Some words...

The stories have been unfolding through channels, official and otherwise, regarding the happenings at our Archdiocesan Convention in California and if even half the stories are true these days will not be remembered as the best of times. Security guards taking documents from delegates. Clergy threatened and called names, physical confrontations. The list goes on and its unsavory to say the least. Someone looking in at us from the outside searching for hope would surely be discouraged. For the moment the world seems covered in shadows.

This is not what we were meant to be.

We need to be a church that is conciliar, accountable, vital, holy, alive, and faithful. In a word we need our Church to be Orthodox in the best sense of the word. We need a Church that represents our highest aspirations and not our lowest machinations. We need a Church where truth and trust are not rare and holiness is abundant. We need the Church to realize itself as the Kingdom of God, a trust and not a possession. In a world of grays we need the Church to shine with clear light.

We will get there.

Such times as these are what always happen when an old order dies and a new one is born. We're in the travail of birth as the past is loosening its grip and the future is unfolding. Hearts are being stirred and hearts will not be denied. Night will break into dawn, it is inevitable, it is the nature of things.

The fires of this time are unpleasant but through them purity will come, in ourselves, our institutions, and our character. This is the fire of love, a sign that God has not abandoned us, a sign that we remain, despite our mortality, his children. If we listen and heed we will do well.

I am tired and frustrated by it all. I would like to think this is a dream and that at some moment I will wake up and find myself safe in my own bed. Sadly this is not so. A time of struggle and hardship is upon us and the only way out is through.

Yet there is light.

The tides of history have washed over us and we have survived. Empires have risen and fallen and we remain. Some times we glow like fired steel and other times we are cold like wet stones yet we still exist. This moment in time is harsh and painful but it will pass. The One who brought us into being has promised His presence and when times and people and events run against us our hope in that presence endures.

And so will we.