The good news is the church's story. At its heart it is the proclamation that God loves us more than any imaginable barrier, even death itself. We know this truth through the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus we call the Son of God. He grew up in Palestine two thousand years ago. He became an itinerant teacher, surrounded by followers who more often than not stood on the fringe of that day's society: tax collectors and women to name but two examples. He ate with the unclean and offered health to the ill. He chastised the religious leaders of his day for their emphasis on ceremony rather than justice and humility. His life exemplified love without strings; so much so, in fact, that he died as a result of the unconditional love he showed to the people around him.
After Jesus' death, his followers were understandably dispirited and confused as they prepared to return to life as it was before. Scripture captures the joy of their discovering the resurrected Jesus in their midst in many different accounts of his appearances. Indeed, it was the fulfillment of Jesus' promise that even death would have no dominion over him. In the event of the Easter resurrection the disciples discovered that even a brutal and unjust execution could not overcome the unconditional love of God. Jesus, once again in the midst of his people, encouraged them to continue the work that he had begun to, quite literally, transform the world. And he promised them to be present with them in the power of the Holy Spirit even to the end of time. It is the Easter event that transformed that same dispirited group in the Body of Christ that continues his work to this day.
Thus, the early church began. Christians began eating with one another as a sign of their thanks to God for loving humankind so much. It was the beginning of what we now call the Eucharist, the sharing of bread and wine in church each week and our primary sacrament of Christ's continuing presence. The sign that they would lead this new life of mirroring God's love was to cleanse new members with fresh water. It signified a washing away of their feelings of shame and sinfulness. Thus, baptism began, a practice continued to this day.
The Episcopal Church continues to proclaim the good news to all people in a setting appropriate for today's world. The church still gathers each week to share bread and wine in a service open to all people. Many of its prayers from the Book of Common Prayer and hymns have been used for centuries.
It trusts people well enough that it lets them make up their own minds on how to interpret the historic statements of the church, giving guidance as they seek it.
It looks at the Bible as the story of God's love for humankind, not a rule book to be slavishly followed. Each week significant portions of the Bible are read in a three year lectionary cycle.
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