*On Old Calender Palm Sunday (New Calender Easter, or the Easter I would be celebrating were I continuing in the Methodist tradition or transferring into the Roman Catholic tradition), I will be embracing the Orthodox Church. * IMHO, God's grace is found in many different places of the world, sometimes of a person of a Buddhist faith, in a person of a Protestant background, in a person of Roman Catholic background... and I believe the Holy Spirit is present in much of the non-Orthodox world... * *However* - for myself, I could not become strictly Buddhist, for it is not in my historical background, and the amount of changes required in my faith would require the change of a knowledge of God into a belief of the worthiness of acheiving union with something like The Force of Star Wars mythology. * And that was tempting, and it was almost okay. * And I was drawn towards many Protestant denominations, especially towards the older of Anglicanism, and some of the outward love of the Baptists. * And that was tempt
ing, and it was almost okay. * And I was drawn towards the Roman Catholic Church, as it showed me much ritual and much of the darker side of being a Christian, something that I hadn't learned as a Methodist. * And if the Orthodox Church wasn't shown to me, I would have joined the Roman Catholic Church. * But, perhaps through God's grace and infinite Mercy, I have been shown the way to the Orthodox Church. * After a life of transformation and structure and change and becoming more worthy of God's grace, would I have been denied Heaven after my rebirth on my dying day?  If I had led a life in a Buddhist faith or denomination as fully as I could, I would hope that God's graces would be with me. * But having been shown the Truth of the Orthodox Church, it is the only religious path I can authentically follow.  It is so foreign, so new to me in so many ways... and yet, the worship can be taking place no where else but in a divinely inspired human representation of God's Palace, blessed by God's graces and whose f
ounders and continuers guided by the Holy Trinity in so many ways... there can *be* -no other Home- that will be right for me, outside of the Orthodox Church. * Does this mean that my female Wiccan friend will be denied Heaven?  I can't know of the truth of her heart, the love of her heart for the Creator God (represented in Wicca as God/Goddess)... but I have been showing her, piece by piece, the new beauty I have seen with my own eyes in the Orthodox Church, attempting to teach her the little I know of Icons as Windows Into Heaven... how her Polish Catholic background differs less from the Orthodox than it appears but how the differences are profound... * She was impressed by the ancient democratic nature of the worldwide Orthodox Church - how no one man or woman is held as the cornerstone of the faith outside of Jesus Christ himself... how the election process works (which I understand in a simple fashion, and could only explain in a simple fashion... may I be forgiven if I taught in error). * And, at the
moment, she is the only person who is a friend who desires to be a witness to my official embracing of the Orthodox Church... who wants to see what I see in the Divine Liturgy... * Do I wish her to "check her brains at the door" and drop entirely the intense lessons being Wicca and an ex-Roman Catholic has taught her?  No - these are building blocks in a long journey.  And may the Holy Spirit be with us, with me in my teaching of her (which is like a young child attempting to teach another young child the finer points of Quantum Mechanics - not a futile effort as it first appears, for think of how futile the attempt of teaching the fullness of God with our limited, human, childlike understanding of his Glory?), and may the Holy Spirit also be with her in her understanding. * On a more materialistic note - I have never really been able to wear jewelry without a reason, nor T-shirts that seemed to portray an alliance to a particular musical group...and now - now I will *finally* have a reason to wear jewelry
- for their purpose will be as continual reminders of why I am an Orthodox Christian, and secondarily, as a testament to the faith of which I am embracing. * Any thoughts, comments, corrections?  I am so new at this Orthodoxy, and an Orthodox or non-Orthodox, or Priest or Bishop stanced comment would be welcomed highly by me... even if only a private e-mail to say, "Ken, hey, you're doin' alright" or even picking out the finer points of my sloppy e-mail above and correcting.  Whatever is considered love and appropriate. * Wishing you peace, Kenneth Udut <[email protected]> Listowner of the Children's Rights List <[email protected]> Listowner of the Minister's Discussion List <[email protected]>