The Latest Ideas

I'm beginning to formulate a growth strategy based on some new information discovered about Parker and Castle Rock.

Running a constant ad promoting Orthodoxy in the Parker Chronicle is a good place to begin. The content of that ad will depend on the following:

Classes on Orthodoxy can be held for a small fee at the following locations for the not-for-profit rate:

The Parker Recreation Center, The Mainstreet Center, and the Ruth Memorial Chapel all have classroom space that can be rented for a nominal fee. Lemstone Christian Bookstore and the Steaming Bean also have space that can be used.

For vespers services, the Ruth Memorial Chapel in Parker and The Sanctuary at Christs Episcopal Church can be used. More arrangements need to be pursued at Christ's Episcopal Church through their priest Father Rick Meyers.

The Western Rite's Archpriest in our area, Fr. John Charles Connelly, has discouraged the pulling of current members of Saint Mark's Orthodox Church away from the parish in order to start a new mission, but Fr. John seemed to be fine with the attracting of new converts to Orthodoxy.

There is a group of Protestant Christians in our neighborhood that is attempting to go back to "the New Testament Church." These fine people wish to return to the days of the "house church."

If they can be persuaded to "think outside of the box" and meet with my wife and I and perhaps Fr. John Falconi of Saint Columba's, perhaps a strong case for Western Rite Orthodoxy can be presented to them.

By considering them, I, too, am attempting to think "outside of the box."

I must say that although I am greatly pleased by the Divine Liturgy at Saint Marks Antiochian Orthodox Church, I am less than pleased by the way Christian Community is currently practiced there. The church has experienced a wonderful growth spurt, but the "fellowship of the heart" that I've been longing for has yet to be established in my humble opinion.

We have the right theology at Saint Marks, but I believe we need the right Praxis to go along with it. There are many fine people there and I like all of them, but I would like to see more zeal.

There are many new Western Rite parishes coming into the Antiochian Archdiocese from the Charismatic Episcopal Church. At one time, I was a member of that group. I hope that their zeal will add a whole new dimension to the current Western Rite in Orthodoxy.

Orthodoxy can become a dead shrine if we start focusing on it more than the Blessed Trinity. The point of being Orthodox is to know, serve and love God, not to engage in continual self-congratulations that we have found the true faith.

Yes, I, too, have been going through a bit of a dry spell as of late. The layoff didn't help matters and the daily grind of daily life sometimes becomes a burden that swallows up the initial wonder I experienced as a new convert.

But I still believe in Holy Orthodoxy and I still believe that if you take the best thoughts from people like John Eldredge and balance it with Eastern Orthodoxy, you get a potent spiritual medicine.

I'm certain Father Falconi has held on to the best things from his pre-orthodox days. I also believe the new members from the CEC will do the same.

This is my hope, and I hope I can follow suit. There were good things in my spiritual life before I became Orthodox. Those things don't have to go away just because I'm now Orthodox.

Peace of Christ,

Columba Silouan

The Substance of the Soul

I was doing some reflection last evening about the stuff our souls are made of.

Here are my thoughts on the matter: I've come to realize that God has created us the way we are on purpose. The life we lead in our body inescapably affects the shape of our soul / spirit.

The Gnostic heresy that the physical world doesn't matter, that it's all about the spirit just doesn't hold up.

God created us as a unity of body and spirit. Our spirits die when we disobey God, our spirits live and develop as we obey God in our bodies.

Before the Fall of Man, this wouldn't have been any big deal. God created Man with a body for a reason. Men will have spiritual bodies in the next life. God created a physical universe for a reason.

Of course, His reason and reasons are way beyond our comprehension, but His reasons were and remain good ones, filled with His wisdom and love.

God didn't create us to stagnate or stand still. When we try to "stop the world" because we want to get off, we hurt the non-physical part of us, too.

God created us to grow for all Eternity. There is no choice but to choose to grow towards God or away from Him.

And we should rejoice that it is so. It is a great gift that He has given to us! Let's do everything in our power to embrace this great gift and use it wisely.

Peace of Christ to all,

Columba Silouan.

Major Interruption / Time to Reflect

When the summer of 2007 ended, my intention was to begin regular blogging again. On October the 26th, while I was enjoying a weekend with a couple of vacation days tacked on, my entire billing department was laid off from my company.

When I returned the next Wednesday, a co-worker said: "Are you okay? they just moved the entire accounting function to Atlanta."

I looked at him and said: "Well, I'm certainly not going with them!"

I found out very quickly that all of our jobs had been eliminated. Blogging would have to wait while I used my home computer for a more urgent need: Finding a new job.

Well, my new job at Western Union starts on Thursday, January the 10th. I'm home sick today, so it's time to break the ice and throw this update out there.

There are two Bible Studies going on near Parker at the current time: A women's Bible Study attended by my wife has four regular attendees. The men's Bible Study is being hosted on Thursday evenings at my house and is being led by a fine fellow from my parish. We had three men in attendance the last time.

There is a verse which states "Do not despise the day of small beginnings." That's one I'm hanging on to at the current time.

My dreams for a thriving and vital Western Rite Orthodox parish in Parker are still alive. I really want to break the mold and have a Ransomed Hearts flavor to this parish while maintaining Orthodox forms and piety.

I just saw a special on the Black Entertainment Network about one Bishop Ken Ulmer, a black pastor of a Los Angeles mega-church. His denomination is a Full Gospel denomination where he was recently ordained as a "bishop."

There are many aspects of Full Gospel Theology that parallel Orthodox Theology. One aspect of this is Lordship / Conditional salvation. Another aspect is Synergy. The gospel of the Full Gospel crowd and leaders like Jack Hayford, for instance is closer to Eastern Orthodoxy than other branches of Protestantism. In my pre-Orthodox days, I ran into bedrock truths through the Full Gospel movement that paved the way for my eventual recognition of and conversion to Orthodoxy.

The Reverend Ken Ulmer not a bishop in the Eastern Orthodox sense, but he struck me as a humble and God fearing man who is very genuine.

How can we as Orthodox Christians capture the zeal of such men and, from our perspective, heterodox ministries, while retaining our orthodoxy?

I think that it's important that we find a way to bridge these two worlds and get it done. Looking in on a Black Church made me aware of how much work remains to be done. Orthodoxy needs to be more than a "white person's church."

Orthodox Navel-Gazing is not an option that Christ and the Trinity will appreciate come judgment day.

I've mentioned John Eldredge on this blog before, too. These "pre-orthodox" Christian believers are frequently more faith-filled and more expectant than we are.

God fills all things and He will use humble and faith-filled heterodox Christians if we as Orthodox Christians fail to step up and step out. They will get invited to the wedding feast with proper wedding garments while those of us who ostensibly should have our proper Orthodox wedding garments on get shown the door.

I've come to the following conclusion: Heterodox Christians who have a deficient christianity will nevertheless do more with their deficient christianity if they have more faith then we do and more humility than we do. God will work in this world with or without our Orthodox cooperation.

We have to trust and expect God to work in our lives and in the world through us. Faith IN God is just as important as faith about the facts of God.

May God bless Bishop Ulmer and bring him slowly and surely to a place where Orthodox Catholic Christianity enters his frame of reference and converts his heart more deeply to Him. And may God convert our Orthodox hearts to as deep a level as the heart of Bishop Ulmer's.

If you add his real zeal to even better knowledge, look out!

We need to pray for this to happen in the lives of the best heterodox christian leaders. They can be even more effective for Christ than they are, and help the rest of us, too. Some of these men and women can become the future Saints of the Orthodox church. They just need to be introduced to it.

Christ is in our midst!

Columba Silouan