....this side of Eternity. Well I'm sure right away that title probably caught many of your attentions. Perhaps most of you are nodding in agreement. But perhaps some of you are saying "Now wait just one minute"... Well, to me this is a logical statement to make that I feel can be proved by the simple fact that, as long as there are imperfect people in the Church, there can be no perfect Church this side of Eternity.
Now, I believe this statement to be true.... but I don't always acknowledge it. In all honesty, over the years, I have tried to make the Protestant Church and the Orthodox Church into the Perfect Church. It's like, while intellectually I understand that there is no perfect church, in practice I ignore that. I keep trying to set churches up on a pillar of perfection. And then when suddenly I run into something I disagree with... disappointment rolls in like a thunderstorm and my world starts falling apart. Why do I struggle with this? In all honesty I'm not totally sure... All I'm sure about is that I struggle with it.
But, almost always, I'm able to snap out of disappointment and remind myself "No... there is no perfect church!" One thing I've also been saying to myself of late is that, ironically, we should be more suspicious of a church that appears "perfect."
But regardless of these reminders, I keep struggling with it.
This is partly what happened when I began moving away from Evangelicalism and delving into Orthodoxy. When I began to be immersed in Orthodoxy, I remember thinking "Ah! At last! Here is the perfect church!" I entered, as my brother in Christ Eric puts it, a type of "honeymoon" period. But... as He often does, God saw that I was starting to really get carried away and suddenly things became revealed to me in Orthodoxy that rattled my cages, caused me to back away saying "Whoa-whoa-whoa". And then I entered a "barren lands" period of my life. I backed away from Orthodoxy and found myself sort of hovering in the shadows between Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, not in the sense that I was a "hybrid" of the two (as I am now), but in the sense that neither really appealed to me. I needed a break from the both of them. Obviously, I continued my Christian walk regardless of not having a firm footing. God helped me. It was a pretty dark time, though. Looking back now it really does seem like I was walking in the dark, stumbling because I couldn' see. But, again, even so, every time I did stumble, God helped me back to me feet.
Earlier this year, my ears started to perk again at the sound of Orthodoxy. Slowly I began to journey back into it, picking up where I left off, but this time delving even deeper into it than ever before. I bought the Orthodox Study Bible (which I highly recommend) and was reading it, and its study notes) constantly. I was listening to podcasts on Orthodoxy, I started saying some traditional Orthodox prayers in the morning and evening, I even bought a censer and started burning incense (which has quickly become a favorite thing of mine to do!). But over time... once again I started falling head over heels. I started to become disillusioned with Evangelicalism, even to the point where I was almost disgusted with it. I became very foolish! And God saw that and knew I needed help. So bam! Again, something gets thrown in my path, some revelation of Orthodoxy that trips me up. However, this time it didn't have the same effect as it had before.
Rather than running away from Orthodoxy, this is about the time when I started to realize that I really was trying to find a perfect church. And I was trying to make Orthodoxy that perfect church. And so that's when it really dawned on me that, if I'm correct, there never will be a perfect church... until we are united in the Kingdom of Heaven. That's where there will be true unity. Where we will have the perfect Truth.
So I took a lot of time to really reflect during this period. And then I heard something that really helped me. I listened to a lecture from Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (an Orthodox Bishop). The lecture was titled "Orthodox and Evangelicals: What Can We Learn From Each Other?" Kallistos was giving this lecture at a seminar that was attended by Orthodox Christians and Evangelical Christians alike. And within the lecture he began to talk about the differing views and, specifically, the places where both sides, perhaps, fall short, and it's in these areas that Orthodox and Evangelicals can help each other. Much of what Kallistos was saying was summed up in his words
Now, I believe this statement to be true.... but I don't always acknowledge it. In all honesty, over the years, I have tried to make the Protestant Church and the Orthodox Church into the Perfect Church. It's like, while intellectually I understand that there is no perfect church, in practice I ignore that. I keep trying to set churches up on a pillar of perfection. And then when suddenly I run into something I disagree with... disappointment rolls in like a thunderstorm and my world starts falling apart. Why do I struggle with this? In all honesty I'm not totally sure... All I'm sure about is that I struggle with it.
But, almost always, I'm able to snap out of disappointment and remind myself "No... there is no perfect church!" One thing I've also been saying to myself of late is that, ironically, we should be more suspicious of a church that appears "perfect."
But regardless of these reminders, I keep struggling with it.
This is partly what happened when I began moving away from Evangelicalism and delving into Orthodoxy. When I began to be immersed in Orthodoxy, I remember thinking "Ah! At last! Here is the perfect church!" I entered, as my brother in Christ Eric puts it, a type of "honeymoon" period. But... as He often does, God saw that I was starting to really get carried away and suddenly things became revealed to me in Orthodoxy that rattled my cages, caused me to back away saying "Whoa-whoa-whoa". And then I entered a "barren lands" period of my life. I backed away from Orthodoxy and found myself sort of hovering in the shadows between Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism, not in the sense that I was a "hybrid" of the two (as I am now), but in the sense that neither really appealed to me. I needed a break from the both of them. Obviously, I continued my Christian walk regardless of not having a firm footing. God helped me. It was a pretty dark time, though. Looking back now it really does seem like I was walking in the dark, stumbling because I couldn' see. But, again, even so, every time I did stumble, God helped me back to me feet.
