The Oasis of Roots

Chaplain Mike at The Internet Monk posted earlier this week as part of his Lenten journey how he has fond an "oasis" in a mainline church. As part of the post he talked about Robert Webber, an evangelical in the Episcopal church. Here's what Chaplain Mike said...

In his book, Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals Are Attracted to the Liturgical Church, Webber made it clear that leaving free church evangelicalism was by no means a repudiation of orthodoxy, but a deeper participation in the orthodox faith.
Webber named six aspects of orthodoxy that were not adequately fulfilled for him in his previous Christian experience, but which he found in the Anglican church:

• A sense of mystery
• Worship that transcends intellectualism and emotionalism
• Sacraments that provide tangible symbols of Christ
• A historic sense of identity
• An ecclesiastical home
• A holistic spirituality

Webber described his own pilgrimage as a journey in three stages: from familial faith in fundamentalist Christianity to searching faith to owned faith in the Anglican church.
--Link

I particularly found Webber's six aspects interesting. Some of the mainline-type churches certainly have those. But many of those same mainline-type congregations lose it to culture, boredom, exclusiveness, and just general mediocrity. I do believe that Webber has great insights that can lead us to a renewed spirituality.