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May
02

You might be an Episcopalian if

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You might be an Episcopalian if

…you recognize your neighbor, or rector, in the local liquor store and go over to greet him/her.

…if you have totally memorized Rite I, Rite II and the first three episodes of *The Vicar of Dibley*.

…if while watching the movie “The Madness of King George” you’re able to recite with the King, when he undergoes “surgery,” the Collect for Purity

…if words like: “vouchsafe”, “oblation”, “supplications”, “succor”, “bewail”, “wherefore”, “dost”, “meet”, and “very” (in its archaic sense) are familiar to you even if you don’t have a clue that they mean.

…if you can pronounce “innumerable benefits procured to us by the same.”

…if hearing people pray in the language of “jesuswejus” makes you want to scream.

…if you can rattle off such tongue twisters like: “..who made there by his one oblation of himself once offered a full and perfect sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the world” and “Wherefore, O, Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy people, do celebrate and make here, with these gifts which we offer unto thee, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make…”
without missing a beat.

…if someone says, “Let us pray” and you automatically hit your knees.

…if the word “Sewanee” puts a lump in your throat.

…if you catch yourself genuflecting or bowing as you enter a row of seats in a theater.

…if your choir director suggests discussing something over a beer after choir rehearsal.

…if, when visiting a Catholic Church, you are the only Ah-men amongst a sea of Ay-mens

…if your covered dish for the potluck dinner is escargot in puff shells.

…if you think the most serious breach of propriety one can commit is failure to chill the salad forks.

…if  your picnic basket has sterling knives and forks (entree, fish, salad and cake).

…if you ever find yourself saying, “Oh, but we’ve never done it that way before.”

…if you know that a sursum corda is not a surgical procedure.

…if you don’t think Agnus Dei is a woman.

…if you know the difference between a surplice and a cotta…and the appropriate use of each.

…if you know that the nave is not a playing card.

…if you know that the Senior Warden and the Junior Warden are not positions in the local prison.

…if  your friend said “I’m truly sorry…” and you replied, “and you humbly repent?”
And finally….

…if you reach a point when you’re not sure about anything theologically but you still feel completely at home at the altar rail and somehow know you’re meeting God there, even though you can’t begin to understand how.

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1. You’ve got a big bushy beard in honor of R. L. Dabney.
2. You can spell supralapsrian , suprlapsarian, suralapsrian, supralapsarian.
3. When asked to name the twelve apostles you say Matthew, John, James, Andrew, Peter, Nathaniel, Phillip, Simon, Thomas, Augustine, Luther and Calvin.
4. You used to be a Baptist.
5. You started drinking (“in moderation” of course) after you left the Baptist church and became a Presbyterian.
6. Your children’s names all begin with “covenant.”  In other words, normal people have babies, boys, girls, kids, and/or children.  Presbyterians, on the other hand have “covenant” children.  Instead of introducing your kids as Billy, Bobby and Suzy, it would be more proper to introduce them as Covenant-Bill, Covenant-Bob, and Covenant-Sue.
7. When the spirit comes upon you in power, you don’t raise your hands and shout Hallelujah, rather you scratch your chin, turn to your neighbor and whisper “hmmm… that was a good point.”
8. You think fencing has something to do with the Lord’s Supper instead of swords.
9.  You’ve considered church discipline for people who watch the NFL on Sunday afternoon.
10.  When someone asks you a question about the Bible, you answer, “Well, the confession says…” or “the catechism says…”
11.  Charles Spurgeon is just a little too Arminian for your blood.
12.  They aren’t “Catholics,” or even “Roman Catholics.”  They’re “Romanists,” or “Papists.”
13.  You secretly suspect that John Calvin was a liberal because of his compromise on the Sabbath issue.
14. You know the meaning of most or all of the following – PCA, PCUS, PCUSA, PC(USA), PC(U.S.A.), PCUSA(NS), PCUSA(OS), RPCES, RPCNA-GS, RPCNA, EPC, OPC, ARP, NAPARC, CRC, RCA, BPC, BPC-Collingswood, BPC-Columbus, CPC, TE, RE, WCF, WLC, WSC, BCO, UPC, UPCNA, UPCUSA, NPC,
15. You know, or think you know, the difference between “Calvinist” and “Reformed.”
16. You think the phrase “chosen frozen” is a compliment.

