I know this is football playoff season. I know football fans
across the nation are boasting the talent and prowess of their respective
teams. I ‘even’ know that the Super Bowl is only a few short weeks from yesterday.
No, this isn’t a football post. I’m just using football as an illustration
about a trend I find completely baffling.
I just do understand how someone can know so much “meaningless”
detail about something such as “insert sport here” and so little about the
Church they claim is important. Insult someone about their pro sports team, and
they respond as if you were insulting their mother. I actually do this,
especially during Super Bowl season, just to expose the lunacy of sports mania.
What would happen I wonder if their Church were under the same slanderous
attack…
In fact, the Church IS under attack every day, and it isn’t ‘only’
by Satan, although he is at the root of all attacks against the Church. Every
day, the Church is being attacked by Christians who judge Orthodoxy either as
pagan because of Sacred Icons, or for being out of touch and bigoted because of
our moral stance on marriage and family. And how do members of the Church
respond?
This is where I get confused. JUST LIKE pro sports, when
someone attacks the Church, her members defend her with zeal, proudly displaying
their icons (albeit hidden from public view) in their homes and business. But
UNLIKE pro sports, there seems to be no true allegiance beyond the verbal
defense. Pro sports fans spend hours watching their teams, and studying the
rules of the game. They even know the most trivial statistics of players they have
NEVER met in person.
How do members show their allegiance to their Church? Most
of us know very LITTLE of Church history. Most of us have no clue as to the “rules”
of the Church, unless we are declaring how wrong the rules we “think” we know
might be in our minds, although in my personal experience, the rules we “think”
we know, are in fact NOT RULES or even statements of the Church. But when we
learn of the truth, we shrug the information off as unnecessary.
I mentioned this wasn’t a football post. The trend I’m
concerned about is how we, as members of the Church, have allowed certain idols
to replace God in our daily lives. Idols don’t have to be golden statues. They
can be:
- Sports
- Money
- Outdoor Recreation
- Physical Fitness
- Prestige
- All sorts of hobbies
- Politics
The trend I find so confusing, is how we have allowed so
many activities to replace God as priorities in our lives. Sure, we “say” God
and His Church are important in our lives, but when our allegiance requires
more than just a few words in defense, our commitment runs short. I wish I knew
why…
2 comments:
anyone have the orthodox study bible on audio format inwindows media format blessings Mary
I have not heard about an audio version of the OSB. On that note, however, I'll say I don't "like" audio bibles. They tend to have a lot theater in their productions, which distract us from the text. I used to listen, years ago, but since stopped. I can still hear the narrator say, "Chapter 2..." when I read the Bible. Priests and Deacons are taught to read WITHOUT emotions, which I believe is better.
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