Earlier this year, my ears started to perk again at the sound of Orthodoxy. Slowly I began to journey back into it, picking up where I left off, but this time delving even deeper into it than ever before. I bought the Orthodox Study Bible (which I highly recommend) and was reading it, and its study notes) constantly. I was listening to podcasts on Orthodoxy, I started saying some traditional Orthodox prayers in the morning and evening, I even bought a censer and started burning incense (which has quickly become a favorite thing of mine to do!). But over time... once again I started falling head over heels. I started to become disillusioned with Evangelicalism, even to the point where I was almost disgusted with it. I became very foolish! And God saw that and knew I needed help. So bam! Again, something gets thrown in my path, some revelation of Orthodoxy that trips me up. However, this time it didn't have the same effect as it had before.
Rather than running away from Orthodoxy, this is about the time when I started to realize that I really was trying to find a perfect church. And I was trying to make Orthodoxy that perfect church. And so that's when it really dawned on me that, if I'm correct, there never will be a perfect church... until we are united in the Kingdom of Heaven. That's where there will be true unity. Where we will have the perfect Truth.
So I took a lot of time to really reflect during this period. And then I heard something that really helped me. I listened to a lecture from Metropolitan Kallistos Ware (an Orthodox Bishop). The lecture was titled "Orthodox and Evangelicals: What Can We Learn From Each Other?" Kallistos was giving this lecture at a seminar that was attended by Orthodox Christians and Evangelical Christians alike. And within the lecture he began to talk about the differing views and, specifically, the places where both sides, perhaps, fall short, and it's in these areas that Orthodox and Evangelicals can help each other. Much of what Kallistos was saying was summed up in his words
"[It's not 'either/or'... rather it is 'both/and'.]" (paraphrased).
We have a lot to learn from each other. And this in itself caused me to start to appreciate both Evangelicalism and Orthodoxy. I no longer feel the need to distinguish myself as either/or. But I am comfortable distinguishing myself as 'both/and'. A hybrid. An Orthogelical, as it were.
Orthodoxy will help me with seeing that just about everything points to God (I don't mean this in a Universal sense), and truly appreciating the wonderful Love of God, and that Jesus Christ did not die on the cross merely to take on our sins, but to destroy Death, and the importance of the Church and that Christ greatly values our unity with each other.
Evangelicalism will help me appreciate the Scriptures (specifically applying them to my daily life), evangelizing, and realizing that I do have a very real struggle with my 'old man' who I keep digging up and trying to live the Christian life for me, and that my freedom from sin did come at a price, which emphasizes my thanksgiving to Christ, and that Christ also greatly values me as an individual.
Now this is not to say that either side is devoid of the other's views, because they aren't as far as I have seen. But in my experience, these are what these respective churches emphasize (again, please read the Disclaimer at the top!).
So... I burn incense while listening to praise and worship songs. I listen to Orthodox chants while reading a book written by a Dr. Michael Youssef (an awesome Protestant pastor). I open prayer, crossing myself, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and end prayer in the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ.
Orthodoxy will help me with seeing that just about everything points to God (I don't mean this in a Universal sense), and truly appreciating the wonderful Love of God, and that Jesus Christ did not die on the cross merely to take on our sins, but to destroy Death, and the importance of the Church and that Christ greatly values our unity with each other.
Evangelicalism will help me appreciate the Scriptures (specifically applying them to my daily life), evangelizing, and realizing that I do have a very real struggle with my 'old man' who I keep digging up and trying to live the Christian life for me, and that my freedom from sin did come at a price, which emphasizes my thanksgiving to Christ, and that Christ also greatly values me as an individual.
Now this is not to say that either side is devoid of the other's views, because they aren't as far as I have seen. But in my experience, these are what these respective churches emphasize (again, please read the Disclaimer at the top!).
So... I burn incense while listening to praise and worship songs. I listen to Orthodox chants while reading a book written by a Dr. Michael Youssef (an awesome Protestant pastor). I open prayer, crossing myself, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and end prayer in the Mighty Name of Jesus Christ.
My Father has me on a unique path on which I am learning so much more than ever before. Almost every week I find myself learning something new that actually broadens both sides of my Evangelicalism and Orthodoxy.
I think we really do make the mistake, as Metropolitan Ware put it, of making it an either/or confrontation... When I really think we can learn a lot from each other if we take our fingers out of our ears. Now, as always, I have to make a firm clarification that I don't mean this in a Universalist "All paths lead to God" sense, but in regards to the Biblical, Apostolic Church. As Jesus Christ Himself stated:
And I believe, affirm, and will uphold that statement, so help me God :)
I think we really do make the mistake, as Metropolitan Ware put it, of making it an either/or confrontation... When I really think we can learn a lot from each other if we take our fingers out of our ears. Now, as always, I have to make a firm clarification that I don't mean this in a Universalist "All paths lead to God" sense, but in regards to the Biblical, Apostolic Church. As Jesus Christ Himself stated:
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." — John 14:6
And I believe, affirm, and will uphold that statement, so help me God :)
So... examining myself....
A Paradox? Maybe.
A Paradox? Maybe.
A Lukewarm/Neutral Christian whom God will spit out of His mouth? Lord have mercy, no.
Am I scaring my friends on either side? Most definitely :-D
These are the merry mishaps... (dramatic pause)... of an Orthogelical.
These are the merry mishaps... (dramatic pause)... of an Orthogelical.
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