My Time as an Anglican

Currently, there are bookends to my church life experience. There is First Covenant Church of Salina – during high school. And then there is Graceway now. There was a smattering of churches earlier in life, prior to me finding my home at FCC. And there were several in between the journey to our church home today. But these are my bookends. And I love them both.

Immediately following high school, I went to Covenant Bible College. For one school year, I lived in Strathmore, AB with 86 other students and explored my faith, new friendships, and a different country – although not much different from Kansas.

Course requirements included visiting a selected variety of churches. With a group of 8 or so students, we went to a Covenant church – of course, Full Gospel, Assembly of God, Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, non-denominational, Anglican, and Weslyan among some others that I do not recall tonight. About 12 in all. Then we picked which church we would attend on a regular basis.

I became Anglican for a few short months. Why Anglican?

My 18 year old, rebel self chose this because it was different from anything I knew. And I didn't want to just go along with the crowd. Mind you this “crowd” is one that I wanted to escape while at the same time so desperately wanted to belong, but I just didn't seem to fit quite right - even when I tried. Ugh...teenagers! :-P

The clergy and church members of this tiny church were very kind and welcoming…and some of them were kind of weird too.

I truly enjoyed the high church part of it all with different robes for the church seasons, hymns, readings, banners, and communion administered at the front. I liked the kneeling benches and the predictable routine of it all. And the messages – while none were life changing and stayed with me to this day or anything – were okay too. 

I had my first – and last – taste of Haggis there. There were a few older people who really treated me with love and acceptance. I was invited into the homes of some very colorful people – some resulting in the funniest stories I have to this day! Ask me about the dogs sometime...seriously...it's hilarious!

And I was a part of something bigger than me.

I can still remember walking into the church and feeling like I wasn't the center of anything there. I was part of something bigger than me. And it was refreshing. You see to this point, my life had a lot of rough events/experiences in it that had been largely ignored or down-played. And I was 18. I didn't realize at the time, but I was starting to come apart at the seams. This time in my life was the beginning of the end, so to say.

In that tiny Anglican Church, I heard many sermons. But what I learned as clear as day, was that I was part of something bigger than me. This is a lesson that was further illustrated for me in the few months I spent in Haiti. Once again – I was part of something so much bigger than me! I was standing shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, with my sisters and brothers in Christ singing to our Savior – the same Savior! Oh, I love it!!

God has been so gracious enough to give me a place on His timeline, but this is His timeline. I am a spot on it – and I want to live this life as purposefully as I can so that He gets the glory in it all. But I am not THE big deal in all of this. 

I’m not saying I’m nothing or anything as self-loathing as that. I know that God loves me personally and Jesus died for me personally. But I know that I am part of His purpose. I love that. I love how this has been revealed over and over again in my life. 

It’s not all about me. Church is not all about me. Programs are not all about me and my comfort. They were never meant to be about me. The fact that people kind of suck sometimes in church - it's not about me either - good thing too, because sometimes I'm the one doing the sucking. 

And when all that stuff becomes more about me than about the Most High and His agenda – well, that’s when everything starts to fall apart because it’s hard to contain all of Him inside of my life, my understanding, and my preferences.

Thank you Jesus for the time you gave me as an Anglican.