This ability to know Him to know, to know him personally, it’s something that has been cultivated in the Orthodox Church for a couple of thousand years now. They have vast amounts of data from all over the world, throughout the entire history of Christian faith, of how this works out in different personalities, different cultures, different lives, of how to do it in a way that is safe and that has practical discernment about the risks involved. And what’s more that it actually works.

Transcript:

As we wrap things up I guess the main thing I want to direct you to, or talk about is, the why. Why do this? What is the point? What’s the point of Orthodox Christianity? There’s so many versions of Christian faith out there to choose from. Why Orthodox? I think the answer to any why question in Christianity has to be Jesus Christ. He has to be the why for everything that we do and there are many things with the church and individual Christians are called to do.

For me, what I found, what makes Orthodoxy different, is that it is all focused on an ultimate goal of union with God, of knowing Jesus Christ personally, of knowing His love and loving Him, of becoming closer and closer to Him so that every step we take in life, we can feel His guidance, we can hear His voice, we can rejoice in His presence, we can meet Him in the Eucharist, we can have His direction in our lives, and His comfort for when we need that comfort, His strength when we need His strength. This ability to know Him to know, to know him personally, it’s something that has been cultivated in the Orthodox Church for a couple of thousand years now. They have vast amounts of data from all over the world, throughout the entire history of Christian faith, of how this works out in different personalities, different cultures, different lives, of how to do it in a way that is safe and that has practical discernment about the risks involved. And what’s more that it actually works. That we can see even today, as in every age, people who have been transformed by Jesus Christ and become so united with Him that as He said the works that He did, we will do also, and greater works will we do because He goes to the Father.

So that’s the why. It’s that in this church uniquely, and in a  way I found in no other church, there is an expectation of complete union with Jesus Christ and also a way to do it. A knowledge about how to accomplish this step-by-step, in good order, and safely. As we come to the end, it reminds me of that point at the end of the book of Job, where after all that has been said and done in that tumultuous book, God speaks to Job and Job perceives him and all of his questions are answered and Job says, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear but now my eye sees You.”

Come and see.