Author: Fr. John Chagnon

I'm Watching Something Burn…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

from my kitchen window, something I made in Middle School, something I hung on to all these years because I wanted to prove a point. I wanted to prove that I could make things. I wanted to prove that I was a survivor. I wanted to prove I was good enough.

So I kept that tiny little shelf I made in shop class, the one the teacher wasn’t so crazy about but ended up outlasting him. Times have changed. I have changed. God has forgiven and strengthened and made whole. Mistakes? I’ve made them. Struggles? Sure. Yet by the grace of God I am not who I used to be and while I’m a long way away from perfect I know that if I keep my eyes on Jesus I’m heading in the right direction.

So I started a fire this morning. A fire of sacrifice. For a while it has burned passionately and as it was I offered to God everything that was behind, pains, hurts, resentments, sins, everything, like that shelf, I may have kept close to me all these years. It was a bright, hot, and swirling fire.

But now the flames are only consuming the small remnants, the heat is gone for the most part and soon there will only be some quiet smoke drifting through the yard and into space. By the grace of God I am who I am and I refuse, with the same passionate stubbornness that made me keep that shelf, to let what Christ has died for and forgiven rule over me any more.

I have places to go, things to do, a mission to accomplish, and I’m tired of burning daylight…

Imagine…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

a Bishop of the Church willing to stand in front of his people and speak about his struggles and how he wants to work to overcome them and help his community become better. Very impressed with Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America. Imagine what our Lord could do with twelve such men…

 

Wisdom…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

“Should we look to kings and princes to put right the inequalities between rich and poor? Should we require soldiers to come and seize the rich person’s gold and distribute it among his destitute neighbors? Should we beg the emperor to impose a tax on the rich so great that it reduces them to the level of the poor and then to share the proceeds of that tax among everyone? Equality im­posed by force would achieve nothing, and do much harm. Those who combined both cruel hearts and sharp minds would soon find ways of making themselves rich again. Worse still, the rich whose gold was taken away would feel bitter and resentful; while the poor who received the gold from the hands of soldiers would feel no gratitude, because no generosity would have prompted the gift. Far from bringing moral benefit to society, it would actually do moral harm. Material justice cannot be accomplished by compulsion, a change of heart will not follow. The only way to achieve true justice is to change people’s hearts first—and then they will joyfully share their wealth.” St. John Chrysostom

For Your Consderation…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

I just finished doing a program for the Seniors where I work entitled “Scams 101”  and I thought it good to share some information with a wider audience. In this season when charities come calling perhaps the most important thing to know is that no reputable charitable organization will be afraid of providing financial information or will try to discourage you from doing appropriate research on them or their mission. If they’re not willing to open their books or show you what they do and how they spend their time and money be suspicious.

They Say…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

that you should “love God and do as you please” knowing that one who truly loves God will have that love permeate all they do. Right now I will try to love God, be a good husband, help out as I can at St. George, keep seniors entertained,  and be in a rock and roll band. Such things please me.

In the Church…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

titles are tools, the designation of roles to the end that the people of God would be nurtured and preserved. No less, but certainly no more. Titles are a temporary gift and the worst thing would be that a person who has one would lose themselves in it by forgetting that, in the end, the only title that will matter is “Christian.” You can have none of the titles in the Church and still be just fine if you’re truly “Christian”. You can have all the titles of the Church except “Christian” and be utterly lost.