There’s a lot of areas we learn to make do for less. For instance, if you’re noticing a small leak in the plumbing, maybe you’ll just use a piece of bubble gum to plug the hole until you get the materials to replace the pipe. If you can’t get the job you want, then you take the job that you can. Even if it pays less. If your boots are talking to you but you can’t afford another pair, then perhaps you’ll find a cobbler or utilize some duct tape. There’s a lot of things we do without or stretch, pull and bend to make work. Garbage bags to cover broken windows, patches for clothing, using a chainsaw instead of skillsaw or vice versa, moving a piece of furniture in front of a hole in the wall; the examples can go on and on. I’ve often heard it called “rigging it”.
Of everything we rig to make work there is one thing we’ve rigged that we ought not to and that’s the Church. When I drive from one end of my town to the other it takes about fifteen minutes and I’ll pass by more than twice as many churches. The first is a Freewill Baptist, second is an Apostolic, then a General Baptist, a Methodist, a non-denominational, a Church of God, Christian denomination, a Missionary Baptist, an Independent Baptist, a Southern Baptist, a Presbyterian PCA, another Independent Baptist, a Lutheran, an Episcopalian, another General Baptist, a Presbyterian PCUSA, a Pentecostal, a Jehovah Witness; the list goes on and on. A lot of folks rightly point out that this is a good sign of the religious nature of the area. People are out there seeking God and to be fair this is the culture we were raised in. In modern America we pick and choose what we want. Its very individualistic, very self serving. very egocentric. Often we’ll hear folks saying, “Just go to the church that you like”, or “that feeds you”, and “find a church that’s right for you”. Following after our own likes, passions, and wants often leads to sin and we must be wary to not fall into this trap.
In absence of what was needed, the One True Holy Church, people have rigged their religion. People look at the Ancient Church and they can see the Eucharist, water baptism, Apostolic succession, seal of the Holy Spirit, vestments, incense, candles, fire, crosses, iconography, the Holy Scriptures, the presence of the Saints, the early Church Fathers, the Jesus prayer, and literature spanning back to the beginning of time. The Orthodox Church possesses the fullness of the Truth. So naturally when someone starts another church they take something from this treasure laden vault and run with it. Then stretching and rigging this one thing they make it to be a foundational block of their new church. They say to themselves, “We have baptism”, “We have the Eucharist”, or (most common in the Bible Belt) “You have to say the Jesus prayer to become a member at this church” and “We have the Holy Bible. They then proceed to build an entire denomination or body of believers. Most of these folks are in a right spirit. They have found some spiritual validity in an age of confusion and they are clinging to it. They are attempting to cling to Jesus because they know He is their only hope for salvation. This is a noble undertaking. A noble rigging.
However, the Church is the Bride of Christ and was established by Jesus Christ. All of the sacraments and treasures of the Church are helpful and necessary for our salvation or else Christ wouldn’t have instituted them. It pains me to hear someone say, “Yeah, but you don’t have to be baptized/receive communion/go to Church/confess/etc”. Then for what reason did Christ Himself, God in human flesh, institute these things and why has the Church practiced all of them since Pentecost?
Why make do with less when we all have access to all of these things in the Orthodox Church? We are blessed now to have Orthodox Churches dotting the Appalachian mountains. God is with us! We now all have access to the treasury, the full armory, the entire hardware shop. We don’t have to rig it anymore. We can experience the Kingdom of Heaven come to earth. We can see the harmonious blend of the Gospel, the incense, Baptism, Apostolic Succession, the Jesus Prayer all within the ageless Traditions of the Holy Orthodox Church. The Liturgy is so ancient that it is almost strange and even those of us who had thought we had something old timey realize this is the True “Ole Time Religion.”
The Church isn’t anything we need to rig. This isn’t a house, a tool, a pair of clothes or an automobile that moths and rust will destroy. This is an institution founded by Jesus Christ and it pertains to our eternal salvation. We should accept it in its entirety and thank God that He is stretching out His loving arms around our region.
Orthodox Appalachia 