Sunday, January 24, 2010

"Our commitment to Christ is not necessarily a call to psychological well-being--as understood by the world" --from Fr. Stephen Freeman's blog

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"Our commitment to Christ is not necessarily a call to psychological well-being – as understood by the world. Such a healing may or may not be our lot. I have never been hesitant to recommend that someone see a doctor if it seemed clear that they suffered problems that needed medical help. There are certainly many mental conditions that are helped by medication. But medication is not resurrection. It is a band-aid. If you are bleeding that is a useful thing to have.

The greater realization is that we all share the same call in Christ – a call to go from 'glory to glory.' The vision of 'beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord' is not unique to any one Christian. As St. Paul says, 'But we all…' However the Christian beside you, beholding the same glory, may very well do so in the woundedness of his neurosis (or whatever terms we come to use). Our task is not to find ways to 'fix' one another – but to love one another. Such love will make room for whatever woundedness it finds in others – perhaps even coming to behold the glory of God in the face of someone they would otherwise be tempted to fix.

...And for some people, what grace and salvation may do in their lives may never relieve the irritation that others have with them. Salvation is not about making happy parishes or well-adjusted communities. Well-adjusted communities belong the Huxley’s Brave New World. The Church belongs to the Kingdom of God which is a war-zone, defeating sin, death and the devil. Salvation is good, but is often messy and even painful. It is nothing less than taking up the Cross of Christ."

from "Glory to God for All Things" http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/



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