Make A Joyful Noise

I suppose, one could have also called this post: "Look, Ma: No Eagle!"
It may seem a bit strange to write an entry about the sign outside the church that I attend. Afterall, it's not like there is anything remarkable about the signage: it has the shield with its histrorical crosses of both St. George (England) and St. Andrew (Scotland). The sign tells the onlooker what time they can expect to see a bunch of Episcopalians at "pew aerobics" on Sunday.
Really, there's nothing THAT special about the signage at St. John's....
Except that there is no longer an eagle, no more crown. Not only has Evil(aka Fr. Eric Dudley) left the building, his tyrannical symbolism is also gone.
Hallelujah!!
Still, like a roaring lion, Evil is lurking about on the pages of the Tallahassee Magazine. A recent fluff piece doing a 30-year-retrospective on religious life in our fair city noted the split in 2005 in which Evil and his ilk moved northward up the road from St. John's to start St. Peter's Anglican Church. In a fine demostration of no journalism skills whatsoever, the magazine talked only to Evil. And Evil took the opportunity to promote himself and his church as the "True Anglican" church....because they "wear vestments, kneel in prayer, use prayer books and the Eucharist is the center of the service."
Gee....sounds an awful lot like the church services I've been attending the past year in the "True Episcopal" church! A church where ALL people are welcome to come together and celebrate God (this was definitely not true of Evil, who was wailing and gnashing his teeth over the election and consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of NH on a fairly regular basis).
Things are far from perfect in the world of the Red and Blue books. But I celebrate our new outward and visible sign on Monroe and Call Streets as proof of the inward and spiritual grace that is growing within that congregation.
May God's presence be always with us there to open our eyes, ears and hearts to each other in the spirit of God.