Transitions

I know I don't post much these days. I'd like to post more... I really would! There's been a lot of changes in the last five years or so. Here's a quick rundown— 

• 2018 (April): Kathy retired after working 27 years for the Kentucky Department of Education.
• 2018 (August) After the same number of years in Kentucky (where we originally moved so I could go to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville), we moved back to Louisiana to be closer to family. 
• 2019 (September): Kathy was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery (partial mastectomy) and radiation. She is cancer-free, while still undergoing treatment, and we are thankful. 
• 2019 (December): We were received into the Eastern Orthodox Church through baptism and chrismation. 
• 2020: COVID hit. No more needs to be said.
• 2021: We built a house in Benton, Louisiana, next to Kathy's mother, Dottie, so that Kathy could help take care of her as Dottie's health continued to decline.
• 2022 (February): Kathy's mother, Dottie, passed away.
• 2022 (November): After working as Technology Evangelist for Accordance Bible Software since 2014 (with part-time training seminars and conferences for a number of years on the side before that), I quit. 
• 2023 (August): I went back to school, working toward a Master of Theological Studies (General Track) degree at the Antiochian House of Studies.
• 2023 (October): I began a new job as Product Operations Specialist for Logos Bible Software. 

Whew! That's a lot in a short time. And for what it's worth, between school and work (plus 9 acres and two houses), I feel busier than ever. Nevertheless, I'd like to write in this space again, so I will try to update things here more often. 

Hold me to it. 

What Is the Orthodox Church?

From my trip to Istanbul in 2018, inside the Hagia Sophia: The Deësis (δέησις: "intercession") Mosaic in the upper gallery. Christ Pantokrator (παντοκράτωρ: "Almighty") on the day of judgment with Mary on the left and John the Baptist on the right as they plea for his grace.

When I wrote the original “Why We Became Orthodox Christians” post earlier this year, I promised to go more in depth with the 7 primary reasons I outlined. Before I do that, though, I thought I would address a couple of comments I received from that initial introduction. Both of these comments came from Facebook—one in response to that initial blog post and one in response to something else I posted on Facebook a few days later. 

The response to my post has been overwhelmingly positive. I’ve jokingly said for a couple of years now that I keep expecting to see a “Baptist Intervention Committee” show up at my door, but fortunately that hasn’t happened yet. One friend from back in the days of my childhood—someone who went to the same Baptist church I grew up in—commented on that Facebook post, “I didn’t even know there was an Orthodox Church!” As much as the Orthodox Church is such a huge part of my life, that kind of response can be startling; but admittedly, it’s not so surprising. When I grew up, I was taught that Christians were either Catholic or Protestant. Occasionally, I heard “Catholic, Protestant, or Baptist.” I’ll come back to those folks in a bit. Truthfully, though, I never heard of Orthodox Christians until I was an adult. And that may have even been because I took church history classes at a Baptist seminary. Therefore, it’s not surprising that the average person in the United States may not know anything about the Orthodox. 

Click/tap for a larger viewAnother response came from a completely different post on FB in which I posted this collage of Twitter posts (I looked these up, and they were an actual exchange on Twitter). In the first post, a pastor made an offhand remark that his church would one day die just like all of the churches that the Apostle Paul founded. An Orthodox priest responded with photos of the bishops of the New Testament churches of Philippi, Corinth, and Thessalonica—churches which were founded by Paul and still exist to this day, churches that are and have always been Orthodox. A very good friend of mine, a Baptist pastor, responded that such a claim was as arrogant as those made in the early 20th century by J. M. Carroll, a Baptist pastor who wrote a little booklet called The Trail of Blood that tried to make the nonsensical and non-historical claim that Baptists had existed since John the Baptist in an unbroken trail of blood and martyrdom from the first century to today. It was all nonsense, but a lot of people believed it, even some down to this day who would suggest that there are Protestants, Catholics and Baptists. 

