bond that ties the
liturgical action to what the
apostles said and did and, through
them, to the words and actions of
Christ, the source and foundation of
the sacraments.
The
real purpose of the sacraments is to
sanctify men, to build up the Body
of Christ and to give worship to God
alone. Because they are signs, they
also instruct. They not only
presuppose faith, but by words and
objects they also nourish,
strengthen and express it. That is
why they are called “sacraments of
faith”.
As
Anglicans, we then accept the
components of the faith revealed;
the Scriptures, Creeds, Councils,
Sacraments, Worship, Ministry, and
Tradition. We believe that all of
the components are like strands of a
rope; a unity which holds the church
together. In this belief we share a
Catholic ideal way of faith.
The
Reformation of the 16th
century was the most comprehensive
and far reaching effect to return
the Christian faith to its
legitimate roots of faith and
practice. We accept the English
Reformation as that which diligently
sought the true sources of faith and
discredited the many corruptions and
distortions of the Middle Ages.
Actually, the Articles of Religion
found in the Prayer Book were
written not as a statement of
faith, but to deal with the above
mentioned distortions and
corruptions of the medieval church.
We
do not, however, accept the
theology of the Continental
Reformation or its uncatholic effort
which tried to discard the
fundamental principles of the
historic faith along with the
abuses.
We
do not accept private
innovations intruding into the
Church’s teachings. We honor Luther,
Calvin, Knox and others for their
efforts to explain the faith, but do
not accept them as having prophetic
abilities to speak for God.
We do celebrate the historic
faith-fundamental form of
Christianity; its faith, worship,
teaching, devotions and life with
joy and love and with real
thankfulness and real confidence. We
believe this catholic approach to be
the most comprehensive and
satisfying expression of gratitude
for God’s unlimited love and mercy.
We do believe God has given us a special
position as a “bridge church”—a
bridge between Roman Catholicism and
Protestantism. We proclaim a living
way of faith and worship that
believes in every persons right to
life, honor traditional marriage
between a man a woman and practice
financial policies that allow local
ownership of local property (Church,
parish house, etc).
The
United Episcopal Church of North
America, while coming from the
American arm of the Anglican
Communion and having our apostolic
succession from these bodies, does
not belong to either of these
organizations nor shares their
extreme liberal views on morals and
their abandonment of orthodoxy.
We
are a church truly catholic and
evangelical in scope and embrace a
broad base of ceremonial practice
inherent in the Historic Anglican
Tradition. We are just what
you are looking for in a faith
community.
Blessings
++ Stephen C. Reber. Sr
Welcome to the United Episcopal Church of North America
