It's not been the best of years to be Orthodox in the Antiochian Archdiocese. Byzantine finances, felons in official structures, a sex offender restored to ministry involving parishes. And the beat goes on...
I wish it would all go away, but it will not. I wish it would change, but it won't, at least not for the near future. I'd like to wake up one morning and not say to myself "My goodness, what are they thinking...?" It's push through time, slog on step by step, take care of the parish, play the game and wait for some breakthrough. Months? Years? Who knows?
I was hoping for something better. Actually, truth be told, I was expecting better. This is the Church, after all, and I know its made up of strugglers just like me but I was hoping that somehow there was a sum better than the parts. Perhaps there is in the whole of history but not in this moment.
So yesterday morning I stood in the back of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church and let the music and the liturgy wash over me. Now the rest of the story is supposed to go something like, "..and then my heart melted and great joy and peace flooded through my soul." Well it wasn't quite like that. I'm still tired. I'm still troubled. I'm still disappointed. Yet standing there I remembered why I came to this Faith and why I'll stay.
That's a start.
Monday, September 28, 2009
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Indeed, its in prayer that we remember why we are here, not in Archdiocesan conventions.
ReplyDeleteYes this is very demoralizing. But we must speak up, we must voice our concerns. They must hear from the laity, from the clergy, from the parish councils. If enough of us will let them know a) we are watching b)we won't tolerate sub-par performance - then things will change!
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