St. Francis & Clare Charismatic Episcopal Church: Part One

Today it was my pleasure to visit with Father John Prenger about the St. Francis & Clare Charismatic Episcopal Church as we drove to the outskirts of Columbia, about four miles outside of the city limits, to this historic location known as the Hatton Chapel.

During that ride John, a neighbor and dear friend, took the time to explain not only his own story but the story of theInternational Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church which is the domination he is now affiliated with. His story and the story of his denomination are very much intertwined. For more about the denomination I urge the reader to visit their website. However, the unique characteristic of this fellowship requires an explanation. This group describes itself as charismatic, evangelical, and sacramental. Instead of using the term sacramental John favors the term liturgical.

Most readers will understand charismatic and evangelical but sacramental and liturgical bears more explanation. In those two aspects the church is more like the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches or perhaps even the Anglican tradition. The term liturgical is from the Greek leitourgia which means public work. In a Christian sense this translates into the public work of the priest, rather formal and stylized, in performing the Eucharist where the transformation of the wine and bread is not viewed as symbolic but real.

Inside a delightful blend of East and West:

John explains his denomination as a "unique blend of East and West," and that is delightfully apparent when you enter a warm and vivid sanctuary filled with icons that is more emblematic of a church in the Holy Land than one in the countryside of Mid-Missouri. The inside is very much in contrast to the outside appearance of a very rustic, weathered, and charmingly ramshackle, exterior. The atmosphere inside is delightful exotic and decidedly Eastern.