I know something about chronic illness in 2007 I contracted Lyme disease with a co-infection of Bartonella. To add to the bacterial stew my body was doing its best to fight off, a dormant Epstein-Barr Syndrome resurfaced. My immunity was so low that any defenses my body created were torn down. Since then I have learned that other chronic illnesses have come up in my life that have no cure. I have to manage them for the rest of my... Read more
I read a beautiful quote this morning: God is everywhere. There is no place God is not… You cry out to Him, ‘Where art Thou, my God?’ And He answers, “I am present, my child! I am always beside you.’ Both inside and outside, above and below, wherever you turn, everything shouts, ‘God!’ In Him we live and move. We breathe God, we eat God, we clothe ourselves with God. Everything praises and blesses God. All of creation shouts His... Read more
Why did I choose to become Orthodox? This is a question with a potentially long answer so I’ll highlight why. It came down to one question: Why did Jesus die? I was baptized Catholic and then went through a few stages of Protestantism as my mom sought a different expression of her faith. If memory serves me correctly, she had become alienated from the Catholic focus on original sin and persistent guilt. The idea of “if you don’t follow these... Read more
I don’t understand the full teaching of how Orthodoxy understands the role of women in the church. However, let me restate that this blog is about what I am learning and practicing in a very new way for me to understand “church” and Christianity as a whole. How women are viewed is an important issue and I have only begun to look at the questions much less come up with answers. I figured now is as good of a time... Read more
As a Reformed (Presbyterian) Evangelical I understood that heterodoxy was anything that fell out of line with the essentials as prescribed in the Confessions of the Reformed tradition. Aside from doctrines like the Trinity, dual nature of Christ, and the primacy of Scripture there were other doctrines that fit into this version of orthodoxy. These are typically called TULIP – Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints. At the core of these doctrines is... Read more
Yesterday I was sealed with the Holy Spirit and became an Orthodox Christian. What does this mean? As Father Deacon and I were making our way down to the church I told him that one thing that bothered me about so much Theology in the West is the continual insistence on trying to figure things out. With that said, he reminded me that the East has a problem with over-speculation which is why most of the heresies come from the... Read more
Today is my last official day of being Protestant. Last week there was a sadness that accompanied my excitement about being received into a tradition that I believe has been boiling in my blood for a very long time. During my time as a Presbyterian (USA) and then in the Emergent community I made a great deal of close friends and compatriots on this winding journey of faith. We shared this common mystical bond of seeking God in the everyday... Read more
For about a decade I understood that doubt and faith go together. That is to say, faith should be a questioning and critical self-reflective exercise rather than walking blindly in total trust. But I doubted everything. Faith was a fully intellectual exercise and very safe because it was an object. Faith didn’t require any self-examination. But it was also unsatisfying. There was an absence of hope that I could be part of something to transform my human condition to be... Read more
Emerging into Orthodoxy
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