Growing in Wisdom

Our good friends at the Journey to Orthodoxy blog posted a fantastic entry about how increased wisdom can lead us to change our minds on certain topics. His post is meant to show Protestants that, though they are now certain of sola sciptura, sola fide, and other doctrines, so once was he. But "to be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant," as one can find fewer and fewer examples of Protestant ideals the further one goes back — and one has not gone far at all before they disappear altogether. If one is honest, upon drinking history a bit deeper, he will change his mind to reflect what he has learned.

His choice of video illustrates his point brilliantly:



Read his whole post. This was a great insight.

Video: Constructing a Western Rite Altar

The folks at St. Andrew Antiochian Orthodox Church (Western Rite Vicariate) in Oklahoma City have posted an edifying video on their multimedia page: the construction of their altar. According to the website:

Subdeacon John Dutcher and his wife Nila, of St. Elijah Antiochian Orthodox Church, constructed the new altar for St. Andrew Church. They put together this video of the construction.

It is a beautiful altar, a work of art.

I rejoice in posting images of work, building, or renovation of Western Rite churches for reasons I wrote about here : they are constructive in the most literal sense of the word. May God reward Subdeacon Dutcher for his work.

Godspeed to our good friend Fr. Mark Wallace, his family, and all his parishoners as they gather around this altar to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ.

(See the whole video here.)

Update: Fr. Mark Wallace sent us this note.

Thank you for posting this video!

FYI - Subdeacon John Dutcher fell asleep in the Lord on 8 August, 2008. You can learn more about him by visiting their family blog at www.dutcherfamily.blogspot.com.

As of this posting, the community of St. Andrew has yet to celebrate its first Mass on this altar. We are still worshiping in the chapel of St. Elijah's. Currently, we are in negotiations to lease some commercial space for our congregation. As we progress towards that goal, I will keep you informed.

May Godspeed your negotiations, Fr. Wallace. I did not realize Subdeacon John Dutcher fell asleep in the Lord. May he rest in peace, and may God be with all those dear to him. This video now serves another purpose: it documents one of the good deeds that preceded him in Heaven.

The Ravages of Relevance

Like other examples of this genre, I thought for certain this had to be a parody. I'm told it is not. Behold the ravages of "relevant" ministry:



Yeah, this is what all the kids are into....

Update: A poster notes this video is produced by The Way International. For more information on that group, see the comments and read this profile. Also, the video disappeared from YouTube because The Way Intl. has asserted a copyright claim. However, one can view it (out of morbid curiosity) here.