Entries in Life

You cannot be too gentle, too kind.

Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other.

Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy in the heart of him who receives.

All condemnation is from the devil. Never condemn each other…

Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace.

Keep silent, refrain from judgment. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult, and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.

— St. Seraphim of Sarov

(Via)

I've spent the past month or so really thinking about this.  I'm not sure I'm man enough to "keep silent" -- it seems close to impossible for me to keep my mouth shut at times, even when it would be in my best interest to "refrain from judgment".

It is almost as if St Seraphim wrote this as s gentle rebuke specifically for me.

Χριστός Ανέστη! Αληθώς Ανέστη!

Христос Воскресе, радост донесе!

Christ is Risen!  Truly He is Risen!

Yesterday was Pascha, Orthodox Easter.  After 40 days of fasting and living like vegetarians, we came home from Church Sunday morning — and by "morning" I mean it was 1 AM when we got home — and had a nice roast lamb.  Then the kids popped in a Mary Poppins video (after The Hogfather, the movie I wanted to see, scared them too much) and I promptly fell asleep.

Check out this fun Pascha song from Serbia. "Christ is risen, and brings the joy!"  (Father Stephen has the translation.)

It is only my imaginary relationship with Christ (if the Church is invisible it is little more than imaginary). It is the visible character of the Church, and the possibility of boundary (everything visible has some boundary) that creates the “problem.”
…
The Problem of the Church is that there is one. Whatever free associations man has created, there still exists a Church whose life is rooted in that first community in Jerusalem and stretches through the centuries into the present. It is not a problem to be solved - but it is a challenge to the fiction of invisible Churches and boundary-less associations.

(From The Problem of Church)

Recently, it was pointed out to me that I was not entirely respectful of the way someone chose to “dedicate” their child in church. While it is true that I should have kept my mouth shut, this issue has come up more than once in discussions with family and friends — many of whom are Protestant.
And I’ve always been caught short when they confront me about this. It’s a hard nut. On the one hand, I do believe in the “holy, catholic, apostolic Church” and I believe that this visible Church — by which I mean the Church with the visible, historic line of apostolic succession — is the Church.
On the other hand, I love my family and friends. I respect their work (many of them work “in the ministry”). I don’t want them to feel like I’m pushing them away or, worse, condeming them to hell. I absolutely do not want to project the image that I am, in any way, superior to them.
So what do I do?

I don't know.
Just reading The Problem of Church helped me understand the problem a little bit better for myself. It also gives me a point of discussion with friends and family.