Whenever my kids aren't doing school, or the chores I give them, or watching a movie with my wife and I, they're playing games of some kind. Either on the computers, or, barring that, with each other somewhere around the house or outside.
They make up a storyline and rules to the game and then start playing. During the process of the game, one of them makes up new rules and expects the other two to play by them. They then argue about the fairness of it, and, depending on how the argument turns out, they either adopt the new rules or break apart, leaving at least one upset that no one wants to play with them.
I have often been called in to adjudicate their games. I still don't understand why, because they never tell me all their rules to begin with. Their “rules” are constantly shifting and never set in stone. The one that makes up the rules first usually does so to gain some kind of an advantage over the other two. The other two usually recognize it and resent it. I began taking the position some time ago that they have to work it out on their own. This works on occasion. Where I do step in is when they start getting so angry with each other that they start slamming doors, and, worst case scenario, they start to become violent with each other. I count myself fortunate that this is rare.
Their games are important to them when they're playing them. They're so important that feelings get hurt, yelling matches occur, and doors get slammed. They can become very upset that one of them might not be friends anymore with the other because of a dispute during a game. They mean so much to my kids because my kids give them meaning. More often then not, everything is resolved at least by the next day as that same game no longer has any meaning for them. What caused arguments, broken relationships, yelling, and door slamming is little more than a memory.
It's the same with my kids' toys. I remember a certain little car which one of them found during a major cleanup of the downstairs. Immediately, another one claimed ownership of that car, stating that it had been a birthday present several years ago. The one who found it also claimed finder's rights. In that moment, that car, which neither had seen nor cared about for a very long time, became somehow the most precious possession either of them could have. They accused each other of lying. Tears flowed. Feelings were hurt. Finally I had to take possession of the little car until I could work out who it really belonged to. I finally granted ownership to one of them. The next day, I found that car lying on the floor somewhere out of the way, barely noticed and forgotten.
Human beings play games that have no more meaning to them than what we give them. We argue, we fight, as adults we even go to war and kill over these games. We hold certain toys as being most precious when someone else wants them, and then forget about them when everyone else does.
Think about it. Corporations, for example, are basically a big game. They have no meaning to them except what meaning we give them. In reality, they are groups of people working together playing a game by rules that are constantly being changed by a very few to give those very few an advantage over the others. Governments, and other organizations are the same way.
Money is another game we play. In reality, most of the world's money has no intrinsic value of it's own. It's basically a bunch of numbers on a ledger, or stored in a computer. It's printed paper, or worthless coins. The only reason why it has any value is because we as a society give it that value and meaning. If we were to stop doing so, then it would be as valueless as the dirt we walk on.
It is the same with things like numbers and mathematics themselves. We all grow up with a base ten number system, and yet this isn't the only way to count or do math. Furthermore, numbers and mathematics are basically a big game. They're a way to see the world around us and quantify it, but are in reality themselves abstract concepts that don't actually exist.
God exists. Human beings exist. Animals exist. The earth underneath us, and the sky above us exist. These will exist even as businesses, corporations, rules, laws, and governments rise and then fall. Such things like laws, rules, corporations, etc. have only as much meaning as we give them. They are games we play for the moment. At first, we all agree on the rules, and then midway through someone tries to change the rules to their favor. Either everyone playing gets upset, or they all work it out. But, in any case, they are no less games than the ones my children play. It is a part of our inherent delusion and disorder that we assign so much meaning to them as to fight so violently over them.
Ownership is a ridiculous concept, as I have written before. It is a product of our own delusional minds to believe we can actually “own” anything. That little toy car will still be there whether or not any of my kids claim ownership. The land under our feet doesn't care who claims ownership over it, it has and will continue to outlast all of them. That we want to “own” anything is a part of the disorder and is born from fear of not having something that we think we need.
It is the lesson of history that all games and all ownerships eventually end. Buildings and land lie disused. Implements of war and peace lie broken and forgotten in fields. Heated arguments which launch thousands of troops become subjects for academics to study. Governments fall. Businesses and corporations eventually come to an end and go out of business. Even languages and mathematical systems change and die out. Much like my children, those who were sworn enemies one generation can be the best of friends the next. The object of a nation's hopes and desires one generation can lay neglected and forgotten the next.
