Talking points for social liberals at evangelical conferences

Orthodox priest Fr. Jonathon Tobias of Second Terrace poses the following provocative scenario:

"Let's assume that you're a nationally sought-after speaker from an eastern college, who for some strange reason has developed egalitarian sensitivities on behalf of the feminist and homosexual consciousness movements.

Let's assume, too, that you will be appearing on stage to about two thousand adolescents and adults and clergy from a denomination that only lately characterized itself as fundamental, but has now stepped boldly into the progressive evangelical church growth (read 'anti-ecclesial') movement.

Let's assume, finally, that this happened last week somewhere in the midwest. What talking points will you (or did you) follow in order to entertain the masses?..."

Read the answer here.

Do you recognize the "nationally sought-after speaker"? Hint: He's popular on the left-leaning side of Emergent circles.

One of the "talking points" is to make misleading reference to Orthodox doctrine, a temptation that is hard to resist if it works for you. As an evangelical I used to do it in debates with Calvinists. "The Orthodox do such and such" is a sentence that even now, I remind myself, I must use with caution!

P.S. Although this post is clearly critical (the sensitive be warned), there are some conciliatory notes in the comments.

My Orthodox Journey: So Far…

“Well how was it?” There it was. My wife had asked and I had to answer and I had to answer her honestly. Fortunately, I only had to look at her, her response was a simple “oh no”. I just nodded and said, “I loved it”. I had experienced my first Orthodox Liturgy and knew before it was over that I could never leave it. I had found the Faith and it was nothing like what I always thought it would look like.

Two years before, I had begun to look at the early church. Among the earliest Church Fathers, those men who had sat and studied at the feet of the 12 apostles when they were yet living, I saw things being practiced that on the surface looked “more catholic” than what I was doing in my church and had to take a strong look at Catholicism. Although I saw similarities it seemed to me that they had added some things to what the early church Fathers had prescribed. Not to be detoured in my search for a more formal church setting and also because a friendship developed with a Lutheran Priest I looked a the Lutheran Faith, but found much in the worship that had no scriptural support, and they themselves held to “scripture alone”.

So although I had seen some “catholic like” practices in the early church, the early church did not seem altogether Roman Catholic. It was here my protestant faith seemed to be strengthening but my faith in church was waning. I started to wonder if any church had it right. I was also wondering why God left it up to me all by myself to look at the Bible and derive all of what was correct and not correct about what Christianity really is. I mean I was reading and studying more than most laypersons I knew and more than even some pastors I knew. As my local church services started to look more like a pep rally than a church service, I became more and more disillusioned with what church services were supposed to be. I began to wonder if St. Peter and St. Paul would have been clapping and singing to the beat of the alternative percussion section of our new praise band. I mean could a wa-wa pedal on a Fender Stratocaster actually contribute more to me communing with the Almighty GOD? I know this may sound bitter or detached but I want to be very honest as to how I felt. The more I read of the lives of the Apostles and their successors I would say with confidence that there is little about our modern worship service that they would recognize.

As you can see my disillusionment was setting in. In my study of the early Church and what the most modern of scholars had written I was coming to one basic conclusion. That is, without much study you can see that the protestant evangelical church of today looks nothing like the church I grew up in, in the 70’s. With even more study you’ll see that the church of the mid 1900’s bares very little resemblance to the church of the late 1800’s. We see that since the reformation the protestant church continues to change and evolve in direct response to culture. So my one logical conclusion is simply, either God made his church to constantly ride the wave of the ever-changing culture, or it’s not to be effected by culture at all. To be honest, while researching both ideas I was hoping for the former, as the latter would seem to leave allot of egg on my spiritual face.

It was this time that I had entered some discussions with some friends who were Orthodox. I was more impressed with their demeanor than anything else. From them I first heard, and later confirmed, that Church of Rome broke from the rest of the Church, not the other way around. I learned that the Orthodox Church does not believe in purgatory and that their parish priests were married. At that point I realized there was one more option that had to be eliminated. I had to investigate the one church that claimed they guarded the Faith through history and were unaffected by culture. I looked up the Orthodox Churches in my town, sent my wife and kids to the church we normally attended and headed off alone to visited Holy Apostles Orthodox Christian Church. I went mostly to eliminate the possibility that this could be the true Church, uncorrupted by this world and it’s culture.

