Pilgrimage and Incarnation

The Orthodox Church News Magazine
Editorial of November-December 2006

Volume 42, Numbers 11/12

The Orthodox Church News Magazine

Editorial of November-December 2006

Volume 42, Numbers 11/12

The annual celebration of Christmas in our culture is most often experienced as a personal and family celebration. This celebration, for church-goers, certainly has a “church-going” dimension, but its real heart is in family gatherings, exchanges of gifts, and the delight of children.

Yet the heart of the Orthodox worship services for Christmas is found in the story of God’s love for the world and for humanity, a love which takes the initiative in overcoming the estrangement of the world from God and in overcoming the alienation of humanity from God. This story of salvation is both personal and cosmic. Each person, unique and precious in the eyes of God, is embraced in the love of God through the birth of Jesus Christ. One of the images in the Orthodox Christmas hymnology speaks of Jesus Christ renewing the image of God in us. The whole universe is reaffirmed and renewed by God through the birth of Jesus Christ.

Is the Church simply the place where the story of salvation is told, or is the Church part of the story of salvation?

When we reflect on the meaning of the birth of Christ, as this is offered to us in liturgy and theology, we see that the birth of Christ is understood as the “incarnation”—that is to say, the “taking on” by God of human flesh and the human reality, the “entry” of God into human flesh and human reality. It is often said that the Christian faith is “incarnational.” This means the Christian faith is concerned with holding together the material and spiritual dimensions of the reality of the world as created by God.

What follows from this is that the Church, as the Body of Christ, is herself “incarnational,” bearing witness to the love and presence of God, not only though her teaching but through her being, her existence though history, her existence here and now. The reality of the Church’s pilgrimage shows that the Church can also be wounded, that human weaknesses and faults can be fully present in her life.

We see this in the actual life our Church—in parishes, seminaries, and monasteries, as well as in dioceses, archdioceses, and patriarchates. We see both holiness and sin, both unity and division. The pilgrimage of the Church has as its gift and as its goal the “incarnation” of Christ’s presence and mission. Does our pilgrimage as the Orthodox Church in North America give evidence of this gift and this goal?

Not long ago, by an initiative of the Standing Conference of Canonical Bishops in the Americas, all Orthodox bishops in America were invited to a conference in Chicago. Nearly 30 hierarchs came together during four days. The agenda was not dramatic. You could even call the agenda ordinary. At the core of the conference were reports by the agencies, commissions, and other bodies working with SCOBA approval. What unfolded before the very eyes of the bishops was a narrative of united work and mission. It became clear that much more was accomplished by Orthodox Christians and Orthodox “jurisdictions” working together than many hierarchs had imagined. This common work has been undertaken “as though” the Orthodox churches and jurisdictions were, in fact, united in one Church.

If the question of “unity” were put on the agenda of the bishops as they met, there would be different approaches and perspectives, some of them contradicting one another. Yet the actual reality of the common work and mission revealed that the texture of unity is emerging and taking shape.

As we delight in the celebration of Christmas, we hold together in one vision and experience the presence of Christ in our hears and lives and in our homes and families, and in the witness of the Church in all her being to the One Who “gave Himself up for the life of the world” [Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom].