A Message from Father David
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Ephesians 4:3-6
One of the great gifts of western civilization in the past several centuries is the acknowledgement of the sanctity and dignity of every individual person. This, in fact, is a direct result of the influence of the Judeo-Christian Tradition, acknowledging that every human person is created in the image and likeness of God.
This core value and belief, however, is a far cry from the kind of “individualism” that permeates our culture, in which the individual becomes his or her own sole authority, with no necessary participation or accountability to others. There is no place for such individualism in the Church. Even within Christianity as it is currently practiced across traditions, there is a tendency to view our own spiritual lives as something “between me and God.” We view our faith as something private, something that is our own, and nobody else’s business. (This is often what is implied when people talk about being “spiritual,” but not “religious,” or claim that they have a personal relationship with Christ, apart from belonging to any group or church.)
This is contrary to Holy Tradition and to the teaching of the Orthodox Church. There is no such thing as an “individual Christian,” apart from the life of the Church. We are baptized into Christ, which means we are members of His Body, the Church He established on earth. Of course, the growth of our relationship with Christ does happen in our personal spiritual disciplines of prayer, reading of Holy Scripture, and love towards others; but our personal life in Christ is always anchored and nourished through our participation in the corporate life of the Church. We join in one voice, in unison, as we pray together in the Divine Liturgy. We partake of one bread and one cup, the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. We care for one another. We are accountable to one another. We build one another up in love. Ultimately, we find salvation together, as a people, a new community founded on Christ.
Fr. David
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