an orthodox priest and his wife...

so tonight at the rehearsal dinner, i sat down to a table with an orthodox priest and his wife.  fascinating opportunity based on my last post.  We had a fantastic conversation about confession and repentance.

I asked him about confession, and why he believes its so important, and he asked me who i have to confess to.  i told him first i confess to God, then i have a couple close friends and some mature people i'll talk to if i feel i need to get it off my chest more... and i then asked where he is able to confess, his wife perked up and goes "excellent question!" he shared how there are other priests that he's able to go to, i asked if there was ever a time where the confessor and the one being confessed to would share mutually, he mentioned that it happens on rare occasions, but part of their belief is to have a father figure to confess to so switching roles is quite difficult. 

i then shared about my frustration in the protestant church where there isn't really repentance preached, but rather its all grace.  there's not really a fear of God.  as i sat in the vespers service this evening, and the chants "lord have mercy, have mercy, have mercy, have mercy" kept ringing in my ears, that God is a God of justice, and vengance, but also of mercy, a God of grace when we open to that, and when we really, repent, when we have a change of mind and follow His way. 

We then continued to talk about what it really is to daily die to self, to live to Christ, it was so wonderful hearing coming from a priest, the one that i typically look to as quite religious, or not really on the right page, but seeing that he struggles too, he pursues God too, and that it's an uphill battle for all of us.  We chatted a bit about how its a daily choice to pick up our cross and how we need to really choose to live a life that is above sin.  The christian life, is not a single plateau but rather a journey of ups and downs that hopefully continue to draw us to higher places with God.  Repentance is not an act but an action.  its a verb, its continual.  if we're not growing, then we're not changing.

Christ stands at the door and knocks, what a sad choice we make when we don't let him in...