The other day we had the student organization showcase at Tech, so VTAU ("Anglicans United at VA Tech) was there in all her glory! To prepare for the event, people from the church baked and bought gobs of cookies and purchased several cases of bottled water. We got our big tri-fold sign out of storage and I updated it, replacing some bad verbiage with some better stuff. We printed up tons of Holy Cross tracts on various subjects, and printed a flashy new brochure about the parish. All in all it was a great event. We got to talk to lots of people about the Church, our student ministry, and the parish.
Every student group on campus was represented. They seemed to place most of the Christian groups in the same area. To our right was some Baptist group, to the left were Adventists and more Baptists. Then there was some group called Alpha Chi; Campus Crusade, InterVarsity, and more. The Episcopalians were there too, and I guess the Roman Catholics were somewhere, though I didn't see them.
Towards the end I got into discussion with a nice young man about baptism and the Church. He was newly baptized, and part of a group called the International Christian Church, or something like that. He asked why we baptize infants, and that lead to all sorts of other questions about basic fundamental theology, such as how we are to read and interpret the scriptures (with the Church), what sacraments are and do, why we have the liturgy, and so on. It was a good conversation, and hopefully it expanded his mind a bit. It helped me see that when discussing that doctrine, to explain myself better, it is probably best to first establish what baptism means and does, and then go on to discuss who then qualifies to be baptized and at what age. If we believe that it is a free gift of God's grace, and the means by which He grafts us into the Body of Christ, and unites with Christ in His death and resurrection, then it is much easier to see why we believe in "baptismal regeneration". Anyway, so I gave him a Holy Cross tract on the Church and sent him on his way after a bit.
But there was something more important going on while we were discussing baptism. What did I use to explain the teaching of the Church? I went to the BCP and explained the sacrament from there, using the rite itself and scriptures that are read during a baptism. When other questions came up about related doctrines we looked at the rite for confirmation. And we ended up looking at Psalter, the Order for Holy Communion, the Ordinal, etc. In short, we ended up doing a tour of Catholic theology through the BCP. That was all I needed! And that is what Anglicanism is about: lex orandi, lex credendi. You know, I have to feel sorry for "Anglicans" who are not wed to their Prayer Books. They can sit through a thousand High Masses and know absolutely nothing about the Catholic faith, all because they do not know the Prayer Book. If we know or Prayer Books we know the Bible and the Catholic faith. The reverse is also true. Anyway... I think VTAU is going to be doing an in depth study of the Book of Common Prayer this fall!
There were a few other interesting things too:
1) In our immediate area, even with two Baptist groups, we were the only one that had a King James Bible prominently displayed... in fact, I didn't even see any of the others with Bibles at all! I made sure to bring several BCPs and a Bible to the table, because that is what we are about.
2) These evangelical mega-"churches" refer to themselves as "inter-denominational" now... not "non-denominational".
3) These same groups have a new "game show evangelism" strategy. One was doing a thing where if you came to their meeting that night you had a chance to win an I-Pod. Another, run by a church in town, offers you $10 for visiting their church on Sunday and filling out a comment card! (I kid you not... I have a copy of the flyer.)
4) I noticed another disturbing trend with some people from these evangelical campus, inter/para/non-denominational groups: several folk that I spoke with questioned the doctrine of Original Sin! Yikes. What have we come to? See what happens when people stop reading the Bible and the Fathers and give away I-Pods and listen to U2 instead?
5) I had my picture taken with the Hokie Bird.... I'll post it soon.
