Last week's goal of camping out at a local coffee shop had to be put on hold because my wife was under the weather.
The plan is to try again tomorrow.
In the meantime, I've written a letter to Craig McConnell of Ransomed Hearts in an effort to locate the house church formerly known as The Nebuchadnezzar.
This house church has since been renamed Imago Dei.
I hope to supplement my spiritual activities with periodic midweek visits to this group for possible Bible Study and prayer.
This in no way means I'm giving up on Holy Orthodoxy, but in my opinion I do need Christians of other stripes to keep me healthy and sharp.
Perhaps I can find some allies down in Colorado Springs.
Blessings in the Holy Trinity, One God.
The Tentmaker
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Future Efforts
Tomorrow, July the 15th, will be the first evening I spend a couple of hours at a local coffee shop.
This will be the beginning of an attempt to find potential converts to Orthodoxy, as well as potential church planters.
The approach will be simple: go to the coffee shop with Orthodox Study Bible in hand and do some reading. I will be praying that God will send me contacts and set up divine appointments.
And I may rotate from the coffee shop to the local Celtic Tavern which is pretty much across the street from the coffee shop.
If I do this long enough and pair these locations with the Steaming Bean next fall, some positive results may take place.
The bottom line is that a local Orthodox parish would provide a better opportunity for greater involvement for those of us who are Parker residents.
I firmly believe that there should be an Orthodox parish in every suburb of all major cities in the U.S.
For a city like Denver, that would mean suburbs like Aurora, Parker, Highlands Ranch, Englewood, Littleton, Thorton, Westminister, Wheatridge and Lakewood. It would also mean nearby towns such as Franktown, Elizabeth, Castle Rock, Brighton, etc.
That would mean 13 parishes for those municipalities listed directly above.
Ambitious? Unrealistic?
Probably so.
But thinking in these terms beats the complacent alternative.
The Anglican Church in North America isn't waiting around and has pledged the planting of hundreds of new parishes across the country.
Should we be any less ambitious than they are?
Blessings in The Holy Trinity, One God and the Divine Community of Love.
Columba Silouan
This will be the beginning of an attempt to find potential converts to Orthodoxy, as well as potential church planters.
The approach will be simple: go to the coffee shop with Orthodox Study Bible in hand and do some reading. I will be praying that God will send me contacts and set up divine appointments.
And I may rotate from the coffee shop to the local Celtic Tavern which is pretty much across the street from the coffee shop.
If I do this long enough and pair these locations with the Steaming Bean next fall, some positive results may take place.
The bottom line is that a local Orthodox parish would provide a better opportunity for greater involvement for those of us who are Parker residents.
I firmly believe that there should be an Orthodox parish in every suburb of all major cities in the U.S.
For a city like Denver, that would mean suburbs like Aurora, Parker, Highlands Ranch, Englewood, Littleton, Thorton, Westminister, Wheatridge and Lakewood. It would also mean nearby towns such as Franktown, Elizabeth, Castle Rock, Brighton, etc.
That would mean 13 parishes for those municipalities listed directly above.
Ambitious? Unrealistic?
Probably so.
But thinking in these terms beats the complacent alternative.
The Anglican Church in North America isn't waiting around and has pledged the planting of hundreds of new parishes across the country.
Should we be any less ambitious than they are?
Blessings in The Holy Trinity, One God and the Divine Community of Love.
Columba Silouan
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Well That Didn't Work
So I put my Rose Window T-shirt on, donned my "I Love Orthodox Missions" button, and put on my celtic cross and headed out to the Steaming Bean with my Orthodox Study Bible.
It was closed. Turns out they have "summer hours."
So next week, I'll try Kunjuani Coffee, which is a secular coffee house up the street.
Maybe that will be better, anyway.
Blessings,
Columba Silouan
It was closed. Turns out they have "summer hours."
So next week, I'll try Kunjuani Coffee, which is a secular coffee house up the street.
Maybe that will be better, anyway.
Blessings,
Columba Silouan
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
An Experiment: Camping out at the Steaming Bean
It's time to take the plunge.
It's time to go to the Steaming Bean with my "I Love Orthodox Missions" button and sit there for an hour or two.
It's time to see what God might do with such a step.
Tomorrow evening after the kids are in bed, or maybe before, I will take a trip to the Steaming Bean Christian Coffee Shop at Mainstreet and Parker Road in Parker.
I will blog the results of this first evening.
I've been meaning to do this for a long time.
Let's see what and who God sends my way.
Prayers Coveted.
Blessings in The Holy Trinity, One God
Columba Silouan
It's time to go to the Steaming Bean with my "I Love Orthodox Missions" button and sit there for an hour or two.
It's time to see what God might do with such a step.
Tomorrow evening after the kids are in bed, or maybe before, I will take a trip to the Steaming Bean Christian Coffee Shop at Mainstreet and Parker Road in Parker.