My friend objected that while there may be churches in those biblical locations today, there’s no way that could be in continuity with the ancient churches of the New Testament. J. M. Carroll made a historical claim about Baptists that could not be backed up with actual history. The Orthodox Church, however, can back up its claim and very much does. The Eastern Orthodox Church claims to be that actual church described in the Book of Acts, the very church that emerged from its roots in Judaism, and in fact, still carries many of those Jewish traditions today (a new day beginning after sunset, a new year beginning in September, feasts that often have roots in Jewish festivals, use of Psalms and incense in worship, liturgies that were adapted from earlier versions in Jewish worship, and much more).

I don’t blame the pastor on Twitter or my friend for assuming the ancient churches of the New Testament died a long time ago. In fact, as a Baptist Protestant, I made the same assumption back in the day. I’m sure I even taught that at various times. But the claim of the Orthodox Church is that it is the original church chronicled in the pages of the New Testament. The claim is not made that there aren’t Christians outside the Orthodox Church—such things are for God to determine—but we do have 2,000 years of historical records and a whole lot of church history to back up the historical claims we do make. 

I realize that for some (such as my pastor friend who objected) that this is an audacious claim. It may even, in fact, sound arrogant. I don’t intend to come across that way, and no Orthodox believer with whom I am associated with voices any kind triumphal attitude. This doesn’t change the fact, though, that there are two millennia of church history that has taken place, and most Christians sadly know very little of it. Let’s be honest: the claim is not all that audacious when you really think about it. When I was a “good” Baptist, I thought we were correct over and against the Methodists and Presbyterians. The Pentecostals believe they’re right about spiritual gifts, and everyone else is wrong. There are many competing claims, but they can’t all be right.  

Most Christians in the West are very unfamiliar with the Eastern Orthodox Church. These churches—Greek, Russian, Antiochian, etc.—were initially founded in the United States as ethnically-based congregations for immigrants, usually still practicing worship in old world languages. In the 21st century, though, things are changing. The church where we worship, St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Shreveport—holds its services completely in English and reflects a congregation of cradle-born Orthodox blended with new converts like Kathy and me. 

There’s some irony here, too. In every church I’ve been a part of my entire life, we wanted to be exactly like the New Testament Church! Although I often thought to the contrary, I had really no idea what such a church would look like. I guess I assumed the early disciples sat in a circle singing praise choruses before Paul delivered long sermons—kind of like some groups today. I’ve known others who thought that through Christian movements that emphasized the Jewishness of early Christianity, they could find the New Testament Church. I’ll say it again, from the moment I stepped into an Orthodox Church, I was struck by the Jewish customs that were still there. It's been here among us all along. 

Although we regularly attend St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Shreveport, we’re temporarily living in Ruston, Louisiana—my hometown—while we’re waiting for our house to be built. There’s also an Orthodox mission church in Ruston—Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church—where I also attend services as often as I can. This past summer, Holy Trinity got their first full time priest: Fr. Brendan Pelphrey. 

Before one of his first Sundays, Fr. Brendan offered this invitation on Facebook:

Did you know that ancient Christianity is a thing? It still exists in the Orthodox churches around the world. Today, many churches have opted for secularism as a way to teach about Christ, especially among young people; it's called "entertainment evangelism." But in fact, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself"--not the other way around. Rock bands cannot teach the depths of prayer, silence, comfort, and oneness with God. The Orthodox Liturgy does. It's a meditation. Come and see!

Yes, ancient Christianity is still a thing. In the past, it was primarily in the East; but it has now made its way to the West and is growing. I haven’t even really begun to answer the question I posed in the title of this post. But if you’re interested at all in finding the answer, you should follow Fr. Brendan’s advice and “Come and see.”

Next: Coming soon, I’ll post the events surrounding my rejection of Calvinist/Reformed teaching that set me on this journey 25 years ago. Stay tuned.

