That Episcopalian Feeling

I used to be slightly baffled by Jewish atheists until I realized that I am in many ways an Episcopalian agnostic.

I'm not officially Episcopalian. I wasn't even raised in that church. It's just that I feel Episcopalian more than anything else. I am surprisingly comfortable attending the occasional holiday service with my relatives. It's the least annoying denomination in the Christian world.

Yesterday, I attended a music recital in an Episcopal chapel. (Thank you, Yoko!) It was a very nice place. Although Lipby might have preferred bloodier art work and decorations, I appreciated the nativity mural at the alter. Honestly, I can do without a pasty, bloody Jesus with the sad eyes rolling up into the back of his head, thank you very much. Like Ricky Bobby, sometimes I just want a cute baby Jesus.

Although the recital took place in a church, the music was secular. Last weekend, the situation was reversed. I attended a gospel show at the Keswick. This event also brought home my appreciation of the Episcopal way. At first I was unhappy that none of the acts in this show came from any Episcopal churches, but as the program wore on, this became a point of pride. It may be a dry denomination. It may be bourgeois. It may stink up the place with incense. But it's not going to make you sit through over 2 hours of repetitive warbling and beg you to shout and clap. It doesn't introduce itself by saying "I don't know about you, but I love the Lord!" And most important of all, it doesn't ask you for random offerings in the middle of a show that you already paid to see.