While birthed by the BGAV, All Souls holds much in common with the Anglican tradition. Most people assume we are connected to the Anglican Communion. Liturgically, we follow the general flow of the Book of Common Prayer, though our liturgy is contextualized for our community and offers a good bit of creativity. On any given Sunday, you might hear us sing a 5th century hymn or a gospel rendition or
a bit of bluegrass or a song familiar to our church’s partners in Kenya. You’ll often hear original music emerging from our community, particularly pieces written by our Pastor of Arts and Community Formation, Brendan. We’re a contemplative church, seeking a listening and discerning posture. We are comfortable with silence, with questions. We assume that what we most need is for God to speak to us, and we assume that this path, following the God Who Speaks, will be a lifelong endeavor. We invite people to practice Sabbath and friendship and prayer and generosity and service to our neighbor, all fruits that are born as we hear from the Living Jesus in the Scriptures and as we find our hearts and affections transformed by God’s healing love. Amid cultures obsessed with image and expertise and efficiency, we long for the simple, quiet way. By God’s Spirit, we hope to defame the idols of accomplishment and reputation, of accumulation. We ask God to renew us, to make us people of New Creation. We hope to be a people who receive and extend God’s hospitality, restoration and shalom. But don’t take this to mean we’re grey and somber. We laugh a lot. We don’t take ourselves too seriously (the running joke is that sometimes All Souls is a three- legged dog). Sundays are holy and reverent, but they’re also playful, imaginative. Some folks write litanies. We regularly have a space for “Beauty, Truth and Goodness” where folks share something they’ve created—or something they’ve encountered—that has touched their soul. We have parties. We have impromptu afternoons at a local Vineyard. Potlucks are a hit. And hot donuts on Easter. You could sum it up this way: All Souls is vibrant community that knows the way of both laughter and tears. We are compelled by the vision of the Church as Jesus’ new community, created to be, by the Spirit, Jesus’ presence in the world. We believe that following Jesus means we will never fit neatly into the binary categories often assumed (left/ right, progressive/conservative, activist/disengaged). We seek to learn and walk the Jesus Way. Jesus creates new possibilities, and we long to be part of Jesus’ generous, upending, creative work.
