The Delusion of Seeking Happiness - Extended Version

We all want to be happy surely? Isn't it reasonable and completely normal for Christians in the 21st century to want to enjoy the Christian life and find it a source of happiness? Even the United States Declaration of Independence set the nation on the pursuit of happiness above much else, saying..

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Here we see that happiness is not merely a hope for the future of each citizen, but is considered to be a right that is given by God. Well it may certainly be a widespread aspiration among Christians in the West, but it is hardly the experience of most Christians in the world, and throughout history. Indeed the search for personal happiness can reasonably be considered a measure of our immaturity and self-interest rather than a legitimate aspect of the character of the Christian Faith.

How to love God more

In the Gospel reading for today we have heard how a woman who was a sinner approached our Lord while he was a guest at the house of a Pharisee, and how in her love for him she washed his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and anointed him with fragrant oil. Our Lord was criticised by the Pharisee for allowing a sinful person to touch him, but our Lord used the occasion to tell a parable. The parable described how the measure of a person’s love for God is proportional to the sense which that person had of the forgiveness which had been received by them.

Being a Missionary Church

In the Gospel reading for today we have heard how a woman who was a sinner approached our Lord while he was a guest at the house of a Pharisee, and how in her love for him she washed his feet with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and anointed him with fragrant oil. Our Lord was criticised by the Pharisee for allowing a sinful person to touch him, but our Lord used the occasion to tell a parable. The parable described how the measure of a person’s love for God is proportional to the sense which that person had of the forgiveness which had been received by them.

Orthodox Mission Report - September 10th

Last Saturday we were able to organise the Orthodox Way of Prayer at St Andrew's Church of England in Windsor. This was the third presentation of this much appreciated study day. The ancient Church of St Andrew, over one thousand years old, is used by the British Orthodox Community of St Andrew for the liturgy and other services which are conducted each month.

There was a very engaged and communicative group of participants. I gave several talks on the Orthodox spirituality of prayer with time for discussion and practical exercises. And Annie, a wonderful iconographer and member of our Orthodox Community of St Andrew in Windsor gave an illustrated lecture on icons. We shared a simple buffet lunch together with much conversation and warm fellowship. The event began with the hour of Prime and concluded with the hour of None.

Hyper-Grace is no Grace!

It seems that in recent years, and it was hardly evident in the evangelicalism in which I grew up, a teaching has taken hold which emphasizes the grace of God to the exclusion of other vital teachings such as repentance and confession of sin. Indeed the teachers of hyper-grace maintain that all sin, past, present, and future, has already been forgiven, and therefore there is no need for a believer to ever worry about it. Hyper-grace teaching says that, when God looks at us, He sees only a holy and righteous people.

This is not a new teaching. We find it recorded even in the New Testament, where St Paul had to oppose it. There were those who suggested that since grace had been given where there was sin, then to continue in sin was to invite more grace. This is the basis of the hyper-grace teaching. If everything depends on God, and if already he sees us as entirely sinless and perfect, then we can do what we want, live how we like, and need make no effort at all. Indeed worse than simply believe we need do nothing, this hyper-grace teaching actively rejects any sense of repentance, any ascetical or spiritual effort, as being itself contrary to God’s will, since it suggests that Christians need to get on and change the quality of their lives.

What sort of persons should we be?

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. 2 Peter 3:11

In the calendar of the Coptic Orthodox Church this Sunday is the only Sunday in the little month of Nasi, which contains only 5 or 6 days. Each month in the ancient Coptic, or Egyptian, calendar contains 30 days, and so this little month makes up the necessary difference to complete the number of days in the year. In the Coptic Orthdoox Church, and for many Orthodox Churches, this period comes at the beginning of the Church year. Therefore the readings for the Liturgy today are to do with times and seasons. 

I would like us especially to consider the reading from the Second Catholic Epistle of St Peter. St Peter is considering the question – Where is God? Why has He not appeared to bring an end to all things? Why do we have to wait for God to act?

Experiencing Community - Step One

There is so much to study, research and reflect on when considering the creation of an intentional community. But I have already noted that we would all wish to experience Christian community in our own congregations. More than that, we surely wish to experience a richer and more transforming sense of community in all those relations we have with those closest to us.

Over the next few blog posts I will propose several steps that we might want to take which will help us to become those people among whom community is formed. We can remember from the Acts of the Apostles that those who were members of the first Church were those who had all things in common, not thinking especially of material possessions at first, but that sharing of the heart and life which is the necessary basis of Christian community.