Holy Trinity

We found a church. It took a while, but it didn't take much looking.

Something like 85 percent of the Philippines is Roman Catholic. There are Catholic churches everywhere you look. Within a five minute drive of our house, there are at least two. We've even been to one of them, before we got settled in enough to start looking for a Lutheran or Episcopal church. If you're not interested in a brief discussion of my religious background, you'll probably want to skip the next paragraph, and possibly the rest of this post.

I'm a Lutheran. Shelly is a non-denominational protestant. Her parents go to an Episcopal church, mine go to a Lutheran church. She was raised Presbyterian, I was raised Methodist, and joined the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in college. We were married in an Episcopal Church. In South Carolina, we went to an Episcopal church, in Maryland we go to a Lutheran church. Some Lutheran Churches (though not the LCMS) and Episcopal Churches are "in communion with" each other, which allows the churches to share clergy, fully recognize each other's members, ministries and sacraments. (Which branch of Lutheranism you subscribe to is a big deal to some Lutherans. For me, not being raised as a Lutheran, I've been comfortable floating between the LCMS, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the Episcopal Church, as all three have very similar services. The differences come in the doctrine, something I was unaware of until I joined the Lutheran Church of Guam, which is a joint ministry of the ELCA and LCMS. Here's an explanation of the differences between LCMS and ELCA, from the LCMS point of view, if you're interested.)

Anyway, enough of the backstory. It may be helpful if you're interested in how we ended up where we did.

On Sunday, we filled out the new member paperwork at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Makati, a 30-minute drive from home on Sunday morning. We couldn't find any good Lutheran options, but we agreed that we wanted that same Episcopal/Lutheran liturgical service. The vicar has held posts around the world, and the congregation is very multi-cultural. I think we'll be very at home there; it's nice to have a church home in time for Advent.