Reflections on Light from the Christian East: Part 4

Here's the next to last installment of my reflections on Light From the Christian East by Payton:

10/8-9/08
I feel like I am being rather UNorthodox in these journal entries. It seems they involve more the stuff of thought and emotion rather than of action. After all, isn’t the Orthodox tradition one that says experience informs theology? And here I sit contemplating theology apart from prayer and meditation.

Anyway, I digress.

In this section of reading, I learned about several doctrines that carry more weight in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. These included the doctrines of incarnation, transfiguration, and resurrection. Learning about the Orthodox view of these issues brought new significance to them. For example, I always thought the Transfiguration did not make sense. It seemed like a random account of Jesus deciding to meet with some glorified dead people. Even when my church taught on the Transfiguration, it was usually something like “Now Peter and John selfishly or proudly wanted to just stay in this exalted place they experienced, but Jesus taught them that they had to go back into the world to continue ministry for a time.” The Orthodox view, however, expounds on the incident as a display of the deification that we all will experience because of the incarnation and triumph of Christ. We would all do well to opening ourselves up to learn from the doctrines of the Orthodox tradition that we have neglected.

One of the emphases of the Orthodox tradition that stood out to me especially in this section was their emphasis on union with Christ and their view of this and of salvation as a more holistic process rather than a series of events. Their emphasis along with their view on the nature of grace brought me back repeatedly to the teaching of Ed Miller, a humble man from Rhode Island who was very influential in my father’s faith journey and, in turn, mine. Ed over and over again refers to these ideas of union with Christ being the source of our life and salvation and of God Himself as our salvation, grace, wisdom, etc. In one of his reflections, he writes, “We have no doubt begun to learn that there are times in our lives when He will give us strength in answer to our prayer, but it is His greater desire to reveal Himself as our Strength. He will certainly send help to His people, but He would rather we discover the He Himself is our Help. He will give wisdom to those who ask, but better far is the realization that He is made to us Wisdom” (God’s Dawn for Every Darkness: Morning-Fresh Glimpses into His Gracious Heart. Colorado Springs: Random House-Waterbrook, 2001. 47).

May we all find life and rest by faith through union with Christ, our very Salvation.