Why We Became Orthodox Christians (A "Brief" Summary)

On Christmas Eve, 2019, Kathy and I were received into the Orthodox Church via baptism and chrismation (we even had our marriage blessed by the Orthodox Church!). Regularly, when catching up with old friends, I get asked, “So what made you want to become Orthodox?” It’s a fair question since Kathy and I had been in Baptist churches for all our lives before our conversion. In fact, my mother tells me I was in church from the age of two weeks old. I’ll have to take her word on that since I don’t remember. Plus, I have MDiv and ThM degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. I’ve served in various support staff roles at a number of Baptist churches; supply preached; served as interim pastor; taught Bible and was chaplain at a Baptist high school for five years; taught Greek at SBTS; and taught Bible, philosophy and a variety of other classes at a Wesleyan university for 13 years. 

There’s a certain difficulty in explaining why I’m no longer Baptist because it suggests that I found the Baptist church lacking, and that will be potentially offensive to the millions of people—or at least my friends—who are still Baptist. I get that. I not only quit being a Baptist, I quit being Evangelical and Protestant as well. I even had one close friend assume that I was angry at the Baptists, and that was why I left. Nothing could be further from the truth. While it’s true that I found something in Orthodoxy that was lacking in my experience as a Baptist, I need to say that my Baptist faith was foundational for where I am today. I believe it is fair to say that I would not be Orthodox if my journey had not taken me down Baptist roads first. But in reality, there’s a foundation even deeper than that. There was a faith context for me before I was even Baptist. I first heard Bible stories sitting in my mother’s lap when I was a toddler. She was my first Bible teacher, and my first foundation for the faith I have today. I’m not running from being a Baptist anymore than I could run from what I learned on my mother’s knee. These things brought me to where I am today as an Orthodox Christian. When I was in my mother’s lap hearing Bible stories, when I was in Baptist churches and Baptist seminaries, God also knew that I would be Orthodox one day. 

My journey to the Orthodox Church, beyond the foundations I mention above, are the culmination of a series of events, experiences, and reflections that go back at least 25 years or so. I really need a couple hours or more to begin to tell you why I (and ultimately, we—to include Kathy) became Orthodox. I’ve spent those hours with some people explaining what I could as best as I could, making explanation and answering questions. I’m going to attempt to do that in writing—not in one post to my extremely-neglected blog, but perhaps in a series of posts.  