So then, what is important if not the games we play? As I tell my children, the most important thing is in how they treat each other. If you don't want your brother or sister treating you that way, don't do it to them. My kids are slowly but surely getting the point. I have to step in less and less. I wish I could say the same about the rest of us.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
The Lesson of the Watermelon Plant
There is, in our garden, a watermelon plant that, by all rights, should be dead. We planted it when we planted the squash and the cantaloupe. At the beginning of the season, the squash and the cantaloupe began to grow slowly, but surely. But no matter what we did with the watemelon, it just kept looking more and more sick and unhealthy. It withered up and kept only a few dry leaves. The stem split in two right down the middle near the base of the plant. It didn't matter how much water I gave it. It didn't matter if I let it go a day or two. It looked so pathetic I seriously considered just pulling it and being done with it. But something inside me just kept saying, “Just give it another day. … Water it today...” I felt so sorry for it that I did just that.
Then, out of the blue, it started growing and producing a few flowers. Then it just kept growing and growing, and now it has a good sized watermelon growing. We tried to bind the stem together, but it's still cracked down the middle. The stem is so hard and woody that you wouldn't believe it was alive at all, much less that it was a part of the same plant. Truth is, I have no idea why this plant is still alive, much less why it's bearing fruit. The only explanation I have for it is that God told it to.
I know there's a lesson in this somewhere. There are probably several lessons to learn from it. Not all of our plants have survived. The garlic we planted, which started out well, has completely died. All of them. The chives are barely holding on for dear life. The pepper seeds we planted in nice neat little rows never came up. Those rows are completely barren, and I have no explanation why they didn't at least germinate. But this watermelon plant which looked like it was dead shortly after we planted it is now growing and bearing fruit.
You never know what seeds will grow when you plant them, no matter how much you take care of them. You never know what plants will live, and which will die, and it won't always make sense when they do. It will frustrate you no end to realize that you really have no control over it at all.
We want the seeds of faith to grow where we plant them. We want the people we spend time and care on to grow and bear fruit in the way we want. We want to be able to spread the Gospel and have whole fields of people respond and grow as we water and weed them. Our watermelon plant and our garlic plants say it doesn't work that way. The Scriptures say that one person plants, another waters, but it is God who makes it grow not the person working the garden (see 1 Corinthians 3:6-9).
God makes all plants grow as it pleases Him. Sometimes He chooses to let the plant grow immediately. Sometimes, He chooses for it to not grow at all. Sometimes, He chooses to take mercy on a plant which is almost dead. Sometimes He lets a plant that looked like it was healthy die on its own. We have no control over this. The only thing we can do is keep planting seed, water it, and weed it carefully where it won't hurt the plant's growth.
Then, out of the blue, it started growing and producing a few flowers. Then it just kept growing and growing, and now it has a good sized watermelon growing. We tried to bind the stem together, but it's still cracked down the middle. The stem is so hard and woody that you wouldn't believe it was alive at all, much less that it was a part of the same plant. Truth is, I have no idea why this plant is still alive, much less why it's bearing fruit. The only explanation I have for it is that God told it to.
I know there's a lesson in this somewhere. There are probably several lessons to learn from it. Not all of our plants have survived. The garlic we planted, which started out well, has completely died. All of them. The chives are barely holding on for dear life. The pepper seeds we planted in nice neat little rows never came up. Those rows are completely barren, and I have no explanation why they didn't at least germinate. But this watermelon plant which looked like it was dead shortly after we planted it is now growing and bearing fruit.
You never know what seeds will grow when you plant them, no matter how much you take care of them. You never know what plants will live, and which will die, and it won't always make sense when they do. It will frustrate you no end to realize that you really have no control over it at all.
We want the seeds of faith to grow where we plant them. We want the people we spend time and care on to grow and bear fruit in the way we want. We want to be able to spread the Gospel and have whole fields of people respond and grow as we water and weed them. Our watermelon plant and our garlic plants say it doesn't work that way. The Scriptures say that one person plants, another waters, but it is God who makes it grow not the person working the garden (see 1 Corinthians 3:6-9).
God makes all plants grow as it pleases Him. Sometimes He chooses to let the plant grow immediately. Sometimes, He chooses for it to not grow at all. Sometimes, He chooses to take mercy on a plant which is almost dead. Sometimes He lets a plant that looked like it was healthy die on its own. We have no control over this. The only thing we can do is keep planting seed, water it, and weed it carefully where it won't hurt the plant's growth.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
A Ramble About Pulling Weeds
I was out watering my gardens this morning, as I do every morning. I skipped over the raspberry bushes because they're past bearing fruit at this point in time, and started on watering the bean plants I have in the back of the house.
