By Father William Rettig
Church, ever since its reception of the Holy Spirit at the day of Pentecost, has at various times sought the unambiguous voice and specific guidance of that Spirit in a more concentrated way, in order to more fully live into its vocation as the Spirit-anointed ‘Body of Christ’ in this world.
This is, no doubt, part of that of which our Lord speaks, when he says to his disciples: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” (Jn 16.13). The apostolic Church was eager to seek this divine guidance when making decisions (cf. Acts 1.24-26, 6.3-4, 9.31, etc), and such divine-human cooperation is epitomized by the words “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” which prefaced the decision concerning what burdens to lay (or not) upon new Gentile converts to the faith, in Acts 16. This attitude of what ‘seems good to the Holy Spirit and us’ continued to characterize Church decision-making right on into the patristic era and the era of the great councils, with trust that when Christ’s disciples - anointed by the same Spirit (1 Cor 12.4-6), empowered and equipped to fulfill the same ministry (Lk 9.1-2) - prayerfully seek the will of God for their present moment, the Holy Spirit speaks through them.
Trusting that that same Spirit of truth is operative in the Church today, and understanding that you and I have been called to this present moment just as the apostles were called to theirs, we as a Church seek - once again - to listen closely. To discern what ‘seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us.’
Today, there seems to be a general recognition that ‘something is going on.’ Changes are occurring at the levels of culture and community, and with them, accompanying spiritual ‘shifts’ that present fresh challenges. Converts are flooding our parishes and missions (even as other Christian faith communities dwindle and interest in organized religion wanes!), presenting problems for how to effectively catechize and disciple them all. Orthodox Christianity has found its voice amplified in the online marketplace, and yet now numerous ‘catechisms’ - many of them of dubious provenance - compete with our bishops and parish priests for attention. On all manner of ‘culture-war’ issues, attempts are made to co-opt Orthodoxy to serve agendas other than that of the Gospel.
And yet, in the Orthodox Church in America, we are also enjoying a period of unprecedented stability. Our dioceses and parishes are healthy, and active! Our administrative structures and finances are sound. By the grace of God, we have enjoyed a half-century of autocephaly, and we are functioning as a church should - preaching the Gospel and baptizing/catechizing, yes, but also canonizing saints, producing iconography & architecture, ordaining bishops, priests, & deacons, and interacting with the other Orthodox churches for the good of the Church, as a whole. We seem better poised - at least materially - to fulfill the command to ‘make disciples of all nations’ (Mt. 28.19) than at any other point in our short history.
His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, has said that this constitutes “a firm foundation upon which we can not only weather external storms but, more importantly, build further.” But before ‘building further,’ we find it imperative to seek the guidance of the Spirit, in this more concentrated and specific manner, as the Church always has.
And so, in efforts to be good stewards of this present moment - in order to articulate how the Holy Spirit may be calling us, and in order that it would constitute a ‘call’ - we need to hear from you: disciples and members of the Church. It is you and I who now comprise the Spirit-anointed, empowered, and equipped Body of Christ in this place and time, and so speaking to the challenges, needs, and opportunities of this place and time in which we find ourselves is an important part of understanding & fulfilling our call. No one is better positioned to speak to those things than you.
Simply put, your voice could be the one through which the Spirit speaks, and calls his Church to more effective service to the poor and the needy in our midst. Yours could be the one that offers insight into how to better educate our faithful, or how to better handle money and material things. Your voice could simply draw attention to an overlooked part of the ‘vineyard,’ but one that needs to be considered part of the mission. Please consider speaking up, and lending the Spirit a voice.
Together, we seek greater faithfulness: to Christ and to his work in North America. He has not left us alone, unsure of what to do and where to seek help. But we do need to invoke that Spirit, we do need to ask for guidance; we need to be willing to cooperate with the Spirit when he seeks to lead us ‘into all the truth.’ Please join us in this important work.