Reading the Bible in a year!
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The Episcopal Lingo, Part 7: Initiation or Confirmation
There were certain rites of passage marked by colonial churches—birth, initiation, marriage, and death for the great majority of its white population and to lesser and varying extents for non-adherents and African Americans as well. We will look at the second one this week – Initiation of confirmation.
Last week we looked at Baptism. Baptism brought Church membership but was only an introduction into the church. Initiation and confirmation was the next step. Technically the child had to memorize the Apostle’s creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments. (See tablet below) There was less specific requirement – attendance at church and training in virtuous habits.
Since there was not a system of public schooling in colonial Virginia, the family was the key unit in education and in particular the parents. Since the family was also the entity pushing confirmation, there was a blurring of the lines of secular and religious education. It was all part of one process. The backup was the godparents. Promises made on behalf of the bap¬tized infant obligated godparents to see that the child was nurtured and brought to a mature understanding of the faith
Parents passed on the knowledge and skills they had acquired and which seemed appropriate to their station in life. Part and parcel of this process would be the "do’s and don’ts" of conduct, moral precepts, and traditional stories, verse, and songs, including those biblical in their source. Whether regular Bible reading and family prayers were a fea¬ture in a few, some, or many Old Dominion households is unknown
Continued below…
Christ centered, Biblically based, spirit filled and a place of simple hospitality, we have shared our communal life with our church,our community, and those in need. Your presence enriches us.
September 23 -9:45am Christian Education for children and adults
September 23 -11:00am Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Sunday Readings and Servers
"History of Christianity", Part 3 this Sunday, September 16, 9:45am – Catholicism
During this year in Adult Education we are looking at "Struggles of Faith". How better to show it over 3,000 years with a wonderful video series based on an awarding winning book, Christianity the First 3,000 years, by English professor Diarmaid McCulloch.
In Part 3 and 4 he shifts to one of the three key branches of Christianity – Catholicism.
Part of this story is the growth of centralized church in Rome which marks it out from other denominations. This included the pope (3rd century) and what became the Vatican. However, in the 5th century, Barbarian invaders overran the Western half of the empire. At that moment, the Latin Church could easily have crumbled and become a footnote in European history. What did it do ? It went alone and developed ties within the Roman aristocracy and was able to spread Christianity to the British Isle. By the 9th century, it united church and state under the great ruler Charlemagne
What emerged was a single Western Latin Catholic society unified by the Latin language and underpinned by a complex religious bureaucracy. It reflected the lost Roman Empire but it outshone the Roman Empire. There were challenges, dealing with Islam and its response became the crusades, one of the most embarrassing episodes in Christian history.
Catholic means of worship were diverse despite the influence of the control structure under the pope.
It embraced monks in Skellig Michael on the west coast of Ireland (left) to the creation of monumental cathedrals in France and Spain (right, Santiago de Compestala in Spain.)
Did you miss the earlier sessions ? Here is a transcript. Adult Ed has other content on the left sidebar, top.
Evening Prayer at Oaken Brow, Sept 30, 5pm
Join us at Virginia and Perry Bowen’s home, Oaken Brow, for a late fall afternoon Evening Prayer using the 1928 Prayer Book. Her address is 16294 Oaken Brow Lane The 1928 service is here.
Coming Up!
1. Day to Serve, September 29
We will be collecting food on Sunday, Sept. 16 and Sunday Sept. 23, 2012. This is a coordinated drive through Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and DC to restock food banks. Around September 29, the food will be delivered to the Food Bank.
Here are some suggestions for foods to bring
2. Acolyte Festival, Washington Cathedral, Oct. 6, 10am (Signup by Sept. 21
We would like to take the acolytes to this festival where they can participate in workshops, meet acolytes from across the nation and have a chance to worship in the magnificent Cathedral Signup is by Friday, Sept. 21 – see Catherine. Their cost is $21, bring your own lunch. Ask Catherine about discretionary money available for the cost.
3. St. Francis Blessing of the Animals, Thurs, Oct. 4, 5:00pm
Join us for the most beloved services of the year, honoring one of the greatest saints in Christian history. Links:
The 2011 event
The 2010 event
Prayer of St. Francis
The service in 2010
Pictures
We hope to make an online directory this year of the "Pets of St. Peter’s" – just for fun! We will start those at the St. Francis service and obtain pictures of the others and publish them online.
4. Conversation with the Bishop, Wed., Oct. 24 – St. George’s – $10 until Oct 10, $12 at the door
This event has many positives – a marvelous inexpensive meal (Where can you eat for $10? ), an event sponsored by own Region One and a great program (Bishop Johnston). As it says there is no prepared speech or agenda. Just a leisurely conversation moderated by Region president Ed Jones.
(initiation, continued from above)
Other than parent teaching their children, there were local Anglican parson that did teach in private schools which tended to meet the affordability of those with more modest mean. Wealthy families employed their own teachers.
Confirmation was the ritual means — a veritable "rite" of passage—by which the Church of England marked the assumption of adult religious re¬sponsibilities. The Bishop confirmed in England but since there was no Bishop in Colonial America there was a problem with confirmation
Presumably ministers modified or dropped the final exhortation to godparents in the baptism service whereby they were charged to bring the child to the bishop for confirmation when they were satisfied that the child had been sufficiently instructed in the essen¬tials of the faith
(tablets required by the 1606 canons and the basic catechism for those seeking initiation)
Despite the fact there wasn’t a bishop that confirmed children, they still took communion. The Prayer Book rubric provided an escape clause; communion might be administered to those "ready and desirous to be confirmed." Again, what is not known is whether Virginia parsons adopted measures to satisfy themselves that communicants not only desired to be confirmed but could repeat the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments and make the approved responses to the catechetical questions.
While few colonial Virginians were actually confirmed, they realized the the purposes of confirmation but unfortunately without benefit of the rite.