Vintage,
it has been aged, tested. Thought and beauty are evident; enduring
quality, maturity and excellence. Concerning Christianity and faith
it is not ramshackle, nor trying to reinvent the wheel. True vintage
is not trying to recapture something lost, it simply is.
Orthodoxy
is vintaged since 33AD. Its true tons of groups like that date a lot, the
difference is in Orthodoxy we claim a concrete continual link, both
spiritual and historical. We are not trying to recapture something
lost. In Orthodoxy we believe in a Loving God who has always been
with His Body, the Church. There is not some point in history where
God abandoned the Church because it had become “formal religion.”
Have there been some rough points? Sure, but this is a relationship.
A relationship between God and humanity. A relationship is about
working through things. If God just leaves when mistakes are made (as
some thoughts promote) what does that imply about the faithfulness of
God? Is He faithful only if no mistakes are ever made? Thats not much
of a relationship, and not really very faithful.
Orthodoxy
is not just trying to claim the “golden days.” We confess that
God has stuck with us through thick and thin, and, by His grace, we
with Him. Through saints and sinners. Through great times and bad.
Why? Because God is truly faithful, even when we may not be. This
faithfulness of God is vital to being vintaged properly. If you won't
claim the tough times also, don't claim the vintage. One has to do
more than claim a name, one has to live a linage.
Speaking
of “golden days,” we believe that is now, today is the day
of salvation as St. Paul says. A person gets to “today” by living
through all the yesterdays, the good and the ugly. Its not emerging,
it is being. Its not a reconstructed puzzle, it is dwelling in
the timeless image of God: Christ Jesus. There has been a lot of
looking back to the early times of Christianity, and one get the
impression that these were perfect days. No doubt great, but not
perfect. I read some of the pastoral issues St. Paul dealt with, and,
well, I am glad I have not dealt with them. It seems the Church hit
the ground running, the battle was instantaneous. In Orthodoxy we
have been living the faith for over 2,000yrs. The Church is too busy
being alive in Christ to be distracted with “recapturing.”
In
a relationship it would be a bummer to always hear your loved one
wishing for the “good ol' days,” this would imply that something
is wrong with your love today. In Orthodoxy we believe the love of
God is infinitely deep. It is the same and, yet, always new. In
marriage the goal is to love more deeply; love is a journey. Without
the journey, through good times and bad, love will not be vintaged.
It is precisely through this steadfastness, in all things and all
times, that genuineness is revealed. If we claim God is love, does
that not mean that He will be with His Body the Church through every
second of this life? If He broke off the original relationship and
started afresh at a later date with another group, how could we say
God is love? This would imply God is fickle and not steadfast.
If
a group or person has not endured the past how will they endure the
future?
Something
becomes vintaged by enduring. If it is junk, it will fall apart. If
it is an imitation time will make it clear. A question of faith
should be, does it endure, has it endured? Something of quality
lasts.
Christ
makes it clear, the Church will encounter hell, but hell will not
prevail. Orthodoxy has been to the gates of hell and back.
Come
partake of Christ's vintage, it is wonderful beyond words.