“You show me the path of light …”–Psalm 16:11

One of the best descriptions of Episcopal tradition is that we have a three-legged stool--scripture, tradition and reason. In other words, we try to live out our faith by using the Bible, but not only the Bible. We also honor the way the Christian Church has done things for its 2,000-year history. We may not do things exactly as they have been done in the past, but we look to tradition for patterns we follow. And finally, we use our reason. We believe God gave us intelligence and expects us to use it.

The Episcopal Church is part of the worldwide Anglican Church, whose origin is the Church of England. The Church of England has both Protestant and Catholic elements. Like Protestant churches, we do not have authority vested in one person, such as the Pope, and we tend to have practices that are less hierarchical than the Roman Catholic Church. On the other hand, we have nearly the same understanding of sacraments as the Catholic Church, and our ordained ministers—bishops, priests and deacons—have similar roles of those in the Catholic Church.

In the Episcopal Church, we see two sacraments as central, Baptism and Holy Communion. We also recognize, as does the Catholic Church, five other sacraments. These are confirmation, marriage, ordination, reconciliation (what traditionally was called confession) and anointing for healing.