Conclusion, Future Hopes
A parish community can suffer the same fate, albeit on a grander and more complex scale. My hope, and the reason I maintain faith in the possibilities of the future, is that through responsible presentation and honest accountability to the gospel, those who are from these rich liturgical and cultural traditions will learn the futility and danger of pursuing pleasure. They will learn that pleasure is, as Solomon says, ‘vanity of vanities’ and that the fear of the Lord and following His lead should be our highest pursuit.
This is the earliest apostolic tradition, and it was one that the church fathers were adamant to defend and support. One should remember that before all of these beautiful things appeared in our churches, we were the ones who went into the cities and fed the poor, who built hospitals, who gave people alphabets and languages, but most importantly, we shared the life given to us through our faith in Christ and our dedication to bring the peace and love of the grace of the Father to all of creation.
If orthodoxy is to survive the 21st century, it must reclaim that gospel dedication, to encounter God, to receive the life that can only come through following the methods of Jesus Christ, and to give that love to all the places where we encounter need in our daily lives. We will only be able to do this if we can get past our pleasure fixations on other aspects of the faith and the cultures that surround them. Unfortunately, we are off to a very rough start in this country.
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© 2006 Jacob Gorny