Kulich: Russian Pascha Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 & 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
1 tsp granulated sugar
3 packages active dry yeast
2 cups powdered sugar
7 cups white flour
1 additional cup white flour
2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
10 egg yolks
1/2 pound butter
Additional butter or cooking spray

Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar
4 TBSP cold water
2 tsp lemon juice
Sprinkles, 3 beeswax candles (one per cake)

Supplies:

3 empty coffee cans, washed and dried

(Be sure to remove the inner lip of the can with a can opener before using.)

Directions:

Heat the milk until lukewarm. After removing from heat, add yeast and granulated sugar. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Combine powdered sugar, 4 & 2/3 cups flour and the salt. Add yeast mixture to flour mixture. Incorporate vanilla, egg yolks and butter. Beat until it forms a medium, soft batter and then add remaining flour (2 & 1/3 cups).

Knead and add more flour from reserved cup as necessary, until smooth. Allow dough to rise for 3 hours.

Punch down dough gently and divide into thirds.

Grease three coffee cans and place dough inside of each.

Allow to rise at least another hour. Bake in preheated oven of 325 degrees for about 50 minutes. Baking time depends on oven variations. Bake until skewer inserted in middle of cake comes out clean.

Note: move the oven rack to the lowest level, as the cakes will rise past the tops of the cans

Cool cakes in cans on rack for 15 minutes. Carefully remove cakes from the cans and allow to continue cooling. Wrap cakes in foil and freeze until Pascha.

Thaw cakes on Holy Saturday. Mix icing ingredients until smooth. Only ice the tops of the cakes and allow icing to drizzle down the sides. Decorate according to taste.


To serve Kulich, turn the cake on its side and slice into round sections.


Yield: 3 cakes

Dropkick

Uncreated Light is divine energy. Contemplation of Uncreated Light begets, first and foremost, an all absorbing feeling of the living God - an immaterial feeling of the immaterial, an intuitive, not a rational perception - which transports man with irresistible force into another world, but so warily that he neither realizes when it happens nor knows whether he is in or out of the body.

The Undistorted Image : Staretz Silouan, 1866-1938 ~ by Archimandrite Sophrony

After the Liturgy of the Presanctified gifts on Wednesday evening, Father was praying for me and some other chronically ill ones, anointing us with oil. We do this without fail after every service. Father will even send an alter server to fetch me if I forget to come up. It's like a club, sort of. A club to which I'd gladly have my membership revoked, but for the time being, it is where I find myself.

Usually it is simply a duty I perform. Father asks it of me, and so I obey. I only allow myself the most brief moments during the week to consider if it might "be working," as hoping is simply another pain I have to bear.

But Father believes and on Wednesday, for a split second, God got through to me. For a split second I was engulfed in pure, bright Hope. It was an overwhelming sensation I felt in my soul. Then it was gone. Self-pity and fear quickly pounced on me and I immediately felt overcome with shame for pitying myself and for fearing Hope.  Tears could not be prevented. I sat down before the icon of Christ, feeling like a feeble shell of a human being.  Empty.

Empty and therefore ready to be filled.

Later a friend, a catechumen, came and asked me if I was ok because I looked upset.

"I'm fine" I said.  "It's just Lent.  It does this to you."

Sometimes a person requires not a gentle knock on the door of her heart, but a dropkick. Lent provides these occasions for us. In the dim lamplight of the mournful services, our hearts are searched out by the passionate love of God. It draws us out of our comfortably worn hiding places, calling us to union with Holiness. Wounds are exposed, weakness is uncovered and it can hurt, I tell you. It can reduce a person to a puddle of tears. And it is all for our healing and it is indescribably powerful.

Tomorrow morning I will drag myself out of bed, drink some strong coffee, take some pain medication and head off to my job as usual. It will be another day of me struggling against my broken, messed-up flesh and trying to do a little good. But come evening, I can go back to church to sing and bow down and pray to God. It is the best place. It is my favourite place (and when I say place, I hope you understand I am not speaking of a building). There, I can draw a little closer to God and although this causes me to feel my sin so much more acutely, I can also be healed of it; I can allow God to take it all away, to consume it by his love.

Finale

Alice in Wonderland - If I had a World of my own...
By Brandon Christopher Warren

Remember life before Facebook? Yeah....remember that?  I joined only 5 1/2 years ago and it now seems as if Facebook has always just been there.

