Are we an ethnic enclave? I hardly think so; our community is quite diverse. Do we use a foreign language for a portion of our services? Yes, a small portion, because some members of our community understand that language much better than they do English. Many larger churches of all stripes have foreign-language services for the same reason. Do we eat beets? Yes, we have a great variety of food — including hamburgers : ).

It is not a matter of bringing as many people in the door as possible, because membership in the Orthodox Church does not guarantee salvation. The early church in fact made it quite difficult to join, so that those who did join would be ready to “fight the good fight” and save their souls and those of others. It is a matter of being transformed in the inner man, and this is something that cannot be captured by a snappy slogan. It is a life-long process which most of us have only just begun. And living it ourselves — and the Liturgical life of the Church is one of the vital tools passed down to us for this purpose — is necessary in order to bring it to others. Otherwise, we run the risk of simply making others two-fold more children of hell than ourselves.

In Christ,
Dn. Nicholas

How on earth do strangers on the Internet have any idea what individual Christians are doing or not doing for the poor and to help reach their suffering and lost neighbors? (And after reading these posts, I’m also wondering how people know why other people dress the way they do.)

I couldn’t agree with you more that we need to be Christ in the world, offering light, help and hope to everyone He puts in our Path. But ‘Charity begins at home’: “…let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”–Galatians 6:9-10.

We can’t possibly give love to the lost and poor if we don’t have it in ourselves or demonstrate it to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Demonstrating love starts by simply being kind, giving our brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt and not judging or condemning them. (That’s why I quit looking at other Christian blogs/forums–too little kindness there.)

So I have to strive to pray unceasingly, forgive (and to ask people to “please forgive me”). I have to confess my sins and commune and struggle in order to become a person who actually has the Love of Christ (as well as ‘a cup of water’ and whatever else my neighbor needs) to give.

There’s a whole lot more I’d like to say about issues raised here and the tone of some of these comments made about fellow brothers and sisters in Christ but I am going to stop here, with this post. If I don’t then I will start to stray into judging and condemning and returning to the old forum debate habits which I left behind for good reason. Please forgive me (for your sake and mine) if I have already done any of that.

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Peace,

Deborah

The problem is that we have people and priests and bishops in Orthodoxy that are quite happy being part of their little ethnocentric groups to somehow preserve what they once had in the battle torn, economically depressed old countries from which they come. Some converts to Orthodoxy, which by the way is the truth, despite all of this “orthodox book learning” that we love to throw around because we have read a few books from the desert fathers, are that “freak factor”. They want to go to a rennaisance festival every Sunday and want to appear different during the week to their peers to somehow connect with this ethnicity because they are so insecure in there own American heritage. These are those individuals that will scold you for not crossing yourself the right way, or insist that some of the service be in some foreign language, or insist that prostrations are more right than genuflecting. Sadly there are priests and bishops that feel this way too.

There are those converts to Orthodoxy that truly appreciate, after searching through the vast array of “Christian Denominations”, the truth in Orthodoxy. They love the wholeness of the faith and can look beyond the ethnicity and affected behavior of the people and priests and bishops to see that there is a need for this truth in America. We should be waging war with the secularism of this country instead of hunckering down in our bunkers waiting for the second coming. By doing so we allow those people who are in need to fall into cults, like the LDS, because they show them love and kindness and genuine care.

Lets stop all of this silly “please forgive me” talk and go out and do something for Jesus. This only proves that we are worried only about ourselves and don’t have the guts to get out and share Jesus with those who are searching. If we are living for Christ and fighting His battle there will be little to forgive.

If our children go off to college and there is no Orthodox Church in town, where will they go? We are raising sheltered children who are afraid to stand up and say we are American Orthodox Christians. There are few options for our children in Orthodoxy, aside from a summer camp. What do they do on Friday and Saturday nights? Before you answer, remember when you were a pre-teen and teen or college student or young single adult. Orthodoxy is “real” and we need to be “real”. It has to be pertinent in the world in which we live, not of this world but in this world. Jesus Christ is alive and well 2010. The evil one is too. We need to be fighting to save souls not just preserve our own.

Big-O

But I do have my own prejudices that I struggle against and I have judged people both inside and outside of the Orthodox Church. So I can’t and won’t condemn you at all for your feelings. It is a struggle to be Orthodox–even without the challenge of dealing with the ‘weirdness’ factor and fellow sinners. But it is a struggle that is well worth it. The Truth is worth pushing past any and all obstacles, no matter how big. If you have found Truth in the Church, please don’t cast it aside because of the weaknesses (real and imagined) of fellow sinners (or because you get tired of eating beets;-) )—and please forgive all of us who, either through being thoughtless, judgmental or just by being different, have created a stumbling block for you and others.

Your Sister in Christ,

Deborah

“From now on I’ll try to be the same.”
“The same as what?”
“The same as people who aren’t different.”
–from the movie “What’s Up, Doc?”

Vegas, I must admit that I’m surprised to learn that it’s the people you find strange, not Orthodoxy, itself. As far as the outward ‘freak factor’, as you put it, I have to plead ignorance to this as my experience is only with the small number of Orthodox that I know in my church. I’ll take your word for it, though, that many Orthodox converts don’t ‘fit the mold’, so to speak. Being a convert myself, and having to admit I’m definitely a geeky misfit (in some circles) lends some credence to your observation.:-)

But I really have to ask, what do you expect to find in a faith that A)like all groups of people, is made up of sinners and B) by it’s very nature, requires the courage to walk to the beat of a different drummer? No, I’m not saying that Orthodoxy requires Americans to adopt foreign cultural mannerisms, dress or food (but if they happen to like those things and do blend in after a while–what’s the problem with that?) But to be Orthodox in America is, generally speaking, only going to be for those who are willing and able to set aside their personal prejudices and biases and have the courage to do something different from most people. (And people who are different in this way tend to be different from the ‘norm’ in other ways, as well.)

