Practical Orthodoxy

From The Very Rev. Alan Jones’ book, Common Prayer on Common Ground, on Anglican orthodoxy:


“Salvation isn’t the ultimate reward fro believing abstract doctrines. Salvation is experienced through grace as our lives are ‘converted,’ and conversion is an ongoing process. Doctrine is practical. It has to do with
practice, with what the tradition calls ‘the experimental knowledge of God.’
“To be truly orthodox, doctrine must have an impact on the moral life. I remember some years ago a man screaming at the philosopher Jacob Needleman that to be a Christian you had to believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus. Needleman took the wind out of the young man’s sails and said, ‘Yes, you do. Now tell me, what does it mean? Tell me what difference it makes!’ The young man had nothing to say. An elderly retired priest angrily thundered at me: ‘Do you believe in the
homoousian?’ (this is the doctrine that Jesus Christ is of the same substance as the Father). I said, ‘Yes, I do, but the more important question is why don’t you love me?”

Hot, it is!

This morning at 7:00 am when I left to catch the subway, it was 84 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity was high. I know it is much hotter in other places and the humidity is worse, too, but I’m not there nor would I want to live there. The equatorial regions of the planet may be spectacular in places, but I’m sure the people already living in those areas don’t need one more person’s body-heat adding to the already stifling conditions.
Last night when I went to get something to eat, I was surprised to see so few people on the street – so strange for an otherwise beautiful evening. I guess people just stayed indoors, and they were smart to do so. Today, there is an expectation that the actual temperature will reach 104 degrees. That’s hot, no matter where you are.