It's kind of like, I don't know...the internet.

In 1996, just before I graduated high school (and at the time we took 5 years of high school here in Ontario, so I was 19 years old), our teacher took us into the computer lab to show us something.  He pointed at one of the monitors that was displaying a simple text web page (although none of us had any clue what that was) and said "class, this is the internet."

 

The INTERNET?  What strange wonder was this? I pictured a web made of cables spread out over the world. I couldn't have imagined at that moment how much the world wide web was going to shape my life in the coming years.  I started University in the fall of '96, at which time I got my first email account.  It was on a program called "Pine" and it looked like this:

Even from its most rudimentary days, email changed a lot of things and opened up social possibilities.  It used to be that you would maintain (relative to today's standards) a small group of friends, acquaintances and relatives. When you were not within local phone calling distance, you would have to be fairly invested in a friend in order to maintain contact, either by paying expensive long distance phone bills, or by writing letters by hand.  This was life as I knew it up until I was 19 years old.

For the first 6 or so years of life with the internet, I didn't use it much more than to keep in touch with friends and loved ones via email.  These were the days of dial-up, when it could take upwards of 5 minutes just to email an attachment.  Loading, reading, and replying to email was very time consuming and one could only get so much of it done in a given day.

Then in about 2003, my husband told me about these things called "blogs" a.k.a web logs.  He signed up with Live Journal and started blogging.  I thought it was silly at first.  It didn't make any sense to me that a person would write an intimate account of his life on the internet.  I had kept paper journals over the years and would never have dreamed of letting another person read them.  After a while though, I caved to the pressure and opened my first blog on Live Journal.  Thus began a large shift in my life toward having "online friends" and sharing a lot of my life on the internet.

Eventually we got high speed internet and that made communicating online even easier.  I had my LJ friends and my message board groups and also was a part of a few Yahoo email groups.  Then of course Facebook came along.  Again, I had no idea how all-consuming "Facebooking" would become and how much a part of my daily life it would eventually be when I signed up in 2007.  Through Facebook I made even more friends and many of them were re-acquaintances: people from my past with whom I may have never regained contact, were it not for Facebook.

In 2010 I became Orthodox and wanted to follow blogs of women who were similar to me.  I found an Orthodox women's web ring and joined.  Later I decided to open a whole new blog that reflected my Orthodox faith and stopped blogging on Live Journal.  That is how this blog came to be. I have enjoyed blogging here immensely.  I love writing and I love translating my thoughts and feelings into prose.  If I could make my living by writing I would absolutely love it.

However, last year, my beloved husband found himself out of a job and I soon ended my own career as a stay-at-home mother and got myself a job that pays cash, as opposed to sticky kisses and crayon drawings.  I have the marketable skill of being bilingual in a country that has two official languages and my family needed me to put it to use. It's been a good thing for me in many ways and the kids are older now and in school most of the time, so it's not too hard on everyone.  The only thing is that I have very little time and energy to put into writing.

I am no longer a stay-at-home mom looking for a creative outlet. I have a job that keeps me very busy and pushes me to the limits of my abilities. It fulfils my desire to be challenged and then some.

So I am going to stop blogging indefinitely.  I am going to stop spending time on Facebook indefinitely.  I will keep both sites open, but will not be active on them. I will be reachable via email and will still get my Facebook email notifications if anyone is needing to reach me.  If you want to contact me, just click on the "Message Me" icon, which links to my email.  I obviously want to continue writing, but maintaining this blog is too time consuming for me right now (although, if you want to throw a writing gig my way, by all means do!).

I am going back to my imperfectly ordinary life.  I'm going to write some letters by hand and read some books that have spines.  I'm going to chat with people face to face and share my stories in a circle of friends, rather than a web ring.  I'm going to keep in touch with people who are closest to me by putting in the necessary effort. My friends list will now be those to whom I send Christmas cards.  Please do keep in touch and I will do my best to do the same, it just won't be in the form of status updates and "likes."

I am going to reclaim my life, pick up where I left off and (hopefully) recapture what I had and who I was before my online life began.  Part of this is definitely based on a need to step away from what has become an unhealthy habit - to turn my eyes away from the screen, which in some ways is like a looking glass into which I narcissistically gaze far too many hours of each day.  The other part is that I am in my mid-thirties and I need to move on with my life.  I know there is more out there for me.  This world-wide-web ended up being way smaller than I thought it was.  The real world is far broader and holds the kinds of adventures I am now seeking.