Well as I said in the opening of this article, I loved it. I have gone to church my whole life hoping that if we do everything right, good music, good sermon, good response that maybe God would show up. Well I found myself surrounded that first Sunday with people who came expecting God to show up. Just like he has done every service sense Pentecost. Although friends and family have questioned my decision, I cannot turn back. I am becoming Orthodox everyday. The Orthodox Church is a treasure of spiritual mystery that enriches our lives through the Holy Spirit day by day. For some reason I spent my whole Christian Life studying the first century of Christianity and then ignoring everything else up till the Reformation. The fact is that Orthodoxy has been here the whole time.

It has been a true joy to read of the Church Fathers and understand that the Church of Antioch in the book of Acts, where they were first called Christians, is still in existence today, as is the church in Jerusalem and many others. Churches the Apostles of Christ Himself started and who’s leadership they appointed, who in turn continued to appoint leadership up to this present time. At times I feel late for the party. As if I should have known all this before. But the fact is, it’s not unusual to discover these things later into our protestant life. In fact you can read of Clark Carlton, Frank Schaeffer, Peter Guillquist and many other prominent Protestant ministers and laypeople who have experienced the same types of discovery. When I think of the courage these men showed in following their convictions and embracing the truth, it becomes much easier for me.

Pray for me as I continue on my journey that I may over come the hardships that accompany such a dramatic spiritual transition, but I promise you that the “the Joy of Lord is My Strength” has real meaning beyond the kids chorus I grew up singing. I am truly blessed and experiencing God’s grace in a very real way.

I will add that if I at all offended anyone by what I have written, I deeply apologize. I wish only to convey my feelings and trials as I felt them during that time.

Fr. John Behr, The Mystery of Christ

A book by one of the most significant Orthodox theologians writing today- so say people smarter than me- and which seeks to explain "the reappropriation of a premodern perspective in a cautious postmodern fashion," ought to be of interest to Oozerdoxies and those who love (?) us.

Fr. John is professor of patristics at St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary. His ongoing project is a series on the formation of Christian theology, one volume already laying out "The Way to Nicea" and the other the formation of Nicene faith. This small book can be seen as a companion volume to those, while standing as a compelling work in its own right.

The "mystery of Christ" is that Christ is at the center of absolutely everything. He is the axis around which all of the universe turns, all of our understanding of who God is, who we are as the church, and of what truth is. Fr. John asks us to go back in time before the formulations and systematizations of later centuries, which tend to put the gospel in the form of an historical narrative beginning at the beginning and leading forward. In this journey back in time we are not seeking a pristine, primitive church age, but Christ Himself.

He writes: "When the apostle Paul speaks of 'its breadth and length and height and depth' (Eph. 3:18), St. Gregory [of Nyssa] sees him as inscribing the figure of the cross into the very structure of the universe created by 'the God revealed through the Cross'... It is likewise only in this way, 'through the church', that the heavenly powers come to know 'the manifold wisdom of God' (Eph. 3:10)." The cross of Jesus Christ is the centerpoint of the universe, mirroring and being mirrored by all creation, and most significantly, an absolutely unique revelation of God.

The first implication of this cruci-centric view of all things is that Christ is at the center of the Scriptures. We have been so influenced by modern historical-critical method, Fr. John argues, that we have a difficult time reading them any other way. Yet for the early fathers, "the Word of God" referred not to a book but to a Person. There is no meaning in the Scriptures except that which reveals Christ. For the early fathers, the Jewish Scriptures were less historical narrative and more a library of images, prototypes and visions testifying to Jesus Christ. Similarly, the New Testament canon can be understood as having been gathered around the theological center of Christ's Passion moreso than any historical or textual criterion.

He uses the illustration provided by St. Irenaeus of a mosaic, whose tiny jewels only acquire their true beauty when seen according to the design revealed on the Cross. That design is set out by the apostles' teaching, where Christ's revelation was safeguarded. Yet here again Fr. John reminds us that the focal point must be Jesus Christ. It is not enough to see the design; to unearth "the author's original meaning"; one must have personal, dynamic engagement with Christ. The Scriptures, church tradition and apostolic succession are a framework which allows this to happen. Their boundaries are not intended to limit the knowledge of God, but to allow such a genuine encounter to happen, unhindered by "regression and mythology."