I will blog the results of this first evening.
I've been meaning to do this for a long time.
Let's see what and who God sends my way.
Prayers Coveted.
Blessings in The Holy Trinity, One God
Columba Silouan
Are House Churches and Eastern Orthodoxy Polar Opposites or Compatible?
I've been reading about the growing popularity of "house churches" and as an Eastern Orthodox Christian I have some questions about them.
Is it possible to have an Eastern Orthodox "house church?"
Do "house churches" as they are currently comprised tend towards iconoclasm?
Can a "house church" be developed that checks in with an Orthodox Bishop and can a hypothetical "house church" have Priests and Deacons involved in it?
Would an EO "house church" movement bear a lot of fruit even with the necessities of Liturgy, Sacraments, Vestments, and so on?
On the surface of things, the current Protestant version of "house churches" would seem to be a direct rebuke / challenge to the Orthodox Church, but looking beneath the surface, is it possible to adapt this idea and use it to spread The Faith?
And finally a Western Rite question: Would it be easier to do an Eastern Orthodox House Church using the Western Liturgies?
Questions, questions.
Columba Sillouan
Is it possible to have an Eastern Orthodox "house church?"
Do "house churches" as they are currently comprised tend towards iconoclasm?
Can a "house church" be developed that checks in with an Orthodox Bishop and can a hypothetical "house church" have Priests and Deacons involved in it?
Would an EO "house church" movement bear a lot of fruit even with the necessities of Liturgy, Sacraments, Vestments, and so on?
On the surface of things, the current Protestant version of "house churches" would seem to be a direct rebuke / challenge to the Orthodox Church, but looking beneath the surface, is it possible to adapt this idea and use it to spread The Faith?
And finally a Western Rite question: Would it be easier to do an Eastern Orthodox House Church using the Western Liturgies?
Questions, questions.
Columba Sillouan
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Mixed Bag that is Facebook
I've been doing some thinking tonight on my forays into the world of Facebook.
After being involved with Facebook for about a year now, I can say that my experience with it has been a mixed bag. I have learned some things.
My original intent was to use Facebook as a tool to promote the new Saint Laurence Retreat Center and Western Rite Orthodoxy, as well as Orthodox Church Planting.
Instead, I was bitten by the "Facebook Bug" and attempted to contact old college associates.
The positive thing is that I gained two lasting contacts from my college days at my first college, Biola University.
I didn't graduate from Biola. I graduated from Southwest Baptist University after transferring to the SBU Colorado Branch Campus known as Colorado Baptist University.
The most intense college experiences of my life happened at Biola. Biola was the place where my hopes were white hot before being dashed by "The Divine Thwarter."
I had high hopes for a number of reunions and the restoration of some lost friendships. I was looking for absolution. In some ways I found that absolution. In other ways, loose ends remained.
I gained / regained two lost colleagues as a result.
And for this I am thankful to God and grateful.
However, I contacted at least ten former classmates. I only received feedback from four and only two of those had staying power.
It's interesting to look at the nature of the hopes that Facebook generated in me.
I hoped for a lot. I hoped, as John Eldredge writes, "for things the way they should be, not for things the way they are."
I've concluded that the hope I felt properly belongs to a new world, and not to this one.
In the new world that God is creating for all faithful Christians, hopes for joyful reunions will be realized.
In this present world in most respects, such hopes will have to remain deferred.
I can hang onto my hopes for the coming new world. I need to let such hopes in this world go.
The new world can witness the restoration and purification of things I hoped for back then. Those hopes were dashed, but maybe not forever. Maybe those hopes will get replaced by new and better hopes.
Should I reach The New Heavens and The New Earth, I will be able to enjoy the friends I thought lost forever. I will be able to do this as a New Creation. The old will pass away and everything will become new.
I will be able to enjoy all my friends from a sound position of sinlessness and wholeness.
That will be heavenly indeed.
Blessings in the Holy Trinity, One God
Columba Silouan
After being involved with Facebook for about a year now, I can say that my experience with it has been a mixed bag. I have learned some things.
My original intent was to use Facebook as a tool to promote the new Saint Laurence Retreat Center and Western Rite Orthodoxy, as well as Orthodox Church Planting.
Instead, I was bitten by the "Facebook Bug" and attempted to contact old college associates.
The positive thing is that I gained two lasting contacts from my college days at my first college, Biola University.
I didn't graduate from Biola. I graduated from Southwest Baptist University after transferring to the SBU Colorado Branch Campus known as Colorado Baptist University.
The most intense college experiences of my life happened at Biola. Biola was the place where my hopes were white hot before being dashed by "The Divine Thwarter."
I had high hopes for a number of reunions and the restoration of some lost friendships. I was looking for absolution. In some ways I found that absolution. In other ways, loose ends remained.
I gained / regained two lost colleagues as a result.