Farewell for now, and may God bless you,

Jodie Anna

I Forgot How to Pray

Praying in Greek Church, Monparnasse Theodoros Rallis 1876

It seems odd that this would happen to me, given the importance of prayer in the life of a Christian. Nonetheless, I realised recently that I had quite forgotten how to pray - how to properly pray to God.

How does this happen to a person? Did I ever know how to pray? Why is prayer so hard and why, after all these years of being a Christian, am I still just not getting it?

I recently listened once again to the audio version of Metropolitan Anthony Bloom's book Beginning to Pray. As I did so, I came to understand a little better what prayer properly is.

Prayer is meeting with God in the inner room, that room that is within each of us, where our true self resides. For Christ did say that "the kingdom of God is within [us]" (Luke 17:21). It is through prayer that we enter the inner room and meet God there. In doing so we bring ourselves to Him, our loved ones to Him, our enemies to Him, our troubles, burdens, fears and yes also our joys and thanksgiving.  As we lay aside each earthly care, we are able to draw closer and closer into communion with God until all that is left is peace and the only prayer that remains is silence - the silence that comes from absolute trust in God's perfect love, from not desiring anything but to be with God.

I am far from there yet.  I am still in the fear and trembling phase of my approach toward God.  I find His presence overwhelming.  Sometimes entering into prayer is like jumping into an ice-cold lake that is deep and dark and frightening.  I usually find myself glued to the edge of the metaphorical dock, hesitant to allow the sharp sensation of entering into infinite love to take me.

Far too often I find myself standing on the outside of the room, with one hand held tentatively over the knocker. I hesitate because prayer requires a lot of me. It is work, hard work. My dear bishop told me that when I don't pray, it's because I don't want to pray. He is right. To pray we must take up our cross, we must choose to do hard work.

Lord have mercy on me! Lord, teach me to pray!


And so from the outset prayer is really our humble assent towards God, a moment when we turn God-wards, shy of coming near, knowing that if we meet Him too soon, before His grace has had time to help us to be capable of meeting Him, it will be judgement and all we can do is turn to Him with all the reverence, all the veneration, the worshipful adoration, the fear of God of which we are capable, with all the attention and earnestness which we may possess and ask him to do something with us that will make us capable of meeting Him face to face not for judgement not for condemnation, but for eternal life.

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom

Praying woman. Catacomb of Calixtus, Rome, early 4th c.

I Think I Did Something Right

"Don't Judge a Book by its Cover" - by PictureWendy

My Eldest girl takes a taxi to school and back every day.  Originally, I was a bit worried about how she would be able to handle being driven by a variety of unfamiliar men, as opposed to having the same familiar bus driver every day.

Well, she hasn't complained at all.  Last evening she was telling me about her latest driver. She said "most of the drivers wear baseball caps and casual clothes, but this man was all dressed up on a tuxedo (?!), with his hair all slicked back.  He has such a thick accent, you could cut it with a knife! And his teeth are very yellow - they all show when he smiles!"  She said this with such a sound of delight in her voice, the simple delight of discovering the beauty and uniqueness of another human being.

We always have raised our kids not to discriminate when it comes to people.  I have tried my best to show them that people are to be loved, not feared.  I am not perfect at it, but I have tried.

I strongly believe that all people should be treated with equal respect, regardless of their outward presentation. I know that, given different circumstances, the sharply dressed man in the Mercedes would be in the place of the haggard looking homeless man and vice versa.  I know that I am not defined by my looks or social status and that those who are either "successful" or impoverished are not entirely responsible for their own circumstances, "but time and chance happen to them all" (Eccl 9:11).

I don't want my children (let alone myself) to give too much reverence to a wealthy person, or to little to a poor person.  I don't want any of us to shy away from anyone whose appearance we may find unlovely, or to be awed by anyone whose appearance we may find beautiful. This started for me in high school, when I faced the ugly fact that I was uncomfortable around developmentally delayed people. So, I signed myself up to be a volunteer Special Olympics coach in my town.  That experience was so wonderful. I faced my discomfort and discovered so much love and beauty in my new friends.  I was inspired by their tenacity and zest for life, their joy over the smallest of victories. After that I was determined to force myself past shyness and uncertainty when dealing with the unfamiliar. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see life from a whole different angle and in doing so, catching a glimpse of something truly beautiful that was otherwise out of my view.

