The Orthodox Experience

So this past Sunday, I had the pleasure of visiting an Eastern Orthodox Church. It was a challenging experience. This blog will not cover all of my thoughts and questions regarding the experience; I also know that were I less ignorant, many of my questions would be answered. Here we go.

I was content to sit and observe the service. I didn't venerate the icons, I didn't cross myself, and they didn't let me take communion because I wasn't a member. All these things kinda marked me as a visitor. I mean, when everyone else is bowing and you're still standing up, you're kinda hard to miss. That being said, the orthodox do a great job of making people feel welcomed; even though I clearly didn't have a clue as to what as going on, there was no "outsider" feeling like there is in so many other churches. At the community meal after service, they made me go to the front of the line as the guest. It was a very humbling experience. Amazing people; the presence of God was evident in the interactions and in the service as well.

It was a very positive experience. I've never been to an orthodox church before. My only experience thus far has been the Greek Festival that the Greek Orthodox church puts on back home. It was a far cry from my roots in the United Methodist Church, and certainly nothing like TLC. However, the presence of God was there just the same, and I'm very glad I got to go.

And then I started to think about it. Their forms of worship, alien though they may have seemed to me, had been around longer than anything I had experienced previously. They had survived the test of time. And I also wondered, will people still be pressing their foreheads to icons centuries after the guitar has fallen out of favor with contemporary worship leaders? Will Scripture still be chanted after Powerpoint slides have become a thing of the past? In the Emergent community, people seem to focus on the changing culture and the fact that the church must change with it. However, this experience flew in the face of that thought.

It wasn't comfortable; it wasn't seeker-friendly. And somehow, I respected it all the more for being not.

But, all that being said, I don't think I could make the jump and convert. My theology doesn't line up. The theology that has been around for hundreds of years... And yeah, I don't understand much of it because I don't understand the tradition that upholds the theology. But why can't women minister? Why is Mary a big deal? How is venerating an icon worshiping God? And why is it important that Mary never had sex, and honestly, who cares if she did? Why must I seek Mary's help in chasing after relationship with the Father when Jesus is the only intermediate that the Scriptures state that I need? Or why do I need any other saint's help for that matter? Why must we chant the liturgy? What's wrong with reading it? Why must we chant the Scripture reading? What's wrong with reading that? And what's up with the whole "ancestors of God" deal?

Another thing that struck me about this church... I probably heard about half an hour of announcements. In those announcements, 10 minutes dealt with upcoming feast days, celebrations, and small groups. 20 minutes dealt with their budgeting for the upcoming year and church officer elections. There was no mention of any sort of community/social justice activity or cause.

Theology notwithstanding... Dealbreaker.

People should go. We should know our roots. But we also should also be cognizant of the fact that we can't freeze time. Apparently the only thing that the Orthodox church has changed is the wording of the liturgy and whether or not the initiate must kiss the priest's hand when he takes the censer from him.

It was a good experience... But I'm still looking.