Searching for That Which Has Been Established
I had an interesting conversation with a Protestant colleague yesterday. We were talking about religion and politics and the conversation strayed into the state of some Protestant denominations in the U.S. I tried letting him know that I was pretty clueless when it came to keeping up with the current movements in the Protestant world, and then tried to hang with him as best as I could. He asked me if I knew what the “Emergent movement was, and I mentioned I had heard of it, but didn’t honestly know what they were all about. Then he mentioned a “Mosaic” movement, and I admitted to being totally clueless on that one too. Apparently, they’re all looking for the size of Christianity that fits them just right.
Like a lot of folks, I listen to podcasts. Through the grace of God, there are now more than a few Eastern Orthodox podcasts to choose from online at no cost at sites like Ancient Faith Radio. Ironically, on the way home yesterday I was listening to one of Matthew Gallatin’s Pilgrims from Paradise podcasts. This one in particular was titled “What It Means to Worship” (click here to listen). Early on in this particular podcast, he reflects about a time during his past as an Evangelical when he and some others were disillusioned with the churches they were attending. One of the people he was talking with said she wanted to find a church, “Where the teaching and the worship fit where I am with the Lord”. Needless to say, after the podcast I thought about the conversation I had with my colleague. I wondered and continue to wonder how many Protestants struggle with the decision to find the right size church for themselves. A church they believe will fit where they‘re at with the Lord. I remember being caught in a similar sort of trap of trying customize and tailor make Christianity into my way of doing thing. It’s about as western as can be. Only when I encountered Holy Orthodoxy did I see that God’s Church is to be made to His liking, not mine. I had not realized, although somehow it made all the sense in the world after I had, that Christ had indeed taken care of my needs and established a Church that “the gates of hell would not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18b).
To God be the glory for this.
I think that because we Protestants can have no serious ecclesiology, no true sense of Tradition or accountability, we have little more than taste to go by. In Protestantism, ultimately there can be no higher authority than oneself, even when being a devotee to a particular pastor or movement. My inquiry into Orthodoxy has helped me to see this, but it’s been a process. And I’m still learning and wading through it. It is most certainly a struggle.
February 14, 2008 at 9:40 pm
May you be blessed and find what the Lord has in store for you, my friend. Whatever you do, please don’t give up.
February 21, 2008 at 6:51 pm