These bean plants were experiments of sorts. With our bean plants in the front, I carefully built rows and planted the seeds like I was taught in horticulture class in High School. With the plants in the back, instead of building rows with a hoe, I just scattered them over tilled soil to see if they would grow. When they didn't grow that way in the time it seemed like they should, we decided to cover them over with mulch made from old grass clippings that smelled like horse manure. A few days after, they sprouted aggressively, and they are now two or three times the size of the bean plants in the front.
As I watered, I began pulling some weeds that were obnoxiously big. It's my own fault that they got that way, because I didn't pull them earlier when they were small, and, truth be told, I don't get out and weed as often as I should. So with the hose in one hand, I begin to use the other to get down to the base of the weed and yank it from the ground. The first one popped out without issue. Seeing my success, I go on to another. No problem. I then go one to the culprit that caught my attention to begin with.
I can't see the bottom of the plant because it's buried in among the bean plants. Trying to be as careful as I can I follow the stem of the weed with my hand, feeling it all the way down to the base of it's stem. I then get my hand around it and pull. Up it comes...
Except it wasn't the weed that I had been trying to pull. It was a bean plant. It was a big, healthy bean plant with many seed pods on it that weren't quite mature, and blossoms which promised to turn into more seed pods. I looked at that weed with disgust, but I had no one else to blame but myself for the death of the bean plant. I was so intent on getting that weed, I had killed the plant I was trying to save instead.
One of the biggest problems with battling false or heretical doctrine is that more often than not, that heretical doctrine is wrapped around, or growing very close to a very real, and healthy faith in Jesus Christ, accompanied with all the actions which underscore that faith. I one Mormon missionary I spoke to some time ago who told me his story. He had a girlfriend who was Baptist, and with whom he was quite serious. She came from a wealthy family, and he got along well with her family. The time came for him to go on his mission, and he was torn. He was told by the girl and her family that if he chose to go on his mission for the LDS Church that it would be over between them. He told me that when it came down to it, He had to choose between Jesus Christ and his girlfriend. He chose Jesus Christ. This was a healthy plant regardless of the weed which was wrapped around it.
Jesus told a parable about wheat and weeds. He said:
“He put another parable before them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?” He said to them, “An enemy has done this.” So the servants said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he said, “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”'” (Matthew 13:24-30, ESV)
In context, as He explained it later, He was talking about people, and how the world, His field, would come to have both the sons of the evil one and the sons of the kingdom sown in it. But this passage has often come to my mind when thinking about all those people who believe something that has been regarded as heretical or false doctrine. We all accuse each other of this at some point in time. The Catholic labels the Protestant as heretical, the Protestant labels the Catholic as heretical, they both label the Mormon as heretical, and the Orthodox labels all of them as the much more more polite term “heterodox.” And we all seek to correct each other's dogmatic faults and bring them in line with our own. But in the process of doing so, I have seen people walk away from Christ altogether, not knowing what to believe or why, because their faith was so integrally tied to their Church and its dogmas.
The lesson of the bean plant tells me that sometimes it is better to leave the weed alone and let the plant you want flourish. Water it. Care for it. Isn't it better to tolerate a few weeds, than lose your harvest altogether?
These bean plants were experiments of sorts. With our bean plants in the front, I carefully built rows and planted the seeds like I was taught in horticulture class in High School. With the plants in the back, instead of building rows with a hoe, I just scattered them over tilled soil to see if they would grow. When they didn't grow that way in the time it seemed like they should, we decided to cover them over with mulch made from old grass clippings that smelled like horse manure. A few days after, they sprouted aggressively, and they are now two or three times the size of the bean plants in the front.
As I watered, I began pulling some weeds that were obnoxiously big. It's my own fault that they got that way, because I didn't pull them earlier when they were small, and, truth be told, I don't get out and weed as often as I should. So with the hose in one hand, I begin to use the other to get down to the base of the weed and yank it from the ground. The first one popped out without issue. Seeing my success, I go on to another. No problem. I then go one to the culprit that caught my attention to begin with.
I can't see the bottom of the plant because it's buried in among the bean plants. Trying to be as careful as I can I follow the stem of the weed with my hand, feeling it all the way down to the base of it's stem. I then get my hand around it and pull. Up it comes...
Except it wasn't the weed that I had been trying to pull. It was a bean plant. It was a big, healthy bean plant with many seed pods on it that weren't quite mature, and blossoms which promised to turn into more seed pods. I looked at that weed with disgust, but I had no one else to blame but myself for the death of the bean plant. I was so intent on getting that weed, I had killed the plant I was trying to save instead.