So when I saw my child just naturally taking this attitude, I felt like I had really done something right in life. Of all the reactions my girl could have had to her cab driver, she naturally inclined toward appreciating him instead of judging him. In spite of yellow teeth and a thick accent, what she saw was a man who loved his job and she found joy in his joy.

And as her mother, this is my joy.  Glory to God!

Cincinnati Chilli

I tried a new and exotic recipe yesterday.  Ok, it was exotic for us Canadians.  The recipe is usually a bit more involved than this, but this simplified version worked well for me and was delicious.

Cincinnati Chilli

2 tbsp olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 onions, diced
1 lb ground beef
2 tbsp chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups ground tomatoes
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups water
grated cheddar cheese

1. In a large pot, sauté onions and garlic in oil until soft.  Add ground beef and brown.  Drain off excess fat.
2. Stir in tomatoes, water, spices and cocoa and simmer on med-low heat for about 25 minutes (cover the pot once the chilli has reached the desired consistency).
3. While chilli is simmering, cook some spaghetti (I used whole wheat).
4. Serve the chilli over the cooked spaghetti and top it with grated cheddar cheese.

This dish is so savoury and delicious!  It's surprising that such a combination of different spices go so well together, but there you have it.  I will definitely be making this again!

Clothed in God

Israeli Defence Forces

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:53

Saint Gregory the Theologian 

On Baptism

As Christ, its giver, is called by many and diverse names, so also is his gift. Because of the great joy we experience either in regard to it … or because of its many forms of benefit, we have many names for it as well. We call it gift, grace, baptism, illumination, anointing, robe of incorruption, washing of rebirth, seal, everything honorable. It is gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; illumination because it radiates light; robe since it covers our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our safeguard and sign of God’s Lordship. In this the heavens rejoice together, this the angels glorify because it is like their great radiance. This is an image of the blessedness to come. We desire to sing forth its praises, but we are unable to do so worthily.

Since we are twofold, I mean body and soul, and our nature is visible yet also invisible, the purification is also twofold, through water and Spirit. The one is received in a way that can be seen and is bodily, as the other joins with it spiritually and in a way that cannot be seen. And the one is symbolic while the other is true and purifies the depths.

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Acts 2:38

Prayers During Holy Baptism

You that through Holy Baptism have granted forgiveness of sins to this Your servant, bestowing on him (her) a life of regeneration: do You Yourself, Sovereign Master and Lord, be pleased that the Light of Your countenance evermore shine in his (her) heart; maintain the shield of his (her) faith against the plotting of enemies; preserve in him (her) the garment of incorruption, which he (she) has put on undefiled and unstained; preserve in him (her) the Seal of Your Grace, being gracious unto us, and unto him (her) according to the multitude of Your compassions, for glorified and blessed is Your all-honorable and majestic Name: of Father, and of Son, and of Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and to the ages of ages.

.............................

You are baptized; you are illuminated; you are anointed with the Holy Myrrh, you are hallowed; you are washed clean, in the Name of Father, and of Son, and of Holy Spirit. Amen.

For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ.  Galatians 3:27

Colossians 3: 1-15

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering  bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

...................................................

Ok, so based on my last post, this may sound like a bit of a contradiction, but here is goes:

You might be holy.

Or maybe it's better to say "you could be holy," or "you have the potential to be holy." Either way, it's a start. You see, there is another side to the coin, there is a paradox to the Christian experience of holiness.  We are not holy, yet we are, yet we are not, yet we still are, yet we are definitely not. Yes, that's probably the best way to put it.

Some Christians have an answer to this paradox. They say that although we are sinners, by faith we can "put on Christ." This way, whenever God looks at us, instead of being repulsed and appalled by our sinfulness (and say, wanting to throw a lightening bolt at us), he sees his beloved Son. As long as we are wearing our Jesus mask, God accepts us and welcomes us into heaven.  This is how it was taught to me, back in the day. There was also this analogy that God sees us through Christ, as if Christ were a lens that brings us into the clarity of holiness in the eyes of God.

There is no doubt that Christians "put on Christ" at baptism (Gal 3:27), but what does this exactly mean and what does it do for us?  We have had holiness handed to us, that is for sure, but how many of us ever fully grasp it and attain it?

