This comes from the editorial of the most recent Divine Ascent put out by the Monastery of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. This is written by Abbot Jonah who is speaking about Orthodoxy in America and "Where do we go from here?". The entire editorial is well worth the read...if interested it is the Summer 2005 Number 10 issue available here. This section is speaking against secularization...but I really feel that it can be taken to heart on a very personal level as well. Which is why I've bolded the section I did. The entire paragraph is important but the bolded is what really stirred in me deeper thought. To me that short little bolded are was HUGE.
"The reduction of faith to observance of religious forms is a foundational element of secularization. The forms divorced from their content become meaningless, or at best nostalgic reminders of bygone days. They can thus be compartmentalized or discarded, having no real impact on how we live our lives. The only way to fight secularization is to emphasize that faith is about how we live our life, not only remembrance of God but how we treat other people, and that how we treat our neighbor is the criterion of how we love God. Then, we cannot compartmentalize our faith into an hour or so on Sunday morning. Rather, it impacts every encounter with other people, and every relationship we have.
3 comments:
Oh my goodness, that is so well written! I completely agree!
There we have it...our Faith boiled down...loving our neighbor and loving God. Good excerpt, thanks.
wow, thank you.
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