One of the biggest problems with battling false or heretical doctrine is that more often than not, that heretical doctrine is wrapped around, or growing very close to a very real, and healthy faith in Jesus Christ, accompanied with all the actions which underscore that faith. I one Mormon missionary I spoke to some time ago who told me his story. He had a girlfriend who was Baptist, and with whom he was quite serious. She came from a wealthy family, and he got along well with her family. The time came for him to go on his mission, and he was torn. He was told by the girl and her family that if he chose to go on his mission for the LDS Church that it would be over between them. He told me that when it came down to it, He had to choose between Jesus Christ and his girlfriend. He chose Jesus Christ. This was a healthy plant regardless of the weed which was wrapped around it.
Jesus told a parable about wheat and weeds. He said:
“He put another parable before them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?” He said to them, “An enemy has done this.” So the servants said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he said, “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”'” (Matthew 13:24-30, ESV)
In context, as He explained it later, He was talking about people, and how the world, His field, would come to have both the sons of the evil one and the sons of the kingdom sown in it. But this passage has often come to my mind when thinking about all those people who believe something that has been regarded as heretical or false doctrine. We all accuse each other of this at some point in time. The Catholic labels the Protestant as heretical, the Protestant labels the Catholic as heretical, they both label the Mormon as heretical, and the Orthodox labels all of them as the much more more polite term “heterodox.” And we all seek to correct each other's dogmatic faults and bring them in line with our own. But in the process of doing so, I have seen people walk away from Christ altogether, not knowing what to believe or why, because their faith was so integrally tied to their Church and its dogmas.
The lesson of the bean plant tells me that sometimes it is better to leave the weed alone and let the plant you want flourish. Water it. Care for it. Isn't it better to tolerate a few weeds, than lose your harvest altogether?
Saturday, September 3, 2011
A Letter to a Pastor About the Common Anchors of Our Faith
[As I've been going through collecting my notes for publishing my book, I remembered this email I sent to a pastor friend I met in Tennessee. I had hoped to perhaps start something with the other pastors to draw our combined strengths together. Unfortunately, it never materialized.]
Pastor Steve, I apologize I won't be able to be at the prayer meeting tomorrow. I got work substituting at the High School tomorrow morning.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about how we might all work together towards a common goal without our conflicting theologies muddying the issues at hand.
The first thing is that we all share the same goal. For ourselves and to guide our respective flocks to move from our initial profession of faith or conversion experience, let's call that Point A, to the final point of our salvation, let's call that point B. We call this by different terms depending on which tradition or theology one belongs to. In Evangelical Protestant circles it's called Glorification (one of the three "tenses" of salvation: justification, sanctification, and glorification); in Catholic and Orthodox circles it's called variously "beatification, divinization, deification," and theologically "theosis". As I understand the term, it's where we come into full union with God, both losing and maintaining the distinction between Him and ourselves. Various protestant denominations define it with slight variations or understandings but it basically works out to the same effect. So, our purpose is to move or be moved from point A to point B and to help guide others along that same Path. With that in mind, we have to be especially careful that we ourselves walk the Path, know what it is, what it looks like, and how to get to the destination point.
I noticed a long time ago, when I first became Catholic, that the life of a Christian who is sincere in their faith looks pretty much the same from denomination to denomination. That is, while theologies and interpretations differ, we all tend to be moved either internally or externally towards several guideposts along the way.
The first one the newly converted or professed moves towards is Baptism. I know we all tend to disagree on the nature and necessity of Baptism, but in general we all usually agree that someone who has had a real conversion to Jesus Christ will generally at least want to follow Him in Baptism. Further, He told us to do it. We all accept that there are some circumstances where it simply isn't possible (immediate martyrdom, thief on the cross, etc.), and we have our own theological explanations around it, but in general, it's the normal course of action, and it can be reasonably assumed that there is a spiritual problem with the professed person who refuses to commit to Christ in Baptism.
The next one which the Christian moves towards is Holy Communion, or Holy Eucharist. Again, we all tend to disagree on the meaning and necessity of Holy Eucharist. But again, it is something He told us to do at the very least to remember His death until He comes, and like Baptism has been a part of the tradition and practice of the universal Church, however it's practiced, since the Apostles. Again, we consider something to generally be spiritually wrong with the Christian who either refuses Holy Eucharist, or treats it in a profane or dishonorable way.
