elated

I was going to write a very long blog post about Orthodoxy. Then I realized I can sum it up in a few paragraphs (not Orthodoxy, but my present thought).

I know very little about Orthodoxy. However, while barely scratching the surface I still feel able to defend what I believe. And to stand up for it's merit. I've never felt that before. The closest I got was being Anglican, and that time was chock-full of questions and doubts as well.

When I became Anglican, I starting to feel like I was occasionally able to hit the nail on the head about whole Christ is and what a Christian is and what the Church is and where I enter into all that. I didn't have something ancient to rely on. I had the shaky "because I really believe it in my heart!" to depend on. Folks, I haven't seen half the ugliness that can come "from the heart" that I'm sure some of you out there have, but I can say the human heart is a tricky place. Without God, it's a nightmare.

Even the things I knew have been clarified. I never understood the depth of the baptism of the Lord, and why it is so important. I know now, just from attending services during Theophany. No one pointed anything out to me. You can't miss it. If you miss it, your eyes are closed and your ears are covered! You can't be present in an Orthodox church and not learn. I feel like a toddler, saying, "What's that? What's that?"

And guess what, reader? When I find an answer, it's not, "Well, we do this because about fifty years ago we didn't like what so and so was doing or saying and now we do this...to combat what we disagreed with."

I'm ecstatic like a really annoying, over zealous convert. Unless you read this blog, you won't have to be subjected to it, though, I assure you. I'm quiet in person. Before wine.