God is love, first of all. However, Dawkins and his friends cannot steal reason from me because they can make sharper remarks in favor of it. The Logical Investigations was written by a lover of God. This is more than strong evidence that God loves reason, it allows me to know it.

This one coincides with what I just read from the Archpastoral letter of His Beattitude Metropolitan Jonah of America for the Great Feast of Pentecost. He points out the same thing, I quote:

“As much a feast of tongues, Holy Pentecost is a feast of humility. It is a return to what the late Father Alexander Schmemann called “the routine drudgery of everyday existence.” Having enjoyed the presence of the Bridegroom for 40 days, having awaited the promised Comforter with those gathered in the Upper Room for ten days, we now bend the knees of our hearts, asking God to strengthen us for “usual” life – and recalling that the strength to do so comes from Him.”

A blessed Feast to you and family

From my experience, the Orthodox view of mission seems similar to the traditional view of mission in most Protestant churches. In other words, “missions” and “missionary” tend to have a narrow definition as cross-cultural engagement. In recent years, the definition of “missions” and “missionary” have broadened to incorporate “internal,” “home,” or “domestic” missions. But generally, missions tend to be program-based components of a parish or diocese. So, the basic mission strategy focuses on establishing Eucharistic communities and developing indigenous church leaders.

In my experience so far, the discussion of cultural engagement has been very limited. It usually involves inviting people to the liturgy, living as a Christian community, and utilizing basic personal strategies of living and sharing one’s faith.

Administratively, local parishes and dioceses in the United States are extensions of their mother churches from other countries. There is no American Orthodox Church. So the Orthodox Church in the US is split into about twelve ethnic jurisdictions — Russian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, etc — usually emphasizing the preservation of and outreach to the respective cultures.

Local parishes formed by or containing a number of converts from Evangelicalism (such as the one I attend) exist within one of the ethnic jurisdictions I mentioned. Because of the Evangelical influence, they may emphasize a greater engagement with culture. However, it seems to be primarily program-based and emulate what you would find in the average Evangelical Church.

And yet, I see so much potential in Orthodoxy to support an incarnational approach to mission and a fresh engagement of cultural.

First, Orthodox view salvation as a deification. This doesn’t mean that Orthodox believe we will become gods. Rather it means God’s grace conforms us to his presence and the divine presence itself transforms our very nature. In this light, Orthodox soteriology is viewed as a therapeutic process of renewing and realigning the complex inner functions of the human self, from which the world’s renewal flows.

Second, at the heart of Orthodox soteriology is the Incarnation. To paraphrase St Athanasius, “God became man so that man could become like God.” Sin is not primarily a legal transgression requiring retribution. Rather, sin has brought death and the healing of this malady requires communion with divine life.

Third, salvation is “worked out” as an ongoing synergistic cooperation between the Christian and God. While God carries the lion’s share of this partnership, we also hold a great responsibility. The Christian is to nurture ongoing repentance through an ascetical life and participation in the life of the Orthodox Church through which God’s grace then works its transformation of the human nature.

Fourth, Orthodox soteriology is conjoined with its ecclesiology. God’s life is mediated to humans through His Body. There is no salvation without the Church. The Church is the full embodiment of Christ’s life and we commune with Christ through the Church. Therefore, the process of deification requires every aspect of the Church — its sacraments, liturgy, icons, feasts, prayers, teachings of the Father, Tradition, ascetical practices, hierarchy, and communion with and intercessions of the Saints (both with those on earth and with those that have passed).