As Orthodoxy grows in this part of the world, I think you will probably be reassured by the increasing presence of those you may consider more ‘normal’ (whatever the heck that is). The larger the group, the more you will have people that fit the standard ‘norm’. Actually, even in my small congregation I find plenty of people (even though half are originally from foreign countries) that could ‘pass’ as ‘normal’ in regular American society.;-)

However, my question is: What is so wrong with people being ‘different’? True, if they are prejudiced against or intolerant of those who aren’t ‘different’ (or who aren’t like them) and make judgmental comments or treat strangers unkindly, this is a serious problem–but that’s not Orthodoxy, that’s sin. But if their only crime is that they like to blend in with foreigners or are socially backward, then I say the problem is with those who are prejudiced against them. We should be loving and tolerant of one another no matter who ‘weird’ they appear to us. Yes, when we come to America we should learn and speak a common language–but we shouldn’t be expected to all adopt some pattern behavior and dress that someone, somewhere, has deemed ‘normal’.

But the main thing is that the purpose of the Church is not to appear ‘normal’ (or to have members that the rest of society considers ‘normal’) so as to attract as many people as possible. The purpose of the Church is to pray for the world and to aid believers in their struggle to take hold of the salvation purchased for us by Jesus Christ. Attracting people to Christ (and to His Church) is the job of every believer who, as St. Francis of Assisi said, are to “preach the Gospel at all times–and when necessary use words.”

The Church provides translation help in two ways: One is, for those who come to her for spiritual help, in providing help in understanding and in application of the mysterious knowledge of Christ. Scripture, itself, unashamedly tells us that the message of Christ is foolishness to most.

But the other way in which the Church provides interpretation of all this seemingly long-winded, serious sounding, ‘mumbo-jumbo’, is through the translation of the Word into the daily lives of her people. Christians are striving to become living translations of this wonderful Mystery that God has brought into our lives. At first, we aren’t very good interpreters. It takes years of speaking a foreign language for one to even come close to speaking it like a native (most of us will always speak with an accent ). But, when we love, forgive, help, laugh and cry with others, immerse ourselves into their lives, if even but for a moment—all these mysterious (and to some, cold and archaic sounding) truths take on a warm, living, breathing, compassionate (but still sinful) human form that almost every human being on earth can understand.

If you come to our church you may not ‘get’ all of the strange, ‘foreign’ and serious aspects of our worship. But if you stick around and get to know its people (we eat together after every service) you will find loving people who will smile, talk to you, pray for you, help you if you need help. That kind of language everybody understands.

And, personally, coming, originally, from a tradition that has tried the consumer marketing approach to drawing people to church, I can tell you that it isn’t working. When Paul talks about being ‘all things to all people’ he is not talking about the Church changing with every shift in the wind to attract people by tailoring its worship to the ever changing culture of the world. He is talking about translating the love and mystery of Christ into the language of our daily lives with others–to enter into their world, meet them where they are, to love them, care for them and pray for them. In this way, like the miracle of Pentacost, each will hear the Gospel in his/her own language. And some of those who hear and experience this wondrous language of Love being spoken to them in their native tongue will wish to learn and hear the message in the Original language and become translators, themselves.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith (being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tested with fire) might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, ye love. In Him, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:3-9).

But you are right: we lack joy. We lack joy because we lack faith and hope. We lack faith and hope because we lack desire. We are content to remain as we are. And so our lives do not shine with the light of Christ, and we are not a beacon to the world — or to the DFW Metroplex or the city of McKinney. The only answer to this — the only way to build Christ’s Church here in McKinney — is to heed St. Peter’s advice: “gird up the loins of your mind; be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not fashion yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance … Have a good conscience, that, whereas they speak evil of you as of evildoers, they who falsely accuse may be ashamed by your good manner of life in Christ” (from 1 Peter).

May God help us. Forgive me wherein my words are lacking: it is hard to speak clearly of that which I do not possess because of my sins.

I don’t think you understood it. Keep reading, and I think you will eventually have a head that does not hurt! I can not get any more real than that sermon.

We have lots of plans to reach out to the people in McKinney. We pray, we fast, we preach, we plan to have outreaches to the poor, and we live according to the true Gospel. We plan to eventually ring bells too, when we get some, but that will not be to get people to come. The Holy Spirit is involved in that.

By the way – the sermon is a perfect example of meeting people where they are, as they are. Read it again, and this time think of your self as BOTH the publican and the pharisee (whom you called a “church goer”, which may have been a loaded “code word” – only you can tell). You will see that this Gospel text meets you and me exactly where we are!

If you are in the DFW area, please come – you will see things in a different light when you experience them.

May God bless you and help you in all things.

Every time I hear the story of the Publican and the Pharisee I can’t help but think of an old joke: Two men were being chased by a ravenous bear. As they were running, one said to the other, “I don’t think there is any way that we are going to be able to outrun this bear!” To which, the other replied “I’m not trying to outrun the bear…I’m just trying to outrun YOU!”

The idea that my virtue is measured and judged against the standard of the virtue of another is a very dangerous trick of the Enemy. It exists within me without me even being aware of it. This deceptive and dangerous idea is the reason I become jealous of my brother’s virtues and good deeds–he is outrunning me! It is the reason why I become complacent in the pursuit of virtue–I look around and because I think I am ahead of those around me, like the hare in Aesop’s fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare”, I foolishly and arrogantly lie down to sleep.

The problem is that I am not racing against my brother and the bear will not stop after he has caught the slower runner. I am racing against my own destructive, ravenous sinful nature. And if I stop, I will be devoured by it.