St. Margaret’s Church, whose clapboard sanctuary building stands proudly on Broadneck Peninsula just north of Annapolis, Md., is one of the oldest continuously operating congregations in America. The church was founded in 1692, nearly 50 years before Thomas Jefferson’s parents began courting!
The congregation has worshipped in five church buildings over the years. The founding Anglican settlers shared the Puritans’ Old Meeting House on the banks of the Magothy River, traveling to worship by boat when the few rutted roads became impassable. The second building, and the first St. Margaret’s could call its own, was built between 1731-34 on the banks of the Severn River. Broadneck Peninsula is bounded on the north by the Magothy, on the south by the Severn, and its tip juts into the Chesapeake Bay.
That building burned in 1803, and it wasn’t until May 1827 that a new frame church was erected on the land occupied by St. Margaret’s today – land nearer the center of the peninsula. Only 24 years passed before that building, too, was razed by fire. The congregation again rebuilt, on the same site, but this time they used brick! Even that wasn’t enough. The building was damaged by yet another severe fire in 1892, and was rebuilt as a white, clapboard structure on the foundation of the previous building.
That building served St. Margaret’s well until the last half of the 20th Century, when the structure had to be renovated and somewhat expanded. Today St. Margaret’s occupies a 10-acre campus that includes the addition of an education wing to the sanctuary structure, a separate Parish Hall and a separate administration building.
But the history of a church is not the history of its buildings. St. Margaret’s has swelled from serving a circle of hardy settlers to nearly 1,000 thoroughly modern souls. Suburban tracts surround the church instead of tobacco farms, and cars fill its parking lots without a boat in sight. While proud of its history, St. Margaret’s strives to live the Gospel today.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
During the Reformation in the 16th century, Henry VIII declared the Church of England independent of the Roman Catholic Church with himself as its head. It was the result of many factors, some political and some theological, but it has given rise to a distinct form of Christianity, known as Anglicanism.
The Episcopal Church is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the churches around the world that trace their roots to the Church of England, and maintain a “communion” with it, hence the name “Anglican.” Other members of the Communion include the Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Nigeria. In fact, most Anglicans now live in Africa.
The member churches of the Anglican Communion are joined together by choice in love, and have no direct authority over one another. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the Church of England, is acknowledged as the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, but while respected, the Archbishop does not have direct authority over any Anglican Church outside of England.
While there are other churches that call themselves “Anglican,” only one church in any country can be considered “in full communion” with the Church of England, and the Episcopal Church is the American member of the Communion. The Episcopal Church is made up of between two and three million worshipers in about 7500 congregations across the United States and related dioceses outside the U.S.
The Episcopal Church, having its roots in the Church of England, is also an Anglican Church. Like all Anglican churches, the Episcopal Church is distinguished by the following characteristics:
Protestant, Yet Catholic
Anglicanism stands squarely in the Reformed tradition, yet considers itself just as directly descended from the Early Church as the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches. Episcopalians celebrate the “Mass” in ways similar to the Roman Catholic tradition, yet do not recognize a single authority, such as the Pope of Rome.
Worship in one’s first language
Episcopalians believe that Christians should be able to worship God and read the Bible in their first language, which for most Episcopalians, is English, rather than Latin or Greek, the two earlier, “official” languages of Christianity. Yet the Book of Common Prayer has been translated into many languages, so that those Episcopalians who do not speak English can still worship God in their native tongue.
The Book of Common Prayer
Unique to Anglicanism, though, is the Book of Common Prayer, the collection of worship services that all worshipers in an Anglican church follow. It’s called “common prayer” because we all pray it together, around the world. The first Book of Common Prayer was compiled in English by Thomas Cranmer in the 16th century, and since then has undergone many revisions for different times and places. But its original purpose has remained the same-- to provide in one place the core of the instructions and rites for Anglican Christians to worship together.
The present prayer book in the Episcopal Church was published in 1979. Many other worship resources and prayers exist to enrich our worship, but the Book of Common Prayer is the authority that governs our worship. The prayer book explains Christianity, describes the main beliefs of the Church, outlines the requirements for the sacraments, and in general serves as the main guidelines of the Episcopal life.
Scripture, Tradition, and Reason
The Anglican approach to reading and interpreting the Bible was first articulated by Richard Hooker, also in the 16th Century. While Christians universally acknowledge the Bible (or the Holy Scriptures) as the Word of God and completely sufficient to our reconciliation to God, what the Bible says must always speak to us in our own time and place.
The Church, as a worshiping body of faithful people, has for two thousand years amassed experience of God and of loving Jesus, and what they have said to us through the centuries about the Bible is critical to our understanding it in our own context. The traditions of the Church in interpreting Scripture connect all generations of believers together and give us a starting point for our own understanding.
Episcopalians believe that every Christian must build an understanding and relationship with God’s Word in the Bible, and to do that, God has given us intelligence and our own experience, which we refer to as “Reason.” Based on the text of the Bible itself, and what Christians have taught us about it through the ages, we then must sort out our own understanding of it as it relates to our own lives.
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WHO WAS ST. MARGARET?
St. Margaret of Antioch — Virgin Martyr
Margaret of Antioch was a Christian virgin whose tortures and martyrdom became famous in early books of Acts. According to her legend, she was noticed by the local prefect who wanted to marry her, but she spurned him. He turned her in to the Roman authorities to be persecuted. In prison she was swallowed by Satan in the form of a dragon, but the cross she was carrying irritated his throat, and he spit her out unharmed.Part of her very popular cult was the promise that if you spread her fame, you would receive a perpetual crown in heaven. She prayed at her death that women in childbirth would, upon calling on her, be safely delivered of the child as she had been delivered from the belly of the dragon. She is also known as the patron saint of women, nurses, and peasants. She became one of the most popular saints in England in the 9th century when the first of many Lives was written about her in English; over two hundred early churches were dedicated to her there, even though her legend had been declared apocryphal by the Pope as early as 494.
She was one of the saints who spoke to St. Joan of Arc, and she is included in a group of saints known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers, who are venerated for their special ability to intercede for people.
St. Margaret’s feast day is July 20 in the west and July 13 in the east.
