Welcome to All Saints’ Episcopal Church located in NE Philadelphia. We have been a worshiping and ministering presence in the Torresdale section of the city for 240 years. Since our beginning in 1772 we have evolved to address the needs of our local community, the greater Philadelphia area and the global community as well.
In this 21st century we are learning what the Apostle Paul meant in his Letter to the Galatians, “… for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Spend a Sunday with us and you will discover Paul’s words in action. People joining you in the pews come from all around NE Philadelphia. We are men and women and children. We are young and old. Some of us are white and some are black. Some have families and some are single. Some of us are straight and some of us are gay. Some of us are people of means and some of us struggle to make ends meet. But when we kneel at the communion rail, hands stretched out, we are, as Garrison Keillor described his own experience of an Episcopal church, “A real anthology of the faith.” We are, indeed, all one in Christ Jesus.
It is our Baptismal Covenant that helps us understand what community in action means. All Baptismal candidates from infancy to maturity are invited to put their whole trust in the grace and love of Jesus Christ our Lord. In the covenant we are asked to embrace life-giving commitments…
The don’t recite the entire Baptismal covenant, just the final three.
Read the headline too quickly and thought it said “One Episcopal Parish’s Self-Deception.”
So, did the authors of the innovative baptismal covenant realize the doors they were opening? Was it a means to a planned outcome?
So utterly pedestrian. It seems that in the contemporary TEC so many people are satisfied with so little.
Re. #1: My thinking also, Br. Michael.
Parish profile shows income from plate and pledge 125K but endowment 300K+ ASA about 150, previous rector stayed only 5 years but history of several very long rectorships. Most parishioners don’t want a community or diocesan activist.
The “Baptismal Covenant” is not Christian, it is how the Episcopal Church replaced God with its own worldly agenda.
#2, yes it was a planned outcome.
Well, good to see that they are following GC’s lead. Now we can see how it actually works out in practice, i.e. whether it leads to the rejuvenation of TEC as the revisionists have been promising since 2003 or earlier. No doubt the recovery is just around the corner…
Not only is only part of the Covenant quoted, but nothing of the three renunciations and three affirmations are quoted. This past Sunday I baptised a 15 year old girl. She knows what those renunciations and affirmations mean. I pray to God that All Saints Torresdale does too!!