EASTER DAY

Sunday 20 April 2025

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R.I.

 

 

Some years ago, at a party given by a couple in my then parish, I had a mildly awkward encounter with one of the other guests. Knowing that I was the rector of an Episcopal parish, this gentleman told me that belonged to a church of another denomination down the street. Then he triumphantly proclaimed: “They’ve made me completely welcome, even though I don’t believe in the Resurrection!” From the way he said it, he was clearly implying that he thought that I wouldn’t make him nearly so welcome at my church.

 

Over the course of my ministry, I’ve occasionally found that people who’ve recently started attending church will finally screw up the courage to ask, reluctantly and after much hesitation, some such question as: “I really like coming here, but to be a member, do I really need to believe in X? Or am I really expected to accept Y?” Often, these questions have to do with miraculous doctrines of the Christian faith such as the Virgin Birth or the bodily Resurrection of Christ.

 

So first, to take the question on its own terms, what are we expected to believe in the Episcopal Church? The classical Anglican answer is summed up in the tag, “the law of prayer is the law of belief.” It means that the best way to learn the Church’s beliefs and teachings is to read the texts we use in worship. We become members of the Church in Holy Baptism. And we continue membership in good standing by regular participation in the Church’s worship, especially the Holy Eucharist.

 

Associated with Baptism and the Eucharist are the two ancient professions of faith known as the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. These are the Church’s definitive summaries of the doctrines and teachings revealed by God in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

 

When we’re baptized, we recite the Apostles Creed, or else it’s recited on our behalf by our parents and godparents in the hope that we’ll eventually make it our own. On Sundays, we recite the Nicene Creed together before receiving Holy Communion. So, the best answer is that to continue as Church members in good standing we’re expected to be able to join in professing the Apostles and Nicene Creeds. And it’s worth noting that both Creeds unambiguously affirm Christ’s Resurrection from the dead.

 

While I’m comfortable with that answer, however, I do find the question a bit odd. What are we required to believe as members of the Church? Phrased that way, the question presupposes a view of the Church as a repressive institution that not only tells people what to believe, but also tells them that they’re not welcome unless they can sign on the dotted line at the bottom of a detailed laundry list of authoritative teachings. But while such denominations may exist, they’re not the Church that I know.

 

Now, I’m not saying that dogmas and doctrines are unimportant—on the contrary, they’re crucially important—but they don’t function as the criterion of eligibility for membership in quite that way. The traditional, premodern concept of the Church is much more that of an organic community comprising all sorts and conditions of people, whose life together involves participation in worship, fellowship, and mission—grounded in a common faith, to be sure, but whose grasp of that faith as individuals may not always be complete or perfect.

 

Consider: We baptize infants and consider them full members of the church even though they haven’t yet attained the ability to assent to any coherent system of teachings and beliefs. Then consider individuals who suffer from severe mental disabilities, who can have only the simplest and most childlike understanding of the Christian teachings: we baptize, confirm, and communicate them nonetheless, considering them just as fully members of the Body of Christ as the most learned and orthodox theologians.

 

The point is that all without exception are welcome, regardless of doubts, questions, and confusions. Certain types of behavior are indeed unwelcome in the Church’s life—and how to define the boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate behavior is an ongoing challenge that merits serious attention. But again, while certain ways of acting may need to be checked at the door, nonetheless, everyone is invited; everyone is welcome.

 

So, to return to our original question. What does the Church require us to believe as its members? Phrased that way, it’s the wrong question. Assent to the articles of Christian faith cannot legitimately be required of anyone. People can and do believe all kinds of things for all kinds of reasons, but few of us ever believe anything just because some external authority has commanded us to do so.

 

Our business, then, is not to require acceptance of the Church’s teachings, but rather to proclaim them joyfully and to invite people to hear, consider, and assent to them insofar as it’s given them to do so. A favorite maxim of Pope John Paul II was “the Church imposes nothing, she only proposes.” Faith is a gift; and it’s against the very nature of a gift to be compelled or coerced. On the contrary, it remains a gift only insofar as it’s offered, accepted, and received in the fullness of human freedom.

 

Some years ago, a well-known Eastern Orthodox bishop and theologian visited a prestigious Methodist seminary in the South to lecture on the Nicene Creed. During the question period at the end of the lecture, one of the students rose and earnestly protested: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t bring myself to believe the part about Christ rising from the dead.” Without missing a beat, the bishop replied, “Well, don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re still very young. Just keep saying the Creed, and eventually you’ll get it.”

 

Utterly confused, the student asked, “But wouldn’t it be dishonest and hypocritical of me to profess publicly what I don’t believe in my heart?” “Oh,” said the bishop, “Now I see your problem! But you misunderstand! What the Nicene Creed professes isn’t your own personal faith, but the corporate faith of the Holy Catholic Church! None of us can expect to get it all at once. Trust that the Church understands much more than you do. Just keep saying the Creed, and eventually the Holy Spirit will grant you the faith and understanding you seek.”

 

Today, then, we join in joyfully proclaiming the Church’s faith in Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. This Easter proclamation is not an oppressive dogma to be required of anyone as a precondition of anything, but a gift of great good news to be treasured and shared: God’s pledge to us of our own resurrection and his offer of eternal life in Christ. Our mission is to invite all people everywhere to make this faith their own as and when God grants them the grace to do so. And then we go forward together, rejoicing in the risen life that is ours in Christ Jesus our Savior.