Church and change ...
I liked the 1998 movie Godzilla. I was never really a Godzilla fan - as a kid would watch for 5 minutes whenever the K-Mart looking Godzila fought another monster, but never really remembered or thought much about the lizard.
I did not like the 2007 Transformers movie. Bumblebee a Camaro? Where was Soundwave? No development of any of the characters e.g., Starscream was in the movie, but had no role! What the heck is Megatron? I could go on and on. Point is I still remember the Transformers as a kid - loved the cheesy cartoons, begged my mom all the time for the toys (side note: does anyone else remember only getting 2 toys a year when they were little - one on your birthday, and one for Christmas? )
What we remember when growing up and love as kids is usually what we accept as baseline when we are adults, and think one can make an argument that for most people anything that happened more than one generation ago is ancient history.
The Catholic Church changed much of the Liturgy during the Second Vatican Council from 1962-1965. I had gone to a Catholic school growing up in the 70s and 80s, and had absolutely no idea that this had happened in the not so distant past! And, talking with my wife and others as well of my age group familiar with the Catholic mass, there's no realization that really drastic changes like the orientation of the alter, the handshake of peace before the communion, removing rails before the alter ... all happened less then 60 years ago.
I have no hope that our Orthodox Church will ever hold such a monumental council and make bold decisions in this lifetime - perhaps when the current Seminarians from India and the US become Bishops we may have a remote chance.
But, just imagine that simple changes made now at the parish level such as families sitting together to worship, allowing women to participate and be leaders in the Church, not needing to publish member subscriptions on the basement wall to provoke people to give their subscriptions - by the time we leave this earth it could be accepted as norm for the Indian Orthodox Church by our children's generation.
I did not like the 2007 Transformers movie. Bumblebee a Camaro? Where was Soundwave? No development of any of the characters e.g., Starscream was in the movie, but had no role! What the heck is Megatron? I could go on and on. Point is I still remember the Transformers as a kid - loved the cheesy cartoons, begged my mom all the time for the toys (side note: does anyone else remember only getting 2 toys a year when they were little - one on your birthday, and one for Christmas? )
What we remember when growing up and love as kids is usually what we accept as baseline when we are adults, and think one can make an argument that for most people anything that happened more than one generation ago is ancient history.
The Catholic Church changed much of the Liturgy during the Second Vatican Council from 1962-1965. I had gone to a Catholic school growing up in the 70s and 80s, and had absolutely no idea that this had happened in the not so distant past! And, talking with my wife and others as well of my age group familiar with the Catholic mass, there's no realization that really drastic changes like the orientation of the alter, the handshake of peace before the communion, removing rails before the alter ... all happened less then 60 years ago.
I have no hope that our Orthodox Church will ever hold such a monumental council and make bold decisions in this lifetime - perhaps when the current Seminarians from India and the US become Bishops we may have a remote chance.
But, just imagine that simple changes made now at the parish level such as families sitting together to worship, allowing women to participate and be leaders in the Church, not needing to publish member subscriptions on the basement wall to provoke people to give their subscriptions - by the time we leave this earth it could be accepted as norm for the Indian Orthodox Church by our children's generation.
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