:: St. Stephen's Musings ::

:: Friday, August 06, 2004 ::

Orthodox Inquirer Roundup

Cory: "Probing the scriptures, I could not find an instance where Christ assured me I was entitled to a Christian life free from challenge, absent of faith, void of intellectual thought."

Now there is a truth to remember, especially as we become weary of daily Orthodox life, troubled over jurisdictional or ethnic issues, or feel that the truths of the Faith are (as a family member who has left the Church put it to me) "inaccessible."

John has on his list of things to do:
1) Figure out "Authority" in Eastern Orthodoxy and write a paper on it.
2) Figure out "Authority" in Christian Church Protestantism and deal with it.

I pointed him to this great series of essays on the topic.

Rusty: "I remember what God has been doing in my life - how He's changed me in the months I've found out more about His Church. I remember the service yesterday, about the feeling I had when I prostrated before the cross. How it felt to partake of the blessed water, and yearn for the day I can partake of the Eucharist. About how I can almost remember every sermon I've heard preached during the Divine Liturgy. I know that there was life where I was, but now I've found it more abundantly."

Good point, Rusty. Today being the Feast of the Transfiguration it is good to remember that our former life is transfigured, not annihilated.

Nathan: "I am starting to realize that God demands we accept the church on his terms, not our own....We either accept the church as she has come to us through the centuries, or try to fashion our own - with all that either decision implies about God and ourselves."

Amazingly, the choice is really that clear.

:: Karl :: 8:32:00 AM [Link] ::