Orthodoc
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Faith: Orthodox Catholic
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Those who ignore history tend to repeat it.
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« on: January 13, 2003, 11:51:25 AM » |
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This post comes from another Orthodox site. I add it because I think that what the poster is saying is, unfortuantely true, in most of our parishes regarding how some people think. It is also quite common amongst non-Orthodox. But its worth evaluating and might make for some discussion and ways to improve upon what we have seemed to have lost in our concept of the Liturgy itself.
Orthodoc
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> For example, I just attended the liturgy with my Mom and Dad. It was a
very
> long service because the bishop was in town today. In the mind of my Dad,
> he is thinking that because he just attended liturgy, he has fulfilled
God's
> demands for worship for this week. Because it was an extra-long service,
he
> might even be able to get by for two weeks before he needs to worship
again.
> Now, he can go back to "real life" for another week or two and put God on
> the back burner where he belongs. Unfortunately, this way of thinking is
> not specific to my Dad. This is also the way the rest of my immediate
> family and my aunts and uncles and cousins think. In fact, almost everone
> that I know seems to think this way. Worship to them IS the liturgy, and
> nothing more. What makes this even worse is that their approach is one of
> legalism. IF I attend liturgy, THEN I am accepted by God. If I don't
> attend liturgy, God is not pleased with me.
>
> What really makes me sad is that even after attending the Orthodox Church
> for 63 years, my Dad knows nothing of Romans 12:1, or any other part of
> scripture. He has no interest in knowing anything about scripture. He
> believes that the Bible is for religious people and priests. Somehow, he
> has come to believe that as long as he was baptised as a baby, attends
> liturgy as often as he can and doesn't eat meat on Fridays, he will
probably
> be ok if he ever really has to face God. That is the extent of his
> "relationship" with Christ. This is a great source of frustration for me.
>
> The epistle reading today was Eph 4:7-12. There I sat with my Dad during
> the liturgy as someone chanted this in Greek, then in English. Did my Dad
> have any clue about what it meant? No. Will he ever know what it means?
> No. Will someone in the church take it upon themselves to teach him what
it
> means? No. I was very frustrated because understanding the content of
this
> passage would benefit my Dad tremendously, but, left to the normal
> mechanisms of the Church, he will never be exposed to that content.
> Instead, it almost feels as though the real emphasis is on simply having
the
> words themselves chanted at you, as though the sound of the words has some
> kind of positive magical effect. After 63 years of this, well....you have
a
> person who thinks like my Dad.
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