Yes…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

What a strange culture we live in, in which people are expected to approve of everything those they love believe in and do, or be guilty of betraying that love. I have friends and family whose core beliefs on politics, sexuality, religion, etc., are not the same as my own, and it would not occur to me in the slightest to love them any less because of it. I hope it would not occur to them to love me any less because they don’t agree with me. People are somehow more than the sum of their beliefs and actions.

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From St. Seraphim…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

St. Seraphim of Sarov describes the whole purpose of the Christian life as nothing more than the receiving of the Holy Spirit: “Prayer, fasting, vigils and all other Christian acts, however good they may be in themselves, certainly do not constitute the aim of our Christian life; they are but the indispensable means of attaining that aim. For the true aim of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, vigils, prayer and almsgiving, and other good works done in the name of Christ, they are only the means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God… Prayer is always possible for everyone, rich and poor, noble and simple, strong and weak, healthy and suffering, righteous and sinful. Great is the power of prayer; most of all does it bring the Spirit of God and easiest of all is it to exercise.”

Worth Considering…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

“The fundamental distinction between what the Saints have written and what Protestants write is a category confusion which creates an opposition between the scriptures and church leadership. Scripture *is* the primary source and norm of the theological enterprise of the Church. That is all the patristic sources admit. A second principle is implied in the patristic writing that is denied by Protestants which is: the theological activity of the Church, which has Scripture as its primary norm and source, is governed by Church authority. The category confusion on the part of Protestants is that, since Scripture is ontologically primary to Church authority it is therefore against Church authority. This is a simple category confusion: scripture and the episcopacy are different kinds of authority, which are not opposed.”-Nathaniel McCallum

On Father’s Day…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

My father has been with the Lord for almost twenty years. His own father passed away when he was a young boy and times were tough for my father growing up. Everything about being a dad he had to learn while we were arriving because there had been no one to teach him. I remember my dad sacrificing for us, riding the bike to work instead of the car to save money, wearing shoes for years, fishing trips with each of us, all kinds of little things so that we would have some of the things that eluded him in his childhood. My dad worked hard, maybe too hard, but we were never hungry, always had a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, all the things that were not so certain when he was growing up. My prayer is that on this day, like all the others, he has found his rest in the arms of the God he loved, because when he prayed and spoke of heaven with tears in his eyes we saw the man he really was.

I Hate Writing…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

about politics these days because so much of the news is dismal and my soul is darkened when I wallow in the controversies of the world. Yet when I do speak, because sometimes it is a necessity, I try to speak for freedom, for that which would be good, for solutions, and hopefully not for the degradation of any person. Of course I fail at this sometimes and when this happens I need to step back, calm my passions, and focus on the things and the One that really matters.

That’s what really counts. I will speak for human dignity and freedom. I will seek justice as best as I can understand it. I will do my best to not harm or belittle anyone along the way.  Yet above all I hope to keep myself on the Beautiful Path that is the Christian life and help any others who might like to come along. Beyond specific issues I believe this is the best way to make any society better, to help the transformation of people from within by the grace of God in Christ.

Princes, rulers, governments, they come and go and are never a place to store ultimate trust. God and the life that God offers are what lasts and remains. I will speak and write of many things but cling only to that.

 

There is Nothing…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

I want, Lord, so much as to know that you are with me and that I am in the place you wish me to be. Knowing this I can be anywhere. Without this knowledge I will be alone and fragile even in paradise. Yet my eyes are dim, my thoughts too, and more often than not I wander even when I know the way.Yet, still, do not forget me. Grant me even the slightest glimpse of your presence and I will run to that light without fear. Grant me to understand the path you have prepared and I will walk through any darkness. Only the sound of your voice and I shall be joyous.Only the touch of your garment and I will be made whole.Only the thought of you and I shall be at rest. Night is coming, it has already come. The darkness is alive and furious in anticipation of the morning.Yet if I am where you are and you are with me I shall be at peace, secure, as heaven watches over my journey home.

A Cautionary Tale…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

Time does a lot of things, but in the parish setting anecdotal data tells me that the run-of-the-mill parish is more likely to remain insular than it is to choose to do things to make it more accessible to outsiders. It is the ambition of the parishioners that determines which route a given church will take. The soft phyletism of a parish that doesn’t announce its service times online (or in English), that performs those services almost entirely in another language, etc. has no methodology for taking in new members and few parishes have enough young children in attendance that they can replace their aging members as they pass on much less grow. Oddly, the same people who acknowledge they have something wonderful (e.g. the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church) are also befuddled by visitors.

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