Jack W. Sawyer Recently I had the pleasure of coming across an article entitled “Christ’s Test of our Orthodoxy” on Ordained Servant, a Journal published by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. I was a member of this denomination for six years, and the title immediately caught my attention. Pastor Jack W. Sawyer’s article can be read [...]
My eldest son is an altar boy. His job sometimes seems mostly symbolic, but there are times when I can tell that his work for the Church is important. In an Eastern parish, we have a clear delineation separating the altar from the rest of the church building. This stock photo from my church website [...]
The principle of lex orandi, lex credendi (which can be translated as “the law of praying is the law of believing”) has an immediate appeal to almost all Christians. It is easy to see that how we relate to God in prayer is a mirror-like reflection of our beliefs, and we sense intuitively that our [...]
On a recent feast in honor of the Mother of God, (I think it was the commemoration of her Dormition), my priest made a great point about Tradition as it is compared to Protestantism. Many times we as Catholics and Orthodox try to explain how it is that our honor which is given to the [...]
It is with pleasure that I announce to you a new website – www.churchfathers.org. Designed to be a user-friendly resource of quotes from the Church Fathers organized in topical fashion, this website can be used to phrase questions about what we believe, and what we don’t believe, by looking at our faith through ancient eyes.
Becoming Reformed after a six year sojourn in the evangelical world of Calvary Chapel, I was pleased to give up speculations about the end of the world via the notion of an imminent Rapture. There was a lack of historical support for thinking this way, and there was also a pleasing emphasis on Scripture as [...]
In a previous blog post, I wrote about the joys and similarities which bind together the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. As tragic as our lack of full communion with one another is, there is a bond which unites us even now while our sacramental reunion is mostly a hope for the future. This bond is [...]
My cousin’s husband who also teaches at Auburn came into the Church last week. He had been going to Mass with them but never showed any interest. We asked how he got interested and his answer was that the sermons were so horrible, he knew there must be something else there to make the people [...]
Throughout the past year on Called to Communion, the various blog posts and full-length articles by the contributors have been met with objections of various stripes and sizes. It has been a mixture of excitement, hope, prayer, frustration, and calls for mercy for me to read many of those posts and the dialogue that has [...]
Sometimes one of the most helpful ways to consider why we accept or reject claims of Protestantism or Catholicism is to step outside of the argument. There is so much heat and emotion that covers these issues, that it’s very helpful to go back to the basics and read the earliest debates.
