Thursday, March 10, 2011

Once Again, Great Lent is Here. This means . . .

That delightful time of spiritual refreshment and rejuvenation known as Great Lent is upon us.

One of our Deacons or our Priest recently advised us to make Lent a time of retreating from the hassles of the world in order to focus on Christ.

I'm totally on board with this advice.

Just like last year, I'm staying off of my Facebook page until Great Lent is over.

If anyone really needs to get in touch with me, my e-mail address is chcate@juno.com.

My Lenten Rule for 2011 is as follows:

First, I'm giving up on the drinking of the purified water I love from Vitamin Cottage.

Second, I'm going to amend my ways regarding my constant and sometimes peace-robbing interest in the Holy Diaconate and Priesthood.

I wish to really try and develop a mindset of praying about this interest only, and resolutely refuse to actively seek these offices of Holy Mother Church.

If the Priesthood is in my future, God Himself will have to elevate me. Any possibility of this must be from His initiative and choosing. Lord willing, I will continue to work hard for my local parish and in my local community for the advancement of Holy Orthodoxy and let the chips fall where they may.

I'm going to cease worrying about my goals for 2011. During Great Lent I'm simply going to live my life and focus on my relationship with God (or lack thereof) for the next 40 days.

I'm going to try and make at least one Stations of the Cross service.

I'm going to talk about myself less on the way home from church and at other times and ask the children more questions about themselves.

I'm going to try less "rote" prayers before meals and bedtime in an attempt to get my children to learn to speak to God in a more personal way.

Groan. Here's a really tough one! I'm going to cut out Sports talk and Sports Radio listening for 40 days and instead listen to the local classical music station and K-Love.

I'm going to try and cut down on my swearing at work.

I'm going to make it a point to go to a Lenten Confession to Fr. Falconi or Fr. Lou.

As far as the dietary requirements are concerned, I plan to eat less and keep my normal practice of meatless and dairy-less Wednesdays and Fridays. With a pre-existing medical condition, I'm unable to strictly practice the dietary standards of Great Lent as much as I would like to do.

This is my Lenten Rule for 2011.

Columba Silouan

Thursday, March 3, 2011

A Question Posed to An Anglican Priest I Know

I've just Facebooked an Anglican Priest friend of mine I know with the following question:

Can 20 new churches happen if you and your people only stay "within the brand name?"

Of course, what I meant by my question is "Can the goal of 20 new churches happen if those churches HAVE to be AMIA?"

I would like to recruit some Anglican friends to take a dare.

I dare those AMIA and CANA Anglicans in the greater Denver area who have strong Anglo-Catholic leanings to consider the following ideas:

Help me plant an Eastern Orthodox Parish in Parker Colorado with the following Attributes:

Instead of using the Popular ALPHA course, we use THE WAY.

We take a page out of the Wellspring Anglican Church playbook and seek to meet the needs of the people of the surrounding area of Parker, most notably in the following manner:

There are many apartment dwellers in Parker and other people who have had to move out of homes due to foreclosures. Parker isn't solely composed of the super rich, although there are some neighborhoods in Parker with GIANT houses in them.

We have some older neighborhoods in Parker. One of these is the Cottonwood neighborhood.

We also have many townhomes, condos, and apartment dwellers around here.

Some if not all of the things Wellspring has done in the community that surrounds them could also be very effective here in Parker.

Help me plant an Eastern Orthodox and Western Rite parish in Parker that runs a Christian Coffee Shop where ministry can take place and Contemporary Christian Music can be performed and used as a ministry tool to the areas youth while at the same time not compromising the worship standards of the Holy Eucharist / Divine Liturgy that Eastern Orthodoxy is famous for.

Help me plant an EO parish with a strong Sunday School program steeped in the study of Holy Scripture as understood by the EO Church.

Help me plant an EO parish with a vibrant and effective Healing Ministry as practiced in a regular "Service of Holy Unction" at the parish that takes place during the Sunday School Hour when it is held.

By regular, I mean every other month, or even every month.

Again, at such a service, reverent praise and worship music that is compatible with the doctrines of Holy Orthodoxy can be used.

We've seen this very thing done at our own parish in Denver.

And the healing ministry can be expanded to include the types of healing that Wellspring has offered through their church.

Such an expansion would occur in addition to the Service of Holy Unction, and not in place of it. Such an add on would happen at another time during the week besides Sunday and some of this could take place at the Coffee House.

Help me plant a church with the best aspects of an AMIA parish while holding firmly to the beliefs found in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

Help me plant a church with a vibrant small groups ministry that meets during the week like the "Life Groups" concept practiced at Wellspring.

I'm now 45 years old and I can't see all of these things happen by myself.

This is my dream, and has been for more than two years now.

I challenge AMIA folks to consider helping with this project and I challenge them to consider becoming Orthodox while doing the same good things they've been doing all along.

Such a joining of efforts would be VERY powerful in my opinion.

My answer to my own question above is that 20 churches by 2020 can much better be accomplished by thinking outside of the boxes we are accustomed to.

The goal of 20 Churches by 2020 should transcend the AMIA brand name. Let the 20 new churches share some of the DNA of being Liturgical, Sacramental and Charismatic (in the best sense of that word) but let them also be placed in multiple Christian jurisdictions and Communions.

Help me plant a church that can be one of the 20. This is my plea as an Orthodox Christian to my Anglican brothers and sisters.

Thanks be to God.

Columba Silouan