Why people go to church

The Rev David Meara, rector of St. Bride’s in London, writes in the Telegraph of the capacity crowds at Christmas time:

People come to church because they want a story to connect with, a guiding narrative that helps them make sense of human existence, and because they have found that unthinking multiculturalism and rampant secularism don’t satisfy and don’t work.

But if these spiritual needs are to be properly nurtured, then Anglicanism needs to rediscover its quiet, understated confidence in the balance between Scripture, reason and tradition, and to assert this in the face of an increasingly intolerant fundamentalism.

One feature that drew me into the Church of England was its generous tolerance of diverse opinions held together by the beauty of Cranmer’s liturgy.

“Thou hast set my feet, O Lord, in a large room,” says the psalmist, and I give thanks for the large room that is the Church of England, in which those who seek meaning and purpose can be welcomed, whatever stage of belief or unbelief they have reached. . . .

We rejoice in the Anglican via media, a church which is both catholic and reformed, with a robust outlook that puts dialogue before dogma and practical involvement in the community before theological posturing.

(Hat tip: TItusOneNine)