And for this I am thankful to God and grateful.
However, I contacted at least ten former classmates. I only received feedback from four and only two of those had staying power.
It's interesting to look at the nature of the hopes that Facebook generated in me.
I hoped for a lot. I hoped, as John Eldredge writes, "for things the way they should be, not for things the way they are."
I've concluded that the hope I felt properly belongs to a new world, and not to this one.
In the new world that God is creating for all faithful Christians, hopes for joyful reunions will be realized.
In this present world in most respects, such hopes will have to remain deferred.
I can hang onto my hopes for the coming new world. I need to let such hopes in this world go.
The new world can witness the restoration and purification of things I hoped for back then. Those hopes were dashed, but maybe not forever. Maybe those hopes will get replaced by new and better hopes.
Should I reach The New Heavens and The New Earth, I will be able to enjoy the friends I thought lost forever. I will be able to do this as a New Creation. The old will pass away and everything will become new.
I will be able to enjoy all my friends from a sound position of sinlessness and wholeness.
That will be heavenly indeed.
Blessings in the Holy Trinity, One God
Columba Silouan
Joint Anglican Orthodox Worship Workshop?
This past Sunday, I became involved in a discussion about the frustrations of some local young men who have aspirations for the Holy Orders in a local AMIA church I used to attend.
According to a source at my home parish who has a family member who is an AMIA communicant, some of these young men want to go deeper into Liturgy and reverent worship but are being stymied.
At this point, an idea came to me.
As an Eastern Orthodox Christian in the Western Rite, and with a new conference center at Tallahassee Creek in Fremont County, we have an opportunity to address this need.
We could host a worship conference where we train these Anglicans in how we worship in the Western Rite. We could also expand the conference to be a men's retreat.
The new basilica at Tallahassee Creek can be used in this way because it is not strictly an Orthodox building.
We couldn't pull this kind of thing off at our own parish church because our Eastern Orthodox canons wouldn't allow non-Orthodox Christians behind our altar.
At Saint Laurence, however, a full Western-Rite service with Anglicans could easily be pulled off. The Orthodox wouldn't be able to commune with the Anglicans, but could help them through all the steps of the Liturgy.
Establishing friendly ties with the local Anglicans in our area is a good idea. After all, not too many years back, most of us were together in Episcopalian parishes before the final apostasy of the Episcopal Church.
If we teach young men like these deeper ways of worshipping God, it will lead the AMIA in our area closer to Orthodox norms while truly bettering Anglican parish life.
And some Anglicans will be drawn to convert to Holy Orthodoxy.
We get the best of both worlds. Anglicans who are more Orthodox and new Orthodox Christians who decide to come all the way home.
And here's an absolutely crazy dream, while I'm at it.
Wouldn't it be a hoot to invite John Eldredge to speak at any "Men's Conference" portion of such a weekend?
I would love to see John exposed to the way we worship. He attended an Episcopal Church in the Springs for a period of time according to his own writings.
Pulling all of this off would be a huge coup for the new retreat center and I think would bear lasting fruit.
Blessings in the Holy Trinity, One God
According to a source at my home parish who has a family member who is an AMIA communicant, some of these young men want to go deeper into Liturgy and reverent worship but are being stymied.
At this point, an idea came to me.
As an Eastern Orthodox Christian in the Western Rite, and with a new conference center at Tallahassee Creek in Fremont County, we have an opportunity to address this need.
We could host a worship conference where we train these Anglicans in how we worship in the Western Rite. We could also expand the conference to be a men's retreat.
The new basilica at Tallahassee Creek can be used in this way because it is not strictly an Orthodox building.
We couldn't pull this kind of thing off at our own parish church because our Eastern Orthodox canons wouldn't allow non-Orthodox Christians behind our altar.
At Saint Laurence, however, a full Western-Rite service with Anglicans could easily be pulled off. The Orthodox wouldn't be able to commune with the Anglicans, but could help them through all the steps of the Liturgy.
Establishing friendly ties with the local Anglicans in our area is a good idea. After all, not too many years back, most of us were together in Episcopalian parishes before the final apostasy of the Episcopal Church.
If we teach young men like these deeper ways of worshipping God, it will lead the AMIA in our area closer to Orthodox norms while truly bettering Anglican parish life.
And some Anglicans will be drawn to convert to Holy Orthodoxy.
We get the best of both worlds. Anglicans who are more Orthodox and new Orthodox Christians who decide to come all the way home.
And here's an absolutely crazy dream, while I'm at it.
Wouldn't it be a hoot to invite John Eldredge to speak at any "Men's Conference" portion of such a weekend?
I would love to see John exposed to the way we worship. He attended an Episcopal Church in the Springs for a period of time according to his own writings.
Pulling all of this off would be a huge coup for the new retreat center and I think would bear lasting fruit.
Blessings in the Holy Trinity, One God
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