the strength of belief

  I read that the Episcopal church has revised the Book of Common prayer. Now I was baptized in the Episcopal church and attended quite regularly when I was still living at home. I was a member of the Jr. Choir, the youth group and later served as an Acolyte. I was quite proud of having a perfect attendance record that spanned at least five years. That was recognized by my minister, the Reverend Samuel Davis, with a signed copy of that book of common prayer in 1968. That was almost a decade before that revision had taken place. I wasn't aware that the revision prior to that was in 1928. I have since learned that revisions took place in 1892 and 1789. There were others dating back to 1549. All that came as a bit of a surprise. You just don't think about those things being revised or updated. It's like the Bible, to me, the Kings James version is the Bible, although I am aware of others including the new versions where the language is changed. I expect the hope is to appeal to the younger folks. Make it more relatable. I get that. Now I read where the Episcopal church is working on another revision to the Book of Common prayer.

 All this made me wonder why you would revise a prayer book. I did some reading on the web about it written by the Episcopal church and others. I read where the language was changed to reflect the times, to make it more understandable to the general public. Yes, mostly it was to make it easy to understand for us laypeople, you know the uneducated masses. That is still a part of the reasoning today. It's all in the translation. It has always been in the translation. Whether from the Greek or the Latin the Bible has been translated to another language to make it understandable. I get that, it makes perfect sense. But further reading I discovered some other reasons I find disturbing. When the translation begins to change the meaning, I have an issue with that. This latest revision is going to focus on gender. It has now been decided that God is too masculine, and God should be a gender-neutral entity. The Bible is just filled with men doing this and men doing that and that isn't acceptable. For me, I see that as the Episcopal church going woke! It is no longer a doctrine I can follow. 

 I often wondered why people of different denominations found themselves at odds with other Christians or religions. When I was little, I was told the only difference between an Episcopalian and Catholic was Episcopalians didn't pray to the saints. Everything else was pretty much the same. I was told about the Methodists, they sang too loudly in church, the Baptists often spoke in tongues and danced in the aisles, and the Presbyterians were a bunch of stuffed shirts. It was all in what was allowed or not. As I got older and interacted with all these people, I learned that most were this or that because that is what their parents were. I also learned that we all believed pretty much the same thing as far as the basic doctrine went. It was the practice of worshiping that differed. And know I know this, when the practice differs from the belief, I'm not going there anymore. 

 I'm saying that I have discovered the Episcopal church has moved away from what I was taught and what I have come to believe. It's a difficult thing to realize, to come to terms with. But I remind myself religion is about what you believe, not what you are told to believe. When the translation changes the meaning of the message, I have to reject that translation. I can't reconcile what I was taught by the Right Reverend Samuel Davis, the man that baptized me and instructed fifty years ago with what that church is teaching today. I do not believe the Bible, or our prayers should be changed. Yes, new translations are helpful, a changing of the terms used to make things clear is fine, but changing the meaning is not! You don't get to rewrite the Bible or the Prayer Book to suit the woke crowd. It may keep you in business, if that is your aim, and I question if that is the true motive. You can call it remaining relatable if you like, but for me it is a concession. And I don't believe you should ever make a concession for what you believe. Saints and Martyrs didn't make any concessions. They just kept on saying what they believed even when it wasn't the popular thing to do. 

 I realize that everything has to grow, change, and keep with the times. It's a natural process but can still be unsettling. I remember when ladies wore a hat and gloves to church and wouldn't even think about going without. I remember wearing our church clothes, got a new set at Easter. I remember when the church doors were always open, unlocked, and you were free to enter that house of God to pray or sit in quiet contemplation. I remember the Minister saying, we are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony. I don't know what they say today when two guys are getting married or two women. I see the people going to church today dressed like they were going to a nightclub or sporting event. I hear music streaming out the doors that sound like a rock concert. Yes, things have changed, and changed a lot since I went to that Episcopal church. I have watched on a web cam as services are conducted in that very church today and find it foreign to me. I suppose it is just that I'm getting old. I want what I'm comfortable with, and I want my beliefs reenforced, not told they are wrong. And now I think I'm beginning to understand why there are those denominations and why they may be at odds with all the others. It is about belief. The strength of belief. I believe very strongly in the teachings of that old church. That church built the foundation of my faith, and I will not change that. That is the strength of belief. They can translate the text, provide an alternative interpretation, but for me the meaning will always remain the same. Not changing that.