Of course when we knowingly sin, or sometimes unknowingly, we are convicted and moved towards repentance and confession, either directly to God, or with a member of the clergy. Often, even in Protestant circles, a person who feels particularly convicted about a sin will seek out a Pastor for counsel and to help guide them back. That is a part of our responsibility as guides and shepherds, assistant or otherwise, whether or not one accepts the Apostolic authority to bind and loose.
In the process of this, we also all generally seek out other Christians to fellowship with. And, depending on the denomination, we can seek official adult church membership, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, or in the Catholic/Orthodox faith Confirmation; especially if the profession of faith was made for us by our parents, or at a very young age.
If we get sick, we tend to go to the leadership of the Church and ask them to pray for our healing. Depending on the denomination, oil tends to be involved. We generally call this the Anointing of the Sick, and whether viewed as a Sacrament or not, I haven't seen a church yet that doesn't practice it in some form.
The call to get married, and the call to Ordination, or both, are also practiced in virtually every Church, although not by everyone because not everyone is called to either or both. Ordination is generally practiced exclusively by the laying on of hands by virtually every denomination, as it has for two thousand years.
So, these are the first guideposts along the way. In the Catholic/Orthodox tradition, they are the seven Sacraments, and they tend to be represented, recognized as such or not, in Christian practice regardless of denomination.
We generally tend to recognize too, that there is something spiritually wrong with the Christian, baptized or otherwise, who after knowingly sinning, refuses to turn away from that sin, or admit any wrongdoing. We have all watched as that professed Christian, if he doesn't repent, goes into a downward spiral and his visible spiritual state gets worse and worse until he descends into a kind of living hell of his own. We all have different explanations theologically as to why and how. But the observable phenomenon is the same, and we instinctively mourn the loss of a brother or sister whether or not we accept that their salvation is still secured.
Further, we can all generally agree, willingly or begrudgingly, that to walk the Path of Jesus Christ as He taught it requires some will and visible effort on our part, and that the visible indication of one who is on that Path is love, compassion, and kindness for the brothers, for the stranger, for those who hate us, and especially for God Himself. The one who follows Jesus Christ offers himself or herself as a living sacrifice just as He did. And the pretender tends to be pretty easy to spot, whether or not he or she realizes it at the moment.
Our observable goal is union with God, if possible, in this life as well as the next and our movement must always be towards this. Another piece which I think we can all generally agree on, if we really think about it, is that this doesn't come without the cross. It doesn't come without accepting that there is a fundamental malfunction in the human psyche (and I would argue the continuous recognition of this by the Christian as well as the convert), and that union with Jesus Christ in His death on the Cross is the only solution, and that as we surrender to that union in His death, so also His resurrection and the life of God will become more apparent in us until nothing else remains of us except the distinction between "He and I" and we realize and experience what is truly the absolute center of His infinite Being which is an all consuming, devastating, and blissful love.
These are just some thoughts on truths I think we can all use as anchors to achieve the same ends and avoid unnecessary and useless bickering which only serves to make us look like morons who don't understand the truth ourselves, and drive people away from Christ. And if we can all build on these anchors to direct and guide the people, in this case especially the youth because they are at a point now when they can absorb truth like a new wineskin absorbing new wine, then we can truly fulfill the command of Christ to go and make disciples.
If you think this is a positive step in the right direction, share these thoughts with the other pastors and see what they think and let me know.
In Christ,
Fr. Allen+
Pastor Steve, I apologize I won't be able to be at the prayer meeting tomorrow. I got work substituting at the High School tomorrow morning.
I've been doing a lot of thinking about how we might all work together towards a common goal without our conflicting theologies muddying the issues at hand.
The first thing is that we all share the same goal. For ourselves and to guide our respective flocks to move from our initial profession of faith or conversion experience, let's call that Point A, to the final point of our salvation, let's call that point B. We call this by different terms depending on which tradition or theology one belongs to. In Evangelical Protestant circles it's called Glorification (one of the three "tenses" of salvation: justification, sanctification, and glorification); in Catholic and Orthodox circles it's called variously "beatification, divinization, deification," and theologically "theosis". As I understand the term, it's where we come into full union with God, both losing and maintaining the distinction between Him and ourselves. Various protestant denominations define it with slight variations or understandings but it basically works out to the same effect. So, our purpose is to move or be moved from point A to point B and to help guide others along that same Path. With that in mind, we have to be especially careful that we ourselves walk the Path, know what it is, what it looks like, and how to get to the destination point.
I noticed a long time ago, when I first became Catholic, that the life of a Christian who is sincere in their faith looks pretty much the same from denomination to denomination. That is, while theologies and interpretations differ, we all tend to be moved either internally or externally towards several guideposts along the way.