Being clothed in God does not at all mean that we simply have our sins covered up. God is not a fan of whitewashed tombs.  It means that we are really changed, that we take up a new life - Christ's life - and wear it as our own. Putting on Christ means we we take it all up: His cross, His death, His resurrection and His sitting at the right hand of the Father.

This is what we do when we are baptised - we take up the Life of Christ, we are "born again."  The subsequent nurturing and sustaining of this new life is the ongoing process of our salvation, which we Orthodox call "theosis." So those who have been baptised, those who have "put on Christ" become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and are gradually conformed to the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29).

This is sounding really hopeful! We can be holy! But think of the analogy of being born again and remember that babies need to be nurtured and fed so that they can grow up. Our baptism is just the beginning of our new life in Christ.  We need to "grow up in our salvation" (1 Peter 2: 2-3) and doing so requires both the empowering of the Holy Spirit (at baptism) and our own decision to follow Christ daily.  This is what St. Paul called "working out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12).

So, simply speaking from my own experience, I know that I am not holy yet. I am still working it out. I have seen the true light, I have received the heavenly Spirit, I have found the true Faith, worshipping the undivided Trinity, who has saved me...and the whole world.  But I also know that I am the chief of sinners, deeply affected by sin and in great need of healing and rehabilitation. Will the rest of my lifetime be long enough for this to be completed? Lord have mercy on me!

All I can do is cling to Christ. He has the power to do for me what I can never do for myself.  However it's not enough for God that we are cloaked in life, but still dead on the inside. He wants to clothe us in a way that we are completely transformed from the inside out, that the life of Christ consumes all evil in us and makes us shine with God's radiant holiness.

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”  1 Corinthians 15:54

You're Not Holy Yet, Trust Me

You know what I loved about being a born again Christian?  Eternal security, that's what.  What a fantastic doctrine that is.  I figured that if my choices were between getting a ticket to ride on the highway to Hell, or an eternal passport to Heaven, well, there wasn't much to think about - I wanted my passport stamped by the Holy Spirit himself, with the promise that it would never, ever expire or be revoked.

I was young, kind of awkward (and when I say kind of I mean totally) and wanted to feel...well...secure - eternally secure even.  I wanted God to give me the big thumbs up and to know that there was nothing I could do that would make me lose my salvation.

I was sure my eternal passport was valid, as I had gone through the necessary administrative process to obtain it: Sinner's prayer - check, Believer's baptism - check, Holy Spirit - stamp, stamp, stamp and check. I was good to go.

Yet I was not good to go. I was far from good and, spiritually speaking, the only place I was going was in circles.

It would have helped me to know that people are not dipped in an impenetrable holiness coating when they confess faith in Christ and that there is (sadly) no such thing as an eternal passport.

Oh, well, some will argue with me on that, but hear me out for a minute. Our salvation comes through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and this relationship is one of healing and restoration.  Christ became our salvation on the cross - he became cursed to heal our curse; he died to defeat death and free us from its grip and he rose from the dead to bring us triumphant life. All this is true. At the same time, we who decide to be in a relationship with God are still sinful beings.

Trust me, if being healed was simply a matter of making a heartfelt decision, I would be the first one to declare "I don't have a debilitating illness - I'm FINE" and start enjoying my life as a completely healthy person. But that doesn't work (trust me, I tried it...at least twice).  The same thing goes for being healed from the disease of sin. We may decide most heartily to stop sinning, but recovery from sinfulness is a long and usually painfully slow process, which even the Apostle Paul attested to in his writings.

I have been corrected before for calling myself "a sinner."  A family member once told me "you are not a sinner; you are a saint who sins sometimes!"  I might have agreed with her if by "sometimes" she had meant "constantly" and if by "saint" she had meant "pathetic-wretch-who-is-doing-her-best-but-continually-fails."

I don't mean to be such a downer, but frankly, this is our situation.  Look around and ask yourself what is causing the majority of the pain in the world.  It's people - sinful people who keep hurting others either intentionally or unintentionally. And let's not kid ourselves: professing Christians do their fair share of hurting people in this world.

