25 Indications that your Orthodox Faith May Need Adjustment 1. You identify an Orthodox parish as “my church,” and the majority of its parishioners don’t know who you are. 2. You identify an Orthodox parish as “my church,” and its priest doesn’t know who you are. 3. You have a better relationship with your personal trainer than you have with your God. 4. You have never heard the words, “Blessed is the Kingdom” because you are never present at the beginning of Divine Liturgy. 5. You have not been to church in weeks and still feel entitled to receive the Eucharist. 6. You know the words of many popular songs by heart, but have a difficult time reciting the Nicene Creed. 7. You consider fasting either old-fashioned, solely for monks, or strictly a good weight-loss strategy. 8. You consider yourself a good Orthodox Christian because, even though you rarely attend church, you: - wear a three-bar cross around your neck, - show up at church on Pascha (and leave after you hear “Christ is Risen,) - eat pierogis, holupki, lamb, baklava, etc., - have a collection of decorated eggs, - cover the dinner table with Baba’s Ukrainian table cloth on Pascha. 9. You do not see the point of attending Great Vespers on Saturday evening or on the eves of feastdays. 10. You only attend church on Sunday because you don’t consider attending church on feastdays “all that important.” 11. You think it is fine to miss Divine services on a regular basis regardless of the reason. 12. You don’t think it is important to fast and pray the Prayers of Preparation before receiving the Eucharist. 13. You have not been to the sacrament of Confession for more than a year. 14. You think that General Confession is a sufficient replacement for individual Confession. 15. You don’t prayerfully, thankfully, and financially support the work of your church. 16. You consider it a chore (and not a joy) to come to church for divine services. 17. You consider your child’s Sunday morning soccer game a valid reason to miss Divine Liturgy. 18. You have too much to do to bother attending divine services. 19. You don’t take time regularly to pray privately. 20. You think that if a person is not ____________ (fill in an ethnic group), he/she cannot possibly be Orthodox. 21. You think that if a service is not in _____________ (fill in a language), it cannot possibly be an Orthodox service. 22. You consider singing in the choir a right and not a privilege and a prayerful ministry. 23. You think that it is only the priest’s job and responsibility (and not that of each parish member) to help grow the parish. 24. You feel that learning more about the Orthodox Faith by reading or by attending classes is unimportant. 25. You believe that God can’t possibly love you or forgive you for the sins you commit during your life.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 01:11:03 +0000
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