The first one the newly converted or professed moves towards is Baptism. I know we all tend to disagree on the nature and necessity of Baptism, but in general we all usually agree that someone who has had a real conversion to Jesus Christ will generally at least want to follow Him in Baptism. Further, He told us to do it. We all accept that there are some circumstances where it simply isn't possible (immediate martyrdom, thief on the cross, etc.), and we have our own theological explanations around it, but in general, it's the normal course of action, and it can be reasonably assumed that there is a spiritual problem with the professed person who refuses to commit to Christ in Baptism.
The next one which the Christian moves towards is Holy Communion, or Holy Eucharist. Again, we all tend to disagree on the meaning and necessity of Holy Eucharist. But again, it is something He told us to do at the very least to remember His death until He comes, and like Baptism has been a part of the tradition and practice of the universal Church, however it's practiced, since the Apostles. Again, we consider something to generally be spiritually wrong with the Christian who either refuses Holy Eucharist, or treats it in a profane or dishonorable way.
Of course when we knowingly sin, or sometimes unknowingly, we are convicted and moved towards repentance and confession, either directly to God, or with a member of the clergy. Often, even in Protestant circles, a person who feels particularly convicted about a sin will seek out a Pastor for counsel and to help guide them back. That is a part of our responsibility as guides and shepherds, assistant or otherwise, whether or not one accepts the Apostolic authority to bind and loose.
In the process of this, we also all generally seek out other Christians to fellowship with. And, depending on the denomination, we can seek official adult church membership, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, or in the Catholic/Orthodox faith Confirmation; especially if the profession of faith was made for us by our parents, or at a very young age.
If we get sick, we tend to go to the leadership of the Church and ask them to pray for our healing. Depending on the denomination, oil tends to be involved. We generally call this the Anointing of the Sick, and whether viewed as a Sacrament or not, I haven't seen a church yet that doesn't practice it in some form.
The call to get married, and the call to Ordination, or both, are also practiced in virtually every Church, although not by everyone because not everyone is called to either or both. Ordination is generally practiced exclusively by the laying on of hands by virtually every denomination, as it has for two thousand years.
So, these are the first guideposts along the way. In the Catholic/Orthodox tradition, they are the seven Sacraments, and they tend to be represented, recognized as such or not, in Christian practice regardless of denomination.
We generally tend to recognize too, that there is something spiritually wrong with the Christian, baptized or otherwise, who after knowingly sinning, refuses to turn away from that sin, or admit any wrongdoing. We have all watched as that professed Christian, if he doesn't repent, goes into a downward spiral and his visible spiritual state gets worse and worse until he descends into a kind of living hell of his own. We all have different explanations theologically as to why and how. But the observable phenomenon is the same, and we instinctively mourn the loss of a brother or sister whether or not we accept that their salvation is still secured.
Further, we can all generally agree, willingly or begrudgingly, that to walk the Path of Jesus Christ as He taught it requires some will and visible effort on our part, and that the visible indication of one who is on that Path is love, compassion, and kindness for the brothers, for the stranger, for those who hate us, and especially for God Himself. The one who follows Jesus Christ offers himself or herself as a living sacrifice just as He did. And the pretender tends to be pretty easy to spot, whether or not he or she realizes it at the moment.
Our observable goal is union with God, if possible, in this life as well as the next and our movement must always be towards this. Another piece which I think we can all generally agree on, if we really think about it, is that this doesn't come without the cross. It doesn't come without accepting that there is a fundamental malfunction in the human psyche (and I would argue the continuous recognition of this by the Christian as well as the convert), and that union with Jesus Christ in His death on the Cross is the only solution, and that as we surrender to that union in His death, so also His resurrection and the life of God will become more apparent in us until nothing else remains of us except the distinction between "He and I" and we realize and experience what is truly the absolute center of His infinite Being which is an all consuming, devastating, and blissful love.
These are just some thoughts on truths I think we can all use as anchors to achieve the same ends and avoid unnecessary and useless bickering which only serves to make us look like morons who don't understand the truth ourselves, and drive people away from Christ. And if we can all build on these anchors to direct and guide the people, in this case especially the youth because they are at a point now when they can absorb truth like a new wineskin absorbing new wine, then we can truly fulfill the command of Christ to go and make disciples.
If you think this is a positive step in the right direction, share these thoughts with the other pastors and see what they think and let me know.
In Christ,
Fr. Allen+
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