EPIC - that's what the Session of the church is learning about right now - what it means to be EPIC.
EPIC is an acrostic which professor Leonard Sweet has coined in his book: The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion (Water Brook publishing, 2007). Don't worry that you don't drink coffee, or have never had coffee at a Starbucks (Carbondale actually has three of them right here in town - do you know where they are?). Don't worry, because while Sweet is "in your face" about his own love for coffee (and caffeine), the book is about our experience of coffee (or, I would suggest maybe tea, wine, or even beer). What Sweet offers in his book is a glimpse into what sort of difference we people of faith might make in the world if we lived EPIC lives . . . and he thinks coffee has something to do with the experience.
And indeed "experience" is the first letter in the acrostic. Our life of faith is experiential. We are intended to experience faith - not just sit and listen to someone (the preacher or teacher) talk about faith. Jesus said, "Come and see," when people came asking questions.
The second letter is for participatory. To have a participatory faith means that we know enough about this life of faith to talk about it - with one another and with (oh my) others outside the church. We learn the lingo - the secret words and their meanings and we actually use them. (They really aren't secret words, more like words which have fallen out of use, and need to be taught to "normal" folks outside of the church - maybe to some inside the church, as well.)
The "I" is for Image Driven or Image Rich. The church of the twenty-first century is image rich. We recognize that God speaks in much more than words. The church has understood this for years. . .stained glass, colored paraments and tablecloths, stoles, bread, water, candles . . . all images which speak to the Divine, or which allow the Divine to speak to us. Hopefully within a few weeks a new image will hang in our Fellowship Hall, as the beautifully thought-out and crafted wall hanging which highlights our Vision Statement (Seeking the Faith, Sharing the Spirit, Serving God's People) becomes for us all an image which speaks of our faith, God's Spirit in our midst and our mission in the world.
C. The "c" is for connectional. The church, of all places, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) in particular, is a connectional body. We, as a church, are not in this faith sharing business alone, but more importantly, we, as individuals members of the church, are not in this faith sharing business alone. We best serve God when we join with other people. We best serve God when we raise our voices together in prayer and praise - in words and song. We best serve God when we join our resources together to meet needs - monetarily and physically. We are connected in faith, and we are called to connect others to faith and to ourselves.
A small word, but packed with so much meaning! This month, as we consider our thankfulness, our stewardship of all our resources, and how God is calling us to respond, I invite you to think about the EPIC journey of faith which we find ourselves on. Is it truly EPIC? Is it EPIC wanna-be? What will make our church an EPIC church? Great questions - let's have some conversations. Anyone for some coffee??