You might be a TR (Totally Reformed) if…

1. You first quote the Westminster Confession and then say, “Oh yeah, the Bible says this somewhere, too.”
2. You refuse to vote for Jesus as Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” because you don’t want an image of Christ on the front cover.
3. You secretly believe that you have to believe in election to be saved.
4. You think Puritans are really, really, really, REALLY cool.
5. While not being a theonomist, you completely understand them.
6. While officially affirming the “priesthood of all believers,” the only people you really trust to interpret Scripture are Calvin and yourself, and you only trust yourself on Thursdays before noon.
7. For you, a Baptist and stupid are the same word.
8. A “Reformed Baptist” and a “square circle” are equally as difficult for you to imagine.
9. You wonder what the Holy Spirit was up to between the times of Paul and Calvin.
10. You think women belong in the home and not in any pulpit, much less a staff position in large churches.
11. At some point in your life, you honestly believed that the only people who are saved are you and your buddy who thinks just like you, and then you kind of have to wonder about him because he DOES think just like you.
12. You think any church that has more than 200 people is probably apostate.
13. You are personally repulsed by Campus Crusade for Christ.
14. It is harder for you to keep the Sabbath than it is to fill out your taxes.
15. You keep telling yourself that Willow Creek has to be a really bad dream.
16. You’ve considered stoning someone.
17. You’ve seriously thought about lighting up a cigarette in church.
18. You think “that Pope as the Antichrist thing” should never have been taken out of the Confession.
19. Saying a blessing before the first round of drinks doesn’t seem strange to you at all.
20. Your favorite Bible is your “Authorized Bahnsen Version.”
21. You’re convinced that everyone in your Presbytery is secretly a 33rd degree Mason.
22. You know that the Apocrypha doesn’t belong in the canon, but you wonder sometimes whether we should add Van Til’s, “The Defense of the Faith.”
23. You pray daily for God to release His judgment on para-church ministries.
24. You think no true evangelism has been done without at least 3 lengthy quotes from the Confession.
25. You can’t figure out why God didn’t take Van Til like He did Enoch.
26. For you, tobacco is its own major food group.
27. You like Sproul Jr. a whole lot better than his father.
28. You think John Gerstner was an Arminian who knows better now.
29. You think the “Concerned Presbyterians” are way too moderate.
30. The only reason you haven’t condemned Covenant Seminary is because you went there and you don’t want to invalidate your entire theological training.
31. You have no idea what personality type you are, which explains why you are a TR.

You might be a BR (Barely Reformed) if…

1. You changed the name of your church from “Knox Reformed Presbyterian” to “Grace Community Fellowship.”
2. You’ve ever seriously considered going to Pensacola or Toronto to bring back the fire.
3. You think what the church needs is another revival, not another reformation.
4. You’ve ever done an “infant dedication” service.
5. You own more than one book by C. Peter Wagner, David Wilkerson, James Dobson, or Gary Smalley
6. You don’t own anything by Charles Hodge, Archibald Alexander, or B.B. Warfield.
7. You think it’s a good thing that many of your members don’t know the church is Presbyterian.
8. The words “relevant, contemporary, and cutting edge” cause you to salivate excessively.
9. You don’t trust anyone who doesn’t have exceptions to the Confession.
10. You consider it to be in bad taste to ask theological questions of a candidate on the floor of Presbytery.
11. You’ve ever cut a service short because of “Super Bowl Sunday.”
12. You constantly use the word “just” while praying (i.e. We “just” really want to thank you).
13. You switched to using overheads so people would have their hands free to “just really worship God.”
14. You believe the greatest work on Apologetics ever written was “More than a Carpenter.”
15. You wish there was some way of incorporating an altar call into your service.
16. You have a “worship team.”
17. You believe that Republican and Christian are synonyms.
18. The most common logo on your casual clothing is “PK.”
19. You nod your head when someone says, “Doctrine divides.”
20. You could sell your copy of the Confession in “like new” condition.
21. You think that the PCUSA went Liberal because people just really stopped loving Jesus.

Various Levels of Reformedness
(not in order according to degree)
 
AR – Almost Reformed (has only heard of R. C. Sproul)
BR – Barely Reformed (has heard of R. C. Sproul and thought about buying some of his tapes)
CR – Critically Reformed (more negative than John MacArthur on the Charasmatic movement)
DR – Doubtfully Reformed (only attends this church for the music)   
ER – Errantly Reformed (a Four Point Calvinist)  
FR – Fantastically Reformed (owns a set of Calvin’s Commentaries) 
GR – Grossly Reformed (the kid you would want your daughter to date but not marry)  
HR – Hopefully Reformed (the kid you would want your daughter to marry for his money but you would keep his name on your prayer list)  
IR – Incredibly Reformed (even the Session doesn’t believe half of what this guy believes)  
LR – Loudly Reformed (maybe right, maybe wrong, but never in doubt)  
MR – Mostly Reformed (watches football on Sunday afternoons with the family and reviews the Shorter Catechism during halftime)  
NR – Newly Reformed (has recently begun attending a Reformed church and has had to buy a new bookshelf for all the additional reading material)  
PR – Possibly Reformed (spoke up once at Bible Church and told to try the PCA)  
SR – Staunchly Reformed (can quote limited sections of the Shorter Catechism and the Confession of Faith)  
TR – Truly Reformed (has memorized the entire Shorter Catechism and can quote the Confession of Faith by chapter and section) 

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You Might be a Gen X Catholic If…

Compiled by the “Gen X” Catholics on the  Caelum et Terra mailing list

…One of your earliest memories of Mass involves watching four teenage girls with long, straight hair strumming guitars.

…There were more felt banners bearing hippy slogans in your parish church than statues.

…You never understood why the pastor kept rearranging everything and removing things from the church all the time: statues, confessionals, kneelers, etc..