Thanks to the writers of the NIV conveniently translating the word "flesh" as "sinful nature" there is a popular notion that Christians are saints who have this extra component called "the sinful nature" (whatever that is). I mean, it's convenient, I'll give you that.  It makes it so that we can disassociate ourselves from our own sinful behaviour. What, that? That wasn't me, I am a saint! That was simply my "sinful nature" flaring up again. That darn thing.

Let's get real Christian people: the person doing the sinning is YOU; it's ME.  God forgive us, especially for making excuses, rationalizations and flat out being in denial of our sinfulness.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:8-10

God didn't make us to be sinners, of course. Yet we fell ill. We fell seriously ill, that is. We are shadows of what God made us to be. We suffer from a condition that brings about sickly thoughts, actions, words and emotions. We harm each other without hardly thinking about it.  Sometimes it just seems to happen and we are left wondering how everything went so horribly wrong.  We are lost and blind in a world full of ditches.

Christ came to rescue us from ourselves and to give us the choice to take up his cross and follow Him - so that as we walk with Him our suffering will turn into salvation.  This requires several things on our part: a will to get up and follow Him, humility to confess our sins and reject them, and a conscious yielding to God and participation with Him, as suffering and death turn into life and salvation in us.

So, it's not so much an eternal passport that Jesus Christ gives us; it's much more like an eternal road map. The Way is clearly marked and the destination is sure, but we must pick up the map and we must follow it without straying until we have finished travelling this earth.

Eternal security is not something I claim any more. There was no eternal passport, but I did discover that since salvation is something I participate in, something I have to choose each day, my faith means so much more to me.  I am less aimless because I know that all I need to do is follow "the Way" and I'll be right on track. I am also less delusional about myself and far less shocked when I find myself sinning - yet again.  I will be judged according to what I have done in the flesh, whether good or evil, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I no longer have a false sense of eternal security; I have a real sense of God's incredible mercy - that while we are still sinners, Christ saves us.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ Jeremiah 7:23

Read my follow up to this post: Clothed in God

What Binds Us Together

A lot of Christians will tell you that their beliefs are clearly outlined in Scripture and that the Bible is their one true measure for sound doctrine. I'm fine with these kind of assertions and would encourage all Christians to read the Scriptures and live by them.  The problem, however, is that not all Christians who read the Bible and try to live by it do so in communion with the rest of Christianity.

The obvious question here is why all "Bible-Believing" Christians don't go to the same church and do not share the same doctrines and religious practices? If God is speaking to us through the Scriptures, why are we not all hearing the same thing? It's a valid question, right? And I'm sure it's a question that opponents to Christianity ask as well.

Now the problem with the it's-just-me-and-my-Bible approach to Christianity is not the "Bible" part of course, it's the "just me" part.  With this philosophy, each person ends up being his own chief bishop in a diocese of one. And when everyone is his own judge of what true Christianity is, conflicts often arise and communion is far too often broken.  Sadly, parting ways with other Christians is quite easy, since the average North American town has 58429658122458 different churches in it and you could start attending a new one and never see your former church buddies again - except for those rare and unfortunate run-ins at the supermarket (or, cringe the liquor store). In reaction to this ideological chaos, churches end up continually adjusting to the latest teaching and worship fads to keep attendance up, as "church shoppers" file in and out through their revolving front doors.

When did being a Christian become such a lonely endeavour?  Why is the "church" so split up and scattered?

Here's the thing: the Bible was not inscribed by the hand of God on a stone tablet for us. It did not float down out of heaven on a cloud either.  Because of this, we have to accept that humans were given authority by God to preach the Gospel and found the Christian Church. Jesus didn't say to his disciples "here guys, just take this copy of the NIV and share it with as many people as possible." And Christ surely could have written a book, but he didn't.  He built relationships with his disciples instead and taught them how to follow him. Then, he imparted his power to them and commissioned them to preach the Gospel to the whole world.

And here's a good question: what do you think happened for the first few hundred years of Christianity before the New Testament canon of Scripture was decided and for the 1500 years before the printing press was invented? Yeah, that's right, not everyone had a Bible, as we know it, to read. But that was fine because God, wise, loving Father that He is, had it covered.  He had a good and more than sufficient plan to sustain His Church so that the "gates of hades would not prevail against it," without requiring all Christians to own a Bible.

Most importantly, He sent the Holy Spirit to empower, give life to, speak truth to and comfort Christians. Secondly, Christ commissioned his Apostles and the traditions he gave them were passed on from bishop to bishop through the ages. Finally, the one thing that must never be forgotten: God fills us with his love and this love is what is supposed to set us apart from the rest of the world and bind us together in communion.

