A Baptist Minister Visits an Orthodox Church - Pt 3

Dear Parish Faithful,

I am forwarding Terry Morgan's response to the Baptist pastor who wrote an intriguing description about his visit to an Orthodox parish. Most of you have already read that and it was the subject of yesterday's homily. Terry wrote this directly to Pastor Atkinson, and there are many valuable observations in his letter.

Fr. Steven

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Dear Pastor Atkinson,

I enjoyed reading your observations on Orthodox worship, especially as I was a convert at age 50 and have a BDiv from Ashland Theological Seminary (Brethren Church.)

I came to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1967 to work on a PhD in Semitic languages and Old Testament, and although I never finished the degree, we never left. While in Cincinnati we attended a Missouri Lutheran church in the inner city (old group moved out, some stayed to minister), and later a Church of Christ. The Lutherans encouraged a liturgical worship service in me. The Church of Christ didn't, except for one thing: Each Christmas they performed a Boar's Head & Yule Log Pageant. It was a huge production, done three times on one day with a packed house each time. Near the end the entire cast was at the front of the church and sang "Let all mortal flesh keep silent." During one verse, when reference was made to seraphim and cherubim bowing down in worship, the entire cast slowly knealt till our faces were at the floor. Then in the final verse we all rose, and at the very end everyone was standing with arms raised high. It was moving in the extreme, and the most worshipful experience I could imagine. Our music minister used to say "Worship is a verb, not a noun." I often wanted to ask when besides the Boar's Head we were going to do some of it.

During a period of unemployment I had to take a job working on Sundays, and some other things came up that made me lose commitment to that congregation, and I visited Christ the Savior Orthodox Church. It didn't take me long to decide that it was my real home. My wife was much less enthusiastic! It was only after I decided to join that she agreed to come for a visit. Fortunately, she came on a Sunday that celebrated the Cross. During that service the entire congregation sings a beautiful hymn that goes:

Before Thy cross, we fall down in worship, O Master,
And Thy holy resurrection we glorify!

It is sung three times, and each time all those who are able kneel and bow their heads to the floor. My wife's reaction was, "That is beautiful! They actually do what they sing!" (We had both been in Protestant services where the text of the hymn was at total odds with the singing.) My wife was hooked.

A further observation: There is a certain intensity on the part of the worshipers who are focused on prayer and worship which can make them seem to be unfriendly or ignoring the stranger. That is good for the person worshipping, but a problem for the visitor. (I once visited another Orthodox church, and felt totally ignored, even though it was obvious I didn't fit in. However it was not due to the intense worship. Several people were carrying on conversations having nothing to do with the Spirit.) As a result of my wife's observations, and my own experience at the visited church, I vowed that I would always watch for anyone I didn't recognize, and make a real effort to welcome that person and help him/her feel at home. I have several allies in this project, and we are usually successful at meeting all visitors. Needless to say, I have made a fool of myself several times, but better a fool for Christ than a comfortable servant of the enemy!

There are two things that I found very different in Orthodoxy from the Protestant churches in which I had grown up. The first - which you note - is theology. You are right, the liturgy and the hymnology is absolutely loaded with serious doses of theology. And I have found that most of our lay people know and understand what is being said. The worship and the prayers are consciously teaching tools. In contrast, I have found that many Protestant laymen either don't know the theology of their church, or don't care. (I won't get into churches that don't even have a theology that you can pin down.) That at least partly explains why Protestants can so easily church "shop and hop." I'm talking about myself here - we left the Lutheran Church for the Church of Christ mainly because they had a very active Sunday School, even though I was fully aware of all the theological differences.

The other thing I found striking was that Orthodox have a very real, living sense of history, while the Protestants with whom I have resided seemed to act as though there was no church history between the book of Acts and the founding of their particular denominations. With the Lutherans everything started with Luther and company. With Methodists it was John Wesley. In the Church of Christ it was the revival meetings in the 1800's. But the worship and church calendar in the Orthodox Church make the people always conscious of their history. We celebrate the 7 ecumenical councils. (How many Protestants have never even heard of them?) We commemorate saints galore, and each one brings to mind a period of the church's history.

I would also mention one other thing. Being Orthodox does not make us judgemental or exclusivist. (At least, it shouldn't!) Our proper answer when confronted with a different church is that we know where the true church is (Orthodoxy), but we don't know where it is not, so we can't judge. (Unless they are teaching or practicing obvious and serious heresies.) For example, our congregation is cooperating with many other churches - Protestant and Catholic - in a prison ministry. I and another man are among those who spend 2 full weekends each year at a state prison in a program called Kairos. Dan and I also go there most Sunday evenings for prayer and sharing with the inmates, none of whom are likely to ever become Orthodox. Many others in the church are involved in back-up roles such as cooking for the weekend, baking cookies, prayer and financial gifts. We also maintain a food pantry for those in need, Father has some cash available for special needs, and we have often participated in Angel Tree to provide Christmas gifts for children of prisoners. (We are also heavily involved is supporting an orphanage in Guatemala, but since it is Orthodox, that doesn't demonstrate our ecumenicity.)

I would say, in conclusion, that God may indeed be calling you to Orthodoxy, or He may be educating you about us so that you can be used as a bridge between parts of His sadly fragmented body. We desperately need such bridges! We even need them within Orthodoxy in America, where we are broken into several "jurisdictions" that we all know are a scandal, but we can't seem to find ways to heal. I will pray for our Lord to lead you (and your family) in the way He wants you to go. And I most readily admit, it may not be Orthodoxy. But wherever God leads you and your family,

May He bless you with all things good and profitable to your souls,
Keep you strong and faithful in His service,
Make His face shine on you that others will see His glory more clearly,
Be gracious to you so you can be an instrument of His grace to those around you,
And give you that peace that is more wonderful than we can ever imagine. Amen!

4 Him
Terry Morgan
Cincinnati, OH