A Personal Walk With Jesus

[Liberal Crozier]

One of the joys in my life was to experience the role of the Holy Spirit in my life as the promise of the Risen Messiah. Our catholic and apostolic Patriarchal jurisdictions in the West laid less of an emphasis upon that fact.
It speaks to how the West sees the sacerdotal role differently; and therefore understands more the sacramental role of transmution or presentation rather than the Western view of representation.

When struggling to know and understand the role of women in the sacramental life of the Church, it was this current Eastern Christian view - once held by an Undivided Church - that helped inform me about the two issues that have imploded Apostolic Christianity and ironically, fundamentalism.

If, for example, I break away from the Western theological view that men alone can REPRESENT Christ at the Eucharistic table, and accept the fact that a man and a woman - equal before God - can PRESENT the Gifts for transmution by the action of the Holy Spirit. Orthodoxy has not made that essential pilgrimage, but believe that Alexander Schemmann, had he lived, might have walked that road to Emmaus had he lived to this decade.

The Sacrament of Marriage - Boswell and Orthodox repressed and/or challenged historical stories aside - is a case where the Marriage Partners themselves call upon the Holy Spirit to bless the union - where the Priest acts as President of the Faith Community present to witness and buttress the vows " betwixt them made."

On his 66th birthday, it is important to remember what Dr. White states in his written words and video. It IS about Jesus, and I sincerely believe that we have no reason whatsoever to surrender any moral high ground, or any ground whatsoever, to the religious dominionists who lead the theocratic forces against us in all nations of the world they dominate.

Must we remain joyful while living and working in the Kingdom..Of course, we must. We are assured of his love for us, and know that he made us with all our gifts and particular traits. We choose to live our lives with a sense of morality and honesty and if married, to live not only a monogamous life, but one that sustains whom we love as Christ ordains us to do. A family chosen is either by adoption or surrogacy, a grace and blessing as you build a family.

The Great Decalogue is clear. We must love God with our heart, mind, soul, and spirit and our neighbour as ourselves. That even includes those who do harm to ourselves and those whom we love. We are not required to accept their harmful words and actions, but in fighting for justice, we must repeat what Roman spectators at the Colloseum often said while witnessing their being devoured by lions..." See those Christians, how they sing psalms and love and help one another in their final moments."