1. A Rejection of Calvinist/Reformed thought. This took place in the mid-nineties after a specific series of events that I’ll have to explain in a later post. Throughout most of my “professional” life, many have assumed that my theological convictions were thoroughly Reformed. Though my closest friends knew better, with most I rarely ever corrected these assumptions because it often led to debate. I’ve engaged in that debate plenty of times; but ultimately, I find it tiring. Although this is my starting point, I should point out that I have many, many friends with Reformed convictions, and we get along just fine. My rejection of Calvinism led directly to the next important part of my journey listed below.
2. Immersion in the Church Fathers. My rejection of Calvinism led me to a study of the earliest post-New Testament writings. I wanted to see if anything remotely came close to Calvinist ideas in the Church Fathers. I did find elements of this thought, but not until the 4th century AD and only in the Western Church. 
3. Conversations with an Orthodox Friend. I like to tell Theron Mathis, “This is all your fault.” Theron and I first met when we were both at the same Baptist church in the late 90s. Theron and his wife, Beth, converted around 20 years ago. Over the years we had many friendly but often intense discussions over coffee. I went from telling him, “Well, I could never believe that” to one day realizing I believed it, too. 
4. Visit to an Orthodox Church. The first time I stepped into the nave of an Orthodox Church in 2012, something clicked inside my head. I realized I was standing in a structure modeled after the Jerusalem Temple. It was a profoundly biblical experience for me. After having studied and taught the Bible for decades, I felt like I was in the Bible. I was still very Baptist at the time, but this was a turning point. The experience stuck with me and never let me go.
5. Immersion in "Modern" Orthodox Media. Once I discovered there was a contemporary church in harmony with the Church Fathers I had been reading, I began reading modern Orthodox writing and listening to Orthodox podcasts. I believe I bought my first Orthodox book in 2012, but by 2014 I was reading and listening to nothing but Orthodox content. I was struck by the beauty of Orthodox thought. At first I thought they were just coming at the same ideas we had in the Baptist church—but with different words and approaches. I eventually realized this was not the case, though. The Eastern Church never had a period of scholasticism or a Reformation to color its thought. At a certain point, I realized that my way of understanding my faith, reading the Bible, and seeing the world was becoming more Orthodox than Baptist. By 2017, I knew I had a decision to make.
6. The Full Worship Experience. I tell people visiting an Orthodox service for the first time that they will experience worship with all five senses, and it’s really true. It’s active and engaging. You actively participate in it from beginning to end. Over the years, I’d noticed that the worshipers in most Baptist (and other low-church Protestant) services took on a role that was increasingly passive. Worship had become entertainment, a kind of variety show (with varying degrees of talent according to where you were) to sit back and watch. Now, I know some will find that characterization insulting, but please note that I had a part in planning numerous worship services over the years. As my understanding of worship began to change, so did my desire for something greater. 
7. A Full Sense of History. I can go back even more than 25 years to describe my frustration that most Protestant churches I had been part of had no sense of history. I heard many complain over the years that we didn’t know the Bible well enough, but most churches don’t even know where they got the Bible or what happened between the final pages of the Bible and today. In my experiences in Baptist churches, if history was ever discussed at all, it never went back further than the Reformation. I said for many years before I was Orthodox that I rejected both Calvinist and Arminian labels because there was a millennium and a half of Church history before the Reformation. In contrast, the Orthodox Church is itself living history. Different saints are remembered every day. Miracle stories and significant events are recounted over and over. The church year is cyclical in its observances that reinforce both its history and teaching. Moreover, I found a great sense of continuity with Judaism in Orthodox worship. The Psalms are still prayed, and incense is still used in the services to represent the prayers of God’s people. Even the Divine Liturgy itself (used in all Orthodox Churches today) traces its roots to Jewish liturgies that came before it. 

As mentioned above, I came to the point that I realized I had to make a choice. Around 2015, I figured I’d better get Kathy clued in on all this because I wouldn’t have even attempted to convert without her—if that was even what we were supposed to do. I should emphasize that we were very involved in Baptist life and in our church. We had moved to Kentucky in 1991 so that I could go to a Baptist seminary. We didn’t intend to stay as long as we did, but I always say Kentucky was very good to us. As involved as we were in our local Baptist church, which was truly a community church in every sense of the word, it would have frankly been difficult to leave and begin worshiping somewhere else in the next county. However, an opportunity for change came when we decided to move home to Louisiana in 2018 to help care for aging family. 

While in Kentucky in recent years, we had been “sneaking” to Orthodox services whenever we could; but in planning the move, Kathy suggested that we use the transition to convert to the Orthodox Church. I was thrilled over this because by this point, I was ready, but I didn’t know if she was or not. In fact, after we had begun the process, I kept expecting a “Baptist intervention committee” to show up at my front door any day, but the move out of state really put our church activities under the radar.  

Becoming Orthodox is not as simple as walking down an aisle at an invitation and having your membership letter transferred—in fact, there’s no such thing as this in the Orthodox Church. We became catechumens at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Shreveport in October 2018. During this process, we attended catechism classes and experienced Orthodox worship in the services; we got to know the church, and the church got to know us. Over a year later, we were finally received into the Orthodox Church. 

Now all the above is just summary! In future posts, I’ll break everything down into more detail. Comments are welcome, but I really don’t have any desire to debate theological points, so don’t be too disappointed if you try to engage me in that manner, and I don’t bite. 

Review: The Ancient Faith Prayer Book

The Ancient Faith Prayer Book
Vassilios Papavassiliou, ed.
2014, Ancient Faith Publishing

O Lord our God, if I have sinned in anything this day, in word, or deed, or thought, forgive me all, for You are good, and You love mankind. Grant me peaceful and undisturbed sleep, and deliver me from the assault and attack of the evil one. Rouse me at the proper time to glorify You, for blessed are You, together with Your Only-begotten Son and Your All-holy Spirit, now and forever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

A Prayer for Forgiveness, p. 53.

