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Written by Fr Matthew
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The Church on our Own Terms We need to understand that we cannot come to the Church on our own terms, take only what we want, and then leave, because that is misusing the Church. And the fastest way to destroy the Church is to misuse it. Unfortunately, we've all been misusing the Church to one extent or the other, especially here in the U.S., in this latter part of the twentieth century [now the early twenty- first century]. Our parishes provide all sorts of "religious options" for our people -- adult education, vacation church school, evening services -- and then we let people pick and choose. We have ended up keeping our Parishes not as worshiping, Eucharistic communities, but a "lifestyle enclaves". And, sadly, due to the "individualist" ideal in this country, the Church has even become afraid of making demands on her people, for fear of "offending" them and "driving them away." As a result, we've become used to being able to "pick and choose": You want to receive Communion without going to Confession at all? No problem! You don't want to receive the Eucharist at all? No problem! You don't want to tithe; you only want to give a dollar like Baba and Dedo did? No problem! You don't want to follow the Church's fasting guidelines because they're old fashioned and out of date? No problem! You don't want to listen to almost two thousand years of Church law and Holy Tradition with regards to who is allowed to receive the Sacramental mysteries of the Orthodox Church and who isn't, because, after all, we're in America and the Constitution says that we can do whatever we want? No problem! But you see, it is a problem. It's a problem because we're so worried about what our rights are as Americans, we've forgotten what our responsibilities are as Orthodox Christians. And it's a problem because in all this emphasis on "rights" and "freedom," in all this emphasis on picking and choosing, we've left no room at all for Christ to fit in. He no longer fits into our conception of what the Church is; He doesn't fit into our lives anymore."
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