Now, just from reading some of St. Paul's Epistles, you would wonder how Christianity made it out of the first century, since Christians were coming up with bad doctrines and dividing over them almost immediately. However, regardless of the fact that the New Testament had not yet been written and the Gospel had to be spread by 12 guys who were travelling mostly by foot, the Christian Church grew and thrived. The Apostles laid hands on people and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.  They passed on the teachings of Christ, baptising these new "Christians" in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  They worked miracles, had visions, healed people and were instantly transported great distances for the sake of the Gospel.  They were given authority by Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit for their mission and these were no small gifts.

Despite all of the challenges they faced, they were all "of one accord."  They agreed with each other and when they didn't, they worked it out and came to a mutual understanding. They must  have had some difficult conversations for sure, but never did they say "Oh well, Paul can go have his gentile church and Peter can go have his Jewish church."  They knew the body of Christ was not to be divided like that!  They knew that the message of the Gospel would be destroyed if such divisions were to take place.  St. Paul later wrote to the Galatians "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (ch 3 vs 28).

Here is another blatant fact: not all of the Apostles teachings were written in the New Testament Scriptures.  To do so really would have been impossible, for they each spent the rest of their lives tending to the flocks God gave them, teaching them by word and example all the while. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 demonstrates this fact: St. Paul writes "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle" and later he exhorts "But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you..." (2 Thes 3: 6-7).

Christian life involves action, imitation of Christ and a working out ones salvation through acts of love, mercy and humility.  It's not just academic, it is practical and the Apostles had to share this aspect of faith through example. They had to demonstrate what a godly life looked like.  And not only is Christianity practical, it is sacramental.  Sacraments are things in which we participate.  They can be written about, but to learn them and experience them, you need to "be there."  Simply try to imagine all the many things the Apostles must have taught the churches through their physical presence and by the passing on of the Sacraments of baptism and chrismation, the holy Eucharist, anointing of the sick, ordination, confession and marriage.

Over time, the Christian faith was also taught, preserved and passed on through hagiography, hymnography and iconography.  The Seven Ecumenical Councils also played a very important role in the history and development of the Christian faith and cannot be discounted or ignored.  They helped the Christian Church formulate its theology, refute heresy and come to consensus on very important matters of faith and practice. It was from the first two Ecumenical Councils that we received the Nicene Creed - a statement of faith that is shared by Orthodox Christians to this day. This creed unites Christians in mutual faith.

The most important thing however is that Christ is our source of Life and this unites us to each other. That which binds Christians together is the love of Christ: love that trampled down death by death, love that pulls us up from the pit, love that sets our feet on a rock, love poured upon our heads like precious oil, love feeding us in the wilderness, love meeting us in the fiery furnace, love filling our cup until it overflows and seating us at a lavish banquet.  Christ's love takes us up into the heavenly kingdom.  It brings us heaven now. It heals us, so that even in our broken condition, we may glorify God and we may love our brothers, sisters, neighbours and even our enemies.

Picture now the Church, God's pure bride, being cut into a million slivers, every cut being a doctrinal line of division.  Is this dissected Bride beautiful? Is she glorious?  Is Christ's true Church like a million particles of dust blown across the earth?  If you told me God would be ok with that, I would have to conclude that God had abandoned his Bride.  No Bridegroom would allow his beloved to be torn apart.  No loving God would be pleased to see his children estranged from each other, dividing over doctrine and personal conviction.

You cannot say that God doesn't care whether or not the Church is a singular, united Body, since the Church is His Body and God is One.

1 Peter 4:8

And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins."

John 13:34-35

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.

Romans 12:5

so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.

John 17: 20-23

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

The bottom line is that you don't get to decide what Christianity is. It's not a matter of taste or debate. The Scriptures must not be interpreted in any way that would divide the Body of Christ.  They were not written down and given to us so that we could "be Christian" without being in the Church.

Some say "I follow Luther" others say "I follow Calvin" and yet others say "I follow Billy Graham" but Christ is not divided! He has one body and one Church. For those who call themselves Christians, this has an undeniable implication.

May the Love of Christ compel us to reject a divided, broken version of Christianity and choose unity above all else.

One Does Not Simply....