> Brethren: If youhave 'lifer ECUSAites' who decline 'Sunday School' (An
Anglican invention by the way)do what I do-successfully-have a Talk Back
Session on the sermon/homily of the day while everyone is having their
post Communion 'collation'. It works-and they will come. Blessings.
GDVW+
> Charles+ said: "We at least in theory and on paper have the right
> balance of Word and Sacrament."
>
> This is one of the great beauties of the Anglican Church--one that kept
> me here after the God-centered worship first attracted me when I was 21.
>  Judy voluntarily but reluctantly became an Episcopalian when we were
> married in 1967.  The Church on paper looked good--less than that which
> she saw in practice.  It was what was "in theory and on paper" that
> reassured her enough to make the switch.  Of course, things only got
> much worse.
>
> And the sad truth is that it is only "at least in theory" for too many
> of our congregations.  I try very hard to reflect this balance in my
> sermons.  But almost invariably after I make this case the only comment
> I hear is something like: "Weren"t the bells rung wrong this morning?"
>
> Mark+ wrote (among other good things): "In the postmodern world, the
> Church is going to have to get back to the story. Doctrine remains
> important, not because it gives us a bunch a rules about God and
> ourselves, but BECAUSE it tells us how to read and live out that story
> correctly. And by reading and living out the Biblical metanarrative (to
> which I would add the history of the Church) that people's lives will be
> shaped and their faith nurtured."
>
> Beautifully said, Mark+!  It is precisely the approach I am using in our
> newly reinstated Sunday School.  It is well received by those who
> attend, but it isn't needed by the cradle Episcopalians who shun it.
>
> John+



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