Another Milestone

I finally had the opportunity to participate in Holy Communion for the first time at St. Andrews on Christmas evening.  I actually celebrated the Christ Mass on Christmas!  My only disappointments were the low attendance and Fr. Ian MacGregor did not have a Scottish accent :^).  I continue to pray for the Lord's direction in my life as it appears I will soon be casting my lot with the Anglican Church.  I must confess, however, there continues to be a tugging at my heart from the direction of the Orthodox Church.  I also admit that my curiosity has me wanting to investigate the other Anglican parish in the local area.....All Souls.  It is much closer to home than St. Andrews.  Hopefully with Sunday mornings soon to be free, I will take the opportunity to check out these other churches before I make any final commitments.  I so want to find a permanent church home and I want it to be where my Lord would have me be.  I still believe that full time ministry could be in my future, so this next move in my spiritual journey is an important one.

I also want to mention that Lessons & Carols at St. Andrews Church on Sunday the 18th was beautiful and a real blessing.

Quote of the Day

"The Orthodox Church is evangelical, but not Protestant. It is orthodox, but not Jewish. It is catholic, but not Roman. It isn’t non-denominational – it is pre-denominational. It has believed, taught, preserved, defended and died for the Faith of the Apostles since the Day of Pentecost 2000 years ago."

I could get behind a statement like that.

A Case for Eastern Orthodoxy

Very beautiful testimony.....thought provoking:

http://orthodoxconversionstory.blogspot.com/2008/04/i-can-feel-it-coming-dramatic-pause-and.html

It would seem that Orthodoxy, at the very least, forces one to get serious about their faith.

Saint Nicholas

Excellent article on Santa (St. Nick):

http://orthodoxbridge.com/?p=411

God Speaks

Why couldn't I have just stayed a "happy Baptist", teaching an adult Sunday school class and not always be nosing around, having to learn new things?  Well the answer to that is obvious and so,  now, almost twenty years removed from those "Baptist days" here is where I find myself:

I am a member of a Presbyterian Church where I have the privilege and blessing to minister in the music program.  However, I feel myself drawn in other directions....again.  I have been visiting a local Anglican parish and their mid-week book study for a month.  I am loving it and believe, at this point, that is where I will find myself in the coming months, if not weeks, if they will have me.  There is also this strange fascination with the Christian Orthodox Church through the Internet as I listen to their wonderful acapella hymns and chants and even most of the teaching sounds "straight", but I wouldn't want to get involved with something far out like the Orthodox Church, right?  Besides, the nearest parish is 36 miles away in a neighboring county.

God's will.....we as Christians want to "do" God's will.  Is it God's will that I have moved through many different churches during my Christian walk?  As I have said in the past, there is this constant "restlessness" that drives me.  Is it of God, or me?....that's the $64,000 question.  I heard John MacArthur once say that if we are following and serving the Lord to the best of our knowledge and ability, then God's will should be whatever it is we want to do.  Ok, let's go with that theory for a moment.  I am definitely in a better spiritual state than I have been for the past several years (that's not saying a lot, you understand).

  So, what do I "want" right now?  I want to be in full time Christian ministry.  I don't want to sell auto parts.

Ok, then where does a person begin?  I will be 58 years old a week from today.  I still have a mortgage.  Some would say the situation is impossible.  Some would say "It's too late, give it up."

Now there is one problem with that attitude:  I believe God has stepped in and "spoken".  No, I did not hear an audible voice.  However, twice during prayer over the past few weeks I have experienced something extraordinary.  A few weeks ago a "thought" invaded my morning prayer saying "go to school", or "it's alright to return to school".  Please understand this isn't "normal" for me.  I know when my mind is wandering during prayer, and this wasn't that.  I am going with the idea it was the Lord speaking.  A similar situation occurred just this week as, once again during morning prayer, I "heard":  "Do what you want to do."

That is where I am right now, at this point of my existence on this planet....6:00AM, Sunday morning,  December 11, 2011.  

All I know to do at this moment is to ask you to please pray for me.

  

Praying to Saints

As I continue my personal investigation of the Anglican church and the Orthodox church it would seem scripture teaches we are not to pray to departed saints:


And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?
(Isaiah 8:19 ESV)


For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

(1 Timothy 2:5 ESV)


There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,

(Deuteronomy 18:10-11 ESV)

The Anglican 39 Articles of Faith apparently agrees with this view, but there are some "high church" Anglicans and anglo-catholic churches who do practice praying to the saints.  The proponents of this practice would argue this is no different than asking a living saint (any believer?) to pray for you.  After all, they say, those saints who have gone before us are not dead, but actually alive in heaven.

Advent in 2 Minutes

Thought for the Day

"Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world."--Unknown (to me at least)

Orthodox Theology: Salvation

I am currently studying the teachings of the Christian Orthodox church.  As I find important and interesting points in this theology, I will post them on this blog so I can "catalog" them and retain them for reference purposes.  This is from an article entitled "Miles from the Truth, A Response to "Thema:  Eastern Heterodoxy":

"The Orthodox Church teaches that we are saved only on the basis of God’s grace. However, God himself has established conditions for us to receive this grace, namely faith and works—the first of which must be repentance. These conditions do not earn our salvation, but God nonetheless requires them of us, and this is what the Scriptures and the Holy Fathers through every century have taught. In fact, it is also what many Protestants teach."

I don't see a real problem with this.