(to be continued)

Holy pilgrimages

Many Christians past and present have made pilgrimages to holy places for repentance, prayer, to seek a blessing, or for remembrance. In discussion on The Ooze, someone mentioned being baptized in the Jordan River, others trips to significant historical places for Orthodoxy (Alaska) and Catholicism (The Shrine of the Holy Eucharist in Alabama).

I have many, many places I would like to go. High on the list would be a trip back to Turkey, since my time there was before I was Orthodox and the holy places I visited would mean so much more to me now. Pavel and I would also love to visit the very ancient Assyrian churches and monasteries in Eastern Turkey. When I lived in Turkey, it was too dangerous, particularly as a woman, to travel there. It still is now, unfortunately, with tensions in neighboring Kurdistan- that pilgrimage would probably have to wait.

Icon of Christ washing the feet of the disciples, Al Za'afaran (Syriac) Monastery, Turkey

If we made it to Turkey, we would probably also try to go to Egypt and see some of the Coptic churches and monasteries there.

Ruins of the monastery of St. Mina, Egypt

It is more realistic that I will make it to venerate the relics of St. John Maximovitch in San Francisco, and someday soon to the St. Antony Coptic Monastery near Barstow, California, the only Coptic monastery in the US. Before too many years pass, I would love to return to Monastery of the Transfiguration in Pennsylvania, where I spent several very blessed days while still an Orthodox "inquirer."

Crunchy Con's Story

Rod Dreher reposts his journey to Orthodoxy......

http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2007/07/why-i-became-orthodox-from-the.html#more

The Lazy Monk

There was a lazy monk. He didn't keep the hours (of prayer) and didn't fast (not that he was a glutton) and didn't attend all the services. But he was never mean, and eveyone like him. When it came his time to die, the other monks of the community gathered around his bunk, and he had such a look of serenity and peace.

The monks were concerned for the spirtual well being of their brother, whom they knew was lazy and hadn't always followed the rules of prayer nor attended the church service, and wondered at his composure.

Brother, one asked, how is it that you are at peace? Seeing that you did not lead a very strict life? You didn't fast, you didn't keep the rule of prayer, the hours, nor were you faithful in church service attendance, how is it then that you are facing your end and the Judgement in peace?

The monk answered. Brothers, while all that you say about me is true, I will share with you my secret. One day while praying and reading the scriptures, I came across the passage,

"Judge not and ye shall not be Judged"

So while I have not done the things you have stated, I've also strived and meditated and sought with all my heart to love my saviour and never Judge my brother.

Shortly after saying this, he passed away, and the room was filled with a beautiful fragrance.

May we seek to live like this Monk.

I'shalom

Seraphim

What is "Oozerdoxie?"

I think an attempt to define what exactly we are doing here is in order. Maybe not so much for the reader, but for us! I solicit input from the other Doxies and Oozers in general.

This is a work in progress. We are an eclectic collection of Orthodox Christians, whose other connection.....and how we know each other.....is that we all post on an "Emergent Christian" website called theooze.com. What is "Emergent?" Well I point you to the Ooze's main page to help you figure that one out. But possibly, none of us would consider ourselves to be "Emergent"...I know I do not. I am very firmly placed within the Holy Orthodox Church.

So what is the appeal of "the ooze?" Perhaps in my case, it was somewhat evangelical. I was (am) a newbie Orthodox, and was excited to see people asking the same questions that had propelled me in MY spiritual journey. Some of my fellow Doxies are Orthodox partly because of things they had read on The Ooze. Two posters here met each other on The Ooze and are now married!

But I think what we really enjoy about The Ooze, is the community. Oozers don't all think alike and quite frankly, there are often some heated discussions. But there is a lot of respect and love that flows around there and we really enjoy being a part of the community.

But as a "subset" of the ooze, we were encouraged to start this blog. So here ya go. We will never be as cool as the "Conservative Reformed Mafia," but maybe we have something to offer.

So, what do you think?