Jordan Paul
Almighty and everlasting God, who has exalted thy beloved Son to be King over all worlds, and hast willed in him to make all things new: mercifully grant, that the kingdoms of the earth, which are now wounded and estranged by sin, may speedily be brought under his gracious sovereignty. Through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Friends,
Today, St. Paul gives a powerful account of Jesus that we’d all do well to remember:
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Jesus is not simply another prophet. Or one valid path among others. He is the King; He is the way, the truth, and the life.
In a recent New York Times article, Ruth Graham explores the explosion of converts, many of them young men, to the Orthodox Church.
If you descend into the comments—something I emphatically warn you against—you’ll quickly notice the criticism noting a litany of complaints: of Orthodoxy generally (well, this Patriarch said…), of the political conflicts the Russian Orthodox Church specifically has found itself in, and especially of the men who find themselves drawn to Orthodoxy when they seek out a more demanding form of Christianity than they might find in the mainline or even many Catholic parishes. They even have a term for them: Orthobros.
The fact that it appears that many of these men end up joining the Orthodox Church and leaving their radical online communities that may have drawn them there in the first place gets no mention.
When I shared this article with another Anglican friend, I got a response that really echoed my own thoughts. Perhaps instead of criticism, we should learn, especially from a growing denomination. There seems to be a real desire, particularly among young men, for a faith that challenges and demands. For one that draws us out of our atomized and consumption driven culture and unabashedly and unashamedly proclaims the truth of the Gospel.
In Christ,
—Jordan
