Here’s a list of the fifty most popular names for Episcopal Churches; in ascending order of popularity, from the fiftieth to the first most popular. Listed by rank, Parish name and number of parishes using the name. Here we go…

50. Christ the King 31, 49. St. Elizabeth 31, 48. St. Joseph 32, 47. St. Margaret 33, 46. Matthias 35, 45. Transfiguration 40, 44. St. Bartholomew 41, 43. Advent 42, 42. St. Anne 43, 41. Our Saviour 45, 40. Resurrection 48, 39. All Angels 50, 38. Nativity 54, 37. St. Augustine 55, 36. Holy Spirit 60, 35. St. Ann 63, 34. St. Christopher 64, 33. St. Timothy 66, 32. St. David 66, 31. Memorial 66, 30. St. Martin 68, 29. Redeemer 70, 28. Cross 71, 27. Calvary 75, 26. St. Barnabas 77, 25. St. Philip 85, 24. Emmanuel 89, 23. Epiphany 91, 22. Ascension 91, 21. St. Alban 92, 20. St. Francis 95, 19. St. George 101, 18. St. Matthew 123, 17. St. Michael 128, 16. Chapel 146, 15. St. Thomas 149, 14. Good Shepherd 170, 13. St. Stephen 173, 12. St. Mary 206, 11. St. Peter 210, 10. All Saints 237, 9. St. Mark 244, 8. St. Luke 261, 7. St. James 276, 6. Grace 281, 5. St. Andrew 311, 4. St. Paul 488, 3. Trinity 520, 2. St. John 524; and the most popular name for an Episcopal Church… 1. Christ, with 527 parishes.

“But what about St. Martha's?” You ask. We're 85th on the list, with eight parishes. The least popular..? “Asaph,” with two parishes (heck, even St. Cuthbert has five parishes named for him).

This Thursday is Ascension Day. Signaling that Eastertide is coming to a close as we prepare for Pentecost next Sunday, Ascension Day commemorates the bodily Ascension of Christ into Heaven as witnessed by the Apostles forty days after his resurrection from the dead. It is narrated in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Although the place of the Ascension is not distinctly stated, tradition holds that it was at Mount Olivet.

Always the Thursday between the Sixth and Seventh (final) Sunday of Easter; in some churches Ascension Day is commemorated on the subsequent Sunday.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church the Ascension is one of twelve Great Feasts and in Norway, Sweden, Germany and other countries, it’s a public holiday.

Like many events in Christianity, Ascension Day has it’s share of superstitions surrounding it. Here are but a few… According to Welsh traditions, it is unlucky to do any work on Ascension Day. An ancient belief held that the clouds always formed into the familiar Christian image of a lamb on Ascension Day. If the weather is sunny, the summer will be long and hot; but if it rains, crops will do badly and livestock will suffer. Eggs laid on this day will never go bad and will guarantee good luck for a household if placed in the roof (they’d better not go bad in that case). Rain collected on Ascension Day is said to be good for inflamed or diseased eyes. Those suffering from goiters should bite into the bark of a peach tree at midnight on Ascension Day.

Episcopalian government in our, well, Episcopal Church is ruled by a hierarchy of bishops (episcopoi is Greek for "bishop" and literally means "overseer"). You'll find the word "episkpos" or bishop in the New Testament five times: Acts of the Apostles 20:28, Epistle to the Philippians 1:1, First Epistle to Timothy 3:2, Epistle to Titus 1:7, First Epistle of Peter 2:25.

The episcopalian (regulated by bishops) style of government has been adopted by the majority of Christian denominations and for most of the history of Christianity it has been the only form of church governance known. Now, there are differences in governmental principles among episcopalian governed churches and the roles bishops play.

In our Anglican Communion, bishops are primus inter pares "heads among equals"; priests who have been elected to oversee ecclesiastical and polity aspects of church governance. While it's always a wonderful and special Sunday when the bishop visits a parish, it's also good to keep in mind that parish visits are part their job description.

In other words, you have to have some folk to run things (settle disputes, sign the checks, provide a system for balances, etc). Though bishops perform special ecclesiastical tasks (ordination, confirmation, etc.), they're no more "priestly" than any other priest.

Ah, but here's the rub: There are very important historical and biblically based reasons why we have bishops... Here are but the very basics: Jurisdictional oversight of the Church is not a power that derives from human ambition, but strictly from the authority of Christ which was given to his twelve apostles. From this one authority, all legitimate, governmental representation of the authority of Christ on the earth is committed, by the Holy Spirit; from the Apostles to the bishops, and from bishops to priests, and in our Anglican Communion, in a continuous historical succession from Christ himself.

So, you see it's not all mitres and copes and staffs. Sure, there's pomp, but there's also weighty and historical circumstance. Episcopalian bishops take on what can an overwhelming position in our church. Give 'em a handshake and wish 'em well next time you meet with one.

In the 5th century, Germanic peoples from southern Jutland migrated to England and founded the kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia. They were called the Angles (from the Latin "Angli," basically "of Germany"). Together with the Saxons, they forged Anglo-Saxon England. In Celtic, "Angles" became "Englis" and anything to do with those troublesome Englis was simply known in Medieval Latin as "Anglicanus." So, the Church in England was known as the Ecclesia Anglicanus, "the Church in England" or Anglican Church.

Today, we use the term "Anglican" to characterize the body of Churches originating from and having roots in the Church of England (such as the Protestant Episcopal Church) and in communion with the See of Canterbury; the world-wide Anglican Communion.