Yes, I am still Baptist; but over the years, I have found myself in an increasing appreciation for the beauty of the teaching and traditions of the Eastern Orthodox Church. As I’ve gotten older I’ve found greater joy in finding commonalities among varying expressions of Christianity as opposed to emphasizing differences. I appreciate the Orthodox Church for its commitment to ancient expressions of the Christian faith as well as offering a perspective on familiar categories that is sometimes very different from my own.

Moreover, I’ve collected a number of prayer books over the years. It may seem odd to some, but I enjoy reading them and incorporating some prayers as my own when appropriate. If you’ve never tried it, I’ve often found that reading, reflecting and praying written prayers is the best kind of devotional.

The prayers are grouped by the following categories as represented from the Table of Contents:

• Morning Prayers
• Afternoon Prayers
• Prayers for Mealtimes
• Early Evening Prayers
• Late Evening Prayers
• Canon for Holy Communion
• Prayers Before Holy Communion
• Prayers for the Departed
• Prayers for Confession
• Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions
• Prayers of the Saints 

In addition to these groups of prayers, there is an introduction on to how to use the book (which include instructions from St. Theophan the Recluse) as well as a Calendar of Great Feasts and Fasts.

The prayers include many traditional Orthodox prayers, biblical psalms, prayers of the Saints, and a number of modern occasional prayers. This last kind of prayers are most interesting to me. Some of them are basic such as prayers for Before a Journey, Before and After Work, and Before Study. There’s also some very modern needs addressed by these prayers such as a prayer Before Using the Internet: 

Be the helper of my soul, O God, for I walk in the midst of many snares. Deliver me from them and save me, for You are good, and You love mankind. (p. 124)

There is another aspect to this collection of prayers that intrigued me. I’ve only attended two Orthodox services in two different churches, but in both one particular aspect of the liturgy stood out to me as unusual (as in more unusual than a lifelong Baptist experiencing an Orthodox service). Now, let me say up front that I do not mean any disrespect, I realize that I am a total outsider, and I’m willing to say that perhaps I just don’t get it. However, it struck me odd to hear so much Elizabethan, King James-ish language in the liturgy. I’m referring to use of archaic words such as Thou, Thee, and Thy and the like in reference to God.

I understand that the Orthodox Church embraces traditions and liturgies going back to the first centuries of the church—but those liturgies were not in Elizabethan English. In fact, I would guess that in the 17th century, there may not have been any Orthodox services being conducted in English (someone can correct me if I'm wrong). I understand that this type of language is often used for sake of formality and respect, but to me it’s a bit artificial. There’s a difference between traditional or even ancient and archaic. I don’t want the church (as expressed in any tradition) to come across as archaic.

All that to say, The Ancient Faith Prayer Book purposefully avoids this kind of language. There are no Elizabethan forms used, and (again, speaking as an outsider), I believe this is for the better. Thus, this volume is a collection of prayers—both ancient and modern—based on timeless truths, and written for a contemporary audience.

At 6.9 x 4.5 x 0.5 inches, this 176-page volume fits easily into the hand and is easy to carry. My copy is a paperback with a nice-looking grained green cover that sells for $14.95; however, there is also a deluxe leather edition for a fairly reasonable $39.95 directly from Ancient Faith Publishing. Physical copies have pages of a very decent quality with red ink for headings and drop cap letters. A Kindle edition sells for $9.99, and to my knowledge, the title is not offered on any Bible software platforms, although it would make a worthy addition.

I don’t believe I could, in good faith, pray every prayer in this book. Some of the prayers would not square with my own beliefs. However, for those who are like me and willing to focus on common elements of faith rather than differences, I would not have any problem in recommending this book to a wide audience beyond just Orthodox believers.

 Questions, thoughts, comments, rebuttals? Leave them below!