November 4, 2014

Acts 4:23-31 Threats and Boldness

23 When they were released they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, 25 who by the mouth of our father David, thy servant, didst say by the Holy Spirit,

‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples imagine vain things?
26 The kings of the earth set themselves in array,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—[Psalm 2:1-2]

27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever thy hand and thy plan had predestined to take place. 29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all boldness, 30 while thou stretchest out thy hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of thy holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.

Once again that word: parrhesia, boldness. We say it too at every Divine Liturgy, just before the Lord’s Prayer. “And make us worthy, O Master, that with boldness and without fear of condemnation, we may dare call You, the heavenly God, FATHER, and to say: “Our Father…”

Here the disciples together—this is important, they are together in fellowship and prayer—ask the Lord to enable them to speak boldly, even in the face of threats and intimidation. From the beginning they see their apostolic work as being done in constant awareness of God’s presence through the name of Jesus and in cooperation with His power to bring healing and change into peoples’ lives. Some will accept, others will reject, but the disciples are to unfailingly be bold witnesses. They are to be people of character, willing to stand up for Christ even when family, friends, colleagues or anyone else reviles, ridicules or rejects them. It’s the disciples’ task to get out there, speak His word and be His presence, but they do this knowing that God will be with them working mysteriously alongside. Such is the power of threat-tested faith that even the place where they were praying shook.

God grant that we too may be filled with such courage and trust in Him to be Christ’s disciples and witnesses and to speak His word with all boldness.

At Antiochian Village, Ligonier, PA

Antiochian Village
Carved stone icon outdoors at Antiochian Village

I left home at 5 am yesterday morning to beat the New York City morning traffic and drive the 6 hours or so to Ligonier. The “Committee for Pastoral Practice” of the Assembly of Bishops is meeting here for a consultation until Wednesday afternoon. The committee chair is Metropolitan Joseph (Antiochian), and other bishops include Bishop Feodosy (ROCOR), Bishop Mark (OCA) and Bishop Sevastianos (GOA). A number of consultants are participating as well from the various jurisdictions, including the OCA’s Father Ian Pac-Urar (facilitator), Father Alexander Rentel (canonist), Father Marcus Burch (DOS chancellor) and me. 

The Committee’s task is to review the pastoral practices of the jurisdictions and come to a draft agreement about norms, acceptable variations (there are many) and areas where more study and discussion are needed. In his opening remarks Metropolitan Joseph pointed out that matins and vespers are part of the consultation agenda. He underlined that this is all part of the process of shaping an organically unified Orthodox Church in North America. “Papers and meetings alone cannot bring us together. We need to be gathered around the Lord Jesus Christ and around the chalice, worship and prayer.”

Antiochian Village
Grounds at Antiochian Village

At this point the committee is looking at practices surrounding sacramental life:

  • Baptism, Chrismation and reception of converts
  • Confession
  • Holy Communion
  • Holy Unction
  • Funerals and Memorials

The process is to (1) find points of consensus that could be the draft basis for an agreed statement by the Assembly of Bishops and (2) note issues that require further study. For example, while baptism by immersion and in the name of the Trinity is the agreed Orthodox practice, there is no consensus yet on recognizing baptism done outside the Orthodox Church or how converts are to be received into the Orthodox Church.

Antiochian Village
Matins, Saints Peter and Paul Chapel

Additional areas to be studied in future for working out a common (if not uniform) approach to pastoral practice:

  • The Blessing of Water
  • Suicide and Funeral Services
  • Pastoral care of families post suicide
  • Abortion and birth-control
  • Church authority
  • The role of the priest’s wife
  • Drugs and alcohol

A number of areas will require joint task forces with other Assembly committees: monastic formation, clergy and parish finances, clergy education, wellness, misconduct, sabbaticals, marriage support, clergy families in crisis, clergy divorce, clergy release and transfer, reception of clergy from the Roman Catholic Church.