…You wondered why some of the old ladies put doilies on their heads in church. What was that all about?

…You think an historic church is one with kneelers.

…You’ve been to at least one Mass where the folk group sang the song “Fire and Rain”.

…When someone says they miss all the old Catholic hymns, you wistfully reply “Yeah, ‘All I Ask of You’ was so beautiful.”.

…You first learned how to sing “Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above” from the movie Sister Act (c’mon, admit it!).

…Friday was “hamburger night” at your house.

…You were a girl altar server in the 70′s or 80′s, and didn’t realize that you were breaking the rules.

…Growing up, you only knew of one family that used NFP…and they were Presbyterians.

…In all your years of Catholic school, you never had a nun for a teacher.

…Ruler? What on earth are you talking about?

…You heard older people talking about a “Baltimore Catechism”, but you never actually saw one.

…You remember learning the song “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” in Sunday School.

…Seven Cardinal what???

…Your Grade 9 religion class included learning the Our Father and the Hail Mary, because most of the kids in class didn’t know those two prayers.

…Your overall religious instruction left you with impression the only mortal sin was first degree murder: everything else is venial and therefore irrelevant.

…When asked to explain the story of our redemption, you instinctively start looking for a feltboard.

…You think the tabernacle has always been off to the side or in a separate room.

…You’ve heard the words “Benediction” and “Vespers” but aren’t really sure what they mean.

…You wonder why some people receive communion on the tongue.

…You never learned how to receive communion on the tongue.

…You received First Holy Communion before First Penance.

…You don’t understand all the fuss used to be about fasting before communion: after all, an hour isn’t all that long!

…You’ve never been in one of those old confessionals with the grill.

…You think Extreme Unction is a new professional wrestling show on TV.

…the only priests you’ve ever met who are your age are all from Third World countries.

…If a non-Catholic says, “I wish I’d been exposed to the rich, fascinating cultural and spiritual heritage of Catholicism”, you think, “Yeah, so do I.”

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I have made fun of Lutherans for years – who wouldn’t, if you lived in Minnesota ? But I have also sung with Lutherans and that is one of the main joys of life, along with hot baths and fresh sweet corn. We make fun of Lutherans for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like them.If you ask an audience in New York City, a relatively Lutheran less place, to sing along on the chorus of ‘Michael Row the Boat Ashore’, they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their underwear. But if you do this among Lutherans they’ll smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! And down the road! Lutherans are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony. (maybe thats why I just can’t get it ~ but I make a joyful noise! ~M) It’s a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head against that person’s rib cage. It’s natural for Lutherans to sing in harmony. We’re too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison.When you’re singing in the key of C and you slide into the A7th and D7th chords, all two hundred of you, it’s an emotionally fulfilling moment.I once sang the bass line of Children of the Heavenly Father in a room with about three thousand Lutherans in it; and when we finished, we all had tears in our eyes, partly from the promise that God will not forsake us, partly from the proximity of all those lovely voices. By our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each other.I do believe this: These Lutherans are the sort of people you could call up when you’re in deep distress. If you’re dying, they’ll comfort you. If you’re lonely, they’ll talk to you. And if you’re hungry, they’ll give you tuna salad!The following list was compiled by a 20th century Lutheran who, observing other Lutherans, wrote down exactly what he saw or heard:

1. Lutherans believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray out loud
2. Lutherans like to sing, except when confronted with a new hymn or a hymn with more than four stanzas.
3. Lutherans believe their pastors will visit them in the hospital, even if they don’t notify them that they are there..
4. Lutherans usually follow the official liturgy and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins.
5. Lutherans believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing theplate.
6. Lutherans feel that applauding for their children’s choirs would make the kids too proud and conceited.
7. Lutherans think that the Bible forbids them from crossing the aisle while passing the peace.
8. Lutherans drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament.
9. Some Lutherans still believe that an ELCA bride and an LCMS groom make for a mixed marriage.
10. Lutherans feel guilty for not staying to clean up after their own wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.
11. Lutherans are willing to pay up to one dollar for a meal at church.
12. Lutherans think that Garrison Keillor stories are totally factual.
13. Lutherans still serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color of the season and think that peas in a tuna noodle casserole add too much color.
14. Lutherans believe that it is OK to poke fun at themselves and never take themselves too seriously.
15. And finally, you know you’re a Lutheran when:

*It’s 100 degrees, with 90% humidity, and you still have coffee after the service.
*You hear something really funny during the sermon and smile as loudly as you can;
*Donuts are a line item in the church budget, just like coffee;
*The communion cabinet is open to all, but the coffee cabinet is locked up tight;
*When you watch a ‘Star Wars’ movie and they say, ‘May the Force be with you’,
you respond, ‘and also with you’;
*And lastly, it takes 15 minutes to say, ‘Good-bye’.

May you wake each day with His blessings, Sleep each night in His keeping, And always walk in His tender care.

Note: ELCA = Evangelical Lutheran Church of America LCMS = Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod

 

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