16 September 2006
My family, while accustomed to my need to observe a fasting rule, is really quite perplexed by it all. Why abstain from meat, fish, cheese, oil and alcohol? What is so special about not eating things cooked in oil? Where in Scripture does this list of restrictions appear? Why Wednesday? Why Friday? Why on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross? In essence, "Why in the heck are you doing this?"
There is nothing in the Lutheran faith system that can explain these things. Luther speaks of fasting before receiving Holy Communion as “fine outward training”, but not required. The Lutheran confessions speak of fasting in several places, again emphasizing, "not…necessary acts of worship", and certainly rejecting anything obligatory with regard to types and days. So over the years "not necessary" has become “we don't have to so we won't” for most.
But I find fasting to be just another perfect tool in the Christian tool box. Of course, fasting, when coupled with prayer, almsgiving, obedience, is like taking a scalpel to our unruly flesh. And certainly, this is the ultimate purpose, but it is also just one of many means the Church uses to remind us who we are.
Another tool in that box is the icon corner, a special place in the home where we go to pray. I can't walk in the room where that icon corner is without recognizing it as a sacred space. After all, it is the place where I prostrate and pray to God every day! Just walking by our icon corners reminds us who we are.
And then there are the special times throughout the year; Lent, Holy Week, Advent, Feast Days, the Apostles Fast, the Dormition Fast. Each with their corresponding worship services and fasting rule. As we look at our "week-at-a-glance" calendars, we can't help but be reminded who we are.
Of course, there are also the power tools, the Sacraments; Baptism, Confession, Chrismation, Holy Communion, Marriage, Ordination, Holy Unction. Each grace-giving experience reminding us who we are.
As Orthodox Christians it is impossible to forget who we are. We are repeatedly bombarded with reminders…when we receive the Sacraments, when we worship, when we pray, when we look at a calendar, when it is Wednesday and we fast, when it is Friday and we fast, when it is a feast day and we gather for special worship, when we even catch a glimpse of the icon corner as we travel from one room to the next. And we do not do these things in isolation or individually but we worship, fast and pray in community. So it is not just me alone being constantly reminded who I am but our orthopraxia or "right practice" constantly reminds all of us together, all Orthodox Christians, who we are.
Our life in Christ is not experienced as fractured moments in time but is interwoven each day, all day, and we are given various cues by our practices to remind us of this.
Orthodox Christians have a full tool box, everything God has give His people to work out their salvation, to finish the race. When we use these tools we are reminded who we are and, consequently, Whose we are.
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6 comments:
Been wondering as I wander...busier than a bee. Just dropping by to say thanks for the little oasis on the net here. Four good keepers. The "tool kit" and "much is given" are fabulous.
I'm thinking the images we use say a lot about to whom we're trying to explain our conversions. And the tool kits says a lot in your case. The funny thing is the more Orthodox this soon-to-be catechumen talks with, the more the stories seem to stress many of the same things. We know how to talk to each other...as it all reached us. The hard bit is figuring out how to reach those still shaking their heads at the door sounding like Ricky ("...you got some 'splainin' to do") Ricardo. Sheesh. You'd think we'd joined the Moonies or the Hari Krishna's.
I'm trying to find Frederica's line in "Facing East" on the couples that come to visit their parish....'cause it seems spot on...but I seem to have lost it.
You're on a roll. Keep it up! (And thanks for the software ideas).
Hey, stranger! Good to hear from you and thanks much for the encouragement.
I hope you can find that line from Frederica because I'd like to keep whatever advice she has in mind when I write these things.
But don't look too hard. I am fast becoming a member of the Frederica fan club and will be reading "Facing East" myself soon.
I meet on Sunday evening with some of the Lutherans from my former church to discuss Christian literature. (mostly Lewis so far but we might do some Day, O'Conner and possibly Merton as well...depending upon how things go.) Anyway, one of the participants has a PhD in literature and even though she is a Lutheran she is a full fledged Frederica fan! So I have been listening to some Frederica tapes and reading her essays. She is quite endearing. I like her old hippie origins. I can somewhat relate.
You'll have to let us know when you enter the catechumenate...or when your Chrismation date is set. Whichever comes first for you, as these things can vary.
Hey, neighbor... Can I borrow your power saw? ;)
As always, you give much to think about. Here in the Lutheran church, it often seems, "how many of the tools can we throw away, and still be the church?"
Well, one could build a house with only a hand saw, hammer and nails by oneself…but the job would be harder and the end result might not be so great. Any good German knows…the best way to do something is to have the proper tools to do the job.
But imagine what kind of house could be built with all the right tools AND with a community who also has the same tools and knows how to use them!
The Lutherans lost something, both with regard to personal piety as well as with regard to the practice of piety across the communion, when they labeled the ancient practices as adiaphora and tossed them out because Scripture did not command them. (Although…when Christ said “when you fast” in Matt. 6:16, I would think they would have seen that as an implicit instruction.)
It’s easy to play Monday Morning Quarterback with the situation and say the Lutherans could have kept the practices with the proper catechesis. They were battling the abuses of the merit system of Rome and that had to seem to be an overwhelming obstacle at the time. 500 years later, however…
My experiences as a Lutheran were exactly what you say…what is the bare minimum. Well, a bare minimum may sustain life but if there is a famine, those dark valleys in our lives, and one has been living on the bare minimum what is the likelihood of the person surviving the famine amidst a community with only the minimum in their own cupboards? Compare that to the person who has been properly fed all along amidst a whole community with well stocked cupboards. I’d rather have something that my German mother would say “sticks to my ribs”.
At one point in the journey I actually tried to bring as much over to my Lutheran setting as possible in my own personal piety…private confession, the rosary, icons, the Western fast…any tool I could get my hands on. But at best I was in isolation from the community using tools not everyone had, at worst I was chastised by the community for what was interpreted as trying to “earn my salvation” on my own merits.
In Orthodoxy the heart meets the head and the hands…right practice (orthopraxia) goes hand in hand with right doctrine (orthodoxia). It all works together beautifully, fully.
Please forgive me if I have offended you with my opinions about Lutheranism. Although I value my time as a Lutheran…as it was preparation for me to be able to see the Light in Orthodoxy…I will admit there are times I lament the lost years, especially the fact that my children did not have the opportunity to grow up in the Church and in this lament I have a weakness in speaking critically.
Hey, Dixie -
I feel like such an idiot. Looks like the whole intro to Frederica's book is what I wanted to find. Duh. Kept thinkin' it was the end of a chapter somewhere. Let my wife read it. Still unimpressed. Hmmmm. Looks like this may be a harder sell than I thought. Okay, so if maybe the Methodists have gone off the deepend in the interim...there's a chance? Seems like it's not right to wish for such a thing....but...nah. I'm not going there. Honest. But I will think about it.
Darling daughter called from Hotlanta....that E-Cola campus (just to be clear...that's as in Diet Coke). She's met a friend from Athens and been over to visit UGa. She responded to my email telling the kids that...yes, Dad is dropping off the deepend: "So you're going Greek? What the heck's the Orthodox church?" Like "My Big Fat." "Oh."
"Ikons." "Oh."
Yep. They're standin' in line. I just don't know whether they're coming or goin'. We're gonna take this nice and slow - like Ike and Tina never could.
So your daughter is in my neck of the woods, then? Is she in town for the game? Send her over to the Greek Orthodox Church in Athens...we'd love to have her!
I ordered Facing East from our bookstore last Sunday so I look forward to reading the foreward! :D
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